The proliferation and growth of Asian cities have been spectacular in the past few decades. Nine out of the ten most populated cities in the world are in Asia. A volume such as the one under review can only provide glimpses of what is happening in this vast continent, but the editors have ensured that the diversity of contrasting economic, social, and political circumstances is well covered. Context and circumstance matter in urban development, and this book showcases that breadth and depth.
This book has 13 chapters, consisting of 11 cases, covering Calcutta, Naypyidaw, Macau, Manila, Chengdu, Delhi, Jakarta, Songdo, and Hanoi. The cases are organized into three sections. From my perspective, the first section focuses on the dynamics of change as seen through symbols and images in and of the city; the second deals with memories and imagination of cities; and the last addresses the embedded ideologies and politics in the creation and production of cities. The range of discussions is stimulating as the chapters contrast against each other.
This collection also documents the urban aspirations and desires of authorities, urban planners, and residents. For that reason alone, this is a valuable book. In a decade’s time, we can look back at how these imaginations have evolved and how expectations have changed.
The book starts with an excellent introduction. The editors clearly lay out the ground covered in the collection, and highlight the dominant features of the different chapters while situating the cases in the wider body of knowledge and theories. The chapter helps the reader navigate through the seemingly very different chapters.
The first case is on the Ochterlony Memorial in Delhi (chapter 2 by Sayandeb Chowdhury). This colonial artifice has been subjected to multiple reinterpretations over time. It is a site of memory and also a focal point for the reimagination of India’s colonial past. A city changes and so will its memories. This is a clear case of how history is dynamic and is subjected to changing “presentist” interpretations (Mitchell Dean, Critical and Effective Histories: Foucault’s Methods and Historical Sociology, Routledge, 1994). The following chapter offers a more forceful take on how a city is invented through the reinterpretations of a country’s past. The military regime in Myanmar created Naypyidaw as the new capital of the country while showcasing and asserting a Buddhist identity (chapter 3 by Donald M. Seekins). Like the totem pole of Durkheim (The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014), the newly built Upattasanti Pagoda is used as a focal point for local Buddhists, fits into the propaganda narrative, and thus serves to legitimize the regime.
The second section offers the reader different stories of cities, recounting interesting pasts. These histories seem to suggest that every city is special. Yet paradoxically, cities are also becoming more alike. Planners, policy makers, and developers identify best practices, and they copy from each other (Can-Seng Ooi, “Branding and the accreditation approach: Singapore,” in Destination Brands: Managing Place Reputation, Elsevier, 2011). While these forces must be situated in the local historical, social, and political context and circumstance, the homogenizing tendencies of global urban planning and architectural development have not been explored in depth—yet it is assumed that they play such a role. The many photos in the book illustrate the fact that our urban milieu is quite similar everywhere. It would appear that urban planners, architects, scholars, and researchers have largely bought into the distinctiveness narrative, and intentionally seek out differences to resist and marginalize globalization in city development. So for instance, Ng looks at an ultra-modern Chengdu, and how the historical novels of Li Jieren are being entrenched into its urban space for economic and tourism development (chapter 7). The past is an emotional resource and is used locally to establish difference from other cities. I would like to read more discussions beyond local politics, and examine how global urban discourses are adopted, appropriated, and resisted. Fortunately, the editors have highlighted this issue in their concluding chapter.
Following Foucault and Barthes, chapters 9 to 12 read into the “ideologies, beliefs and values” (34) of various architectural and urban forms in Jakarta, Songdo, and Hanoi. These chapters highlight many of the social and political forces that shape these places. Korea’s Songdo wants to not just be a technologically savvy city—it wants to look the part, too (chapter 11 by Chamee Yang). The city’s futuristic narratives have come to shape urban policy and the city’s appearance. One can postulate that when the futuristic look of the city becomes dated, the current political statements and aspirations will become more stark. In chapter 12 by Hans Schenk, the city discourses of the past form a cacophony in Hanoi. Vietnamese authorities wanted to build a modern socialist city in the 1960s but different visions have emerged as the country evolved from a planned economy to hyper-capitalism. The layers of political urban discourses are not buried, but rather challenge each other.
The city is ever evolving. The Asian settings, in many ways, are arbitrarily put together into a continental category. Each case highlighted in the book accentuates the unique social, economic, and political circumstances embedded in that city. The editors have successfully reminded us that Asia is more heterogeneous than homogenous. History, aspirations, and memories make each place distinctive.
Can-Seng Ooi
University of Tasmania, Hobart