Reader Response to Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment'

In the article “Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment’” by Khanna (2015) mention that Asian cities have become the icon of the world's urban development trend within this decade. Asian cities are having population influx which forces cities to expand and reactive policies to population growth and global warming are insufficient. South-east Asia cities tackle this problem with their “flexible governments, resourceful citizens and local infrastructure innovation." It is also a challenge for huge cities to provide essential services. The author highlights that city governments should be “generative” and not only invest in infrastructure but also use it to produce innovative “business models” that help economy growth. South-east Asia cities are becoming the icon of urban development in this century.

He emphasizes in the article that the both Asia and Southeast Asia government needs to do more for their countries or cities and make use of the opportunity when urbanization takes place. He also acknowledges that Southeast Asia government of their effort in resolving the problem due to the sudden surge of population growth and the rapid urbanization in the cities but the truth is many Southeast countries cannot handle this rapid urbanization. These countries not only do not have the resources but also the man power to handle such situation. Therefore the idea that South-east Asia countries can get hold and improve using this urbanization opportunity is inaccessible as many of the South-east Asia countries are poorer in nature and cannot keep up with the stress from the impact of the urbanization.

Firstly, the article examines three Southeast Asia countries which follow by the different strategies approach that are use to allow the countries to continue to improve. The writer also talks about problems that these countries face due to the problem from urbanization like the need of housing and water. Countries can be seen that they are not capable to handle such social challenges. It will then force the city governments to address these social challenges: to bring about, almost immediately, while mitigating and adapting to the changes. With the population growing everyday and the demand of essential need grows, more social challenges will pop out. Therefore, I believe that these South-east Asia countries without the resources and the man power to handle such challenges; they will suffer even more as times goes by.

Secondly, he writes in the article that the using of the advance technologies can help decrease the impact of such social issues arises from urbanization. The writer uses Jakarta as an example in his article in which Jakarta is taking advantage of a “crowd-sourcing mobile application” called QLUE that allows their residents to report to the authorities on any local matters such as flooding, waste collection or traffic to the government immediately. Another similar mobile application, Cepat Respon Opini Publik, can help notifies the nearest and most relevant government officials to the QLUE reports that were generated by the residents and allows city government officials to respond directly to the public. But not all countries can use these advance technologies to their advantages as there are huge differences between countries, in terms of economic performance, governance practices and cultural behavior. Therefore I believe that the using of the advance technologies may not be suitable to all countries especially to those poorer ones.

Finally, rapid urbanization can lead to serious difference be it in society or the balance in the economy. The raise of population from urbanization may grow faster than the economy to handle; or the economy may grow but it does not mean reducing of the poverty in the country or city. This may due the local governments lacking in “urban management capacity” to make these areas to function efficiently and to protect the citizens from all the problems. 
                      

In conclusion, the article did emphasize on a few valid point on the different way how countries can make use of this opportunity to improve. But the writer mainly talks about the good points that will bring to the Southeast Asia countries yet he did not really touch on the difficult aspect that would bring to the countries when urbanization takes place. Only with government that has good knowledge on how to handle such problem, whether it is with the advance technologies or not, urbanization will not be a bad thing after all.

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References

Article:

Khanna , P. (2015). Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment'. Straits Times. Retrieved June 11, 2015 from http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/explosive-growth-in-asian-cities-bright-ideas-to-seize-the-urban-moment

Resources:

Yuen.B & Kong.L. (2009). Climate Change and Urban Planning in Southeast Asia. Sapiens Revues. Retrieved December 18, 2009 from https://sapiens.revues.org/881

Yap , K .S. (2010). Urban Challenges in South-East Asia. ResearchGate. Retrieved September 26, 2015 from http://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 236142386_ Urban_Challenges_in_South-East_Asia