Neela Gumbad Urban Regeneration

Project Context & Historical Significance

Located at a critical confluence of heritage, healthcare, commerce, and culture, Neela Gumbad occupies a central position along Lahore’s historic Mall Road, adjacent to the Mayo Hospital, Anarkali Bazaar, and Wazir Khan Chowk. Once a revered civic node, the site has gradually been engulfed by traffic congestion, illegal signage, encroachments, and visual pollution—resulting in a diminished identity of both the Gumbad and the larger urban ensemble.

The Neela Gumbad shrine, dating back centuries, stands as an enduring symbol of Lahore’s spiritual, architectural, and communal heritage. Yet today, it finds itself dislocated from the rhythm of the city, suffocated by noise and overwhelmed by informal vehicular and commercial activity.

The Vision: Reclaiming Lost Identity through Placemaking

The Sheher Saaz proposal envisions Neela Gumbad not just as a traffic junction or neglected landmark—but as a reintegrated civic heart, a multi-layered urban space, and a model for placemaking in historic urban centers.

This vision is fully aligned with Placemaking Pakistan’s commitment to creating people-centered, heritage-sensitive, and socially inclusive spaces.

Key Design Strategies & Placemaking Interventions

Reclaiming the Public Realm: A People-First Piazza

A 40,000 sq ft elevated pedestrian piazza will be developed above ground to create a vehicle-free, human-scaled civic space.
The design restores direct visual and spatial prominence to the Neela Gumbad shrine, previously hidden by ad hoc infrastructure.
Strategically placed plazas, green patches, shaded benches, and accessible ramps will make the space functional and inviting for pedestrians, patients, workers, and passersby.

After

Before

Subsurface Parking as an Urban Management Tool

A three-level, 120,000 sq ft underground smart parking facility will accommodate over 300 vehicles and two-wheeler spaces, absorbing on-street vehicular pressure.
Features include:
- Smart parking sensors
- EV charging ports
- Natural lighting through skylight cutouts in the piazza
- Fire safety and ventilation systems
This helps decouple parking from pedestrian space and reclaims the surface for civic life—an essential placemaking principle.

Heritage Integration & Visual Continuity

Signage clutter, visual noise, and boundary walls that previously masked the shrine will be removed or realigned to enhance sightlines and symbolic connection.
Restoration of the shrine dome’s original blue tile work will reassert local identity and urban memory.
The shrine becomes a spiritual and visual anchor, tying the space to both its past and future.

Civic Utility and Urban Equity

The design accommodates all social groups—visitors, hospital staff, shoppers, commuters, and the homeless—through multipurpose amenities:
- Clean public toilets
- Drinking water stations
- Resting areas and shaded zones
- Surveillance and lighting for nighttime safety

This embodies placemaking equity by ensuring comfort and dignity in shared spaces.

Cultural Activation & Community Potential

Although the current phase focuses on physical regeneration, the proposed space has immense potential for future cultural programming:

Street performances and qawwali nights
Urban storytelling and heritage walks
Local vendors and food carts designed as part of a regulated system
Temporary exhibitions and seasonal markets

This latent programmatic potential is key to creating a living public realm, not just a beautified urban node.

Placemaking Framework Integration (As Advocated by Placemaking Pakistan)

Pillar

Access & Linkages

Comfort & Image

Uses & Activities

Sociability & Belonging

Integration in Project

Underground parking reduces congestion, enhancing pedestrian accessibility

Inclusive seating, shade, lighting, and landscaping for comfort and usability

Opportunity for civic events, vending, leisure, and spiritual gathering

Reconnection with cultural identity, spiritual symbolism, and civic pride

Projected Outcomes (& Urban Impact

Enhanced pedestrian experience on one of Lahore’s most historic roads
Traffic decongestion and better management of hospital and market flow
Revival of Neela Gumbad’s cultural and architectural legacy
Improved accessibility and dignity for diverse urban groups
Establishment of a replicable model for heritage-based urban placemaking

A Model for Human-Scaled Urban Regeneration

The Neela Gumbad project stands at the intersection of preservation and progression. It redefines urban renewal not as an erasure of the past, but as a celebration of place, community, and civic dignity. By applying the principles of placemaking—from accessibility and heritage awareness to social cohesion and programmatic diversity—it offers a blueprint for restoring sacred civic continuity in Pakistan’s rapidly evolving cities.

At Placemaking Pakistan, we view this as more than a design intervention. It is a statement of values—a reaffirmation that our cities can be equitable, expressive, and deeply rooted in the people they serve.