Asian Cities

Asian Cities: Colonial to Global

Gregory Bracken

Why have certain cities in Asia taken such a lead in the twenty-first century? How have they been able to make the successful segue from nodes in colonial-era networks into key global players in their own right? Could it be that they have been making canny use of infrastructure inherited from the era of Western colonial expansion? Or is there something else that underpins and explains these cities’ remarkable global dominance?

Asian Cities: Colonial to Global examines how some of the urban environments of Asia have managed to successfully make the transition from colonial-era nodes into global cities. It does this from a variety of multi-disciplinary viewpoints, including history, geography, and cultural studies, as well as architecture and urbanism, the main lens through which these cities and their networks are examined. The book tries to formulate a new understanding of what makes Asian cities such global leaders, as well as point out some object lessons for those less successful in this endeavor.

This is a useful snapshot of global Asia’s urban environments, as well as a timely reminder of how some of the trends we are seeing in the region may well be followed internationally as the rest of the century unfolds.

About the author

Gregory Bracken is an Assistant Professor at the Architecture Faculty of Delft University of Technology and a Research Fellow at the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS).