In the
article “Explosive growth in Asian cities:
Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment’” by Khanna (2015), the author 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. It is also a challenge for huge cities to provide essential
services like water and housing. South-east Asia cities tackle this problem
with their “flexible governments, resourceful citizens and local infrastructure
innovation." Using of technological
applications like QLUE can help reduce social challenge like water and flooding.
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 economic growth.
While I agree to an extent that both Asia and Southeast Asia
governments need to do more to improve the life of their people in their
countries, governments have to also make use that they make use of this
opportunity when urbanization takes place in the country or city. I feel that
the poorer people in South-east Asia countries will not get to enjoy the benefit
from this urbanization opportunity as the benefit is inaccessible with the majority
people in Southeast Asia are poorer in nature and they cannot keep up with the
stress from the lack the of the essential needs like housing and water due to
the impact of the urbanization that happen in their countries and cities.
Firstly, the article “Explosive
growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment’” by Khanna (2015)
examines Indonesia as one case study which talks about the strategy approach
that is use by the Indonesia government like infrastructure upgrade or the use
of advanced technology to decrease the impact of urbanization and also to
contribute in the development of the country. The writer mentions that
Indonesia face overcrowding in its cities due to the problem from mass migration.
It has also been mentioned in the article “Overpopulated Jakarta” (2010) by the
author that it is not hard to see the problem of congestion in Jakarta and you
can still see “slums” in many areas in the city which also include the river
bank. An editorial from the article “Overpopulated Jakarta” (2010) also reports
that the city government issued a bylaw that only allows the “entry of migrants
into the city, with only those who have guaranteed jobs allowed to live in the
city, while officers of the city public order agency often conduct raids
against illegal residents.” But those efforts still failed to solve the problem
of overcrowding in the city. As the population grows everyday and the demand of
essential needs like housing and water grows, more social challenges may also
pop out. Therefore, I can conclude that the poorer people in South-east Asia
countries will suffer even more as times goes by with the lack of the essential
needs like housing and water in their country.
Secondly, Khanna (2015)
writes in the article that the using of the advanced technologies can help
decrease the impact of such social issues arose from urbanization. The writer
talks about Jakarta 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. It was reported in Woetzel (2014) that accustom of newly advanced
technology is fast in ASEAN. For example, mobile phone can be found almost
everywhere across the ASEAN region but there is a significant difference in
“digital readiness and capabilities by country”. For example, Indonesia is
ranked 64th in the world in terms of their readiness towards newly advanced
technology, yet Laos being another ASEAN country is ranked at 109th in the
world. Woetzel (2014) has also mentions that there are differences in their
digital development even between countries even where they are locating near
each other. Therefore, not all countries can use these newly advanced technologies
like mobile application to their advantages as there are huge differences
between countries, in terms of their business economic performance, governance
practices and affordability of such advanced technology. In conclusion, I
believe that the using of advanced technologies may not be suitable to all South-east
Asia countries, especially to those poorer people in South East Asia as they do
not have the ability to afford such advanced technologies as they can barely
surviving in their country.
In general, the article did emphasize on a few valid points
on the way how countries like Indonesia can make use of this opportunity to
improve their country using various method like the use of advanced
technologies or infrastructure upgrade. However poorer people in the South-east
Asia countries, may not be able to enjoy the benefit from the impact of the
urbanization at all as they do not have the ability to afford any form of advanced
technologies and they will not be able to keep up with the stress from the lack
the of the essential needs like housing and water due to the urbanization
thread in their countries and cities.
(728 words)
References
Khanna , P. (2015, June 11). Explosive growth in Asian
cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment'. Straits Times. Retrieved from
http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/explosive-growth-in-asian-cities-bright-ideas-to-seize-the-urban-moment
Resources:
Overpopulated Jakarta. (2010, August 21). The Jakarta Post. Retrieved from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/08/21/editorial-overpopulated-jakarta.html
Woetzel, J., Tonby, O., Thompson, F., Lee, G., & Burtt, P. (2014, November).
Southeast Asia at the crossroads three
paths to prosperity. Retrieved from
https://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBsQFjAAahUKEwjS3sTL16HIAhUFC44KHRr_AiI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.Mckinsey.com%2F~%2Fmedia%2FMcKinsey%2Fdotcom%2FInsights%2FEnergy%2520Resources%2520Materials%2FThree%2520paths%2520to%2520sustained%2520economic%2520growth%2520in%2520Southeast%2520Asia%2FMGI%2520SE%2520Asia_Full%2520report_November%25202014.ashx&usg=AFQjCNHaYlZNobirMywu-P5mZ_651
GM6Q&sig2= 2m 29dNFM3UPHereZd3OdYw&bvm=bv.104226188,d.c2E&cad=rja
