THE UN DEFINES megacities as urban agglomerations of 10 million or more inhabitants and it is predicted that, by the year 2015, there will be 27 megacities in the world, 17 of which will be in the Asia and Pacific region. These two volumes are the result of the 1995 Regional Seminar on Megacities Management in Asia and the Pacific co-hosted by the Asian Development Bank and the Urban Management Programme.
The first volume presents the recommendations of the working groups and 15 papers that relate to the six principle themes of the seminar: institutional frameworks; environmental management; transportation management; land management; private sector participation; and finance and resource mobilization. Executive summaries of the issues and discussions that emerged in each of the themes give examples of best practice under each heading. The book also considers some common themes that emerged during discussions. Decentralization, the streamlining of institutional mechanisms and the development of land information systems are all given as examples of good practice, since they allow the coordination of spatial, financial and institutional planning. In terms of access to urban land, for example, a statement of recommended practice suggests that the displacement of marginal populations should be minimized; planning standards should be sympathetic to the needs of the urban poor; and that indirect financial systems and rental housing should be encouraged. Community participation and economic pricing schemes, such as toll roads and self-finance utility provision, are among the other issues considered.
Volume 2 presents ten case studies of megacities and four country case studies. The city case studies follow a similar format. Each begins with a background description and prevailing trends and conditions of urban development. Administrative, socioeconomic and environmental management practices are described, along with their demography and finance systems. Specific issues around transportation, land management, the informal sector and the urban poor are discussed, with a special section for specific priority problems. Development approaches are considered in each case and policy action plans suggested. The roles of private sector participation and international assistance are also explored in the context of future development.
The four country studies, India, Indonesia, China and Japan, describe the national urban development policy frameworks that apply in each country. Development planning and land management policies feature strongly and emphasis is placed on integrated urban development plans prepared on long time scales. The book ends with a set of statistical city profiles comparing geography, demography, GDP, income, employment, land use, housing and other utilities.