Introduction

This document is the summary of Pul-e-Alam city Master Plan which was designed under ministry of urban development and housing (MUDH)’s authority after the enactment number 40, dated 1394/11/21, which was sentenced for the revision of master plans of six major cities of Afghanistan. Pul-e-Alam master plan along with its report which consisted of the studies of city’s current state at urban, regional, national and international levels, its analysis from social, environmental, economic, physical features and infrastructural point of view, final design proposals and development approaches, urban development guidelines and finally implementation plan for phasing the purposed development had been prepared and presented in urban development high council in the presence of the president himself, Dr. Ashraf Ghani, and was verified at that council.  This master plan, after carefully analyzing the city’s current state and anticipating its near and far future, drew a vision for Pul-e-Alam city which stated:

“Pul-e-Alam in 15 years ahead will become an agro-industrial city, formed on the fundamentals of sustainable development and afghan-Islamic values. A strong and self-sustaining center with huge production capabilities at the regional scale, inspiring urban life quality in urban system of Afghanistan, laying the groundwork for academic prosperity of the region and having constructive interaction with other neighboring and non-adjacent urban areas will turn this city to a sustainable agro-commercial and industrial core for the country.”

Context & History

Cities cannot be built in isolation and in many instances their relationships extends far beyond the national boundaries. Thus they cannot be designed without considering the context in which they stand. This contextual study always takes the form of studying the city’s relationship with other urban areas: in urban, regional, national and international levels; its past: to define where it stood in history or find values that should be kept or brought back; and finally its current state: by carefully studying its social, economic and environmental features.

Economics & Transit

Urban economics and transit play major role in the cities growth and development, thus analyzing where the city stands today, from this point of view, to find out where it should be in the long term is a vital step in planning and developing urban cores. This study always takes the form analyzing cities relationship with other major economic anchors: other urban cores, borders and transit ways: its natural resources and terrain: rivers, agriculture lands, mountains; and finally its production level and how it is dealt with: amount of agricultural production, industrial production, imports and export.

Environmental Studies & Natural Disasters

Environmental studies and natural disasters play a major role in planning and building resilient cities. Thus conducting these studies at first hand is a vital and yet critical part of planning every major and minor urban core. These studies always take the form of studying city’s environment from the point of view of flood management, hydrology, topography and slopes, seismic analysis and climate and weather. Conducting these analysis no natural threat was identified regarding Pul-e-Alam city in near or far future. Thus the city can be planned with having concerns of any natural or environmental threats.

Urban Growth & Land Use

Tracking city’s growth in history will clearly define the amount and direction of city’s expansion and where it will spread. Thus analyzing the cities past growth will identify areas to be protected and areas to give more attention when expanding urban cores. In addition to this, studying past urban growth will derive the cities future expansion amount, which will be used to define the amount of land needed for the city to expand in the timeframe of the plan. Land use analysis studies all the current uses within the urban boundary and their current relationships. This study will provide the planners with sophisticated data regarding what uses are there in the city and what is missing. Also this study will define how various uses within the city are distributed and how their relationship and distribution should become in the plans timeframe in order to support the plans vision for the city.

The Master Plan

Urban Growth & Density

The analysis of cities past growth has determined the amount and direction of its future expansion. This expansion can be directed by creating two major vertical and horizontal axes which will connect the city’s current core to its newly developed core in the north and Logar University in the north-west. At the intersection of these two axes will develop the city’s new urban core which will be a mix of institutional, commercial and recreational uses. Around this newly developed core the population will be distributed in a circular fashion from higher to lower densities, respectively. Placing the higher densities around the newly developed core and decreasing it as the distance from the core increases.

Urban Mobility Networks

The City’s future road network builds on and extends its current network with a series of design strategies. First, the hierarchy of road network are redesigned to ensure safe passage of transits and day to day travels. Second, a mixed multi modal transport system is integrated in the main axes of the city which consists of BRT lanes, bike ways and pedestrian paths. Third, from the main axes, arterial roads and from them the collector roads which finally ends up to local roads are distributed throughout the city. Finally, a green pathway which is by itself a collector road with vast green pedestrian path runs through all districts of the city to encourage urban pedestrian mobility.