Abstract
In recent decades, the pace and scale of urbanization in many developing nations of Asia and the Pacific have been unprecedented. Globalization and neoliberal institutional reforms have accelerated the flow of capital and people into cities. Growing income/wealth inequality in societies across the world, both within cities and between urban and rural areas, has lately also been cause for deep concern. Whilst urbanization’s challenges are broadly common, this book signals the pressing need for seeking contextually appropriate responses founded on the premise of good governance. The enormous diversity within and across countries of the Asia-Pacific region makes urbanization related issues more complex, and attaining good governance and effective planning bedevilling. This chapter reflects upon and interprets the highlights of the book’s earlier chapters to clarify how emphases, approaches, and outcomes of planning endeavours vary across cities, and how their governance forms and reforms have been useful and/or wanting. It draws attention to some disconcerting trends as well as ingredients of success, which could prove instructive across contexts. It concludes by gleaning discernible trends and desirable trajectories for progressing urban governance—decentralization’s impacts on planning institutions and urban governance; prioritizing large infrastructure projects and spatial planning over basic services; advancing the use of technology to improve governance; and continuously enhancing the quality of participatory urban planning and governance. In stressing that outcomes are heavily shaped by the nature and capacities of extant institutions, the chapter reiterates the cliché-sounding importance of understanding and responding to context.
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Notes
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Habitat I was organized in Vancouver in 1976, and Habitat II in Istanbul in 1996.
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For instance, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranks 140 cities worldwide based on its liveability index comprised of 30 factors (https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2016/08/daily-chart-14).
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http://theconversation.com/city-planning-suffers-growth-pains-of-australias-population-boom-75930; https://www.theguardian.com/cities/series/australian-cities-week. Also, on Australia’s economic success, see the Special Report on Australia in The Economist (October 27, 2018b issue), “The wonder down under: can the boom last.”
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For a fine account of how India’s urban spatial planning is transforming, buoyed by innovative institutional arrangements and financing mechanisms, also see Vidyarthi et al. (2017).
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The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development emphasizes the importance of partnerships as one of the five critical dimensions of sustainable development, which include: people, planet, prosperity and peace (United Nations 2015).
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Das, A., Dahiya, B. (2020). Towards Inclusive Urban Governance and Planning: Emerging Trends and Future Trajectories. In: Dahiya, B., Das, A. (eds) New Urban Agenda in Asia-Pacific. Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6709-0_13
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