Beyond the third world city: the new urban geography of South-east Asia

and emphasised their uniquely south-east Asian or even national characteristics. This paper will argue that the early decades of decolonisation which gave rise to this perspective were in fact a transitional phase. In the late colonial period south-east Asian cities were already becoming more like Western cities. Since the 1980s, in the era of globalisation, this process of convergence has re-emerged. Clearly, there should now be a single urban discourse. This is not to deny that south-east Asian (or Third World) cities have distinctive elements. The problem is the paradigm which shuts out First World elements. The city is the frontier of modern south-east Asia. In 1975, 22 per cent of the region ’ s population was in urban areas; by 2000, it will have increased to over 37 per cent; and by 2025 will exceed 55 per cent (UN, 1995). Since the 1970s, industrialisation has been the driving force of rapid urbanisation. In-dustrialisation and urbanisation have in