Aspects of Urbanization and the Environment in Southeast Asia

Urbanization, involving changes in human settlement systems over time, is commonly perceived as an integral part of the development process. In developing Asia, which has been widely acclaimed as the world’s most dynamic region, especially in the 1980s, issues of urbanization and spatial development have remained on the forefront. They have also become more varied, largely as a consequence of varying economic performance across countries. For instance, while rapid growth in some economies such as the Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Taipei, China; and Thailand resulted in substantial reductions in poverty, income-distributional concerns (across households and regions) in these economies appear to have persisted while urban congestion and environmental problems have become more pronounced. The Asian economies with lower economic growth rates, on the other hand, continue to experience poverty, unemployment and rural backwardness apart from resource depletion, urban congestion and environmental degradation…