Urban Development Challenges, Risks and Resilience in Asian Mega Cities

The proposition of a sluggish urban growth received empirical backing from the population figures released for 2011 Census. Most of the cities with population of a hundred thousand-plus for which data are available have recorded a significant decline in their population growth, more so for the million plus cities, suggesting that they have become less welcoming to migrants. A process of sanitisation and formalisation seems to be discouraging the inflow of rural poor in these cities. Delhi, the hub of socio-economic and political life of India, a symbol of ancient values and aspirations and capital of the largest democracy, is assuming increasing eminence as a global city. The low population growth in Delhi can be attributed to the massive Jhuggi-Jhonpri removal as a result of the construction of flyovers and metros and sanitization drives associated with the launch of JNNURM in 2005. Strict policing of public spaces have restricted further growth of slums in the city in a bid to make the city Slum Free. The Basic Services for the Urban Poor programme under JNNURM have addressed the issue of provision of basic services to the urban poor in a cosmetic manner basically by relocating the poor to the urban fringes resulting in their economic dislocation. This may account for the decline in the number of squatter settlements in the city during the last decade.

Sprawl is recognized as one of the distinctive features of the urbanizing landscape in almost all countries irrespective of their urban developmental status; but despite a growing volume of literature on this subject the concept continues to elude us. In the context of the changing urban landscape such as the declining growth rates of the metro cities, the spatial expansion of their peripheral urban land into the surrounding countryside, and the sudden growth of the newly reclassified former villages as ‘census towns’ in the last decade, sprawl studies—primarily in the context of individual city regions—have gained momentum in India in recent years. This paper aims to make a small contribution to the literature by focusing on the Delhi Urban Agglomeration (DUA), one of the dynamic city-regions of the world. Given the universal emphasis on density as one of the major dimensions of sprawl, we used a simple and measurable density index based on census data to compute the density levels of ‘census towns’ around the core city in the DUA during 2001–2011. The results show an incremental change towards scattered low-density settlements across the study area that may portend future sprawl. The study points to the suitability of using simple measurable indices based on easily available and nationally applicable data for detailed multi-dimensional empirical studies on sprawl. Apart from theoretical interest, such studies at national and regional scales across India would be of value to planners from the standpoint of sustainable development in the urban agglomeration regions of mega cities.

This chapter presents urbanizing scenario of the megacity, Delhi. The changing land use land cover (LULC) and various environmental variables are discussed using the conjugation of space remote sensing inputs, geospatial analysis and statistical analysis. The two vital components of LULC viz., urban land use and fraction of green cover are important to demonstrate changing urban landscape and its impact on environmental quality. The environmental quality variables like greenness, imperviousness due to built-up intensity, moisture intensity, and bareness can be retrieved from remote sensing data. A general trend of diminishing greenness, especially along the peripheral areas with depleting moisture intensity of the city surface is a common phenomenon. The new industrial developments in the northern and urban expansion in the south-western parts of the city results in drastic and slight decline in moisture respectively. This is accompanied with increase in imperviousness and bareness in some cases in the same areas. The chapter explains the complex interactions between different land uses over the progression of urbanisation explaining the process in details taking Delhi as an example. Eventually the basis for environmental degradation and formation of Urban Heat Island (UHI) in the city is also explained using LULC and environmental variables and their change statistics. The chapter thus presents the process and impacts of urban land transformations in the metropolitan city of a developing nation, India in this case.

Urbanization has brought major changes on the land use/cover pattern, urban heat balance and environmental status of cities across the world. Hence, spatial relationships of changing land use/cover, surface temperature and NDVI were studied using Landsat 5 TM satellite data. Study reveals that built up and green spaces have increased in the city of Delhi on the cost of adjoining agricultural and marshy lands. The surface temperature has also increased for the all the land use/cover categories during the study period (2000–2010). The NDVI has increased for central Delhi, indicating improvement in forest and tree cover. The fringe, however, reveals the negative changes in NDVI values. The surface temperature and NDVI correlation does not show strong correlation. The NDVI does not explain the surface temperature conditions properly. In view of improvement of vegetation, the surface temperature was expected to decrease; instead it has increased irrespective of land use/cover. The highest temperature was found in agricultural land unlike other urban areas where urban areas show high temperature. Therefore, there is weak heat island in Delhi. It may be associated with patterns of land use/cover.

