ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the trends in Asian urbanization, distinguishing three basic types: the East Asian type, the Southeast Asian type, and the South Asian type. It provides an explanation of specific patterns in an analysis of structural change using the Chenery-Syrquin model, taking in turn the issues of capital formation, labor productivity, labor shares, and the emerging pattern of labor absorption according to the three urbanization types. The chapter discusses the processes of spatial transformation, which together with the structural shifts in Asian economies contribute to particular patterns of urbanization, it is necessary to consider the role of off-farm employment in absorbing labor in rural areas. The development of intermediate cities, or "diffused urbanization", in Southeast Asia has involved major investments in infrastructure government sponsorship of incentives, made possible by hinterland growth. Asian urbanization is low in comparison with the rest of the world, and rural-to-urban migration has as yet contributed little to it or to population redistribution in general.
