Shikarpoor's history spans more than 350 years and has witnessed rule by the Daudpotas, the Kalhoras, the Afghans, the Talpurs, the British and, finally, the system introduced by the post-independence government of Pakistan. Each new period has ushered in new influences. In addition to the impact of political changes, and historically, the travelling merchants of Shikarpoor have been the primary contributors to the evolution of the urban fabric, bringing back ideas and inspirations (traditionally not practiced in Sindh) from Persia, Central Asia, Punjab and other places where they established the centres of their trading and financial networks. The rich urban fabric of Shikarpoor's historic core reflects the community's exposures to these influences, which have shaped the city's urban environment. Following post-independence demographic changes, this historic urban environment has been subject to more than 60 years of weak planning and development controls. This has resulted in a drastic reversal of the city's historically high standards of urban sophistication – transforming much of its original urban fabric. Yet, based on what remains, this research attempts to establish the prevailing period styles and value-based classification groups of Shikarpoor's identified historic buildings.

The information available about the construction dates of buildings, as recorded in field surveys, is insufficient to establish exact ‘period styles’ of architectural and construction trends. Only 71 of the 1163 identified historic buildings have construction dates inscribed on them. With the exception of three buildings, all the others belong to the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century. Of the 71 buildings for which the construction date is known, 30 are residential. This means that only 4.4% of properties fall into this usage group. Similarly, for all other usage groups, the percentage of buildings with known construction dates is very small, making it difficult to comment or draw any conclusions on period style influences. Pictorial tables of buildings with known construction dates could be a useful tool for analyzing period styles where sufficient data is available. To build further information in this regard, other sources, such as official records from the revenue office, taxation departments or from the building control authority can be explored.