In the present study we have analyzed the spatial patterns of local level atmospheric humidity levels across the Delhi Metropolitan Region (DMR). Hourly measurements of temperature and humidity conditions were collected over a 1 year period from May 2007 to June 2008 across 13 stations in the DMR. The results of our study revealed substantial variations in the spatial distribution of humidity levels, with pockets of higher humidity clustered around the River Yamuna and central sections of the DMR. Relatively lower levels of humidity were observed in the west and eastern sections of the DMR. The spatial patterns of humidity across the study area were determined by the local level land-use as well as the seasonal level atmospheric conditions. For instance, the minimum spatial variations in humidity levels were observed during the monsoon season due to predominantly cloudy conditions, compared to the summer months when maximum spatial variations were observed due to predominantly clear sky conditions. Lower levels of humidity also overlapped with dense built-up multi-family residential areas in the east and western sections of the DMR.

Megacities in Asia face tremendous environmental challenges. One of these is the drainage and treatment of waste water—a problem which ironically grows when access to water supply and water-borne toilets improves, leading to increasing per capita water consumption as well as water pollution. In Delhi, the overall waste water problem is huge with an estimated 1,800 million litres per day being disposed of without treatment in the Yamuna river. However, the various residential areas differ greatly in the magnitude of related problems they face. This inequality leads to a situation where mostly informal settlements have to bear the brunt of exposure to waste water. Against this background, this chapter investigates which waste water-related services informal settlements receive, who is providing them, and how residents struggle on a daily basis to obtain them. The case discussed here is of an informal residential area, or JJ cluster, in West Delhi. To study the presented problematic the approach of Urban Political Ecology (UPE) is introduced. This approach looks at environmental problems in their relationships with social, political as well as economic dynamics and processes. In the last years, UPE has started opening up to a more thorough investigation of the role of everyday practices in the production of uneven urban environments. Looking into the day to day interactions of residents with different state actors in the attempt to solve waste water-related problems allows furthering this avenue. By doing so, the chapter aims to contribute to a better understanding of how unequal urban environments are produced in today’s megacities.

This article examines the distribution and correlates of nutritional status of men and women in Mumbai, the largest mega city of India. Empirical analyses are based on the Indian National Family Health Survey (2005–2006) dataset. Results highlight the stark division of nutritional status and the consequent dual burden for public health policies to simultaneously manage under and over nutrition in Mumbai mega city. Results show that slightly less than half of men and half of the women population are nutritionally imbalanced. Underweight is a concern for men living in slums. On the other hand overnutrition/obesity among women is much higher in the non-slum areas whereas underweight is key concern in slums. The intensity of income-related inequalities in underweight outcomes is much greater for non-slum areas whereas inequalities in overweight outcomes are higher among slums. The regression analysis confirms that the place of dwelling is not significantly associated with the nutritional status when controlled for other immediate factors. This analysis finds that economic status of household is the main factor affecting the nutritional status. The paper concludes that the existing policies considering slums as the host of all the health related problems needs a critical re-examination. It is confronted that programs and policies can no longer assume that the slums-dwellers are the most vulnerable and there are no health related problems in the non-slums of urban areas. The paper suggests that focus should be on identifying the needs and concerns of specific subgroups of population in both slum as well as non slum areas of Mumbai.

In a developing country like India metropolitan cities act as a pole where development takes place first, get concentrated and spread to the other geographical regions. As city grows and gets mature this process of development and its internal structure also changes simultaneously. After a certain stage of development, the population of metro cities starts shifting outwards and urbanization spreads over the adjoining areas. In this situation, the population growth either is stagnant or even declines in the core areas of the urban agglomeration. Kolkata city is one such example. Kolkata became the first million city of India in 1901 and experienced fast growth until 1971; afterwards growth rate plunged down. As per the census 2011, the decadal growth rate of the Kolkata UA was just 6.87 %, well below the natural growth rate of West Bengal and India.

This paper is about the poor of Chennai and in fact slums and how they may be governed by themselves. The paper recognizes that the poor are not only the majority on the planet; they are everywhere and the smallest event speaks of them. And the urge on our part to speak about them—about what they can do and how they may excel in their own governance—is because of the urge they show up to live like the others and, interrupted by moments of illumination in their life of constant grief, to hold hands with other people. This paper retells the story of how a slum community rose to the occasion of self-organizing for its own development through efforts of its own members in the last few years. It is indeed a serious time period in which the pro-poor policies are emerging. And ‘there is a ceaseless spatial negotiation which is considerate or cruel, conciliating or dominating, unthinking or calculated’, to borrow the words of John Berger. Inside the homes of the poor, there is the kindly exchange, accommodation, even physical, and psychological sharing. But, outside of their homes, the space of choices is limited. And in slums of Chennai, every choice is starker. We live in a time of considerable change, which has placed new demands on local governments and raised a number of questions about the ability of these institutions along with other levels of government to address and resolve the problems that arise within contemporary communities. Traditional local governments are being questioned about the ability of their existing expert-driven and fragmented planning processes to resolve the problems that arise within contemporary communities. This has triggered the emergence of local government planning processes aimed at supporting more integrative and inclusive forms of planning that engage public, community and private sector players. This paper provides insights into the emerging local action planning processes from a case study of a Chennai slum which in fact enabled a broader range of players to participate in determining how the slum community self-organized to show the slum people’s capabilities in working together for their own betterment and governance of little that does matter for the community. Drawing on the case study of a slum, the paper provides insights into the problems and possibilities that the slum communities face in their attempts to make the city an inclusive city that supports the development of more integrative and inclusive forms of planning within contemporary Indian urban milieu.

