Short description:

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of how the developmental goals of Asian states are reflected in large-scale projects and how various actors both realize and challenge these goals. It advances the argument that megaprojects embody the dynamics of multiscalar strategic relations that determine the process and outcome of urbanization.

Long description:

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of how the developmental goals of Asian states are reflected in large-scale projects and how various actors both realize and challenge these goals. The rise of Asian economies has spurred the proliferation of megaprojects through large-scale resource mobilization, necessitating varying degrees of state intervention. Despite neoliberal pressures, these projects remain linked to national developmental aspirations, driven by domestic, transnational, or combined pro-growth interests, and serve multiple political purposes.

The book advances the argument that megaprojects embody the dynamics of multiscalar strategic relations that determine the process and outcome of urbanization. These projects create iconic landmarks, new towns, central business districts, and infrastructure, showcasing intertwined political and economic interests. By examining contemporary megaprojects in China, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Malaysia, and Turkey, the contributing authors reveal the complexity of urbanizing forces and their multiscalar nature in shaping the built environment and shed light on the intricate interplay of state strategies, economic needs, and sociopolitical forces that influence urban landscapes.

This interdisciplinary work provides a nuanced understanding of the political economy underpinning Asian urbanization and contributes to ongoing debates on urban development, state?society relations, and the production of space in the context of globalization.

Chapter 1 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Table of Contents:

1. Situating Megaprojects in Asia?s Political Economy of Urbanization Hyun Bang Shin and Dong-Wan Gimm 2. Seeing Gangnam Like a State: An Exemplary Model of National Megaproject in South Korea Dong-Wan Gimm 3. Coping With Crises in (Post-)Developmental Urbanization: The Case Study of Songdo International City, South Korea Hyun Bang Shin and Do Young Oh 4. Taoyuan Aerotropolis Project as New Zone-City: The Assemblage of Smart Urbanism in Taiwan Shu-wei Chang and Jinn-yuh Hsu 5. Multiscalar Dynamics Driving India?s Urban Megaprojects: Speculative Urbanization and the IT Corridor in Chennai Loraine Kennedy 6. Production of State?Capital Relations Through Megaprojects in Istanbul: The Third Airport Case Ça?r? Çar?kç? 7. Guangzhou?s Majestic Axis: The Political Reinvention of Urban Form Francesca Frassoldati and Alessandro Armando 8. Land-for-Infrastructure Deals and the Post-Politicization of Urban Governance in Penang, Malaysia Creighton Connolly 9. Between Megaprojects and Micro-Politics: Planning and the Post-Liberalization Indian City Shoshana R. Goldstein 10. Manufacturing Cities: Industrial Policy and Urban Planning in India Neha Sami and Shriya Anand