How do East and Southeast Asian Cities Differ from Western Cities? A Systematic Review of the Urban Form Characteristics

Tzu-Ling Chen, Hao-Wei Chiu and Yu-Fang Lin
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Tzu-Ling Chen: Department of Urban Development, University of Taipei, Taipei 11153, Taiwan
Hao-Wei Chiu: Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Yu-Fang Lin: Department of Landscape Architecture, National Chiayi University, Chiayi 60004, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 6, 1-19

Abstract: The Fifth Assessment Report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR5) revealed that the scale of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Asian cities is similar to those from developed economies, which are driven predominantly by economic growth. Due to variations in geographic and climatic contexts, culture and religion, living style and travel behavior, governance and institutions, and a wide range of density and land use mixes, there are significant variations in urban form patterns across Western and Asian cities. This paper uses a systematic review, which is a critical interpretive synthesis methodology, to review keywords of studies related to urban form among East and Southeast Asian cities. From 3725 records identified through database searching, 213 studies were included in qualitative analysis. The results show that, although the population density in built-up areas is higher, annual population density is declining significantly in East and Southeast Asia. In addition, there are various kinds of land use mixes including horizontal, vertical, and temporal forms. As a whole, the inconsistencies of urban form characteristics exist not only between Western and Asian cities, but also among Asian cities. Serious population density decreases in Asian cities might indicate that they are undergoing similar urban development processes to those of Western cities. We should be aware of the potential lock-in trends of urban development patterns in Chinese and Southeast Asian cities.

Keywords: density; land-use mix; systematic review; Asian cities; urban form; urban development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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