The Urban World,
J. John Palen
th
9
Ed.
Chapter 15: Asian Urban Patterns
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Introduction
India
China
Japan
Southeast Asia
Summary
Introduction
• Asian Cities
– Patterns of urbanization have different historical
roots and have developed in dissimilar cultures
– As of 2010 Asia’s population was almost twothirds of the world population
– 43 percent of the population of Asia is Urban
• Indigenous Cities
– Indigenous pre-industrial Asian cities originally
were predominantly political, cultural, and
religious center, and only secondarily economic
centers
Figure 15.1
Map of Asia
• Colonial Background Cities
– Western-type city organization was imported into
Asia, mostly during the 19th century, by Europeans
seeking trade
– Originally established as small trading sites,
perhaps with a small fort for protections, these
cities are now among the largest in the world
India
• Only 29 percent urban, but that is 29 percent
of 1.2 billion people
• Mumbai (Bombay)
– The heart of India’s financial and industrial life and
the center of the nation’s large and colorful film
industry
– 20 million people in 2010
– The social fabric threatens to unravel because of
the gap between the super rich and the super
poor has become sharper and more painful
– Half of the Indian population makes less than $2 a
day
• Kolkata (Calcutta)
– The opposite from Mumbai, both geographically and
emotionally
– City population of 6 million and the overall metro-area
population of 16 million
– Has been run by a Marxist local government for decades
– Three-quarters of the population is housed in crowded
tenements and bustee huts
– Much of the city is in a state of decay, including
municipalities and housing
– Remains one of the world’s more vital cities
• Prognosis
– India’s population will soon surpass China’s as the
world’s largest
– The prognosis for economic growth is strong
– Economic growth thus far benefits the elite and
the middle class far more than the masses
– Questions of environmental quality receive little
attention
China
• Currently the world’s economic growth machine
• Treaty Ports
• The first modern manufacturing and industrial cities
of China were the Western-dominated treaty ports
• Urbanization Policies
• China’s policy under Mao was resolutely anti-urban
• Today cities are the economic engines driving the
country’s development
• Forced Movement from Cities
• Urban Chinese youth were persuaded to “volunteer”
to resettle permanently in rural villages
• Today anti-urban policies have run up against
economic reality
• Economically, China is now essentially a freeenterprise system
• Rural to Urban Migration
• A major effort is being made to relocate industries to
outlying areas in order to stem the potential flood of
rural-to-urban migrants
• Mechanization of farming will eventually displace 500
million people; resulting in the largest movement in
human history
• Unsanctioned migrants do nor have access to services
• Economic Boom
• Economic reforms occurred first in Special Economic
Zones set up in the south
• The southern zones now boast a considerable
prosperity
• Shanghai
• China’s largest city at 16.7 million
• Allowed to deteriorate after the communist takeover,
Shanghai is now rapidly expanding
• The area of Pudong is now the financial capital of China
• Despite rising pollution, Shanghai is seeking to become
China’s symbol of sustainable growth
• Beijing
• China’s second largest city with 12 million residents
• Home of the political leaders and bureaucrats
• Booming economically; workers paid four time the
national average
• Among the most polluted regions of the work
• Hong Kong
– Reverted to China in 1997
– Most noted for its laissez-faire economic structure
– Its population density is the highest in the world
– Developing several new towns as independent
entities, yet they cannot fully meet their own
needs
– The economy is the eighth-largest trading entity in
the world
– Political future still unsure
Japan
• Extent of Urbanization
• Today Japan is 86 percent urban, a percentage higher than
North America
• Overall density of more than 300 persons/squared kilometer
and 45 percent of population occupying only 1 percent of the
land area
• Current Patterns
• Urbanization and industrialization similar to Western
countries
• Previously ignored public works are now being invested in
• Possesses great resources
• Tokyo: the world’s most populous metro area
– Housing
– Exorbitant land costs have resulted in structures being built
wall to wall up to the lot lines
– Little open public land
– Nationally only half the homes are connected to sewage
systems
– Due to housing costs, commutes are usually long
– Transportation
– Japan’s subway and train system are among the world’s finest
– The world’s most congested metro-area
– The nation has some 55 million bicycles
– Crime
– One of the world’s safest cities and one of the world’s lowest
crime rates
• Planning
• During the final years of WW II much of Tokyo was
leveled
• The opportunity to rebuild did not create wider
streets, open space, or reasonable lot sizes
• Planned New Towns
• Public housing, in new towns or elsewhere, is built
for middle-class rather than low-income groups
• Suburbanization
• Earthquakes have encouraged decentralization
• High land costs resulted in suburbanization
Southeast Asia
• General Patterns
– Most major cities a product of European colonial
expansion
– Cities are relatively new
• Singapore
– Atypical of Southeast Asia
– Even with a total absence of natural resources, the
country is prosperous
– 5 million persons in 225 square miles
– Replacing all housing with high-rise apartments
– Singaporeans enjoy one of the highest standards of living
in the world
• Other Cities
– Jakarta, Indonesia, has 10 million people
– Bangkok, Thailand, officially, has 6 million people,
but it is actually twice that number
– Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the national capital, has
grown with more speed than planning
– Seoul, South Korea, is efficient rather than
comfortable