Khanna (2015), in the article of "Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment'", stated that Asian cities had been 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, it is essential to have a city that has flexible governance, provision of self-service and is generative. "Flexibility and adaptability" are paramount in flexible governing. An example would be Jakarta, utilizing a smartphone application to obtain first-hand information from citizens with regards to their concerns. Due to the hefty size of cities, self-service is also 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 Southeast Asian cities to be the model of urban development due to their exponential growth in the recent years.
Khanna’s article could have done better in providing the reader with a fuller understanding of the negative impacts shown in Jakarta and Manila, such as bad traffic and air pollution.
Firstly, in Jakarta, Khanna’s analysis of the implementation of the mobile application, QLUE, was insufficient as the article lacked in-depth explanation with regards to the success of its implementation, whereby there were no significant changes observed. QLUE, a platform meant for citizens to voice their concerns to the government, was developed to assist citizens and the government in the rapid growth and constant changes Jakarta was experiencing. One of the targeted areas that need to be improved was the traffic conditions. However, even with the use of QLUE, Jakarta was still listed as the city in Indonesia that experienced the worst traffic conditions (Wardhani & Budiari, 2015). Notwithstanding that, it was noted that there was insufficient effort put in with regards to the enforcement of traffic laws and regulations (Budiari, 2015). Therefore, the government defeated the purpose of the creation and implementation of QLUE, since it was meant to bridge and facilitate better communications between the government and its citizens. However, citizens' concerns were not heard and or resolved. Therefore, Khanna would have better explained the situation at hand if he had discussed the after effects and success rate of the mobile application with statistics and details.
Secondly, Manila had been experiencing bad air quality with no signs of improvement due to increases in pollution caused by the exponential growth of population. According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB), motor vehicles and industrial processes are a few of the many means of emission of particulate matter (Macas, 2015). Also, statistics in National Emission Inventory 2012 reflected that 71 percent of air pollution was caused by motorized vehicles. Due to the inclining population Manila is facing, the quantity of motor vehicles on the road increased as well, inducing bad traffic and an increase in air pollution as a whole. Philippines is a fast-growing country, it is still unable to cope with the changes of population resulting in a rise in air pollution related issues. The article would have been more complete if details and causes of problems Manila is experiencing such as air pollution and poverty were discussed in detail to aid the audience's understanding of the article.
In conclusion, the article would have been more accurate and allows the audiences to comprehend the article in depth, if, Khanna have had provide further details and supports with accurate data for the use of QLUE application and air pollution.
Reference
Budiari, I. (2015, June 16). Jakarta traffic chaos crying out for tougher rules. Retrieved September 30, 2015, from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/06/16/jakarta-traffic-chaos-crying-out-tougher-rules.html
Khanna, P. (2015, June 11). Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment'. Straits Times. Retrieved September 24, 2015, from http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/explosive-growth-in-asian-cities-bright-ideas-to-seize-the-urban-moment
Macas, T. (2015, June 23). Metro Manila’s air quality even worse this year – data. Retrieved September 30, 2015, from http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/509142/lifestyle/healthandwellness/metro-manila-s-air-quality-even-worse-this-year-data
Wardhani, D. A. & Budiari, I. (2015, February 05). Jakarta has ‘worst traffic in the world’. The Jakarta Post. Retrieved September 30, 2015, from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/02/05/jakarta-has-worst-traffic-world.html
