Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the trends of changing temperature of Lahore in Pakistan due to invigorating urbanization process since 1950-2007. Design/methodology/approach – This research is designed by using the numerical time series data of mean minimum temperature (MMiT), mean maximum temperature (MMxT) and mean annual temperature (MAT). The growth in urban population, area and transportation are also evaluated by using the available data. Linear regression method is applied to investigate the results of change in temperature. Three different approaches to examine the MAT are testified; first as an entire period (1950-2007), and then by dividing the entire period into two equal phases as Phase I (1950-1974) and Phase II (1975-2207). MMiT and MMxT are analysed for the entire period without making any division. Findings – The results of the paper are significantly indicating an increase in MAT and MMiT which have risen up to 0.89 and 2.51°C, respectively, while MMxT remained resolute throughout the study period. Change in MMiT is observed regular and brisk than other parameters of temperature. Increase in temperature in Phase I is observed only 0.062°C and in Phase II it is observed 0.94°C. Research limitations/implications – This research can be further worked out by using different meteorological models to study the effects of urbanization on lower surface atmosphere and urban heat island effects in Lahore. Originality/value – By taking into consideration these results, the town planners and government can make different strategies to mitigate the urban effects on rising temperature in Pakistan.

Local geology or local site effect is a crucial component while conducting seismic risk assessment studies. Investigations made by utilization of ambient noise are an effective tool for local site estimation. The present study is conducted to perform site response analysis at 13 different sites within urban settlements of Fateh jang area (Pakistan). The aim of this study was achieved by utilizing Nakamura method or H/V spectral ratio method. Some important local site parameters, e.g., the fundamental frequencies f ₀ of soft sediments, amplitudes A ₀ of corresponding H/V spectral ratios, and alluvium thicknesses over 13 sites within the study area, were measured and analyzed. The results show that the study area reflects low fundamental frequency f ₀. The fundamental frequencies of the sediments are highly variable and lie in a range of 0.6–13.0 Hz. Similarly, amplification factors at these sites are in the range of 2.0–4.0.

According to population, Karachi is the first largest city of Pakistan and 9th largest in the world. During last three decades, it has faced mass urbanization, huge population growth, many fold increase in vehicles and industrial development. As a result the demand of more energy in form of fossil fuels increased for domestic, industrial and transportation purpose. In this research the maximum available data of Karachi about urbanization, population and vehicles growth, industrialization, energy consumption and CO2 emissions are analyzed. Time periods considered for this work are according to the availability of the data. The results show that during 1947 to 2008, both urban population and urban area increased to 1500%. During 1990 to 2008, the percentage growth in vehicles is double than that of population growth during this time period. During 1980 to 2007 the consumption of oil and petrol, natural gas and coal increased to 219, 365 and 287%, respectively. The emission of CO2 jumped from 39 million metric tons in 1980 to 151 million metric tons in 2007. Key words: Urbanization, fossil fuels, CO2 emission, energy consumption, population growth.

Karachi is the largest and most populous metropolitan city of Pakistan and the main seaport and financial centre of the country. Rapid urbanization during last 40 to 50 years caused to accelerate its population to 23.7 million. The objective of this work was to study the impact of urbanization on development of urban heat island (UHI) of Karachi city. The study was conducted by using Finite Volume Mesoscale Model (FVM) in which topography from GTOPO30, land-use from GLC 2000 and Meteorological data from NCEP were used as an input to run the simulation. The simulations were run for three days starting at 00:00 (GMT) on 19th day of April and ending at 00:00 (GMT) on 22nd day of April over selected domain with resolution of 3x3 km of 30 cells. The results showed that there is significance urban heat island presence in Karachi city where the urban area has 5.6°C to 13.5°C higher temperature than its surrounding non-urban areas depending upon the time of a day.