Architecture and Urbanism in Asia - Year V - Sem IX

Structure: Syllabus and Unit Division
Assignments 10 + 10 +10 = 30 | Mid Semester Examination = 20 | Internal Total = 50

End Semester Examination = 50
Cumulative Total = 100
Understanding Evolution of the Asian cities, Understanding contemporary issues

urban, urbanization urban shift and its multiple Demographic transition, urbanization
and urbanism dimensions: Morphology of trends, economic momentum and
premodern, market, colonial environmental consequences.
and earlier theories and contemporary Asian cities. UNIT II
Opportunities and Challenges
UNIT I
Mid Semester Examination (20)
Setting the
Context Understanding underlying socio-
political dynamics and critiquing
new architecture and urban
ARCHITECTURE AND UNIT III development patterns in Asian
URBANISM IN ASIA metropolises such as Tokyo,
UNIT V Looking Towards East and Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong,
z Southeast Asia Singapore, Bangkok and Jakarta.
Similarities and
Dissimilarities
Locating Indian cities
in changing Asia: UNIT IV
Looking Towards South Understanding underlying socio-
Economic
and West Asia political dynamics and critiquing
transformation and
new architecture and urban
settlement patterns
development patterns in Asian
metropolises such as Dubai,
Locating Indian cities in Locating Indian cities in Karachi, Abu Dhabi, Dhaka and
changing Asia: changing Asia: Paro.
Informal and Formal Cities Roles of state and non-
as well as issues of state factors in India’s
sustainability, resilience urban development
and urban form.. process.
Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Faulty In charge – Ar. Luvditya Khurana
ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM IN ASIA
Module – UNIT I – Setting the Context
Faulty In charge – Ar. Luvditya Khurana (M. Arch. – Landscape, SPAV | B. Arch, GGSIPU, New Delhi)
Introduction – Urban | Urbanism | Urbanization

Urban or Urban area or Built area can be defined as –
• A human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of

built environment.
• They are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban

morphology as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs.
• Asia is the second largest urbanized area (continent) after Africa.

Criteria to decide if a city is urban (India)
For the Census of India 2011, the definition of urban area is as follows:
1. All places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee, etc.
2. All other places which satisfied the following criteria:
a) A minimum population of 5,000;
b) At least 75% of the male main working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits; and
c) A density of population of at least 400 persons per sq. km.
The important features of urbanization are as follows:

1. Fast Growth in Urban Population
2. Migrations from Rural Areas and change from primary to secondary
and tertiary sectors
3. Boundary Change
Broad causes of Urbanization:
1. Growing Industrialization
2. Population pressure
3. Employment opportunities
4. In hope of better standard of living
5. Decrease in death rate and growing birth rate
6. In search of social mobility and fortune Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada
• Urbanization is the movement of population from rural to urban areas

and the resulting increasing proportion of a population that resides in
the urban rather than rural places.
• Thompson Warren (Encyclopedia of Social Sciences) has defined it as

“the movement of people from communities concerned briefly or
solely with agriculture to other communities, generally larger
whose activities are primarily centered in government, trade,
manufacture, or allied interests”.
• According to Anderson (1953:11), urbanization is not one way process

but it is a two way process. It involves not only movement from villages
to cities and change from agricultural occupation to business, trade,
service and profession, but it also involves changes (partial or full) in
the migrants’ attitudes, beliefs, values, cultures, customs and
behaviour patterns.
- He has given 05 characteristics of urbanization –
(a) money economy
(b) civil administration
(c) cultural changes
(d) written records
(e) innovations

Thus, Urbanization implies the physical and/ or demographic expansion of urban areas: increase in the
number of cities, urban population or the size of urban areas.
It can also be said that, it is an increased complexity of national systems of cities, increased differentiation
between cities in terms of their economies, demographic composition, social dynamics, opportunities, socio-
cultural values and its political role.



