Karachi, a teeming metropolis perched on the Arabian Sea, has long been known as the City of Lights by locals, due to its vitality and thriving street life. Among its 15 millions inhabitants, Pakistan's most populous city contains countless contradictions within its boundaries; it supports a growing middle class, but also religious extremism. A thriving commercial center, it has also been the site of shocking acts of terrorism, including an attack in May of this year that left 12 dead.
In her seminal 1961 book on modern urban life, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs wrote, "Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody." As Steve Inskeep explains in "Portrait of a Megalopolis," the city truly contains multitudes. As he writes, "Karachi may be a city in crisis, on the shore of a country in crisis, but people find ways to make money. If religious conservatism is spreading, that's no problem; new ads outside the airport promote 'Pakistan's First Shariah Compliant Credit Card.'"
Above, brides participate in a mass wedding ceremony held in Karachi on Feb. 12, 2008. The 160 couples' wedding was arranged with the help of the Pakistani Sindh province government to help the couples' parents with the high costs of traditional wedding customs
A Pakistani girl holding a child while walking through rubbish at Machar slum area of Karachi on July 22, 2011. Unemployment and inflation are both rampant in Pakistan, and nearly a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line.
The sunset seen over the port of Karachi on Dec. 31, 2010. Karachi is one of the region's most important ports, making Karachi the financial capital of Pakistan. The municipal government claims that the city generates 65 percent of the national revenue.
A view of one of Karachi's busy neighborhoods. The city has a population of over 13 million, but suffers from an undeveloped transportation system.
A financial boom helped Pakistan achieve ambitious development goals in the early part of the century, but unemployment has caused gains to slow since 2008.
Above, a Pakistani man walks past a currency exchange office.
Muslim Pakistanis pray during Eid Al-Fitr at the Eidgah ground during the first day of the Eid religious festival in Karachi on Sept. 21, 2009. Roughly 95 percent of Pakistan's population identify as Muslim.
A Karachi family eats food offered by a charitable organization office on Feb. 16, 2011. Rising food prices in Pakistan, in part spurred by devastating flooding that damaged the agricultural sector, have most sharply affected the poor.
Karachi is the site many of Pakistan's tallest buildings, incluing the MCB Tower, the current record holder, and its predeccessor, Habib Bank Plaza.
A resident points to huge holes in a house within a a neighborhood hit by violence in Karachi on July 10, 2011.
A man races a donkey cart as part of the Hamara Karachi festival on March 1, 2009. While a city of skyscrapers and high finance, Karachi is also working to promote cultural and artistic traditions in the city.
Above, protesters rally against the rising cost of petroleum in January 2005.
Karachi students at the Guiding Light school. While troubled schools plague the city, Steve Inskeep found that in this institution, "the ... floors are clean, the kids wear crisp green uniforms, and they're exposed to books. Around 1 p.m., when schools across the area let out, I saw many kids in colorful uniforms walking home or riding bikes."
A Pakstani child sits in an empty classroom. Government schoolteachers have not come to this violent neighborhood for months.
Homeless men sleep in the streets outside some of the shops downtown Karachi city.
A goat walks through trash on a street in Karachi outside of a school. Classes here have been disrupted for months due to violence.
Laborers in Pakistan pull a loaded cart in the British-era Lea Market in the southern Lyari neighborhood of Karachi.
A girl takes a camel ride on the coast of Karachi on Pakistan's Independence Day, Aug. 14, 2011.
