About the Book
The study of urbanization in Southeast Asia has been a growing field of research over the past decades. The Routledge Handbook of Urbanization in Southeast Asia offers a collection of the major streams and themes in the studies of the cities in the region. A focus on the urbanization process rather than the city as an object opens the topic more broadly to bring together different perspectives. This timely handbook presents these diverse views to build a clearer understanding of theoretical contributions of urban studies in Southeast Asia and to provide a complete collection of scholarly works that are thematically structured and a useful tool for teaching urbanization in Southeast Asia.
Following the introduction by the editor, the handbook is structured along central, emerging themes. It contains six parts, which are each introduced by the editor:
Theorizing Urbanization in Southeast Asia
Migration, Networks and Identities
Development and Discontents
Environmental Governance
The Social Production of the Urban Fabric
Social Change and Alternative Development
This handbook will be an essential reference work for scholars interested in Urban Studies, cities and urbanization in Asia, and Southeast Asian Studies.
Table of Contents:
Introduction, Rita Padawangi Part I: Theorizing Urbanization in Southeast Asia Overview: Theorizing Urbanization in Southeast Asia, Rita Padawangi 1. Gateways, Corridors and Peripheries, Peter J. Rimmer and Howard Dick 2. Peri-Urban Transformations in Southeast Asia, Yap Kioe Sheng 3. Knowledge, Creativity and the City, Dean Forbes 4. Aspirations in Urban(izing) Southeast Asia, Tim Bunnell, Daniel P.S. Goh and Ng Huiying 5. The Politics of Increments in Collective Urban Action, AbdouMaliq Simone 6. Provisional Notes on Semi-Urbanization, Abidin Kusno 7. Some Conceptual and Methodological Issues in Studying Urbanization in Southeast Asia, Gavin W. Jones 8. Challenges and Opportunities of Comparative Research: The Case of Brunei-Miri and Singapore-Iskandar Malaysia, Sin Yee Koh 9. Debilitating City-Centricity: Urbanization and Urban-Rural Hybridity in Southeast Asia, Stephen Cairns Part II: Migration, Networks and Identities Overview: Migration, Networks and Identities, Rita Padawangi 10. Longing and Belonging in a Global City: Skilled Migrants in Singaporean Urban Space, Michiel Baas 11. Marginalized Migrants and Urbanization in Southeast Asia, Laavanya Kathiravelu and George Wong Boon Keng 12. Women Workers and Urban Imagination in Indonesia’s Industrial Town, Nicolaas Warouw 13. God’s Many Faces: Religious Pluralism in Urban Southeast Asia, Teresita Cruz-del Rosario 14. Between Tradition and Modernity: The Ritual Politics of Indigenous Cultural Heritage in Urbanizing Sabah, East Malaysia, Yunci Cai 15. Networks Beyond the Nation: Urban Histories of Northern Thailand and Beyond, Taylor Easum Part III: Development and Discontents Overview: Development and Discontents, Rita Padawangi 16. Mega-Regionalization of a Nation: Philippine Mega-Regions and the Impulse to Globalize, Arnisson Andre C. Ortega 17. Kota Kinabalu: Checkered Past, Present Challenges, Bright Future?, Simone Shu-Yeng Chung and Robin Chung 18. Transforming Kuala Lumpur: Hybrid Urbanisms in Motion, Yeoh Seng Guan 19. From Socialist Modernism to Market Modernism? Master-Planned Developments in Post-Reform Vietnam, Hoai Anh Tran 20. Peri-Urbanization in the Surabaya Metropolitan Area: An Industrial Transformation Perspective, Delik Hudalah, Tania Benita and Ikrar Eka Praya Gumilar 21. Contesting Development: Youth and Industrial Labor in Peri-Urban Banten, Indonesia, Suzanne Naafs 22. Transportation Development and Urbanization in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region, Saksith Chalermpong 23. Phnom Penh's Diamond Island: City of Spectacle, Teri Shaffer Yamada Part IV: Environmental Governance Overview: Environmental Governance, Rita Padawangi 24. An Assessment of Disaster Risk and Resilience in Rapidly Urbanizing ASEAN Cities, Karl Kim and Lily Bui 25. The Political Ecology of Uneven Development and Vulnerability to Disasters, Danny Marks 26. Political Ecologies of Urbanizing Natures in Southeast Asia, Kristian Saguin 27. Urbanization and Multiple-Scales Environmental Challenges in Malaysia, Adnan A Hezri 28. The Urban Transformation in Southeast Asia: From Cosmic Cities to Urban Centers, Victor R. Savage Part V: The Social Production of the Urban Fabric Overview: The Social Production of the Urban Fabric, Rita Padawangi 29. Historical Morphology of Coastal Cities in Southeast Asia, Johannes Widodo 30. In Search of Urban Identities in Myanmar, Jayde Lin Roberts 31. Contested Heritage in Luang Prabang, Phill Wilcox 32. Alleyway Neighborhoods in Hồ Chí Minh City, Marie Gibert 33. Informality, Advocacy, and Governmentality in Urbanizing Northern Philippine Cities: Baguio, Benguet and Dagupan, Pangasinan, Ty Matejowsky and B. Lynne Milgram Part VI: Social Change and Alternative Development Overview: Social Change and Alternative Development, Rita Padawangi 34. Community-based Food Production, Piyapong Boossabong 35. Community-led Processes for Inclusive Urban Development, Diane Archer 36. Citywide Participatory Community Mapping, John Taylor 37. Disciplining Dissent: Freedom, Control, and Digital Activism in Southeast Asia, Merlyna Lim
About the Author :
Rita Padawangi is a Senior Lecturer at the Singapore University of Social Sciences. Her research interests and projects cover the sociology of architecture, participatory urban development and social movements, with particular emphasis in Southeast Asia. She is also a coordinator of the Southeast Asia Neighborhoods Network, an initiative that involves urban studies scholars on Southeast Asia from various disciplines to combine field research, teaching and civic engagement on cities and their neighborhoods in the region.
Review :
This collection of essays represents a major contribution in the understanding of the contemporary urbanization process in the diverse region of Southeast Asia. It is significant because its shifts the focus from the economic role of urban centers to a concern with the "urban condition" recognizing the human challenges of the of urban life which is now a reality for the majority of Southeast Asians. Its interdisciplinary approach encompasses themes such as patterns and the production of urban space, processes of the urban transition (including migration), development discontents, environmental governance and alternative urban development strategies. This collection frames a new debate about urbanization that is rewriting of the narrative of Southeast Asian urbanization.
Terry McGee, Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia, Canada
