ABSTRACT
This chapter surveys the state of urbanization in low- and middle-income Asia, drawing attention not only to the emergence of an astonishing number of large cities in the region, but also to the continuing importance of small and intermediate-sized cities and towns, which today are home to half of Asia’s urban residents. Such smaller places face many of the same environmental and climate-related risks as do larger cities, but vary significantly in the density and reach of their transport and economic networks and must often go without the basic social, demographic and economic data needed for adequate urban governance. In the upcoming era of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in which the central importance of cities and towns is well recognized, spatially-coded remotely-sensed data will help cities anticipate environmental challenges in their regions, but local governments will need to mount complementary efforts to gather spatially-coded social and economic data on their residents if they are to govern effectively and equitably.
