ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the major problem with urban planning is its core paradigms which essentially reflect Western experience of urban growth. It presents some basic economic and demographic data of the several most populous countries of Asia. The chapter also argues that the huge population base and the growth of mega size cities at a relatively low level of development have given rise to a vast sector within the very heart of these cities, which are generally labelled as the urban informal sector. It analyses the economic forces that give rise to economic, settlement and environmental imbalances, arising from the particular nature of the relationship that prevails in the interaction between the rural-agricultural and the urban-industrial sectors. The chapter outlines an agenda for accommodation of the informal sector to urban planning and environmental management. It shows that metropolisation in Asia is taking place in the middle of the huge presence and growth of the informal sector.
