The ten essays in this volume engage with some of the most critical urban questions of the near future across Asia. They comprise socio-economic and cultural transitions as a result of urbanization; environmental challenges - especially questions of climate change, natural disasters, and environmental justice; and the challenges of urban infrastructure, built form, and new emerging types of urban settlements.

The essays demonstrate that it is increasingly difficult to conceptualize the ‘urban’ as one particular type of settlement. Rather, it would be more accurate to say that the ‘urban’ characterizes a global transition in the way we are beginning to think about settlements.

This book is of interest not only to researchers interested in comparative and interdisciplinary research, but also to urban practitioners more broadly, illustrating through concrete cases the challenges that urban regions in Asia and beyond are facing, and the various opportunities that exist for dealing with these challenges.

EDITORS

Dr Gregory Bracken is Assistant Professor of Spatial Planning at the Urbanism Department of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Technical University of Delft, the Netherlands.

Paul Rabé is the coordinator of the Urban Knowledge Network Asia, based at the International Institute for Asian Studies in Leiden. He is also Senior Land Expert at the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Dr R.  Parthasarathy is a MEGA Chair Professor and Director, Gujarat Institute of Development Research. He has both teaching and research interests.

Dr Neha Sami is Senior Academic and Research Consultant at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements.

Dr Bing Zhang is the Chief Planner of the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design and Adjunct Professor at Tongji and Tianjin Universities.