Department of Urban and Regional Planning
University of Hawaii, Manoa

Globalization requires and transforms cities and urban systems. In Pacific Asia the dynamics of globalization and local interaction have led to highly polarized and uneven spatial patterns of accelerated urban-industrial growth that were already generating a number of actual and potential crises before the finance-induced economic debacle throughout the region beginning in 1997. They include environmental degradation, low economic resilience, closed systems of governance, and social welfare shortfalls. The apparent economic recovery now underway will continue to mask these crises unless they are directly addressed. The recovery is also confronting greater global economic turbulence in the form of increasing concentration of capital in large-scale corporate networks that is heightening inter-city competition for investment. Three policy directions - localization of capacity building, collaborative governance, and inter-city cooperation are proposed to address these issues.