As urbanization progresses at a remarkable pace, policy makers and analysts come to understand and agree on key features that will make this process more efficient and inclusive, leading to gains in the welfare of citizens. Drawing on insights from economic geography and two centuries of experience in developed countries, the World Bank’s World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography emphasizes key aspects that are fundamental to ensuring an efficient rural-urban transformation. Critical among these are land, as the most important resource, and well-functioning land markets. Regardless of the stage of urbanization, flexible and forward-looking institu- ons that help the efficient functioning of land markets are the bedrock of succe- ful urbanization strategies. In particular, institutional arrangements for allocating land rights and for managing and regulating land use have significant implica- ons for how cities deliver agglomeration economies and improve the welfare of their residents. Property rights, well-functioning land markets, and the management and servicing of land required to accommodate urban expansion and provide trunk infrastructure are all topics that arise as regions progress from incipient urbani- tion to medium and high density.

The Cities of the Global South Reader adopts a fresh and critical approach to the fi eld of urbanization in the developing world. The Reader incorporates both early and emerging debates about the diverse trajectories of urbanization processes in the context of the restructured global alignments in the last three decades. Emphasizing the historical legacies of colonialism, the Reader recognizes the entanglement of conditions and concepts often understood in binary relations: first/third worlds, wealth/poverty, development/underdevelopment, and inclusion/exclusion. By asking: “whose city? whose development?” the Reader rigorously highlights the fractures along lines of class, race, gender, and other socially and spatially constructed hierarchies in global South cities. The Reader’s thematic structure, where editorial introductions accompany selected texts, examines the issues and concerns that urban dwellers, planners, and policy makers face in the contemporary world. These include the urban economy, housing, basic services, infrastructure, the role of non-state civil society-based actors, planned interventions and contestations, the role of diaspora capital, the looming problem of adapting to climate change, and the increasing spectre of violence in a post 9/11 transnational world. The Cities of the Global South Reader pulls together a diverse set of readings from scholars across the world, some of which have been written specially for the volume, to provide an essential resource for a broad interdisciplinary readership at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in urban geography, urban sociology, and urban planning as well as disciplines related to international and development studies. Editorial commentaries that introduce the central issues for each theme summarize the state of the field and outline an associated bibliography. They will be of particular value for lecturers, students, and researchers, making the Cities of the Global South Reader a key text for those interested in understanding contemporary urbanization processes.

This book introduces the ten nation region of Southeast Asia: The main themes of the book are diversity, differential development and changing socio-economic and political setting affecting these characteristics in the 1990s. The nations of Southeast Asia have different languages, three dominant religions - Buddhism, Islam and Christianity, varied levels of economic development that range from bare agricultural subsistence to highly urbanized and highly developed. The historically based core areas of these countries have evolved on their own. Moreover, the effects of Indian, Chinese, Islamic, and Western cultures have been experienced differently in different nations at different times in their histories. This book is intended to be understood by all those who want an initial introduction to Southeast Asia. As many aspects of the book are the result of an in-depth research, carried out by the contributing authors, it is also a valuable reference. The contributing authors have portrayed the basic spatial aspects of the region as well as their relevance in the 1990s based in novel ways and through original interpretations. All fIrst and some second authors of chapters are professors. All but one have Ph. Os. Most contributing authors are geographers but with different sub-specialties: P. P.

Cities for Profit examines the phenomenon of urban real estate megaprojects in Asia—massive, privately built planned urban developments that have captured the imagination of politicians, policymakers, and citizens across the region. These controversial projects, embraced by elites, occasion massive displacement and have extensive social and economic impacts. Gavin Shatkin finds commonalities and similarities in dozens of such projects in Jakarta, Kolkata, and Chongqing. Shatkin is at the vanguard of urban studies in his focus on real estate. Just as cities are increasingly defined and remapped according to the value of the land under their residents’ feet, the lives of city dwellers are shaped and constrained by their ability to keep up with rising costs of urban life. Scholars and policy and planning professionals alike will benefit from Shatkin’s comprehensive research. Cities for Profit contains insights from more than 150 interviews, site visits to projects, and data from government and nongovernmental organization reports and data, urban plans, architectural renderings, annual reports and promotional materials of developers, and newspaper and other media accounts.

During the second half of the twentieth century, development in the Asia-Pacific region has been dominated by industrialization. However, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, services, in particular, finance, information and creative services, have become deeply embedded in the processes of urban growth. In Asia-Pacific the rise of service industries has lead to national modernization programmes and globalization strategies. Services are also driving change in the internal form of city regions and are being actively deployed as instruments of metropolitan reconfiguration and land use changes. These changes have created problems such as social polarization and the displacement of traditional industries and residential districts. Also, there are tensions between local and global processes in the development of service industries, and between the imperatives of competitive advantage and sustainable development. Service Industries and Asia Pacific Cities brings together a multi-disciplinary team of experts to explore and illustrate the theoretical, conceptual and practical issues arising from the transformation of Asia-Pacific cities by service industries.

This text addresses the difficulties of balancing the imperatives of sustainability with the pressing challenges facing some of the world's most underdeveloped areas. Various perspectives are brought to bear on issues from economics and theories of health through to the foundations of sustainability. All the key contemporary developments are dealt with; the growth in international law and agreements on controlling greenhouse gases; the effect of reforms in finance, governance and methods of appraisal on the areas of waste management; and the theoretical advances in the community development aspects of health and the neighbourhood environment guided by the experiences of the World Bank, WHO and UNEP. The text is intended as a guidebook for those responsible for re-shaping cities in the 21st century.

This edited collection examines seminal changes and major policy challenges in metropolitan governance in Asia and the Pacific Rim that are being faced by governments (national and sub-national) and their polities. The book builds upon the work of the largest stream at the Urban Affairs Association’s (UAA) Annual Conference (Urban Issues in Asia and the Pacific Rim) – specifically, the chapters arose from presentations at the 2016 UAA Annual Conference in San Diego and ensuing discussions and debates. The book is framed by three over-arching narratives: • the increased importance (economic, political and cultural) of the Asian region within strategic discussions of planetary urbanism and the problematisation of the concept of the Asian region as an element of these discussions • the challenges engendered by the rapid pace of development (again, economic, political and cultural) and the endorsement, tacit or otherwise, of developmentalism in many of the polities under consideration • the increased salience of metropolitan and urban areas, vis-à-vis other levels of governance (national; local; supra-national), particularly how it is seen as key in addressing these challenges.