Transport Development In Asian Megacities

The rapid growth of the Asian urban population concentrates on a few large cities, turning them into giant megacities. Despite new theoretical insights into the benefits of megacities, the emerging Asia is facing a daunting challenge concerning the management of infrastructure and services in their megacities. The deteriorating urban mobility is the most difficult challenge with respect to the sharp increase in vehicle numbers and to inadequate and poorly managed road infrastructure. Public transport, a sustainable mode of mobility, is subjected to a vicious cycle of poor service, decreasing ridership and lower investment. Despite various policy initiatives, the situation has not improved. The scale and growth pattern of Asian megacities have distinctive features which generate a unique set of challenges and opportunities. New perspectives are needed to effectively address the transportation problems making the best use of available opportunities. This book, which is a result of an international collaborative research, addresses these challenges by providing insightful analysis and novel viewpoints.

Systems of transportation long ago developed out of the profound human need to connect and communicate. Transport today is still the only means for the physical movement of goods and people. Alongside the evolution of transportation and communication technologies, the astounding phenomenon of urbanization has taken place. Cities have grown faster and larger, absorbing vast influxes of dwellers who seek convenient and comfortable lifestyles with the required fast, cheap, and safe systems of transport. Of the world's megacities, with populations of more than ten million, over half are in Asia. While enjoying large-scale economic power, Asian megacities also face serious challenges. They suffer from too-rapid urbanization, with the resulting congestion, pollution, and destruction of traditional local cultures and industries. Written by experts from Asian academic institutes, this book addresses the urgent question of how to achieve sustainability in the still-growing cities of Asia. The chapters comprise the latest research and the application of promising measures, some already realized in Asia, that include urban transport system design and management, land-use control, city planning, and sustainability. Of vast import, this volume was written for students and researchers, planners and engineers, and all who are interested in sustainable urban environments. Following is the structure and rough sketch of the contents of this book: Part I, "The First Step: An Overview" deals with Asian characteristics from natural, cultural, and economic viewpoints, and then describes how we should grasp the concept of urban sustainability in urban transport in Asia. Readers will understand various aspects of Asia as introductory and preparatory knowledge. Part II, "Best Practices from Asia with Wisdom: Keys to Success and Facing Limitations" will introduce actual comparatively successful and promising measures tried and realized in Asia. This part covers various cases from passenger transport to freight transport, from transport system design to system management, from engineering measures to people's participation, from traffic control to land-use control and site development. Readers will find an abundance of information and examples in this main part of the book. Part III, "Future of Urban Transport in Asia: Rising Asia Proposes to the World" discusses key issues and hot topics of study on sustainable city and transport for the future: development and management, travel demand management, growth management, site development strategies, and financial and institutional measures.

World population growth and economic prosperity have given rise to ever-increasing demands on cities, transportation planning, and goods movement. This growth, coupled with a slower pace of transportation capacity expansion and deteriorated facility restoration, has led to rapid changes in the transportation planning and policy environment. These stresses are particularly acute for megacities where degradation of mobility and facility performance have reached alarming rates. Addressing these transportation challenges requires innovative solutions. Megacity Mobility grapples with these challenges by addressing transportation policy, planning, and facilities in a multimodal context. It discusses innovative short- and long-term solutions for meeting current and future mobility needs for the world’s most dynamic cities by addressing the influence of urban land use on mobility, 3D spiderweb transportation planning, travel demand management, multimodal transportation with flexible capacity, efficient capacity utilization driven by new technologies, innovative transportation funding and financing, and performance-based budget allocation using asset management principles. It discusses emerging issues, highlights potential challenges affecting proposed solutions, and provides policymakers, planners, and transportation professionals a road map to achieving sustainable mobility in the 21st century. Zongzhi Li is a professor and the director of the Sustainable Transportation and Infrastructure Research (STAIR) Center at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). Adrian T. Moore is vice president of policy at Reason Foundation in Washington, D.C., with focuses on privatization, transportation and urban growth, and more. Samuel R. Staley is the director of the DeVoe L. Moore Center in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy at Florida State University.

Asia’s emerging and growing megacities are expected to handle a large volume of air traffic flows for regional, national, and local economic development in wider production networks. In some phases of development, major capital investments to improve airport capacity and accessibility within megacities are required. This report reviews urban policies on airport development and investment in airport infrastructure in Asian megacities, analyzes the influence of airport system development on spatial transformation of megacities, and offers policy options to promote economic competitiveness of growing and emerging megacities.

World Bank Discussion Paper No. 352. Presents the proceedings of the China Urban Transport Symposium, held in Beijing, November 9-11, 1995, jointly sponsored by China's Ministry of Construction and Ministry of Finance, the People's Bank of China, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank. The symposium addressed a wide range of topics, including motor vehicle pollution, urban transport management and planning, bicycles in cities, mass rapid transit, public transit reform, and the role of the private sector.

The publication focuses on greening urban passenger transport systems in Asia and the Pacific region. It will review existing state of public transport systems and assess the environmental sustainability and inclusiveness of passenger transport. In the context of COVID-19, it will also includes an analysis of impacts of COVID-19 on urban mobility with cases form Asian cities. By analyzing anticipated growth of passengers, energy use and emissions, and the state of infrastructure and operation of passenger transport systems, the publication make policy recommendations to improve overall sustainability, inclusiveness and resilience of urban passenger transport systems in Asia. Use of technology and innovations, promotion of active mobility and integration urban and transport planning, and regional cooperation are some of policies and actions suggested. The publication provides sufficient insight into the measures and policies, as well as ESCAP interventions, towards achieving environmental sustainability and inclusiveness of passenger transport in the region, while building back better from the COVID-19 crisis.

Covering a topic of massive contemporary importance, this well written volume demonstrates how transportation strategy and environmental sustainability can be pursued in a comprehensive and harmonious, rather than unconnected and potentially conflicting, set of public policies. It applies lessons from several urban areas (e.g., Bogota, Singapore, Mexico City, Sao Paulo), including "success stories" and less successful "hard-won lessons", to a case study in Guangzhou.

In this book, an interdisciplinary research group of faculty members, researchers, professionals, and planners contributed to an understanding of the dynamics and dimensions of emerging challenges and risks in megacities in the rapidly changing urban environments in Asia and examined emerging resilience themes from the point of view of sustainability and public policy. The world’s urban population in 2009 was approximately 3.4 billion and Asia’s urban population was about 1.72 billion. Between 2010 and 2020, 411 million people will be added to Asian cities (60 % of the growth in the world’s urban population). By 2020, of the world’s urban population of 4.2 billion, approximately 2.2 billion will be in Asia. China and India will contribute 31.3 % of the total world urban population by 2025. Developing Asia’s projected global share of CO2 emissions for energy consumption will increase from 30 % in 2006 to 43 % by 2030. City regions serve as magnets for people, enterprise, and culture, but with urbanisation , the worst form of visible poverty becomes prominent. The Asian region, with a slum population of an estimated 505.5 million people, remains host to over half of the world’s slum population . The book provides information on a comprehensive range of environmental threats faced by the inhabitants of megacities. It also offers a wide and multidisciplinary group of case studies from rapidly growing megacities (with populations of more than 5 million) from developed and developing countries of Asia.