Routledge Handbook of Asian Cities

Part I: Introduction

1. Urban Asia in perspective

2. Smart cities in Asia: Ambiguity, innovation, and evolution

3. Asian cities in and beyond COVID-19

4. Vulnerable resilience in COVID-19: Invisibility and adaptability of the ‘informal’ cities of Southeast Asia

5. Making liveable cities: Experiences from Asia and the Pacific

6. East Asian cities: Deindustrialisation, greening, and the new geography of urbanisation

7. Hong Kong: One city, three spatial forms, and two possible fates?

8. Pyongyang: An urban metamorphosis under the power of marketisation

9. Seoul: Pursuing and sharing a global city

10. Shanghai: New directions in Chinese metropolitan planning

11. Taipei: Towards a liveable and sustainable city

12. Tokyo: Reinventing the modern Asian metropolis through adaptive strategies

13. Ulaanbaatar: When international plans and local preferences over urban densification collide

14. Xi’an: From an ancient world city to a 21st-century global logistics centre

15. South Asian cities: Informalisation of ecological and social change

16. Colombo: From colonial outpost to indigenous kleptocratic city

17. Delhi: Rethinking Indian urbanism through the capital’s multi-nuclei development

18. Dhaka: Growth management challenges for a rapidly urbanising megacity

19. Kabul: The 21st century urbanism we did not expect

20. Karachi: Changing institutional landscapes, challenges, and reforms

21. Kathmandu Valley: Unrealised proposals, decades of urban chaos and planning for a better future

22. Malé: Decentralising the world’s densest island capital—plans, determination, and challenges

23. Mumbai: ‘Mess is more’—value and shortcomings of the city’s ad hoc development process

24. Thimphu: Tranquil, peace, and happy city of the Himalayas

25. Southeast Asian cities: The imbalances of urban development

26. Bandar Seri Begawan: Why is Brunei’s capital chasing foreign dollars?

27. Bangkok: Creative disorder and the military imagination

28. Dili: Hurdles in constructing the urban from the ground

29. Ho Chi Minh City: Can it avoid the path dependence with Thu Duc City?

30. Jakarta: Seeking the sustainable megacity region

31. Kuala Lumpur: Post-Vision 2020 and post-pandemic futures

32. Manila: Aspiring to be an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable city amidst climate and disaster risks

33. Phnom Penh: Towards a post-dependency metropolisation?

34. Singapore: Planning for healthy ageing

35. Vientiane: Challenges in the policies and practices for sustainable urban development in a ‘least developed’ city

36. Yangon: Displacement urbanism, housing provisionality, and feminist spatial practices—an infrastructure of care at the urban margin

37. Central Asian cities: Challenges in balancing global, national, and local development needs

38. Almaty: Modernisation through spatial reordering—urban networks, transport sector reforms, and Eurasianism

39. Ashgabat: The architecture as a showcase of a personal regime

40. Bishkek: Searching for Asianness in a post-Soviet city

41. Dushanbe: Urban transformation, changing spaces, and identities in Tajikistan

42. Tashkent: Aspiring for entrepreneurship and innovation hub

43. The Asian city in a new urban age

Biography

Richard Hu is an urban planner, designer, and critic. His work and interests—both intellectual and professional—integrate built environment, economy, and technology to tackle contemporary urban transformations and challenges, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. He is the author of Smart Design: Disruption, Crisis, and the Reshaping of Urban Spaces (2021).