ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the recent experience of economic growth accompanied by urban environmental degradation in many of Southeast Asia's most important cities. Southeast Asian countries also diverge significantly as well in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) structure and, of course, living conditions. A number of policy-makers and politicians argue that the cultivation of foreign investment and too much reliance on an export-oriented manufacturing strategy were the primary causes of the recent economic crisis in the region. The countries most affected by the crisis were Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and, to a lesser extent, the Philippines. Most Southeast Asian nations, except for Singapore and Brunei Darussalam, are still generally described as rural in nature with a relatively low proportion of the total population living in urban settlements. Solid and hazardous waste generation is a widespread problem in rapidly changing areas of Southeast Asia as they are in most industrializing parts of the world.
