According to many observers, the 21st century will see the centre of global power shift from West to East. The Asian megacities presented in this book form the heart of this new centre, where economic indicators often hit “double-digit figures”. The book is not a guide to these cities. It is a nonfiction, journalistic account that aims to provide a very personal (in the eyes of the writer and photographer) outlook on this new world through its most powerful symbols. It may be a useful tool for those wanting to do business, start a new career or even a new life. For those wanting to distance themselves from a Euro-centric vision and understand how the world could be changing. For better or worse…

In this book, an interdisciplinary research group of faculty members, researchers, professionals, and planners contributed to an understanding of the dynamics and dimensions of emerging challenges and risks in megacities in the rapidly changing urban environments in Asia and examined emerging resilience themes from the point of view of sustainability and public policy. The world’s urban population in 2009 was approximately 3.4 billion and Asia’s urban population was about 1.72 billion. Between 2010 and 2020, 411 million people will be added to Asian cities (60 % of the growth in the world’s urban population). By 2020, of the world’s urban population of 4.2 billion, approximately 2.2 billion will be in Asia. China and India will contribute 31.3 % of the total world urban population by 2025. Developing Asia’s projected global share of CO2 emissions for energy consumption will increase from 30 % in 2006 to 43 % by 2030. City regions serve as magnets for people, enterprise, and culture, but with urbanisation , the worst form of visible poverty becomes prominent. The Asian region, with a slum population of an estimated 505.5 million people, remains host to over half of the world’s slum population . The book provides information on a comprehensive range of environmental threats faced by the inhabitants of megacities. It also offers a wide and multidisciplinary group of case studies from rapidly growing megacities (with populations of more than 5 million) from developed and developing countries of Asia.

Asian Megatrends assesses the key drivers impacting Asia over the next two decades. The rise of China is transforming the Asia-Pacific, as China’s economic and military might increasingly reverberates throughout the region. India and Indonesia are also rising Asian powers that are changing the shape of the Asian economic landscape. The rapid growth of emerging Asian consumer markets is becoming an increasingly important growth engine for the world economy and for global multinationals. However, Asia faces tremendous economic and social challenges over the long-term, including the rapid growth of Asian megacities and severe environmental problems due to climate change, water crises and pollution. Geopolitical tensions have also been escalating in the Asia-Pacific due to territorial disputes in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, increasing the risk of a regional arms race and military confrontation. Asian Megatrends is an essential read for government officials and corporate executives wishing to understand the rapidly changing risk landscape in Asia.

Globalisation has long historical roots in South Asia, but economic liberalisation has led to uniquely rapid urban growth in South Asia during the past decade. This book brings together a multidisciplinary collection of chapters on contemporary and historical themes explaining this recent explosive growth and transformations on-going in the cities of this region. The essays in this volume attempt to shed light on the historical roots of these cities and the traditions that are increasingly placed under strain by modernity, as well as exploring the lived experience of a new generation of city dwellers and their indelible impact on those who live at the city’s margins. The book discusses that previously, cities such as Mumbai grew by accumulating a vast hinterland of slum-dwellers who depressed wages and supplied cheap labour to the city’s industrial economy. However, it goes on to show that the new growth of cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Madras in south India, or Delhi and Calcutta in the north of India, is more capital-intensive, export-driven, and oriented towards the information technology and service sectors. The book explains that these cities have attracted a new elite of young, educated workers, with money to spend and an outlook on life that is often a complex mix of modern ideas and conservative tradition. It goes on to cover topics such as the politics of town planning, consumer culture, and the struggles among multiple identities in the city. By tracing the genealogies of cities, it gives a useful insight into the historical conditioning that determines how cities negotiate new changes and influences. There will soon be more mega cities in South Asia than anywhere else in the world, and this book provides an in-depth analysis of this growth. It will be of interest to students and scholars of South Asian History, Politics and Anthropology, as well as those working in the fields of urbanisation and globalisation.

Beyond Metropolis builds on studies conducted during the 1990s under the Centre for Human Settlements at the University of British Columbia.

This book analyses and compares the development paths of five major cities in East and Southeast Asia since the early 1960s, including Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Manila, Seoul, and Shanghai. In examining these five cases through a carefully crafted conceptual framework, the author excavates an understanding of the dynamics that have enabled Seoul and Shanghai to become highly competitive as major engines of economic growth, while simultaneously accounting for why the other three cities have faced numerous problems in terms of meeting their development goals. Presenting both quantitative and qualitative data to trace the course of changes between 1960 and 2015, the case studies curate six possible explanations for the different cities’ developmental trajectories. The book considers the national development strategy matters to the development of cities and positions the share of budget revenue retained for cities’ expenditure as critical. The author demonstrates that consistently pursuing long-term strategies is important, and that public entrepreneurship with powerful supporting coalitions is vital. The book illustrates how master plans have played limited roles in the building of cities, and that fragmented governments are often at the root of the problems facing a city’s development. This book will be highly relevant to researchers in international and Asian urban development.

A distinguishing feature of recent urbanization in the ASEAN countries of Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Indonesia is the outward extension of their mega-cities (Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur) beyond the metropolitan borders, resulting in the establishment of new towns, industrial estates, and housing projects in previously rural areas. This process has both positive and negative effects. On one side, household incomes and employment opportunities are increasing, but on the other, the growth often causes serious problems in terms of environmental deterioration, conflicting land uses, and inadequate housing and service provisions. Mega Urban Regions of Southeast Asia is the first comprehensive work on the subject of ASEAN mega-urban regions. The contributors review T.G. McGee's original idea of desakota zones, and offer arguments both for and against this concept, making a significant contribution to our understanding of the true face of ASEAN cities. The book brings together authors from around the world and will be of interest to a wide audience, including demographers, urban planners, geographers, sociologists, economists, civil servants and development consultants.