Fifty years after independence, Karachi, Pakistan's most important metropolis, continues to suffer from a widespread shortage of suitable housing and infrastructure. The recent growth of the newly empowered middle class has inflicted additional strains on this already overwhelmed megacity. While the rich are well-equipped to look after themselves, and the poor are best served with a 'sites and services' approach, the middle class has few accessible housing options. By looking at the development of Karachi, and its current urban form and infrastructure--in the context of patronage, planning and housing typology--this thesis reaches a better understanding of the issues, identifies appropriate housing solutions for the rising middle class, and proposes transformations of typology based on the target residents' social, cultural and economic needs.