Journals

This special issue explores the dynamics between decentralized governance and urban transformation in Asia. The case studies in this collection move beyond an examination of local urban dynamics as simply a product of decentralizing reforms (even if they have been directly affected by such reforms) and concentrate on institution-building, problem solving, participation and contestation in decentralized urban contexts. The contributors to this special issue came together at the Conference on Decentralization and Urban Transformation in Asia, held at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, on 10-11 March 2011. They considered important questions about the interplay between decentralized governance and the urban in contemporary Asian contexts. How has decentralization changed the role and functions of local administrations in Asian cities? In what ways have these processes empowered local communities – and particularly socio-economically marginal segments of the population – to shape the city in order to better reflect their needs and aspirations? To what extent have the processes and structures of decentralization empowered cities to emerge as new centres of policy innovation and best practice in responding to localized challenges? Does this portend for the travel of Asian city models of good governance within and beyond the region? What networks of inter-city cooperation have been forged between cities inside and across national borders as a consequence of decentralization? And, how has decentralization reconfigured relations between cities and their immediate neighbouring jurisdictions in terms of changing urban-to-urban and rural-to-urban networks? In addressing these questions, each of the contributors to this special issue focuses on a different dimension of the interplay between decentralized governance and urban transformation in six Asian countries: India, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

From ARI co-organized workshop “Decentralization and Urban Transformation in Asia”, 10-11 March 2011.