Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Southeast Asian urbanization and the growth of mega-urban regions

  • Published:
Journal of Population Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Southeast Asia has not been sufficiently urbanized long enough to have developed a real urban proletariat, yet it has been profoundly affected by urbanization. An important development has been the emergence of extended metropolitan regions, which now contain about 11 per cent of Southeast Asia’s population. In studying the dynamics of growth of these extended regions, it is important to designate zones around the official metropolitan areas. When this is done for the Southeast Asian mega-urban regions, they are the zones immediately outside the metropolitan area where urban expansion is marked, in-migration greatest, and occupational change most rapid. A corollary of this is that the conclusion frequently drawn that Asian big-city growth is slowing is misleading, because studies usually fail to include the rapidly-growing areas outside metropolitan boundaries. Trends over the 1990–2000 period for Jakarta and Bangkok illustrate the point. Realistic appraisal of the planning needs of Southeast Asia’s mega-urban regions requires integrated research on the broader metropolitan region surrounding the metropolis proper.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Asian Development Bank. 1997.Annual Report 1996. Manila.

  • Badan Pusat Statistik, ANU and UNFPA. 2000.Pertumbuhan Penduduk dan Perubahan Karakteristik Tujuh Wilayah Aglomerasi Perkotaan di Indonesia 1990–1995 (Population Increase and Changing Characteristics of Seven Urban Agglomerations in Indonesia 1990–1995). Jakarta: Badan Pusat Statistik.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourne, Larry S. and James W. Simmons. 2002. The conceptualization and analysis of urban systems: a North American perspective. Paper presented at conference on New Forms of Urbanization: Conceptualizing and Measuring Human Settlement in the Twenty-first Century, organized by IUSSP Working Group on Urbanization, Bellagio.

  • Brockerhoff, Martin and Ellen Brennan. 1997. The poverty of cities in developing regions.Population and Development Review 24(1):75–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dharmapatni, Ida Ayu Indira and Tommy Firman. 1995. Problems and challenges of mega-urban regions in Indonesia: the case of Jabotabek and the Bandung Metropolitan Area. In T.G. McGee and Ira Robinson (eds),The Mega-Urban Regions of Southeast Asia, Policy Challenges and Responses. Vancouver: UBC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dick, H.W. and P.J. Rimmer. 1998. Beyond the Third World city: the new urban geography of Southeast Asia.Urban Studies 35(12):2303–2321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Douglass, M. 1991. Planning for environmental sustainability in the extended Jakarta Metropolitan Region. In Norton Ginsburg, Bruce Koppel and T.G. McGee (eds),The Extended Metropolis: Settlement Transition in Asia. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ESCAP. 1982.Migration, Urbanization and Development in Thailand: Comparative Study on Migration, Urbanization and Development in the ESCAP Region. Country Reports. New York: United Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzsimmons, James D. and Michael R. Ratcliffe. 2002. Reflections on the review of the metropolitan area standards in the United States, 1990–2000. Paper presented at conference on New Forms of Urbanization: Conceptualizing and Measuring Human Settlement in the Twenty-first Century, organized by IUSSP Working Group on Urbanization, Bellagio.

  • Hugo, Graeme. 1996. Urbanization in Indonesia: city and countryside linked. Pp. 133–183 in J. Gugler (ed.),The Urban Transformation in the Developing World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hugo, Graeme, Anthony Champion and Alfredo Lattes. 2002. Changing forms of human settlement: conceptual challenges for population studies. Paper prepared for conference on New Forms of Urbanization: Conceptualizing and Measuring Human Settlement in the Twenty-first Century, Bellagio.

  • Jones, Gavin W. 1984. Links between urbanization and sectoral shifts in employment in Java.Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 20(3):120–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, Gavin W. 1997. The thoroughgoing urbanization of East and Southeast Asia.Asia Pacific Viewpoint 38(3):237–249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, Gavin. 2001. Population growth and decline in Indonesia’s cities.Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 37(1):37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, Gavin W. and Si Gde Made Mamas 1996. The changing employment structure of the extended Jakarta Metropolitan Region.Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 32(1):51–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, Gavin W., Ching-Lung Tsay and Bhishna Bajracharya. 2000. Demographic and employment change in the mega-cities of Southeast and East Asia.Third World Planning Review 22(1):1–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelley, Allen C. and Jeffrey G. Williamson. 1984.What Drives Third World City Growth? A Dynamic General Equilibrium Approach. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mamas, Si Gde Made, Gavin W. Jones and Toto Sastrasuanda, 2001. Demographic change in Indonesia’s megacities.Third World Planning Review 23(2): 155–174.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGee, Terence G. 1991. The emergence of desakota regions in Asia: expanding a hypothesis. In N. Ginsburg, B. Koppel and T.G. McGee, (eds),The Extended Metropolis: Settlement Transition in Asia. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGee, Terence G.. 1995. Metrofitting the emerging mega-urban regions of ASEAN: an overview. In Terence G. McGee and Ira Robinson (eds),The Mega-Urban Regions of South-east Asia, Policy Challenges and Responses. Vancouver: UBC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mera, Koichi. 1981. Population distribution policies: the need for caution. In United Nations, Department of International Economic and Social Affairs,Population Distribution Policies in Development Planning. Population Studies No. 75. New York.

  • Montgomery, Mark R. 1988. How large is too large? Implications of the city size literature for population policy and research.Economic Development and Cultural Change 36(4):691–720.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ocampo, Romeo B. 1995. The Metro Manila mega-region. Pp. 282–295 in T.G. McGee and I.M. Robinson (eds),The Mega-Urban Regions of Southeast Asia. Vancouver: UBC Press.Population Briefs. 1997. 3(3).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rigg, Jonathan. 1997.Southeast Asia: The Human Landscape of Modernization and Development. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, Ira M. 1995. Emerging spatial patterns in ASEAN mega-urban regions: alternative strategies. In T.G. McGee and I.M. Robinson (eds),The Mega-Urban Regions of Southeast Asia. Vancouver: UBC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shand, R.T. (ed). 1983.Off-farm Employment in the Development of Rural Asia: Issues. Canberra: National Centre for Development Studies, Australian National University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tim Relawan Untuk Kemanusiaan. 1998.Sujud di Hadapan Korban: Tragedi Jakarta Mei 1998 (In Recognition of Their Sacrifice: The Jakarta Tragedy of May 1998). Jakarta.

  • United Nations. 2001.World Urbanization Prospects as Assessed in 2001. New York.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Demography and Sociology Program, Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University, 0200, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Gavin W. Jones

Authors
  1. Gavin W. Jones
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gavin W. Jones.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jones, G.W. Southeast Asian urbanization and the growth of mega-urban regions. Journal of Population Research 19, 119–136 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03031973

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03031973

Keywords

Search

Navigation