Inclusivity—or being a part of the mainstream—as perceived by the residents has been viewed against the backdrop of income, occupation, education, religious group and community group.

People at the upper or lower levels of the income strata feel included in society, the middle class by implication seems left out. A study of the right to inheritance and ownership of land by women points to a general east–west divide in the city where the eastern part with traditional ethos is less accommodative of change on these counts This is not so with the western part of the city. Some residents laid emphasis on the material attainments of the locality for attaining a sense of inclusivity. In fact, the largest proportion of respondents interviewed said that drainage and water facilities in their localities need to be improved to make their life more liveable. Other facilities, like commercial, infrastructural, recreational, health and educational are also seen as vehicles of change leading to an inclusive city. Education as a means of change is not to be missed as people consider it as a major conduit for being included in the societal ambience. The need for education, including women’s education has been felt across a wide cross section of people, spanning all strata of society and all localities in the city. Emphasis has also been placed on mutual help, helping the poor, helping students, the needy and poor. The educated and especially those in the core of Hyderabad have felt the need for Governmental intervention in improving the lot of the people. Other factors cited to bring about inclusivity in society are human resource and character building, unity, broad mindedness, change in human values, politeness, equality, security, patriotism as a unifying factor, absence of caste and religious feelings, formation of good associations for societal benefit, social interaction, duty consciousness, lower prices of commodities, rooting out of corruption besides others. Lack of mixed localities in the city has also been found to be a reason for lack of inclusivity.

In this paper I discuss how and why socio-economic transformation affects urban public spaces, using the example of street food vendors in Hyderabad. The underlying question is whether the general socio-economic transformation is reflected in the segment of street food vending. In this context transformation is to be understood as a transition from an established system to a different system with altered basic structures: living conditions and values change in a fundamental and dynamic manner. During transformation traditional and new structures often contradict each other, factors formerly regulating systems lose impact and have to be replaced. In this way transformation is set apart from pervasive societal change. To create a sound foundation for my argument I will first touch on the conception of public space, introduce street food vending and illustrate the process of transformation in Hyderabad. In the first part of the paper I will introduce links between transformation and public space in general to then narrow in on the transforming discourses on street food vendors in Hyderabad. The second part of this paper shifts perspective, from overarching discourses to the daily practices of street vendors: I distinguish three strategies of space appropriation, and afterwards demonstrate how claims on using public space are negotiated, using four examples. Finally I will bring together the two parts and conclude with thoughts on how overarching discourses may affect the usage of public space.

Since 2000, the social-economy conditions of Shanghai has been developing rapidly, which results from the transformation of city function, the adjustment of industrial structure, the transition of the old city, and the city renewal. Correspondingly, the population structure and spatial distribution in Shanghai has made a big change. Based on data from the Fifth and Sixth National Census of Shanghai, this paper analyzed the characteristics of population changes and spatial distribution since 2000. The research findings reveal that the trend of multi-center population pattern is strengthening, and the floating population dominating the growth in suburbs becomes the population growth center of Shanghai. However, Shanghai also faces with several problems, such as population aging, shortage of professional and technical personnel, floating population pouring, high population density in the inner city, and lacking driving force of the population decentralization. The current population decentralization is mainly led by industrial suburbanization and residential suburbanization. Nevertheless, the high-quality public service and infrastructure concentrated in the inner city, lacking Mass Rapid Transit to the suburbs and slow construction of new city hindered the population decentralization. To conclude, the sustainable development of population in Shanghai still faces great challenges in the future.

In this thesis, the comparison of Wuxi and Kunshan is studied for horizontal relation and commonality and heterogeneity of urban expansion patterns. To be more specific, regional and interannual characteristics of the entire Wuxi and Kunshan area are classified through a cross functional comparison and each characteristic of the new city and development zone types are further emphasized. First, it is quantitatively analyzed by dividing it into four time periods and four quadrants to see how development focusing on housing and industry are reflected into land. Next, suburban areas are extracted from the entire city area, its expansion process is revealed, and then the land use change is quantitatively elucidated based on the composition ratio of water area, agricultural and forest sites, and land for urban use. The background producing heterogeneity is analyzed with statistical data and the peculiarities of both cities are also sought. Furthermore, common characteristics between both cities and the background of common social systems and economic development are extracted.

