The Making of a ‘Colony’ in Karachi and the Politics of Regularisation

Around half of Karachi’s population resides in localities that started life as unplanned settlements, which acquired different levels of security from eviction. This paper examines the relationship between demand-making by unplanned settlements and urban political process. It interprets the gradual transformation of a cluster originally on the geographic and social periphery of the city into a regularised colony through the lens of collective action. The diverse roles of migration, mobilisation, and collective identity which we find in individual stories and community histories, capture a range of processes and experiences within Karachi’s wide margin. The politics of regularisation thus offers a critical perspective on the dynamics of urban democracy.