The important features of urbanization are as follows:
1. Fast Growth in Urban Population: Between 1961-71 the growth rate of population in urban areas was over 38%. This was
followed by a still higher growth of 46 per cent during the decade of 1971-81. Between 1981-91, the growth was, no doubt,
somewhat less at over 36 per cent but it was not inconsiderable.
2. Large Increase in big towns: Another noteworthy feature of urbanization is that there has been a substantial increase in the
population of big towns. A substantial increase in population has taken place since 1901 in the big towns, and that a major
proportion of urban population resides in them.
3. Regional Disparities in Urbanization: The variations in the level of urbanization in various states are indeed large and rates
of urbanization show surprises. Again, there are variations within the regions of each state. All this point to the diversity of
conditions/causes that operate in this vast country, and is suggestive of different perceptions and policies in this field.
Causes of rapid urbanization
1. Natural Increase in Population: One important cause of rapid urbanization is the natural increase in population. The number by which the
birth rate exceeds the death rate in urban areas gives this. This is probably higher than the rural. The net survival rate is also higher on
account of the availability of the health and medical facilities.
2. Migrations from Rural Areas: Migrations from rural areas is another factor responsible for rapid urbanization. It can be guessed that it may
be something to do with the swelling of urban population. The rural to urban migrations have been caused by several factors in the past since
Independence.
3. Industrial development has, for example, led to creation of many activities of manufacturing, trading etc. attracting rural people seeking
jobs, higher incomes etc. Backwardness of the villages in respect of living conditions is another factor pushing people out of the villages. The
availability of many opportunities for good education and living in urban areas etc. have also attracted rural people to the urban areas.
4. Boundary Changes: As cities expanded, the outlaying rural areas have been included in the urban areas. They may even continue to retain
most of the characteristics of villages. But they are counted as urban population by virtue of being classified as urban areas. Population
falling in these areas also swells the number of urban population.
Various government schemes to tackle problem of Urbanization
1. Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission - for providing urban amenities in rural areas.
2. JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban renewal mission) in 2005 for focused and integrated development of the urban infrastructure
and services.
3. Rajiv Awas Yojana 2011 for creating “slum free India”.
4. Skill India scheme March 2015 for skill development and entrepreneurship.
5. National Urban Transport Policy, 2006 to address the transport needs of city dwellers.
6. Smart city initiative 2014 for creating 100 smart cities.
7. Swachh Bharat 2014 for clean urban area.
8. Din Dayal Antyodaya – To provide employment opportunities to poor


Positives outcomes of Urbanization: Negatives outcomes of Urbanization:
1. Economical 1. Economical
a) Growth of service sector oriented economy a) Growing rift between rich and poor
over agricultural economy. b) Increased cost of living
b) Boost to Infrastructure development c) Conflict over scare resources like land, water etc.
c) Increased productivity and economic growth d) Decrease in agricultural productivity
d) Growth of trade and commerce
e) Growth of tourism 2. Social
a) Growing criminalization in society
2. Social b) Overpopulation causing accommodation problem and problem of slum
a) Spread of education. c) Unemployment or underemployment
b) Women empowerment and Gender Equality. d) Providing basic amenities becoming a challenge
c) Spread of Modern technology. e) Change in structure of family system.
d) Availability of medical facility and increase in
life expectancy. 3. Environmental
e) Social and cultural integration a) Pollution (Land, air, water)
b) Sewage and garbage management problems
3. Political c) Loss of habitat and Biodiversity
a) Active involvement in politics d) Loss of forest cover and depletion of wildlife
b) Increased public awareness
4. Health
a) Psychological problems like Stress
b) Spread of contiguous diseases
c) Drug abuse
d) Increase in lifestyle diseases Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada
Principles | Urbanism
• According to Theodorson, 1969, Urbanism is a way of life. It reflects an organization of society in terms of a complex division of
labour, high levels of technology, high mobility, interdependence of its members in fulfilling economic functions and impersonality in
social relations. Urbanism is the study of cities - their geographic, economic, political, social and cultural environment, and the
imprint of all these forces on the built environment.
• In other words, Urbanism is the study of the characteristic ways of interaction of inhabitants of towns and cities (urban areas) with
the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning (the physical design and management of urban
structures) and urban sociology (the study of urban life and culture).
Developer
Residents
Urbanism
Benefits to
Municipalities Business

• Urbanism's emergence in the early 20th century was associated with the rise of centralized
manufacturing, mixed use neighborhoods, social organizations and networks, and what has been
described as "the convergence between physical, political, social, cultural and economic citizenship".
• Urbanism can be understood as placemaking and the creation of place identity at a city-wide level,
however as early as 1938 Louis Wirth wrote that it is necessary to stop 'identify[ing] urbanism with
the physical entity of the city', go 'beyond an arbitrary boundary line' and consider how
'technological developments in transportation and communication have enormously extended the
urban mode of living beyond the confines of the city itself.'

