ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses within-country spatial inequalities of development. With a particular focus on South, East and Southeast Asia, it argues that spatial inequalities remain a persistent challenge within many countries that are otherwise lauded as development success stories. Attention is given to the ‘profound’ spatial disparities that continue to exist between core cities and peripheral regions, spatial targeting strategies to address such disparities, and some of the key theoretical lenses that have been used to make sense of these challenges. Regarding spatial targeting, we summarize debates surrounding cash transfers to poor households, area-based approaches (that emphasize context specificity), remote ethnic minorities, periphery and semi-periphery lowland farming communities, and coastal areas. Theoretical topics discussed in advance of these spatial inequalities include circular and cumulative causation, growth-pole strategies, and the role of institutions and localized responses in tackling spatial inequality. Finally, we provide a case study of decentralization in the Philippines, where decentralization has empowered communities to deliver better and more contextually-specific and locally-responsive services, but has shown little correlation with overall trends in reducing spatial inequality.
