Inaugural Seminar
Asia-Pacific-U.S. Urban Dialogue
10 – 13 August 2008
East-West Center
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Participation by invitation only
The year 2008 marked an unprecedented transformation in the history of human settlements, as more than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas. This transformation is redefining peoples’ lifestyles, employment, welfare, housing needs, and social interactions. It is creating new power relationships in organizations and government, altering the geopolitical landscape. The extraordinary growth of cities in Asia has been pivotal to expanded economic development and increased wealth in the region. But it is also changing the social fabric and culture of the countries, exacerbating poverty, slums, and environmental degradation in the urban agglomerations and periurban areas. Policymakers at all levels are responding to both the challenges and opportunities of urbanization in order to maximize its potential to improve the quality of life for all citizens.
The East-West Center has launched a new seminar series to examine the current trends and implications of rapid urbanization from a broad systems-wide approach (political, economic, and social) with special focus on urban governance. The rapid growth of Asian cities has already resulted in major strains on urban administrative systems as they strive to adequately respond to the rate of change. There is an urgent need to strengthen and expand the management processes and capacities as well as participatory decision-making mechanisms at all levels.
The 3-day seminar examined several key issues impacting Asia’s urban transformation: democracy and decentralization, urban infrastructure, the role of civil society, and climate change. Through informal and lively roundtable conservations, seminar participants were encouraged to share and reflect on their long-term strategic visions for managing urban growth and to exchange ideas and information on best practices, policies, and strategies designed to address the challenges of rapid urbanization.
The rapid urbanization taking place in Asia has increased political and administrative pressures to decentralize government decision-making and transfer service delivery from central to local government. The challenge to both national leadership and local governments across the region is to adopt strategic approaches that fit country conditions, but that also benefit from regional and global lessons of decentralization.
Seminar Participants
IndonesiaMs. Aurora Tambunan, Assistant Secretary for Community Welfare, Jakarta Capital City Government
Dr. Reswan Soewardjo, Deputy Chairman for Economic Development, Regional Planning Board, Jakarta Provincial Government
Dr. Lee In-Keun, Director-General, Urban Planning, Seoul Metropolitan Government
Dr. Won Bae Kim, Director, Northeast Asia Regional Development Center, Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, Seoul
The Honorable Dinesh Kumar Thapalia, Mayor/Chief Executive Officer, Kathmandu Metropolitan City
Mr. Devendra Dongol, Department Head, Physical Development and Construction, Kathmandu Metropolitan City
The Honorable Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Mayor, Quezon City
Mr. Bayani Fernando, Chairman, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Manila
The Honorable Mufi Hannemann, Mayor, City & County of Honolulu, Hawaii
Mr. Gary Gallegos, Executive Director, San Diego Association of Governments, San Diego, California
Ms. Gail Goldberg, Director, Department of City Planning, City of Los Angeles, California
Mr. Tran Du Lich, President, Institute of Economic Research, Ho Chi Minh City
Dr. Le Van Thanh, Deputy Head, Department of Urban Development Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Ho Chi Minh City
Mr. David Cadman, President, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability-Global and Councillor/Deputy Mayor of Vancouver, Canada
Dr. Shabbir Cheema, Senior Fellow, East-West Center Research Program, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Dr. Allen Clark, Senior Fellow, East-West Center Research Program, and former Executive Director, Pacific Disaster Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Dr. Elliott Sclar, Director, Center for Sustainable Urban Development, Columbia University Earth Institute, New York, New York, USA
Ms. Somsook Boonyabancha, Secretary General, Asian Coalition for Housing Rights, Bangkok, Thailand
Dr. Tim Campbell, Chairman of the Board, Urban Age Institute, and former Urban Advisor, City Management and Urban Development, World Bank Institute, Washington, D.C., USA
Ms. Celine d’Cruz, Co-Coordinator, Slum/Shack Dwellers International, Mumbai, India
Mr. Gordon Feller, Chief Executive Officer, Urban Age Institute, San Rafael, California, USA
Dr. Maryam Golnaraghi, Chief, Disaster Risk Reduction Programme, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
Dr. Aprodicio Laquian, Professor Emeritus, Center for Human Settlements, Community and Regional Planning, University of British Colombia, Vancouver, Canada
Dr. Bindu Lohani, Vice President, Finance and Administration, Asian Development Bank, Manila, Philippines
Dr. Eduardo López Moreno, Chief, State of the World's Cities Section, Monitoring and Research Division, UN-HABITAT, Nairobi, Kenya
Mr. Carlos Rodrigues, Vice President and New Jersey Director, Regional Plan Association, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
Dr. Patricia Romero-Lankao, Deputy Director, Institute for the Study of Society and Environment, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Dr. Mark Turner, Deputy Director, Centre for Developing Cities, and Professor of Development Policy and Management, University of Canberra, Australia
Dr. Shahid Yusuf, Economic Advisor, Development Economics Research Group, The World Bank, Washington, D.C., USA
