ABSTRACT
Different societies recognize their citizens as having different identities on the basis of ethnic, religious, social or racial distinctions. The way in which difference is dealt with varies from one society to another and one time to another. In modern times and within the rise of the modern state, an assimilationist tendency has often lurked within the efforts to manage such difference. This chapter looks at the possibility of urban citizenship as it is anchored in the context of the Middle East and East Asia, two unlikely regions that are seldom paired. The underlying assumption is that the emergence of a discourse on equality and human rights is part of the reason that ideas of inclusion have emerged on the global scale, making inclusion a value that can be established by a universal standard which all countries should aspire to achieve.
