23 December 2012 : Keith Williams Architects shortlisted to design new megacity for 10 million in Pakistan

Keith Williams and EPR Architects have revealed the first picture of their shortlisted bid to design a new megacity in Sindh Province, Pakistan for the Regional Government. Keith Williams Architects is heading the team which has made it to the final two in a competition to establish a conceptual vision and a long-term strategy for Zulfikarabad, a new city to the south-east of Karachi, that will eventually be home to 10 million people.

The proposal involves a new low-carbon urban morphology, and for the team at Keith Williams Architects and an “extraordinary new opportunity” for an architectural firm best known for its landmark cultural buildings.

With the exception of China, there can otherwise be very few projects on this scale envisaged anywhere in the world. The Zulfikarabad masterplan includes every building typology from airports to hospitals, mosques to recycling centres, homes to schools, universities to power stations, which will clearly be built over a large number of years. Williams added: “With now more than 50% of the world’s population living in cities, many in very difficult conditions in the developing world, this project gives us the opportunity to explore a new blueprint for the way we might develop our cities over the decades to come.”