Summary for Reader Response

Khanna (2015), in the article of "Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment'", stated that Asian cities are experiencing a swell in population in recent years, resulting in the need for cities to expand. He highlighted that in order to counteract the intensive growth, flexible governance, self-service and generative cities are essential. "Flexibility and adaptability" are paramount in flexible governing. An example of which would be Jakarta utilizing a smart phone application to obtain first hand information from citizens with regards to their concerns. Due to the hefty size of cities, self-service is vital in the provision of basic necessities like housing and transport. Khanna noted that cities like Manila and Bangkok are struggling with insufficient housing and severe pollution issues respectively. Therefore, self-service would grant citizens the ability to directly notify and or feedback to the government upon encountering issues such as natural disasters. Lastly, he pointed out the need for cities to be generative in the form of yielding new business models through investment in infrastructure, thereby incurring growth in economy.


Khanna foresaw South-east Asian cities to be the model of urban development due to their exponential growth in the recent years.