Reader Response Draft 3

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