Difference | Urbanism and Urbanization

Patterns and Trends of Urbanization | Prevailing Dynamics
(a) shows the global pattern of urbanization level in 1980, and (b) that observed in 2011. The Global patterns of changes in
urbanization level (0–100%) has been divided into ten categories, in blocks of 10%. Each category is urbanization, 1980–2011
denoted by a different color. World urbanization demonstrated remarkable growth in both developed
countries and developing countries during 1980–2011, especially in China, Southeast Asia, and Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada
Africa. Faulty In charge – Ar. Luvditya Khurana
Global urbanization map showing the percentage of urbanization and the biggest global population centers per country in 2018, based on UN estimates.
Share of the
population which live
in urban versus rural
areas.
• Here, 'majority
urban 'indicates
more than 50
percent of the
population live in
urban centres;
'majority rural’
indicates less than
2001
1970 50 percent.
• Urban populations
are defined based
on the definition of
urban areas by
national statistical
offices.
• This is based on
estimates to
2016,combined
with UN
projections to
2050.
2022
2050



In the chart we see the world

mapped based on the population of
each country’s capital city.
• In 2018, Japan’s capital —

Tokyo — had the largest
population of the world’s capital
cities at over 37 million people.
• This was followed by Delhi (India)

at over 28 million; Mexico City
(Mexico) at 21 million; and Cairo
(Egypt) with 20 million.
• Across the world, the most

common capital size was in the
range of 1 to 5 million people.

A slum household is defined as a group of individuals

living under the same roof lacking one or more of the
following conditions: access to improved water, access to
improved sanitation, sufficient living area, and durability
of housing.
• Here we see that in the latest data, most countries

across Asia and Latin America had between 10 to 30%
of urban populations living in slum households (some
slightly higher).
• Slum households were most prevalent across Sub-
Saharan Africa; most had more than half of urban
populations living in slum households, and some (such
as Sudan, South Sudan, and the Central African
Republic) had more than 90%.
We see that over time, for most countries, the share of

the urban population living in slums has been falling. The
share of the urban population in slum households fell
from:
• 44 to 25% in China;
• 55 to 24% in India;
• 37 to 22% in Brazil;
• 77 to 50% in Nigeria.


Share of populations living in urban areas

How does the share of people living in urban areas vary between countries?
In the map shown here, we see the share of the population that is urbanized across the world.
• Across most high-income countries – across Western Europe, the Americas, Australia, Japan and the Middle East – more than 80% of the population live in urban areas.
• Across most upper-middle-income countries – in Eastern Europe, East Asia, North and Southern Africa, and South America – between 50% to 80% of people do.
• In many low to lower-middle-income countries, the majority still live in rural areas.
• But this is changing quickly. For many countries, you see a rapid migration of populations into towns and cities.

Why Asia? | Patterns and Trends of Urbanization | Prevailing Dynamics
What is a city-state Aristotle?
• Aristotle asserts that all communities aim at some good. The state
(polis), by which he means a city-state such as Athens, is the highest
kind of community, aiming at the highest of goods. The most
primitive communities are families of men and women, masters and
slaves.
• The highest form of community is the polis. Aristotle comes to this

conclusion because he believes the public life is far more virtuous
than the private and because men are "political animals". He relates
it with the relationship between the city and man.

• The word Metropolitan derived from the Greek word metropolitanus meaning citizen of a
What is a Metropolitan city? mother state. A metropolitan area is a region house to a densely populated urban core and its
less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing.

In examining the rural to urban transition in Asia, there are two key
dimensions that need to be considered.
• Urbanization is defined as the percentage of the national population
living in urban areas.
• In the Asian context, however, it is also important to examine the
second dimension—urban growth. This refers to the numbers of
national citizens living in urban areas, and in Asia, there has been a
massive growth in the numbers living in urban areas, while in several
countries rural populations have begun to decline.
• One of the most significant causes and consequences of the rapid social
and economic transformation that has swept Asia in recent decades is the
transition from predominantly rural to urban societies.
• Since Asia is such a diverse and vast region, the extent and rate of
urbanization has varied between countries and regions, but
urbanization has been inextricably linked with those areas with the
most rapidly growing economies.
o Cultural Diversity of faith, traditions, religions, ideologies.

o Natural increase (i.e. excess of births over deaths)
o Net internal migration (i.e. excess of immigrants from elsewhere in the country compared with out-migrants moving to such areas)
o Net international migration (an excess of immigrants from other countries over emigrants moving to such countries)
o Reclassification of areas from being classified as rural to urban, often by the lateral extension of large urban areas to swallow up surrounding rural areas
and smaller cities and towns.
Understanding Asia’s Urban Shift and its evolution