Beijing City that is the capital of China has grown up to the megacity through a tremendous population increase and economic growth as a result of the mechanism of the market principle being introduced into the socialism socioeconomic system after the reform and open policy is introduced. And, the maintenance of the traffic system in addition to the maintenance of the sophisticated industry and the business centers advanced, and the residential house to meet housing needs of various citizens was developed in the process. Large-scale residential quarter development is done in a surrounding area and the suburban area besides an older urban area and the corporate ownership ground are renewed, and subsidized housing and a high-level commercial house are developed. In these developments, there is a case where related companies of a local government and a powerful enterprise are related. Moreover, in the vicinity of the boundary with the adjacent city, the high-level villa house prohibited in Beijing City is developed by the nationwide real estate enterprise.

Wuhan, the largest mega city in central China, is not only a historic and cultural city but also a regional economic, transportation and educational centre. In the past six decades, Wuhan has witnessed massive changes in national and local policies of urbanization and urban development. Its spatial and temporal growth has shaped a representative urban morphology, which is interpretable from socio-economic and spatial processes in each corresponding period. Since 2000, Wuhan has entered a new era of economic boom and started the construction of metro system. However, such rapid urban development has addressed great challenges to local urban planning. After reviewing the process of its urban growth and evaluating the roles of urban planning, this paper aims to analyze the challenging issues in transport, population ageing, migration and environment and ecology. We argue the current local data infrastructure is insufficient to support comprehensive or integrated planning in Wuhan.

Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province in Southwest China, is located strategically in the northeastern part of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS). During the 2nd Sino-Japanese War, Kunming had ever been the hub of transportation connecting China with the Western world due to its complex topography and advanced transport infrastructure and facilities including airports, highways and railways. Since the economic and land reforms and housing commercialization, Kunming has gradually developed into a regional mega city leading the Yunnan Central Urban Agglomeration, and become the bridgehead of Southeast Asia and sole metropolis in China participating in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). This chapter outlines its historical evolution, morphological development, economic structure, urbanization, housing and ecological environment, followed by the main challenges that Kunming faces in future development.

This study examined the spatial patterns of the Tokyo metropolitan area in terms of the occupation structure and its transformation after the collapse of the bubble economy. To overcome technical problems of the previous studies on the urban spatial structure, we adopted grid square unit data and made analysis using spatial autocorrelation indices with geographic information systems. Spatial autocorrelation analysis of the spatial pattern of occupational structure in 2005 confirmed the findings obtained in previous studies. Hence, the basic spatial structure of social areas in the Tokyo metropolitan area has been maintained. However, the conventional finding, obtained from the analysis of administrative unit, that socioeconomic status shows a concentric pattern in the suburbs was not necessarily supported by the analysis of grid square units, which shows a radial pattern along the railroad lines. Particularly in the suburbs, the tendency of occupation groups to vary with the distance from the railroad has been strengthened. This suggests that not only “diversification” but also “polarization” of the suburbs has progressed.

This study clarified the sustainability of residential suburbs with a progressively aging population via the elucidation of the characteristics of community activities in Narita new town in the Tokyo metropolitan area. We conducted a questionnaire survey and interviews, resulting in the clarification of the following points. Many residents of Narita new town were employed by companies in neighboring areas, particularly the Narita International Airport and its affiliated businesses, which enabled close proximity between workplaces and residences. Regarding the age composition of heads of households, roughly half were classified as family households, although there were greater numbers of elderly households in districts that residents had entered prior to the 1980s. In this new town, the main community activities are those chiefly conducted by residents of each district, i.e., by community and neighborhood associations in coordination with public authorities for purposes such as enhancing the convenience of everyday life in each district, and also hobby and group activities that utilize facilities within this town. Male residents participated in community activities from their working-age periods onward, and female residents actively participated in group activities. We can consider that Narita New Town’s livability has increased, and a town in which residents of diverse age structure and income brackets can live comfortably has been formed.

This paper argues that while urbanisation is an inevitable trend and process around the world, it carries with it the seeds of political discontent, social unrest and economic challenges. Even for a relatively politically stable city-state like Singapore, the exposure to global forces (globalisation; geopolitical changes; international economic competition) and national challenges (foreign labour; employment; health care, housing) is testing the political management and governance of its ruling party. The important urban trend is that second echelon cities (below eight million people) are likely in the coming decades to be the drivers and catalyst of development in the world and hence states need to move away from mega-city development.

