The narrative that urbanization inherently threatens food security has gone too far. Evidence from Punjab’s Urban Atlas 2025, published by The Urban Unit using satellite-based land-use data, tells a different story: built-up area in Punjab grew from 1% to 4% of total provincial area between 1995 and 2023, while agricultural land actually increased from 54% to 55%.
These findings challenge the prevailing assumption that urban expansion automatically displaces agriculture. Urbanization and agricultural sustainability are not mutually exclusive—with strategic spatial planning, they can coexist. The real challenge is not urbanization itself, but poorly governed, unplanned urban growth. Agricultural productivity per worker grew 27% over the same period (World Bank data), though land coverage alone is insufficient against a population growing at 2–3% annually.
Read the full article on Business Recorder (Published 5 June 2025).