Abstract
This chapter argues that the challenges provided by global environmental change are posing various problems of social adjustment and economic transformation. This makes us consider scenarios in which new ideas are needed to develop policy solutions. We have currently been confronted with an apparently unresolved dilemma, economic growth with urbanization versus sustainability focusing on environmental conservation. In this respect, the focal issue is can cities of developing countries avoid imitating the urbanization paths of the developed world? Such paths seem to be little possibility of a solution for that dilemma. This article discusses three ideas that are central to policies for a globally responsible form of urbanization: (1) the centrality of the urbanization process; (2) building adaptable, resilient livable cities and urban regions; and (3) building new institutions of urban political and eco-governance. Following these contexts, I want to argue that this twentieth-century form of urbanization is no longer tenable in the face of environmental challenges. Priority should be given to creating a more sustainable form of urbanization. Sustainability is a new form of growth. In doing so, we need to appropriately understand the relationship between urbanization process and environmental change. Finally, I want to insist on the need to develop new effective institutions and management systems to guide and implement the creation of resilient low-carbon cities and urban regions. The merging of government and governance is crucial in the formation of effective policies that create a common vision for the promotion of economic growth, ecological sustainability, and social inclusion in addition to policies to cope with low-carbon transition.
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McGee, T.G., Mori, K. (2021). The Management of Urbanization, Development, and Environmental Change in the Megacities of Asia in the Twenty-First Century. In: Muramatsu, S., McGee, T.G., Mori, K. (eds) Living in the Megacity: Towards Sustainable Urban Environments. Global Environmental Studies. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56901-5_2
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