Understanding Asia’s Urban Shift and its challenges











Why Asia? | Patterns and Trends of Urbanization | Projected Future
Asian cities have undergone substantial demographic change in the last decade, and these trends seem likely to continue over the
next two decades. These changes are both interrelated with social, economic and political transformations occurring in those cities
and have implications for those transformations. The shifts can be summarized as follows:
o The overall growth of urban populations will be slower than in the past half century but will continue at a significantly higher
rate than in national populations.
o The working age population will stabilize because of low fertility, meaning the numbers of local people moving into the
working age will decrease.
o The aged population will increase substantially, creating increased pressure on pension schemes, health services and so on.
o The distinctive residential pattern of aged populations will be increasingly evident in north cities, and the services they require
will account for an increased part of the workforce.
o Ageing of the population will result in different demands for transport, housing, retail services, human services and so forth.
o There will be increased levels of female participation in the urban workforce and an increase in the average age of retirement.

The BURGESS MODEL | Urban Land Use Model
• Zone I (Central Business District) – This is the center (innermost zone)
where the central business district is located and has the highest land
value. The zone has tertiary activities and earns maximum economic
returns. Another feature is the accessibility. This part has tall buildings, low
quality housing and noticeably high density to maximize the returns
from land. Commercial activity taking place in the area results in
negligible residential activity in this zone.
• Zone II (Transition Zone) – The mixed residential and commercial use

characterizes this zone. This is located adjacent and around the CBD and
is continuously changing, i.e. transition takes place. This zone of
transition is considered to “decay” because of a large number of old
structures as the buildings in the transition zone were earlier used for
factories and tenement housing blocks. This zone had a high population
density where manufacturing and industrial activities were at their peak.
• Zone III (Inner City/ Working Class zone) – This area is occupied for
residential purpose and also known as “inner city” or “inner suburbs.” It
consisted of houses built to accommodate factory workers but had better
condition than the transition zone. This area has a mix of new and old
development and generally requires orderly redevelopment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_ge7Z_wXGI
The BURGESS MODEL | Urban Land Use Model
• Zone IV (Residential Zone) – This zone had bigger and better

housing and new development occupied by the middle class.
Many of the homes are detached, and unlike single occupants of
inner suburbs, families resided in these homes. Better facilities
are available to the residents like parks, open spaces, shops,
large gardens but this comes at an increased commuting cost.
This zone has a large area of residential land.
• Zone V (Commuter Zone) – This is the peripheral area and

farthest from the CBD, this resulted in the highest commuting
cost and lack of public transit options when compared with other
zones. Significant commuting cost gave the name “commuter
zone” to this part. People living in this part were high class
and high-income groups which could afford large houses,
could pay commuting charges, had access to different
transportation modes and enjoyed modern facilities like
shopping malls.
The BURGESS MODEL | Criticism
This model accounts for the economic forces which drive development and the study of patterns present at the time
of the study. But with the evolution and passage of time urban areas grew more complex and this model cannot
define the development of existing cities.
• Although widely appreciated in the United States, Burgess model is not applicable outside the US. This is so, as the
pattern of growth is different because of various circumstances.
• The relevance of this model decreased over time. With the advancement in the mode of transportation, mass transit
vehicles, motor vehicles, cars changed the way people commute. Accordingly, their preference for living in a particular
zone changed.
• It does not take into account the effect of political forces and the restrictions imposed by the government for the
improvement of living conditions.
• In reality, no distinct zones and boundaries exist as overlapping of areas is possible in every town. The preference of
people changes over time depending on the importance they associate for a particular benefit.
• This model is not applicable to polycentric cities as many CDB exist in such towns. Moreover, every city is different, and
the factors influencing the growth of a city are diverse.
Sector Model by Homer Hoyt | Urban Land Use Model
• CBD – Central Business District
It is placed at the center. Sectors and the partial rings of land
use/activities take place. This area is often known as downtown and has
high rise buildings. It represents many layers of historic growth of many
generations impact of cultural and traditions of men who inhabited the
city as tourists. The combinations of these layers and the way they are
held together in the city gives imageability, out of its socio-cultural
heritage.
• Transitional Zone-
The mixed residential and commercial use characterizes this zone.
This is located adjacent and around the CBD and is continuously
changing, i.e. transition takes place. This zone of transition is
considered to “decay” because of a large number of old structures as the
buildings in the transition zone were earlier used for factories and
tenement housing blocks.
• Low-Class Residential
Low-income groups reside in this area. Narrow roads, high population
density, small houses with poor ventilation exist in this area. Roads are
narrow and often connect to the industries where most of the people in
this sector work. Closeness to industries reduces the travel cost and thus
attracts industrial workers. Environmental and living conditions are often
inadequate because of the proximity to factories. Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada
Sector Model by Homer Hoyt | Urban Land Use Model
• Middle-Class Residential
This area has middle income groups who can afford more substantial
travel cost and want better living conditions. The activities of people
residing in this area consist of different activities and not just the
industrial work. It has more linkages with CBD along with some linkages
to industries.
• High Class residential

