The number of people in South Asia's cities rose by 130 million between 2000 and 2011--more than the entire population of Japan. This was linked to an improvement in productivity and a reduction in the incidence of extreme poverty. But the region's cities have struggled to cope with the pressure of population growth on land, housing, infrastructure, basic services, and the environment. As a result, urbanization in South Asia remains underleveraged in its ability to deliver widespread improvements in both prosperity and livability. Leveraging Urbanization in South Asia is about the state of South Asia's urbanization and the market and policy failures that have taken the region’s urban areas to where they are today--and the hard policy actions needed if the region’s cities are to leverage urbanization better. This publication provides original empirical and diagnostic analysis of urbanization and related economic trends in the region. It also discusses in detail the key policy areas, the most fundamental being urban governance and finance, where actions must be taken to make cities more prosperous and livable.

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.

Using case studies from seven Asian countries, this volume examines why people move from rural to urban areas, how globalization affects such movements, and the synergies between globalization, urbanization, and migration.

First published in 1999, this volume begins with a panoramic survey by Nigel Harris of the drama of Asian Urbanization, based on the inaugural plenary lecture he gave to the 5th Asian Urbanization Conference held in London. In the following chapters many experts and practitioners from different countries and cities provide a stimulating portrayal of the processes and outcomes of one of the greatest shifts of population (not just absolutely but proportionately as well) ever to have occurred in human history. Asia includes more than half the world's population, but, apart from the Tiger economies and Japan, it is still overwhelmingly rural. In the last decade or so urbanization has really begun to take off and the shift of population to the cities represents one of the greatest population movements the planet has ever seen. By 2030 more than 50% of Asia's population will be urban and between now and then more than 500 million people in Asia will have moved - looking for jobs, housing, food and water. They will be both part of a problem and most of the solution - building around them the cities they will live in.

This study uses satellite imagery and population data for the decade 2000 to 2010 in order to map urban areas and populations across the entire East Asia region, identifying 869 urban areas with populations over 100,000, allowing us for the first time to understand patterns in urbanization in East Asia.

This book explores how Asia's fast-growing cities can fulfil their potential as engines of economic prosperity and provide a livable environment for all citizens. But for this to happen, major challenges that reduce urban communities' quality of life and economic opportunities must be addressed. These include poor planning, a lack of affordable housing, inequalities, pollution, climate vulnerabilities, and urban infrastructure deficits. The book's 19 articles unwrap these challenges and present solutions focused on smart and inclusive planning, sustainable transport and energy, innovative financing, and resilience and rejuvenation.

First published in 1999, this volume begins with a panoramic survey by Nigel Harris of the drama of Asian Urbanization, based on the inaugural plenary lecture he gave to the 5th Asian Urbanization Conference held in London. In the following chapters many experts and practitioners from different countries and cities provide a stimulating portrayal of the processes and outcomes of one of the greatest shifts of population (not just absolutely but proportionately as well) ever to have occurred in human history. Asia includes more than half the world’s population, but, apart from the Tiger economies and Japan, it is still overwhelmingly rural. In the last decade or so urbanization has really begun to take off and the shift of population to the cities represents one of the greatest population movements the planet has ever seen. By 2030 more than 50% of Asia’s population will be urban and between now and then more than 500 million people in Asia will have moved - looking for jobs, housing, food and water. They will be both part of a problem and most of the solution - building around them the cities they will live in.