ABSTRACT
Unquestionably, there are many cities in South East Asia famous for their urban landscape and culture. Historically, external connections of South East Asian cities were mainly with China. European colonialism changed the orientation westward, and before World War II, most countries of South East Asia were colonies with low economic levels of development. After the war, South East Asian countries became independent, and their economies started to recover, but cities in the region remained mostly poor and undeveloped, with relatively little contact with the outside world. During the 1950s and 1960s, because South East Asian countries are generally small and lack resources, import substitution strategies were implemented widely. The cities of South East Asia then began to open up and connect with the world economy (McGee, 1967), following Japan in a ‘wild-geese-flying pattern’ (Akamatsu, 1962). During the 1970s and 1980s, textiles, electronics and other labourintensive industries transferred to this developing region because of the rapid rise of the Japanese economy. In addition, export strategies were implemented that further increased the degree of connectivity of South East Asian cities with the world economy. Singapore was gradually to become a global financial centre (Lo and Marcotullio, 2000). After the 1990s, and notably after getting through the financial crisis of 1997, the cities of South East Asia have experienced an economic boom stimulating development of the region (Bishop et al, 2003; Tyner, 2008). Undoubtedly, the cities of South East Asia will become even more closely connected to the world economy in the future.
