Introduction: Asian Cities in an Era of Decentralisation

In early 21st-century Asia, more people live in cities and other urban areas than in any other region in the world. Around 1.5 billion people reside in urban Asia, accounting for more than half of the global urban population even though Asia is still one of the world’s least urbanised regions. ¹ Amidst the growing challenges presented by burgeoning populations, space restrictions, heavy industrialisation and environmental degradation, national governments in Asia are increasingly turning to different forms of decentralisation—the devolution of central state power and resources to the sub-national scale—in search of strategies for managing urban development.