Islamabad and the Politics of International Development in Pakistan

This book offers a transnational history of Pakistan's development in the 1950s and 1960s, and the creation of the capital city Islamabad.

Markus Daechsel (Author)

9781107057173, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 March 2015

332 pages, 26 b/w illus.
23.5 x 16 x 2 cm, 0.64 kg

'In conclusion, Markus Daechsel's book offers a ?ne-grained and sophisticated analysis of the complex and deeply con?icted inter-face between development and post-colonial state formation, and is relevant for those who study South Asia and also for scholars of urban history, urban studies/planning, development studies …' Nausheen H. Anwar, Journal of Historical Geography

This is a highly original account of the design and development of Pakistan's capital city; one of the most iconic and ambitious urban reconstruction projects of the twentieth century. Balancing archival research with fresh, theoretical insights, Markus Daechsel surveys the successes and failures of Greek urbanist Constantinos A. Doxiadis's most ambitious endeavour, Islamabad, analysing how the project not only changed the international order, but the way in which the Pakistani state operated in the 1950s and 1960s. In dissecting Doxiadis's fraught encounter with Pakistani policy makers, bureaucrats and ordinary citizens, the book offers an unprecedented account of Islamabad's place in post-war international development. Daechsel provides new insights into this period and explores the history of development as a charged, transnational venture between foreign consultants and donors on the one side and the postcolonial nation state on the other.

Introduction
1. Architect of development
2. The consultant's gaze
3. From great plan to great project
4. On the road to Islamabad
5. Planning the Muslim city of the future
6. The consultant under attack
Conclusion
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Urban & municipal planning [RPC], Earth sciences, geography, environment, planning [R], Politics & government [JP], Historical geography [HBTP], Asian history [HBJF]