Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, is the third-most populous city in the world hosting a population of more than 16 million. Despite being the financial hub and urban center of Pakistan, Karachi is counted among the least livable cities in the world.
Due to rapid urbanization over the years, Karachi has witnessed the systematic loss of public spaces such as parks and playgrounds.
It is feared that this shrinking public space is causing detrimental social and cultural shifts, not only at an individual level but also at a wider societal level. The public and social spaces continue to shrink and are under severe compromise, both in terms of number and accessibility.
Therefore, the citizens of Karachi are not only left with significantly fewer opportunities for cultural rejuvenation, creativity, and expression, but are also unable to come together, engage in dialogue, and interact in a common space.
The sports activities in Karachi, particularly for women, have seen a decline due to lack of funding, a dilapidated state of sports grounds, and law and order issues.
According to an investigative report by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), 90 percent of sports grounds in the city do not meet the required standards. Many grounds and facilities for sports have been lost due to lack of support, funding, maintenance, or due to illegal occupation.
The lack of sports facilities and playgrounds is affecting the youth of our city and is also adding to the poor state of sports in Pakistan. In a city with such a large population, there are barely any proper sporting facilities available to foster any kind of interest in them.
This has led to a serious decline in sporting activities among individuals and also in the physical well-being of the citizens of Karachi, and many young individuals are increasingly engaging in violence, extremism, or drug abuse.
Multiple civil organizations and NGOs in the city have time and again highlighted the need for public spaces and better sports facilities for the citizens, and many of them are actively playing their part to promote socio-cultural activities and spaces in Karachi.
Committed to lighting the way towards better urban green spaces and sports grounds, Signify, the world’s leading lighting company, in partnership with I Am Karachi – an organization working to promote socio-cultural activities and campaigns as vehicles for peacebuilding through arts, culture, sports, and dialogue – has installed floodlights in three sports stadiums of Karachi, including one women-only sports academy.
Signify carried out this project with an aim to counter violence and extremism, provide better opportunities to the youth for personal and professional development, and to bring harmony among different communities and cultures within Karachi.
The installation of high-quality, reliable lighting solutions for the sports stadiums provides a great opportunity to earn funding by renting the stadium at night and also generate social opportunity for sports festival for the community at night.
This project has created a multilateral revenue stream to create an ecosystem to sustain and scale up these academies after the end of the current grant.
This collaborative initiative is a great contribution to reclaiming public spaces and encouraging sports and physical activity among citizens. It also inspires the youth to take up sports as a professional career pathway and reform the sports arena of Pakistan.
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