TRADITIONALISM: A RESOLVE OR A TABOO IN POSTCOLONIAL CITIES: A CASE OF URBAN PLANNING OF LAHORE PAKISTAN

Abstract

'Modern' white supremacy is evident in all faculties of life in the Indian subcontinent under the East India Company and later British Raj. This research presents the relationship between British 'othering' and native docility that ensues in an unconscious inclination to be 'modern' among natives, reflecting a colonized mind. The argument is established by taking Lahore as a case study and drawing a comparative analysis of 'Modern British planning' with the traditional planning ways. The research explores that traditional planning had superlative features lately endorsed by post-modern theories and the charter of New Urbanism. However, natives preferred 'Modern British planning' principles over traditional planning under the docility of choosing Englishness as a privilege. In conclusion, this article builds an argument to call on traditional ways, which might be the forward-thinking of today's urban planning issues in Pakistan.