Is it just me, or is Islamabad’s "Garden City" aura completely dead? 🌲💀
Hey everyone,
I was going down a rabbit hole looking at old pictures of Islamabad recently, and honestly, the glow-down is so real. Growing up here, the summers actually used to have immaculate vibes—it was breezy, and the tree canopy was giving everything it was supposed to give.
Now? Every single time you drive down the Expressway, Zone IV, or sectors like E-11 and B-17, it’s just pure pain. Entire green hills and forest patches are getting completely wiped out just for another concrete housing society or mid commercial plaza. The urban heat island effect is hitting crazy hard—the city feels significantly hotter every year and staying alive without AC 24/7 is basically impossible.
Like, obviously we need housing as the population grows, I get it. But it feels like we are aggressively destroying the exact natural beauty that made Islamabad special in the first place.
I lowkey want to crowd-source some thoughts from the community for a project:
Which specific area or sector in Islamabad do you think has suffered the absolute worst loss of green cover recently? Where did they do the most damage?
Do you feel a personal responsibility to plant trees/greenery around your own space, or do you feel like individual efforts are just a drop in the ocean when big developers are out here cutting down thousands of trees anyway? Is it a "we're cooked either way" situation?
What is one small, realistic thing we can actually do as a community or neighborhood to bring the shade back to our streets?
Would love to hear your thoughts, memories, and ideas. Let's talk.