This is the outermost and farthest area from the downtown (CBD).
Wealthy and affluent people live in this area. This area is clean, has less
traffic, quiet and has large houses. Corridor or spine extending from CBD
to the edge has the best housing.
• Industry
Industries are represented in the form of a sector radiating out from the
center. These forms sector because of the presence of a transport
linkage along which the activities grew. Presence of railway line, river or
road would attract similar activity, and thus a continuous corridor or
“sector” will develop.
Harris and Ullman’s Multiple Nuclei Model 1945 | Urban Land Use Model
• Multiple nuclei model of 1945 by C.D. Harris and Edward L.
Ullman is based on the argument that the cities have multiple
growth points or “nuclei” around which growth take place. This
model was given in an article by them “The Nature of Cities.” This is
one of the widely adopted models which was applicable to modern
cities unlike older models studied under settlement geography.
• As the cities expand and urban development takes place, cities

undergo various changes. The urban form and urban footprints
gets modified over time. The structure of city and land use patterns
have distinct characteristics and noticeable pattern. Based on these
patterns of urban land use, urban models are created which helps in
understanding the reason of a particular activity or land use being
observed at a particular location or region.
Concept and need for Multiple Nuclei Model
• Multi Nuclei model is based on the structure of Chicago just like

the Burgess model or Concentric zone model of 1925. However it is
contrary to the monocentric model of Burgess Model. Harris model
can be considered as an attempt to explain the structure of the
city taking into account the complexity and growth over time,
influence of central area & the city centre. Harris and Ullman argued
that a city might start with a single central business district (CBD), but https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_ge7Z_wXGI
over the time the activities scatter and gets modified.
Harris and Ullman’s Multiple Nuclei Model | Urban Land Use Model
Assumptions for Multiple Nuclei Model
• The land is not flat

• Even distribution of resources
• Even transportation cost
• Profit maximization
Limitations and criticism of the Harris & Ullman’s Multiple Nuclei Model
• This model also had its limitations and could not be applied to many cities and did
not entirely explain the structure of urban areas. Formation of well-defined zones or
“nuclei” required the considerable size of the city as the small or new towns do not
have a very well defined location because of which they are usually
scattered. Another drawback is the limited activities which are considered in the
model along with the very rigid and specific boundaries of the activities.
Some other disadvantages include:

• Negligence of the height of buildings.
• Abrupt divisions between zones.
• Each zone displays a significant degree of internal heterogeneity and not
homogeneity.
• No consideration of the influence of physical relief and government policy.
• The concepts may not apply to Asian cities with different cultural, economic and
political backgrounds.
Bid - Rent | Theory

Christaller’s Central Place | Theory
• Central-place theory attempts to illustrate how

settlements locate in relation to one another, the
amount of market area a central place can control, and
why some central places function as hamlets, villages,
towns, or cities.
• The German geographer Walter Christaller introduced

central-place theory in his book entitled Central Places in
Southern Germany (1933).
• The primary purpose of a settlement or market town,

according to central-place theory, is the provision of
goods and services for the surrounding market area.
Lower-order central places have small market areas and
provide goods and services that are purchased more
frequently than higher-order goods and services. Higher-
order places are more widely distributed and fewer in
number than lower-order places.

Christaller’s Central Place | Theory
• Christaller’s theory assumes that central places are

distributed over a uniform plane of constant population
density and purchasing power. Movement across the
plane is uniformly easy in any direction, transportation
costs vary linearly, and consumers act rationally to
minimize transportation costs by visiting the nearest
location offering the desired good or service.
• The determining factor in the location of any central place

is the threshold, which comprises the smallest market
area necessary for the goods and services to be
economically viable. Once a threshold has been
established, the central place will seek to expand its
market area until the range—i.e., the maximum distance
consumers will travel to purchase goods and services—is
reached.

