Cebu City is the regional, financial and administrative capital of the Central Visayas Region with a population of 900,000 and it is the second-biggest growth area in the Philippines after Manila. It is located within a larger metropolitan area that has experienced a rapid population growth in the last decades, increasing from 1.5 million in 1990 to 2.8 million in 2015. Development stretches along the coast due to a mountainous topography and high vulnerability risk that restricts viable land allocation for urban expansion.

The city of Surabaya, capital of East Java Province, is the second-largest city of Indonesia following Jakarta, the national capital. Surabaya is located at the mouth of the River Mas facing the Madura Island. Surabaya has an annual population growth rate of 0.65 per cent and a population of approximately 3.09 million people in 2018. The city has a population density of 8,458 person per km2 and is highly urbanized. The city’s borders encapsulate an area of 350 km2, divided into 31 districts (kecamatan) and 154 sub-districts (kelurahan).

Bandung is the capital of West Java Province and is the fourth-largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, Surabaya and Medan with 2.5 million inhabitants. Its metropolitan area, Greater Bandung (Bandung Raya), or is also known in different name as Bandung Basin (Cekungan Bandung), consist of the Municipalities of Bandung and Cimahi and three regencies (Bandung, West Bandung and Sumedang). This metropolitan area  is the third-largest metropolitan area in the country with a population of more than 8.5 million inhabitants.

Recife is a coastal city located in the northeast region of Brazil. With a population of 1.5 million inhabitants,it is the ninth largest city in Brazil. Recife is the major city on the Recife Metropolitan Region (RMR), which is composed of 15 municipalities (Goiana, one of the 15 municipalities, joined the administrative region in 2018).