State of Urbanization in Asia and the Pacific 1993

BETWEEN 1990 AND 2020, the urban population of the Asian/Pacific region is expected to increase from 991 million to 2.44 billion. This book, prepared by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), reviews the dynamics of urban conditions in Asia and around the Pacific and of the status of regional and national responses to the changing urban situation there. It has been published in preparation for the UN Conference on Human Settlements in Turkey in 1996 (Habitat II) as part of an initiative to develop urban management strategies that are both environmentally sound and sustainable. One hundred and fifty tables and figures provide quantitative data regarding the state of urbanization in Asia and the Pacific in 1993, and more than 50 boxes of anecdotal and contextual information, case studies and definitions complement the text. Two appendices give the national definitions of “urban”, and comparative data for population size and GNP per capita, and there is a comprehensive bibliography. After an introduction that outlines the contents of the report as a whole, chapter two argues that it should be facilitated rather than restrained. The trends, patterns and impacts of urbanization across the region are analyzed in terms of land, shelter and infrastructure provision, environmental degradation, poverty levels, urban productivity and institutional frameworks. Chapter three analyzes the urban economy in the context of the national and sub-national economies. Urban employment markets are found to be much more efficient than expected, but weaknesses in the formal finance, public capital, and land and housing sectors are widespread and have, in many cases, hampered urban development and productivity. The fourth chapter argues that urban poverty requires specific programmes for its eradication. Production cannot be separated from consumption and distribution, and so it is argued that urban productivity is inextricable from urban poverty. The author argues for a reconceptualization of urban poverty and for the formulation of urban land policies that will promote equitable land use and economic efficiency throughout the city as a whole. The challenge posed by environmental deterioration in rapidly growing cities is the focus of chapter five, which argues that high population densities tend to promote resource efficiency, especially in terms of energy consumption and recycling. Urban and economic growth and environmental improvement are not incompatible and should be tackled with a single consistent strategy. The authors identify economic and institutional inadequacy as the determinants of urban environmental degradation and suggest a policy framework that should be addressed by national and city governments along with international agencies, NGOs and community based organizations. Chapter six profiles past urban research in Asia and the Pacific region, and proposes a research agenda that relates to both methodology and networks. In conclusion it is argued that all of the problems discussed in detail throughout the report have solutions that are available now, and that the challenge is to address them.