Unsustainable Urban Sprawl In Hindu Kush Region- A Case Study Of Ghizer District Gilgit Baltistan-Pakistan.

Urbanization in developing countries is one of the majorchallenges. Pakistan has experienced one of the highest growth rate ofurbanization in South Asia. The Northern part of the country called GilgitBaltistan (GB) is experiencing increased commercialization, tourism andurbanization. With expected future economic activities due to completion of theChina Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the urban influx of internallymigrating people will further increase. The Land use in the region is underconstant pressure, due to these changes. In this mixed method research, the LandCover Land Use changes during last 40 years (1985-2019), economic valuation ofthe land in last 10 years and other important aspects of land dynamics have been studied with the help of GIS maps, questionnaire survey and Focal GroupsDiscussions (FDGs).. Questionnaire survey was administered to 105 randomlyselected respondents from the Gahkuch-Damas town of the district Ghizer,Pakistan as this part of the district is urbanizing more rapidly. This was alsofollowed by Focus Group Discussions, with the local stakeholders. The resultsshow highly unsustainable land use changes during the last 40 years. The pricesof commercial land have increased many time, forcing the people to sell theirland to the internal immigrants from other parts of the country and region. Thelivelihood of the people is becoming more unsustainable as the per householdland and livestock has witnessed sharp decrease.