This chapter aims to reveal the spatial dynamics in the Expanded Bangkok Metropolitan Region, through analyzing the development of industrial estates and the geographical expansion of automobile industries centered on Japanese firms. In Thailand, Development of industrial estates in private sector has been more active, compared to public sector. It causes competitions for industrial estate developments. In addition, the industrialization of Eastern Seaboard region initiated by the government has promoted the economic development. As a result, many industrial estates have developed in the Extended Bangkok Metropolitan Region (EBMR). Thailand has developed automobile manufacturers since 1960s centering on Japanese firms. Japanese automobile manufacturer firms considered Thailand as being central to Southeast Asia as a whole, and from the latter half of 1990s the base for exports to global market. In response to this initiative, many automobile component suppliers, both Japanese and local, have established their facilities in Thailand. The sites they chose were mainly located in newly developed industrial estates in the suburbs of Bangkok Metropolitan Region. Increase of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into major cities of Southeast Asia after 1980s caused such phenomena as concentration of business operations and increasing population of the new middle class occurring at the heart of such cities, as well as development of industrial estates and expansion of urban areas. Konagaya (1997, 1999) named this sort of new urbanization as “FDI driven New Middle Class City”. While Konagaya (1997, 1999) proposed this concept keeping Jakarta Metropolitan Region in mind, this can be applied to explain phenomena observed in Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR) as well. Among others, the automobile industries in Thailand are considered to have contributed much to the expansion of BMR. This is because the industry generally requires various related industries situated nearby and, combined together, their expansion has had an enormous influence over regional economy. In fact, Thailand’s automobile industries have developed mainly driven by FDI, especially from Japan. Many Japanese automobile firms and parts suppliers are located in industrial estates in the suburbs of BMR. In this chapter, attempts are made to reveal the spatial dynamics in the EMBR, through analyzing the development of industrial estates and the geographical expansion of automobile industries centered on Japanese firms.

Jabodetabek has developed from the small and separated city regions into a larger and unified megacity. This area consists of Jakarta as the core city and its surrounding areas namely Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi. Recently Jabodetabek has become the largest megacity in Indonesia and plays the most important role within social, economic and political aspects. However, lack of planning capacity to deal with growing complexity in managing this area should be seriously remarked. The objective of this paper is to describe the dynamics of Jabodetabek starting from the early city development toward the future megacity development. It is divided into three sections comprising planning and development history; recent status of social-economic and physical-environmental situation; and future challenges that should be anticipated to achieve sustainable development. Obviously, planning and development strategy need to be transformed into adaptive, inclusive and integrated approaches within a continues incremental process to reach the development vision.

Among the many challenges faced by MetroManila, the National Capital Region of the Philippines, three appear as the most pressing issues for the everydaylife of its citizens: housing, flooding and traffic. The rapid increase in population of the metropolitan area had led to a mushrooming of substandard housing and squatting, sometimes in danger areas such as waterways and transport lanes. In a tropical context of heavy monsoon rains and frequent typhoons, riverside slums impeding the flow of water appear as one of the reasons—not the only one—why Manila floods, when at the same time people are placed at high risk. Coupled with a lack of available space throughout the metropolis, the high population density is a major factor of road congestion across the NCR, especially since rail-based public transit is quite insufficient to insure the efficient mobility of people. Tackling these problems may require a new governance for MetroManila, both in expanding its spatial scope and in strengthening its metro-wide powers, since floods are linked to water basins including Laguna Lake, and many relocation sites for evicted squatters are outside the limits of the 17-municipalities official MetroManila.

The food system of Bangladesh is currently producing a wide range of contradictions: Domestic food production was increased at unprecedented rates, but not without ecologically damaging side effects. Supply chains work efficient insofar as enough food is transported to the consumers. Nevertheless, stark discrepancies can be detected between the involved actors, from single dominant market makers to the masses of day labourers who can hardly make a living. And even though enough amounts of food are supplied to consumer markets, food security is far from being attained. This chapter sheds light on the extent of dysfunctionalities of Bangladesh’s food system from a sustainability perspective by focussing on the capital city of Dhaka. The case of fish provision is taken to discuss present day challenges of the mega city in terms of food production, supply and food security. In the first part, I will discuss recent developments in national fish production and outline the structure of the supply and value chain for fresh fish. In the second part, I focus on the local food market of Dhaka and debate available amounts and seasonally fluctuating prices. In the last part, I will bring together the national and the local perspective to provide proposals for necessary future re-adjustments.