Theorizing the Southeast Asian City as Text examines the ways in which culture, ethnicity, languages, traditions, governance, policies and histories interplay in the creation of the urban experiences in contemporary Southeast Asian cities. It focuses on the ways in which urban spatial forms are textual experiences, subject to interpretative strategies and the influence of other discourses. In addition it also analyzes the experiences of modernization in such cities, but also in terms of the strategies of containment, refurbishment, and loss which this has occasioned.

The extended metropolitan regions of Southeast Asia are the dynamic cores of their national economies and societies and the frontiers of accelerating globalization. This title explores ways of moving beyond outmoded paradigms of the Third World City or a Southeast Asian city 'type'.

Urbanization occurs in tandem with development. Countries in Southeast Asia need to build - individually and collectively - the capacity of their cities and towns to promote economic growth and development, to make urban development more sustainable, to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and to ensure that all groups in society share in the development. This book is a result of a series of regional discussions by experts and practitioners involved in the urban and planning of their countries. It highlights urbanization issues that have implications for regional - including ASEAN - cooperation, and provides practical recommendations for policymakers. It is a first step towards assisting governments in the region to take advantage of existing collaborative partnerships to address the urban transformation that Southeast Asia is experiencing today.

A social history of cosmopolitanism in Southeast Asia's ethnically diverse port cities, seen within the global context of the interwar era.

Theorizing the Southeast Asian City as Text examines the ways in which culture, ethnicity, languages, traditions, governance, policies and histories interplay in the creation of the urban experiences in contemporary Southeast Asian cities. It focuses on the ways in which urban spatial forms are textual experiences, subject to interpretative strategies and the influence of other discourses. In addition it also analyzes the experiences of modernization in such cities, but also in terms of the strategies of containment, refurbishment, and loss which this has occasioned. Contents:Urbanism and Post-Colonial Nationalities: Theorizing the Southeast Asian City (R B H Goh & B S A Yeoh)Reading the Southeast Asian City in the Context of Rapid Economic Growth (K S Tay & R B H Goh)“The Rise of the Merlion”: Monument and Myth in the Making of the Singapore Story (B S A Yeoh & T C Chang)Things to a Void: Utopian Discourse, Communality and Constructed Interstices in Singapore Public Housing (R B H Goh)Selective Disclosure: Romancing the Singapore River (S Huang & T C Chang)Malaysia's High-Tech Cities and the Construction of Intelligent Citizenship (T Bunnell)Museum/City/Nation: Negotiating Identities in Urban Museums in Indonesia and Singapore (K M Adams)The Urban and the Urbane: Modernization, Modernism and the Rebirth of Singaporean Cinema (A R Guneratne)Benjamin in Bombay? An Asian Extrapolation (R Patke) Readership: Undergraduates, graduate students, academics and professionals in architecture and urban planning. Keywords:Urban Studies;Southeast Asian Cities;Society and Culture;Literature;MediaReviews:“… there is much of value in the book both theoretically and empirically and it certainly deserves a readership beyond those interested in South-east Asia … this edited collection provides a good illustration of the benefits of taking the cultural turn, interpreting texts very broadly to cover anything from the built environment through museums and films as cultural artifacts to the role of the flâneur in construing rather than constructing the city.”Urban Studies

A common assumption about cities throughout the world is tht they are essentially an elaboration of the Euro-American model. Postcolonial Urbanism demonstrates the narrowness of this vision. Cities in the postcolonial world, the book shows, are producing novel forms of urbanism not reducible to Western urbanism. Despite being heavily colonized in the past, Southeast Asia has been largely ignored in discussions about postcolonial theory and in general considerations of global urbanism. An international cast of contributors focuses on the heavily urbanized world region of Southeast Asia to investigate the novel forms of urbanism germinating in postcolonial settings such as Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Hanoi, and the Philippines. Offering a mix of theoretical perspectives and empirical accounts, Postcolonial Urbanism presents a panoramic view of the cultures, societies, and politics of the postcolonial city.