Bagh-e-Jinnah, Lahore: Contextualising Its Historical Evolution and Socio-Cultural Significance

Bagh-e-Jinnah, formerly Lawrence Garden, represents one of Lahore’s most significant urban green spaces, embodying over 160 years of colonial, postcolonial, and contemporary urban history. Established in 1862 as a leisure ground for British elites and a site of botanical experimentation, the garden has since evolved into a civic commons that integrates ecological value with socio-cultural functions. This paper analyses its historical evolution, architectural legacies, botanical diversity, and adaptive reuse within the broader context of Lahore's urban transformation. Using archival records, secondary literature, and comparative analysis of design features with Mughal and colonial gardens, the study highlights how Bagh-e-Jinnah has transitioned from a colonial landscape of exclusion to a democratic space of cultural performance, recreation, and environmental resilience. Findings reveal the park's hybrid identity as both a living archive of horticultural history and a critical space for social interaction, community health, and climate mitigation. At the same time, the study identifies pressing challenges, including encroachment, infrastructural decay, and biodiversity threats, which demand integrated conservation strategies. The paper argues that preserving Bagh-e-Jinnah is not only a matter of heritage conservation but also an investment in urban sustainability and collective memory in Pakistan.