Three Conditions Associated with Urban Growth in Asian Megacities

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Critical Thinking Essay #1 There are three conditions which are generally associated with urban growth including population dynamics, economic markets and socio-political conditions. This paper will discuss the author's belief that of the three conditions, the economic market had the most influence in the accelerated growth that has taken place in Asian cities over the last fifty plus years. As stated by Mohan (2006), the number of cities in Asia considered mega-cities (population greater than 10 million) has increased tremendously with ten in the year 2000, up from two in 1975 and none prior to 1950. The pattern of growth of these cities follow a similar trend with population increasing after economic growth. Mohan (2006) discusses the post World War II development of Japan into the second largest world economy and states that savings and investments rose after the initial infrastructure and transportation development allowing the advancement of manufacturing and production throughout the Tokkaido region. Along with the manufacturing growth came population growth as well, with migration numbers to the urban area rising quickly. Mohan (2006) also likens the growth patterns of Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan to that of Japan. He continues as he mentions the importance of heavy investment in the countries of Bangkok, Jakarta, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Kuala Lumpur contributing to their economic and population growth as well and speaks of a commonality between all of the above mentioned countries in that they became export oriented and focused on the transportation and infrastructure development (Mohan, 2006). As the economy of many Asian cities grew, the population grew quickly as well. The growth seemed to following a pattern already seen in other developed countries around the world. Clark (1996) explains that according to

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