Urban Development In The Greater Mekong Subregion

This publication about the urban agenda in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) is timely as the world economy embraces the region with accelerated growth. An important element of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Economic Community, the GMS is expected to catch up with the rest of Asia by 2050. With urbanization levels still averaging about 30%, gross domestic product contributions of towns and cities have moved ahead to 50%–60%. By 2050, when urban areas in the GMS reach 64%–74%, urban gross domestic product will grow to an estimated 70%–80%. The challenge lies in consolidating and deepening development along the existing corridors and improving the environmental conditions to prepare for future green growth developments.

Urbanization is set to play an ever greater role in the development of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries, transforming their economies and providing support to green economic growth. With urbanization levels still averaging about 30% in GMS countries, gross domestic product contributions of towns and cities have already reached 50%-60%. By 2050, when urban areas are set to reach 64%-74%, urban gross domestic product will grow to an estimated 70%-80%. By consolidating and deepening development along existing corridors and improving environmental conditions, the GMS can prepare for future green growth.

This Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Urban Development Strategic Framework, 2015-2022 sets out a broad framework to encourage and facilitate a coordinated approach to the development of urban areas throughout the GMS. The framework includes three pillars: (i) planning and development of key urban areas, (ii) planning and development of border areas, and (iii) capacity development in urban planning and management. Underlying these are four crosscutting themes---green development and climate change resilience, disaster risk management, inclusive development, and competitiveness. The GMS Urban Development Strategic Framework also provides the context for ongoing and planned projects in the six GMS member countries.

Urban populations are projected to increase from 54% to 66% of the global population by 2050, with close to 90% of the increase concentrated in Asia and Africa. Cities and towns---a growing source of greenhouse gas emissions---will need to address challenges posed by climate change. A nature-based approach in identifying climate change vulnerabilities and developing relevant adaptation options was conducted in three towns of the Greater Mekong Subregion. Working with local governments, nongovernment organizations, women's groups, and professional associations, town-wide adaptation measures were defined by overlaying climate change projections on town plans and zoning schemes for strategic infrastructure. This publication captures valuable experience and lessons from the project.

The Ha Noi Action Plan 2018–2022 addresses the unfinished and expanded agenda of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation Program for the remaining 5 years of the GMS Strategic Framework 2012–2022. The Ha Noi Action Plan provides directions and operational focus to the GMS program and guides identification of projects in transport, urban development, energy, agriculture, environment, tourism, trade facilitation, human resource development, and information and communication technology. The Ha Noi Action Plan's key elements are: spatial strategy focused on economic corridors; refinements in sector strategies and priorities; improvements in planning, programming, and monitoring systems and processes; and enhancements in institutional arrangements and partnerships.

The second edition of the Greater Mekong Subregion Atlas of the Environment again champions the environment of this unique part of Asia, an area straddled by rivers great and small, with bountiful watersheds, wetlands, and forests. The Atlas celebrates the peoples of the subregion, and presents the environmental and development challenges they face and their responses. It reminds us that the subregion's peoples and communities are key to maintaining its environment. The Atlas captures in one volume maps, remote-sensing images, and essential information on one of the most culturally, ethnically, and biologically diverse regions in the world. The subregion is made up of Cambodia; Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Yunnan Province of the People's Republic of China; the Lao People's Democratic Republic; Myanmar; Thailand; and Viet Nam.

The Mekong River is a vital and valuable resource, with huge development potential for the six states through which it flows. Given the significant asymmetry of power between those states, however, there is a real risk that some might utilise it to the detriment of others. Without a sense of regional belonging, it is difficult to imagine that these states and their constituent communities will take regional imperatives to heart, participate in joint regulatory frameworks, or adopt behaviours for upstream-downstream and lateral cooperation over the appropriation and use of their shared resources. How effectively has closer interdependence of the Mekong countries accommodated the development of a political-social-cultural space conducive to the growth of a regional "we-ness" among not only political elites, but also the general public? The contributors to this volume approach this question from a range of directions, including the impacts of tourism, regional development programmes, the Mekong Power Grid, and Sino-US rivalry. This edited volume presents valuable insights for scholars of international relations, Asian studies, development studies, environment studies, policy studies, and human geography.