Summary

The urban population in Asia and the Pacific has reached approximately 2.1 billion, representing over 60 per cent of the world’s urban population.1 A vast system of cities has emerged as a result of extraordinary economic growth and demographic transition over the past 20 years. Due to their scale, the region’s cities are increasingly at the forefront of global sustainable development agendas, in which its urban areas will play a critical role. The region is now dominated by 18 megacities of over 10 million people. Megacity growth rates are generally decelerating, especially in their core areas, but given the absolute population numbers and the projected growth of more megacities in the near future, the growth and impact of megacities and their regions will be an extremely significant trend for the region. Meanwhile, half of all urban households live in cities of fewer than 500,000 inhabitants. That accounts for over 1 billion people. The role of secondary and medium-sized cities in the region’s future urban development is important and their transition will therefore be critical in the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. The drivers of urban growth are also changing. While at the time of the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat  II) migration was a key measure of growth, on the eve of the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) migration to cities in Asia and the Pacific has largely peaked at about 50 million people per year, with reclassification and natural growth now accounting for an equal contributing share to urbanization. Current projections are that the annual increase through migration will again decline, to 25 million per year, by 2050.2  By then, two out of three people in Asia and the Pacific will be living in urban areas.  Over the past 20 years, urbanization has contributed positively to the national economic development of many countries in the region. The economic success and national contributions of cities from Sydney, Australia, to Singapore City and Shanghai, China, and from Moscow to Tokyo to Hong Kong, China, and Seoul have been convincingly demonstrated. A number of cities in the region now have a gross domestic product (GDP) equivalent to, or greater than, many countries. The quality of life of many urban residents has improved in the period following Habitat II. The number of those estimated to be “middle class” in the region will reach 3.2  billion by 2030. That will represent 80  per cent of the world’s total middle class population. The percentage of urban residents living in slums in East Asia went down significantly, from an estimated 41  per cent to 26  per cent, from 1995 to 2014 while in South-East Asia it went from 45 to 28 per cent and in South Asia from 51 to 31 per cent.4 Ending extreme urban poverty and providing access to urban basic services are becoming achievable aims in Asia and the Pacific. Empowered urban poor communities in many Asian and Pacific countries have been recognized for their rich social capital as a basis of development and can provide a foundation for building resilience at the local level. Many countries in the region have become, or aspire to be, globally competitive economies in which urban services, infrastructure and logistics play key roles. The national policies of a number of countries increasingly now depend on urbanization as the basis for future national economic growth and social prosperity. The Asian and Pacific region can still further capitalize on continued urban growth and its demographic dividend and transition as an engine for inclusive prosperity and innovation.