T H A N K Y OU

ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM IN ASIA
Module – UNIT II – Opportunities and Challenges
Changing Paradigms | Opportunities and Challenges
Urbanization Takes on
New Dimensions in Asia’s
Population Giants

Changing Paradigms | Opportunities and Challenges
Urbanization refers to the population shift from rural to

urban areas, “the gradual increase in the portion of
people living in urban areas,” and the ways in which
societies adapts to the change. The process whereby a
society changes from a rural to an urban way of life (NLM,
2014).
It is predicted by 2050 about 64% of Asia and 86% of the

developed world will be urbanized (The Economist, 2012).
*LAC = Latin America and the Caribbean. Notably, the United Nations has also recently projected
Source: UN, World Urbanization Prospects: The 1999 Revision, 2000.
that nearly all global population growth from 2017 to 2030
will be absorbed by cities, about 1.1 billion new urbanites
over the next 13 years (Barney, 2015)

Changing Paradigms | Industrial Revolution
Major factors that favoured Urbanization ‘before’ the Industrial Major factors that favoured Urbanization ‘after’ the
Revolution Industrial Revolution
• Agricultural use as dominant activities, produced surplus food for • High pronouncement of factors of production – land, labour,
human consumption. Trade and permanent settlements at route capital and technology.
junctions. Defence wall around settlements and administrative
control. • Farming technology led to reduction in human labour for
agriculture.
• First Stage: Development of unique economic advantage through
agricultural development. City life attracted others, this led to • More scientifical discovery led to invention of bigger
friction and disparities of class struggle and then through control, machines, better and faster means of transportation,
we have unification. movement of finished products to the hinterland, etc
• Second Stage: Military conquest and domination of economically

rich areas.
• Third Stage: Trade within and between empires; accumulation of

wealth; officially written language; acceptance of monetary
system to facilitate trading. The development of capitalism began.
• Fourth Stage: Disintegration of the Empire into city-states based

on economic blueprint of capital investment – roads, shipping and
architectural development.

Background | Opportunities and Challenges
• For the first time, more half of the world’s population will be living in urban areas by the end of
this decade.
• In 1999, 47 percent of the world’s population (2.9 billion people) lived in urban places.
• By 2030, the UN projects that proportion will reach 60 percent, totalling 4.9 billion people.
• Roughly 95 percent of this massive urban growth will occur in less developed countries.
• More than 60 percent of the increase in the world’s urban population over the next three
decades will occur in Asia, particularly in China and India, but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh,
the Philippines, and Vietnam.
Changing Paradigms | UTOPIAN Thought for Urbanization
• In Asia and elsewhere, the prospect of urbanization on such a massive scale fuels
concerns that the world may not be able to sustain such large urban populations.
• For some, cities are seen as potential disasters.
• The growing concentration of people poses a fundamental challenge to the provision of

economic opportunity, the development of adequate infrastructure and liveable housing,
and the maintenance of healthy environments.
• In poorer cities, a significant proportion of the population is often forced to live in ill-
serviced housing in areas highly vulnerable to natural disasters such as flooding or
landslides.
Changing Paradigms | Cities as a place of opportunity
• But there are also reasons for optimism.

• The historic association between economic development and urbanization is well
established.
• Cities are crucial environments and institutional assemblages for economic growth.
• Current research indicates that even in less developed countries cities experience lower
rates of natural population increase than rural areas, average household income is
higher, and educational levels are well above those in rural areas.
• Thus cities can also be seen as places of opportunity in which the major need is effective
management and provision of services, creation of economic opportunity, and the
provision of safe and healthy environments.
Changing Paradigms | The Challenges Of Asia’s Urbanization
• To some extent, the challenges of urbanization are the same everywhere.
• These include enhancing economic opportunities for urban populations, improving

transportation infrastructure and housing, providing social services, maintaining a
liveable environment, and developing effective systems of governance and
management.
• It is therefore possible to argue that there is nothing distinctive about the challenges
posed by Asian urbanization.
• Upon closer inspection, however, the process of urbanization in Asia has several distinctive
features, a number of which stem from the massive size of the region’s population:
1. Dominance of the population giants
• Unlike any other region, Asia has five developing countries with more than 100 million
people — China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Indonesia.
• These countries made up 75 percent of the Asian population as of mid-2001. In 2030, they
will be joined by Iran, the Philippines, and Vietnam, and together these countries will
constitute 81 percent of Asia’s population.
• The combined urban population of these 8 countries will grow by more than 1 billion people
in the same period, making up roughly four-fifths of the total urban increment in Asia.
• The dominance of the population giants in all-Asia averages is important to keep in mind since
it can obscure developments in the region’s numerous smaller countries.
2. Immense urban increments
• The sheer size of some Asian populations forces governments to cope with a large volume of urban
increase in a very short period of time.
• The urban populations of both China and India, for example, will grow by more than 340 million by
2030. This creates tremendous challenges in the provision of infrastructure, environmental
management, and employment.
• Even a small country such as Laos (5.3 million in 2000), one of the poorest countries in the world,
will add 3.2 million to its urban population while it moves to a level of only 43 percent urbanized
in 2030.
• This will be more than 60 percent of the country’s total population increase in that period. Given its
very low national income and the continuing high proportion of people in rural areas, it will be very
difficult to give strategic priority to urban development.
3. The prominence of megacities.
• By 2015, 16 of the world’s 24 megacities (cities with more than 10 million people) were
recorded to be located in Asia, according to the UN’s World Urbanization Prospects: The 1999 Revision.
• Most of these megacities will be located in the population giants.

