Revisiting Urban Planning in East Asia, South-east Asia and the Pacific Belinda Yuen Regional study prepared for Planning Sustainable Cities: Global Report on Human Settlements 2009 Available from http://www.unhabitat.org/grhs/2009 Dr. Belinda Yuen is Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore. Her research is in the discipline of urban planning, most recently on planning liveable, sustainable cities and vertical living. Belinda has served on various Singapore committees including as Planning Appeals Inspector. Her international work includes serving on Editorial Board of Asia Pacific Planning Review; Regional Development Studies; Cities; Guest Editor, Urban Studies; International Advisory Board, United Nations State of World’s Cities Report 2008/09; United Nations Global Research Network on Human Settlements; Working Group of United Nations Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor; Juror, Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa Habitat Award, 2008. Comments may be sent to the author by e-mail: [email protected]. Disclaimer: This case study is published as submitted by the consultant, and it has not been edited by the United Nations. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or regarding its economic system or degree of development. The analysis, conclusions and recommendations of the report do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, the Governing Council of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme or its Member States. Acknowledgements The author gratefully acknowledges the help of Leon Kong and Yining Kong in the research and writing of this report. The author also acknowledges the support of Willie Chow in allowing the use of his photographs for this report: Figure 6 (China) and Figure 7 (Fiji). About this report General Assembly Resolution 34/114 mandated UN-HABITAT to prepare periodically the Global Report on Human Settlements as a vehicle for monitoring and reporting on human settlements conditions and trends. So far, six issues of the Global Report have been published. The seventh issue of the Global Report on Human Settlements will be devoted to ‘Revisiting Urban Planning’. The report will be published in October 2009. It will review urban planning practices and approaches, with a view to identifying the constraints and conflict points therein, as well as to identify innovative, flexible and dynamic approaches that are more responsive to the rapid pace of urbanization and its accompanying challenges. New approaches to planning can only be meaningful, and have a greater chance of succeeding if they are in consonance with the prevailing socioeconomic and cultural milieu, are participatory and inclusive, as well as linked to contextual political processes. The objective of the 2009 Global Report is to improve knowledge, among Governments and Habitat Agenda Partners, on global conditions and trends with respect to urban planning. This regional report will contribute as an input to the preparation of the 2009 Global Report. There are ten chapters to this regional report on East Asia, South-east Asia and the Pacific. The intention is not to be comprehensive, but to give a sense of the state of urban planning, its context, emergence and practice within the above region. The report is based on desktop review. Data availability is a huge constraint, especially the lack of comparable data. While urbanization and mega- cities in East Asia and South-east Asia are increasingly being documented, there is less information on urbanization and development in the Pacific. Information on evaluation and monitoring in the planning process, and planning education in the region is also limited. Additionally, the study region covers a very wide spatial and geographic extent. It is a challenge to review the 39 countries of the study region within the project resources and timeframe of one month. The report presents a best effort rather than a detailed investigation. Contents 1. Current Urban Challenges in the Region.........................................................................................1 1.1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................1 1.2. Current urban challenges..............................................................................................................4 2. Urban Context of Planning..............................................................................................................23 2.1. Urban growth .............................................................................................................................23 2.2. Socio-spatial issues ....................................................................................................................28 3. Emergence of Modern Urban Planning .........................................................................................33 3.1. Traditional forms of urban planning ..........................................................................................33 3.2. Major shifts in planning over the last century............................................................................34 3.3. Innovative urban planning..........................................................................................................39 4. Institutional and Regulatory Framework for Planning................................................................41 4.1. Institutional framework of urban planning.................................................................................41 4.2. Other constraints to plan implementation ..................................................................................51 5. Participation in Urban Planning.....................................................................................................53 5.1. Participation culture ...................................................................................................................53 5.2. Participation practices ................................................................................................................57 6. Urban Planning and Sustainable Development.............................................................................61 6.1. Planning sustainable urban development ...................................................................................61 6.2. Heritage conservation.................................................................................................................66 7. Planning and Informality of Urban Development.........................................................................71 7.1. Planning and informal urban development ................................................................................71 7.2. Urban planning and sprawl development...................................................................................75 8. Infrastructure Provision and Spatial Structure of Cities .............................................................79 8.1. Infrastructure provision and the city ..........................................................................................79 8.2. Infrastructure and the urban poor ...............................................................................................86 9. Monitoring and Evaluation of Urban Plans...................................................................................89 9.1. Extent of urban plan monitoring and evaluation........................................................................89 9.2. Some examples of plan monitoring............................................................................................90 10. Planning Education ........................................................................................................................93 10.1. Need for planning education ....................................................................................................93 10.2. State of planning education......................................................................................................93 List of References .................................................................................................................................99 List of figures Figure 1. Heavy rain has triggered flooding in some cities..................................................................... 7 Figure 2. Growing population, the youth bulge and ageing population, is a challenge for cities ......... 11 Figure 3. Self-built housing adds to the slum and squatter settlement of large cities ........................... 14 Figure 4. Infrastructure is needed for new population in urban and rural areas.................................... 16 Figure 5. Illegal and indiscriminate dumping adds to the city’s environmental challenge ................... 17 Figure 6. Heritage conservation is an important aspect of urban sustainability.................................... 66 Figure 7. Informal economy is a way of life in many cities.................................................................. 72 Figure 8. Singapore has implemented water recycling to augment the city’s water supply ................. 82 Figure 9. Traffic