Since the beginning of the Doi Moi reforms, Vietnam's economy and society have been profoundly transformed. While in 1986 less than 13 million of Vietnam's inhabitants lived in areas classified as urban (20%), the number has risen to more than 30 million inhabitants today (35% of the total population). This massive urbanisation was made possible by the rapid transformation of the former agricultural state into an industrial and service state and extensive migration processes from rural areas to the fast growing cities and megacities. Fifteen articles analyse the current situation.

​This handbook is a comprehensive source of information, analysis and directions in disaster studies. It goes beyond the oft-explored issues of management and science related to the topic and explores policies, governance, law and decision-making combined with the processes of implementation and enforcement, all the while integrating the latest science and technology updates related to the topic, such as artificial intelligence and early warning systems. It brings together studies which relate to sociology, politics and institutional economics, which work under the impact of resource availability, issues of leadership and international laws. Disasters are trans-boundary and disaster studies are trans-disciplinary. It is this aspect which would form the fulcrum of contributions and present a new, refreshing and innovative design for the handbook. The transformatory pedagogy which started with the Hyogo Framework for action 2005-2015 and The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 outlines seven clear targets and four priorities for action to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risks. The four priority areas around which the book would revolve are (i) Understanding disaster risk; (ii) Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk; (iii) Investing in disaster reduction for resilience and; (iv) Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response, and to "Build Back Better" in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Currently, spatial analysis is becoming more important than ever because enormous volumes of spatial data are available from different sources, such as GPS, Remote Sensing, and others. This book deals with spatial analysis and modelling. It provides a comprehensive discussion of spatial analysis, methods, and approaches related to human settlements and associated environment. Key contributions with empirical case studies from Iran, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Nepal, and Japan that apply spatial analysis including autocorrelation, fuzzy, voronoi, cellular automata, analytic hierarchy process, artificial neural network, spatial metrics, spatial statistics, regression, and remote sensing mapping techniques are compiled comprehensively. The core value of this book is a wide variety of results with state of the art discussion including empirical case studies. It provides a milestone reference to students, researchers, planners, and other practitioners dealing the spatial problems on urban and regional issues. We are pleased to announce that this book has been presented with the 2011 publishing award from the GIS Association of Japan. We would like to congratulate the authors!

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.

Urbanization occurs in tandem with development. Countries in Southeast Asia need to build - individually and collectively - the capacity of their cities and towns to promote economic growth and development, to make urban development more sustainable, to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and to ensure that all groups in society share in the development. This book is a result of a series of regional discussions by experts and practitioners involved in the urban and planning of their countries. It highlights urbanization issues that have implications for regional - including ASEAN - cooperation, and provides practical recommendations for policymakers. It is a first step towards assisting governments in the region to take advantage of existing collaborative partnerships to address the urban transformation that Southeast Asia is experiencing today.

In the late 1990s, planning authorities in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi pushed the imaginary line between city and country several kilometres westward, engulfing dozens of rural settlements. This book explores how one such village, Hoa Muc, rapidly transitioned into an urban neighbourhood, and the state regulations and early urban changes that drove this transformation. The compelling story of this single village is both a portrait of a population that has endured despite drastic upheavals and a new analytical window into Vietnam's ongoing urban transition.

As climate change and urban development are closely interlinked and often interact negatively, this edited volume takes Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam’s first mega-urban region as a case study to analyse its vulnerability to climate change and to suggest measures towards a more sustainable urban development. The book offers an overview on land use planning regarding the aspects of urban flooding, urban climate, urban energy and urban mobility as well as spatial views from the angle of urban planning such as the metropolitan level, the city, the neighbourhood and building level. It shows that to a significant degree, measures dealing with climate change can be taken from the toolbox of sustainable urban development and reflects how institutional structures need to change to enhance chances for implementation given socio-cultural and economic constraints. This is merged and integrated into a holistic perspective of planning recommendations, supporting the municipal government to increase its adaptive capacity. The authors are members of a German government funded research project on how to support HCMC’s municipal government to adapt to risks related to climate change.

The study of urbanization in Southeast Asia has been a growing field of research over the past decades. The Routledge Handbook of Urbanization in Southeast Asia offers a collection of the major streams and themes in the studies of the cities in the region. A focus on the urbanization process rather than the city as an object opens the topic more broadly to bring together different perspectives. This timely handbook presents these diverse views to build a clearer understanding of theoretical contributions of urban studies in Southeast Asia and to provide a complete collection of scholarly works that are thematically structured and a useful tool for teaching urbanization in Southeast Asia. Following the introduction by the editor, the handbook is structured along central, emerging themes. It contains six parts, which are each introduced by the editor: Theorizing Urbanization in Southeast Asia Migration, Networks and Identities Development and Discontents Environmental Governance The Social Production of the Urban Fabric Social Change and Alternative Development This handbook will be an essential reference work for scholars interested in Urban Studies, cities and urbanization in Asia, and Southeast Asian Studies.