Between 1960 and 1978, urban development plans for Kabul, drawn up with the support of international experts, promoted a technocratic approach to urban modernisation at the expense of traditional water management systems, including engineered streams. Based on archival sources, interviews and secondary data, this article examines how urban planning contributed to weakening the city’s water and territorial resilience. It argues for the reintegration of local knowledge into urban planning policies to restore a sustainable balance between modernisation and water management.

Since 1880, Kabul has undergone urban transformation driven by external influences and the gradual marginalization of traditional spatial management practices. By the late 19th century, the capital became a laboratory for modernization projects led by elites, often inspired by foreign models that were poorly compatible with the irrigated meadow systems that had historically structured the valley. This dynamic intensified in the 20th century (Figure 1), particularly during the Cold War.

1 The project was interrupted during the British occupation (1879–1880) and was subsequently abandoned when Emir Abdur-Rahman chose a new royal site southeast of Sherpur, where he built the Arg, the new royal palace.

2 The term Arg is a Dari (modern Persian) word derived from Pahlavi (Middle Persian), meaning “citadel” or “fortress.” In its contemporary usage in Kabul, it refers to the presidential palace and, by extension, the central authority.

3 In the irrigated meadow (awlang) of Chardeh, located near the historic city of Kabul, the area was incorporated in 1924 into the Dar al-Aman project, designed in collaboration with the French architect André Godard under the commission of Emir Amanollah Khan. This project is known as the Dar al-Aman Plan.

4 The “gap” visible in the timeline corresponds to a period of political instability, notably marked by the fall of Amanollah Khan in 1929. This instability interrupted the Dar al-Aman project. Urban development continued neighborhood by neighborhood but without an overarching plan, which explains the absence of a major urban planning framework until the First Master Plan (1960–1964).

The three successive Master Plans (1964, 1975, and 1978) were designed to manage Kabul’s rapid expansion. Their development took place in a context of political instability marked by coups, regime changes, and growing dependence on international aid. This instability limited institutional continuity and hindered the creation of a genuine local urban planning memory.

These plans relied heavily on a logic of technical assistance.

From the 15th and 16th centuries onward, Kabul’s hydraulic infrastructure underwent significant development. Ulugh Beg II, a Timurid ruler and paternal uncle of Babur—the future founder of the Mughal Empire—played a decisive role in improving these systems. His reign was marked by substantial investment in irrigation infrastructure and the creation of gardens, building upon pre-existing works.

In his memoirs, Babur describes the intensive use of Kabul’s streams, particularly the Bala Juy (“upper stream”), which supplied the Bala-Hesar palace and the gardens located at the foot of Sher Darwaza (see Figures 2 and 3). This canal constituted a key element of the historic urban landscape and supported agricultural and residential areas around the Char Chatta bazaar (“Four Arches”), built during the reign of Shah Jahan using hydraulic techniques comparable to those employed in the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore and the Taj Mahal in Agra (see Figure 4).

Babur also notes that Kabul was structured around six major irrigated meadows (awlang), including that of Chardeh (see Figure 5), located near the historic city and traversed by the Bala Juy. In 1924, this area was incorporated into the Dar al-Aman project, developed in collaboration with the French architect André Godard. The irrigation system of these meadows relied on a network of dams, secondary canals, and diversion structures, constructed using stone, earth, or branches. These infrastructures played a central role in agriculture, domestic water supply, and social organization.

Babur mentionne également que Kaboul est structurée en six grandes prairies irriguées (awlang), dont celle de Chârdeh (figure 5), proche de la ville historique et traversée par le Bâlâ Juy. En 1924, cette zone est intégrée dans le projet de Dâr ol-Amân, conçu en collaboration avec l’architecte français André Godard. Le système d’irrigation de ces prairies repose sur un ensemble de barrages, de canaux secondaires et de dérivations, construits avec des pierres, de la terre ou des branches. Ces infrastructures jouent un rôle central dans l’agriculture, l’approvisionnement domestique et l’organisation sociale.

This long-standing tradition of hydraulic urbanism provides an essential framework for understanding the shortcomings of the 20th-century Master Plans. The analysis is structured around three main axes:

1. The technical content of the plans (objectives, assumptions, and spatial representations);

2. The modes of development (actors involved, decision-making processes, and circulation of knowledge);

3. The territorial impacts on access to water, urban fragmentation, and forms of housing.

Between 1960 and 1978, Kabul’s three Master Plans reflect a consistent dynamic of erasing vernacular practices in favor of authoritarian, externally and ideologically driven planning. The marginalization of irrigated meadows and juy—central elements in an arid and hydrologically fragile territory—illustrates the limits of this approach. Across all three plans, the same blind spot persists: the absence of dialogue with the population, which was treated not as an active participant in urban development but merely as a recipient of decisions. No participatory process was implemented, and interviews conducted as part of this research confirm that residents were never informed or consulted regarding the chosen orientations (Rahimi, 2023).

Beyond technical aspects or uncontrolled urban growth, Kabul’s recent history highlights the weakening of community-based mechanisms for territorial management. By disregarding collective knowledge, authorities undermined self-regulatory structures that had previously ensured coherence between housing, agriculture, and water management. The gradual disappearance of streams and irrigated meadows disrupted these socio-hydraulic balances.

Rethinking urban planning in Kabul requires rehabilitating these territorial logics without idealizing the past. This approach does not entail simply reinstating traditional forms as they were, nor rejecting modern planning, but rather constructing a renewed articulation between institutional expertise and local knowledge. Even a partial restoration of hydraulic continuities, particularly through the still-existing juy, could strengthen urban resilience while reconnecting the city to its socio-environmental foundations.

However, the authoritarian and technocratic planning inherited from the twentieth century is now giving way to an equally centralized financialized approach in the twenty-first century, which once again tends to neglect the integration of juy within the city (Figure 1). This shift reveals the persistence of urbanism disconnected from Kabul’s socio-hydraulic realities. Although this article cannot explore the issue in detail, it opens a necessary field of research on contemporary forms of governance, the financialization of urban projects—in both formal and informal areas—and the evolution of the fourth and fifth Master Plans.

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Header image: Qasim Mirzaie