Synopses & Reviews
From Vietnam to Indonesia, Singapore to Thailand, South-East Asia's economies are growing at unprecedented rates. This book penetrates the facade of contemporary city growth, exploring the pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial city. It describes the divergence in urban development under capitalist and socialist regimes, and the gradual convergence in the post-reforms era of the 1990s. And it looks at the current problems of the fast growing metropolis, from the exploitation of women in the labor force, to the overstretched infrastructure and urban environmental crisis.
Review
"...very readable, appropriately illustrated....Asian Metropolis is a very useful book and a welcome addition to the still too limited literature on Southeast Asia by geographers. It merits adoption for any undergraduate course on Southeast Asia, or for that matter on urbanization in the Third World more generally."--Economic Geography
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 109-116) and index.
About the Author
Dean Forbes in Professor of Geography at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. He has travelled widely in Pacific Asia, and undertaken field research and consultancy projects in urban and regional development in Indonesia, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea and China.
Table of Contents
Figures and Tables
Glossary
1. The South-East Asian City in History
2. The City After Independence
3. Economic Reform and Urbanisation
4. The Economic Life of the Metropolis
5. Urban Society and the Environment
6. The Expanding Urban Region
7. South-East Asia's Urban Prospects
Selected Readings
Index