• While most urbanites both in Asia and elsewhere will continue to live in smaller towns and
cities, the urban hierarchy of Asia will be dominated by the emergence of these larger
cities.
• Urban development will often stretch in corridors between the main city core and
secondary cities, much like the megalopolis of the eastern United States.
4. Uneven globalization
• For the past two decades, Asia has surpassed the rest of the less developed world in terms
of integration into the global economy, creating greater opportunities for urban
development.
• This development has proceeded unevenly, however a two-tier urban system is likely to
emerge in Asia
• Some urban areas will be increasingly integrated into the global economy and become more
international in character. These towns and cities — such as Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, and
Shanghai — will have to manage the challenges and opportunities that come with rapid
economic growth and change.
• On the other hand, there will also be cities with more domestically oriented economies that
develop more slowly. These urban places will face greater challenges in terms of poverty
and creating opportunities for economic growth. Cities such as Dhaka, Phnom Penh, and
Vientiane exemplify this group.
A TALE OF TWO CITIES
SEOUL AND DHAKA
The two-tier structure of Asian urbanization described earlier can be illustrated
by comparing two of the region’s largest cities, Seoul and Dhaka.
The Seoul Metropolitan Region:
Planning with Growth
• The city of Seoul, with a population of 10.3 million in 1998, forms part of South Korea’s capital
region, which includes the city of Inchon as well as Kyonggi province. Including Seoul, this
region had a population of 20.7 million in 1998.
• As the capital city, Seoul has been at the center of South Korea’s remarkable economic
transformation over the last four decades. In 1961, the national population stood at 24.6
million, per capita income was US$83, and primary production made up 37 percent of GNP. By
1990, the population had almost doubled to 46 million and the contribution of the primary
sector to GNP had fallen to 10 percent.
• The national level of urbanization had risen from 28 to 75 percent. Much of this societal
change was due to the growth of industry, which increased its share of GDP from 20 percent in
1960 to 44 percent in 1990.
• In the 1960s, much of South Korea’s industrial growth was focused on greater Seoul,
which by 1970 had 52 percent of the country’s industrial workers.
• The major contributor to this growth was rural-urban migration, which accounted for 50
percent of the country’s urban increment in the 1960s.
• This very rapid growth of Seoul’s population placed pressure on the city’s infrastructure,
leading to marked growth in squatter settlements, increasing traffic congestion, and
growing air pollution.
• This led the government to adopt a national decentralization strategy in the 1970s that
attempted to divert industry to other areas of the country. New industrial complexes
were established in the southeast part of the country.
• In the 1980s, continuing efforts were made to decentralize economic activity, and ambitious
investments in Seoul’s infrastructure and public and quasi-public housing were made
before the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
• In the late 1980s and 1990s, Seoul continued to lose industrial employment and increase
its employment in the service sector.
• For example, 44 of South Korea’s top 50 firms by sales have their headquarters in Seoul.
The upshot of this trend has been declining population in the Seoul area.
• In addition, due in part to the city’s success in hosting the Olympics, Seoul has embarked on
an ambitious effort to become a global city with the addition of a new airport and greatly
enlarged subway system.
• Today, Seoul ranks number 13 out of 44 in the Asia Urban Quality of Life Index prepared
annually by Asia week magazine.
• In short, while Seoul still has many problems, the government has responded very
successfully to the urban challenges that will face many other Asian countries over the
next thirty years.
Dhaka, Bangladesh:
Ongoing Urban Poverty
• Dhaka’s population of 6.5 million is crowded into 360 square kilometers, creating one of
the highest urban densities in the world.
• The city proper also forms part of the Capital Development Authority that administers an
area of 1530 square kilometres, an area that is home to an estimated 10 million people.
• Unlike South Korea, Bangladesh has not experienced rapid economic change, and
agriculture remains the major component of GDP and the main source of employment.
While general economic conditions have improved somewhat over the last twenty years,
Bangladesh is still a very poor country.
• In 2001, gross national income (adjusted for purchasing power parity) stood at US$1,530 per
capita — far below the average for Asia as a whole (US$3,930) and even below the average
for Africa (US$1,790).
• And while estimates vary, most analysts place the current incidence of poverty in both rural
and urban areas at between one-third to one-half of the population.
Dhaka, Bangladesh:
• Dhaka’s rate of population growth has declined slightly over the past three decades, but it
still remains among the highest in Asia (4.2 percent annually).
• The continuing growth reflects ongoing migration from rural areas to the Dhaka urban
region. Such growth accounted for roughly 60 percent of the city’s growth in the 1960s and
1970s, but more recently the city’s population has also grown as a result of the expansion of
its administrative boundaries, a process that added 1 million people to the city in the 1980s.
• In contrast, the rate of natural increase (i.e., growth due to births exceeding deaths) in the
city has been falling, as is the case in most other Asian cities.
Dhaka, Bangladesh:
• Dhaka’s growth has not been associated with an expansion of productive employment
opportunities in relatively high wage areas.
• Instead, there has been growing employment in the low productivity, low-income sector,
such as petty retailing or rickshaw driving.
• This has meant that the number of people defined as poor in the city grew by almost 2
million between 1980 and 2001.
• While in recent years the introduction of textile export industries and remittances from
international labour have begun to diversify the economic base of the city, it still remains
desperately poor
• Dhaka offers a very different statistical picture
Comparative from Seoul’s. The population is growing quite
rapidly due to rural-urban migration, urban
boundary extension, and to a declining
extent, natural increase.
• This growth rate is further enhanced by
increasing life expectancy and population
momentum (a high proportion of the
population is under the age of 15), although
infant mortality remains high.
• Given the large numbers of people living in the
city and the generally low incomes, current
investment in social services is inadequate.
• The number of children per classroom and the
number of people per hospital bed are among
the highest ratios of the cities in the Asia
Development Bank database.
• Dhaka also has a weak physical infrastructure,
with a transportation system that is dominated
by pedestrians and rickshaw use.
Comparative
• Dhaka has a very uneven mix of physical service provision. Only one-quarter of the city’s
population is connected to the piped sewerage system, and only two-thirds of the households
are connected to water.
• A majority of the unconnected households use open latrines. The result is that Dhaka has
one of the highest rates of death from infectious disease of any city in Asia. Finally, Dhaka
is located on a flood plain and is vulnerable to flooding and other environmental disasters.
• In short, Dhaka is a city very much on the edge of sustainability.
• National policies that promote economic growth and urban governance that provides
adequate services will be crucial in creating a sustainable, liveable, and healthy city in the
future.
T H A N K Y OU


