_a lexicon of spatio-ideological identity creation (2020-ongoing)
Barricades and property markers bearing the words DHA are the first physical indicators of the military’s land occupation. Slowly, a system of wide streets arranged in a clean grid begin to colonize the surrounding lands, indiscriminately encroaching on the inhabited building fabric. Concrete walls are constructed as the final step of annexing land before plots upon which oppressively ornate facades are erected. This residential typology is defined by exclusion of the displaced; walls, gates, and other security infrastructure are of primary importance. At the forefront of this development trend is the Pakistani Military who has designed and developed over 30% of Lahore’s built up area under the Defense Housing Authority (DHA). Operating one of the most successful real-estate development companies in Pakistan lends the Pakistani military economic power, thereby strengthening their political legitimacy and defence capabilities. The military’s hegemonic control is encapsulated bravely in Ayesha Siddiqa’s book titled Military Inc.
This pattern of post 1980’s residential enclave development in Lahore is sometimes justified in the name of national defense necessitated by the country’s turbulent historical and ongoing geopolitical situation. I previously studied how historical colonial power structures have provided the framework within which contemporary residential development, notably that which is owned by the Pakistani Military, has thrived. As similarly structured large scale settler-colonial projects are presented by Jared Kushner at the World Economic Forum, development as a tool of cultural erasure continues to be shamelessly employed.
A report published by Amnesty International in September 2025 highlights the extent to which international actors have provided Pakistan with the surveillance infrastructure that continues to enable the mass web monitoring, and censorship of media and journalists. Activists both within and at times outside of the country are frequently unjustly apprehended by the military, ISI, and other state actors. The material project of mass residential development occurs simultaneously, sorting, ‘cleaning’, and organizing people in controllable, manageable space. A strong symbiotic relationship exists between the urban and architectural expression of housing developments and the military’s ever growing hegemonic control.
During my research in 2020, I visited Lahore to document the spatial conditions of military owned housing developments. Due to a lack of publicly available GIS data, I also relied heavily on Google satellite imagery to trace the stages of land expropriation and demolitions. Drawing from the key readings: The New Pakistani Middle-Class by Ammara Maqsood, Hollow Lands by Eyal Weiszman as well as theorization by Ayyaz Mallick, I sought to visualize the material systems, within what Mallick defines as the larger material-ideological project, that aid the military in establishing hegemonic control through defining the aspirations of an emergent middle-class. The material systems I studied varied in scale, and included advertising materials, land expropriation, urban planning, and built forms including houses, entrance gates and mosques.
