Karachi, officially the 12th most populous city in the world, is set to be submerged in water by 2060 (National Institute of Oceanography) - less than 37 years! There is so far no plan to deal with the inevitable catastrophe.
'Karachi Cartography' aims to design and implement strategies for adaptation and resilience. We are currently in 'Phase 1: Cartographic Analysis,' to understand the almost undocumented city - what was, is, and where - connecting the dots to realize the socio-climatic evolution of the city through maps, and hence make projections for the future. We strongly believe that redesigning without understanding will only exacerbate dysfunctionality, and increase vulnerabilities.
Some of our ongoing works include analysis of the impact of urbanization on the city's environment and interdependencies, creating an open-access map repository, and decolonizing visualization methodologies that double as design tools.
Eventually, we aim to use our learning for just design, advocacy, and planning!