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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 11/02
On the Edge: Shaping the Future of Peri-urban East Asia
Douglas Webster
May 2002
The term peri-urbanization refers to a process in which rural areas located on the outskirts of established cities become more urban in character, in physical, economic, and social terms, often in piecemeal fashion. Peri-urban development usually involves rapid social change as small agricultural communities are forced to adjust to an urban or industrial way of life in a very short time. High levels of migration are an important driver of social change. Rapid environmental deterioration; large-scale, often haphazard, land conversion; and infrastructure backlogs are major policy challenges associated with peri-urbanizing regions. Typically, peri-urbanization is stimulated by an infusion of new investment, generally from outside the local region in question, including foreign direct investment (FDI).
In spatial terms, Rakodi (1998, as quoted in Adell 1999) defines peri-urban areas as:
...the transition zone between fully urbanised land in cities and areas in predominantly agricultural use. It is characterised by mixed land uses and indeterminate inner and outer boundaries, and typically is split between a number of administrative areas.
The peri-urban zone begins just beyond the contiguous built-up urban area and sometimes extends as far as 150 km from the core city, or as in the Chinese case as far as 300 km. The land that can be characterized as peri-urban shifts over time as cities, and the transition zone itself, expand outward. What frequently results is a constantly changing mosaic of both traditional and modern land use. Peri-urbanization does not necessarily result in an end state that resembles conventional urban or suburban communities. Because so much land is involved, the strength of drivers of peri-urbanization may decline in some areas (e.g., FDI in manufacturing or rural population pressures), and effective land use guidance systems are virtually nonexistent in many developing East Asian countries, it appears that a new uneasy equilibrium that is neither totally urban nor suburban will result in many cases.
In East Asia the magnitude and impact of the phenomenon is, and will be, more important than in any other world region. 1 It is estimated that the population of peri-urban areas in East Asia will increase by approximately 200 million people over the next twenty-five years, accounting for 40 percent of urban population growth in that region. For example, 53 percent of demographic growth in the Bangkok extended urban region over the next twenty years is forecast to occur outside the city proper (the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration area), while the equivalent indicator for the Jakarta extended urban region is 70 percent. 2 Chinese peri-urban forecasts are less developed. However, it is expected that peri-urbanization will account for at least 40 percent of future urban population growth in service-oriented extended urban regions (EURs) such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou, and over 60 percent of future urban population growth in more industrial cities such as Chongqing, Chengdu, and Ningbo.
Although such numbers are attention-catching in themselves, the actual importance of the process in East Asia, in terms of local, national, and global impacts, is even more significant than implied by the demographics. Because most large manufacturing enterprises now locate in peri-urban areas, these regions will continue to attract much, if not most, of the FDI flowing to the East Asian region, along with considerable complementary domestic investment. Peri-urban development almost always involves wrenching social adjustment as small agricultural communities are forced into an industrial way of life in a short time. As well, large-scale in-migration of young people, usually from poor regions, creates enormous demand, and expectations, for community and social services. Environmental stresses in peri-urban areas can be significant, related to the spread nature of peri-urban settlement, pollu-tion from a variety of industrial and residential sources, as well as motorization; and inad-equate public-sector financial resources to cope with the rapid development. Many prob-lems are exacerbated by the spatially fragmented nature of local government in these peri-urban areas, 3 along with the low capacity of local public institutions.
In sum, this paper, and the larger project of which it is a part, 4 targets an important but largely ignored phenomenon that is closely tied to the challenges of governance and local capacity building in East Asia. A large portion of the economic and social change under way in East Asia today is occurring in peri-urban areas beyond core cities, and even their suburbs. The stakes involved in this type of urbanization are high. In many places, peri-urbanization will affect the future shape of society, the sustainability of economic development, and the environment of cities. The potential for conflict, however, is also high. These are areas where global-domestic economic interests, national-local political forces, and urban-rural constituencies mingle and often collide. The outcome of peri-urban growth can be very problematic if local circumstances are not well managed. Simply speaking, peri-urban areas are where the forces of globalization and localization intersect.
Surprisingly, very little has been written specifically about East Asian peri-urban regions. There has been more study of peri-urbanization in North America, South Asia, Latin America, and Africa than in East Asia. 5 There is not a single comparative examination of peri-urban growth within or among countries in East Asia. Similarly, there has been no work tracking the evolution of East Asian peri-urban areas over time. 6 And importantly, policy analysis directed at the problems, and challenges, raised by peri-urbanization is rare. Absent an empirical foundation, policy formulation and analysis with respect to peri-urban issues have been haphazard at best.
Notes
1. The term East Asia in this monograph refers to Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, and China. Back
2. Incremental population growth outside Jakarta DKI. Back
3. Fragmentation refers to the fact that most East Asian peri-urban areas are governed by a large number of small, low-capacity local governments. It also refers to the fact that a wide variety of agencies from national, meso (provincial), and local levels, including line agencies, state enterprises, and privatized entities, are responsible for public service delivery, yet there is often limited cooperation among these agencies. Thus there is lack of horizontal coordination (agencies operating at the same level such as local governments) and vertical coordination (agencies operating at different levels, e.g., national and local). Back
4. The Urban Dynamics of East Asia program at the Asia/Pacific Research Center of Stanford University, USA. Back
5. The Development Planning Unit at the University of London has a major study on peri-urbanization under way, funded by the British Government, but its study does not include an East Asian case study. See, for example, Adell (1999), Atkinson (1999), Budds & Minaya (1999), and Mattingly (1999). Back
6 One exception would be Lee, Kyu Sik, Gilbert, Roy, and Kwagnju-Chunman Development Institute (1997). Back