Architecture and Urbanism in Asia - Year V - Sem IX

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Structure: Syllabus and Unit Division

Assignments 10 + 10 +10 = 30 | Mid Semester Examination = 20 | Internal Total = 50

Understanding Evolution of the Asian cities, Understanding contemporary issues

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Urban or Urban area or Built area can be defined as –

• A human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of

• They are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban

• Asia is the second largest urbanized area (continent) after Africa.

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Criteria to decide if a city is urban (India)

The important features of urbanization are as follows:

• Urbanization is the movement of population from rural to urban areas

• Thompson Warren (Encyclopedia of Social Sciences) has defined it as

• According to Anderson (1953:11), urbanization is not one way process

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

The important features of urbanization are as follows:

Causes of rapid urbanization

Various government schemes to tackle problem of Urbanization

3. Rajiv Awas Yojana 2011 for creating “slum free India”.

6. Smart city initiative 2014 for creating 100 smart cities.

7. Swachh Bharat 2014 for clean urban area.

8. Din Dayal Antyodaya – To provide employment opportunities to poor

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

In the chart we see the world

• In 2018, Japan’s capital —

• This was followed by Delhi (India)

• Across the world, the most

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

A slum household is defined as a group of individuals

• Here we see that in the latest data, most countries

We see that over time, for most countries, the share of

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Share of populations living in urban areas

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

• The highest form of community is the polis. Aristotle comes to this

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

o Cultural Diversity of faith, traditions, religions, ideologies.

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

Year V, Sem IX, School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada