Student Number

25318

Degree

Master of Science in Development Studies

Department

Department of Economics

School

School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

Date of Submission

Summer 6-13-2025

Supervisor

Dr. Nausheen H. Anwar, Professor, City & Regional Planning and Director Karachi Urban Lab, Department of Social Sciences

Committee Member 1

Dr. Saeed-ud-din Ahmed, Examiner – I, Associate Professor at NED University

Committee Member 2

Dr. Arslan Waheed, Program Coordinator, Graduate Programs SSLA, Department of Social Sciences, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi

Keywords

Climate Change, Global Warming, Heat, Built Environment, Delivery Riders, Urban Heat, Informal Economy, Right to the City

Abstract

As global warming takes hold, rising temperatures across cities have endangered citizens, especially socio-economically underprivileged populations. Delivery riders are one such sect of society, whose labor is increasingly vital, yet they are vulnerable as they navigate through Karachi city and its built environment, exposed to rising temperatures. Aspects of Karachi’s built environment, such as shade, interlink closely with rising temperatures to define the experiences of riders as they navigate the city to complete their tasks. As a vulnerable sect of society, delivery riders face inequality and poverty in Karachi city, and the exposure to rising temperatures further intensifies this inequality. This calls into question not only the relationship between heat and work, but also the influence of the built environment of the city. To explore how the built environment of Karachi city intersects with extreme temperatures and shapes the experiences of delivery riders, this research utilizes a mixed-methods approach, discussing how the built environment aggravates heat exposure for delivery riders due to a lack of availability of shade and green urban spaces. The research further draws upon David Harvey’s theory of Right to the City to examine the relationship of delivery riders, through an intersectional lens, to the built environment in context of rising temperatures, assessing how they experience heat in the city. To critically assess the experience of riders within the city, the research also draws upon literature on shade, analyzing it as a resource, a right, and as a product of contestations and negotiations in Karachi city. Drawing upon these strands of literature, this research aims critically examine the right to a city and its relationship with the right to shade as delivery riders navigate a built environment that is rapidly heating up. Findings demonstrate that delivery riders, despite their hypervisibility across the city, navigate and engage with its built environment not only as workers, but as invisible urban actors deprived of the right to shape and access Karachi. The lack of access and the denial of access to features such as shade and green spaces intensifies the burdens of delivery riders, denying them the right to access the city and rendering them increasingly prone to adverse heat exposure. To cope with this reality, riders have developed and modified adaptation techniques to mitigate the risks of heat exposure and continue their work. It signifies the inequity embedded into Karachi’s built environment, translating into a denial of access to shade, and further re-enforced through the nature of employment of delivery riders. This research xi highlights the necessity of theorizing the right to a city as the right to its built environment, especially a right to shade, enabling a reclamation of the right to the city through inclusive and equitable urban development, shaping the built environment to cater to the masses and the changing climate. Acknowledging the experiences of delivery riders, the research concludes by proposing recommendations to work towards inclusive and just urbanization in the context of rising temperatures.

Submission Type

Thesis

Document Type

Restricted Access

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