Reader response draft 4

In the article “Explosive growth in Asian cities: Bright ideas to Seize the Urban Moment”, Khanna (2015) argues that South-east Asian capitals are the next reference model of “urban development” in the current era. The author states that these megacities’ populations are increasing rapidly due to migration from within each nation, and from other regions. He also emphasizes that due to this massive influx, these cities are expanding geographically while infrastructures are being built to accommodate their citizens. The writer reports that local government are facing complicated problems when providing basic necessities such as water, housing and reliable transport to their citizens due to the large populations. Khanna also reports that South-east Asian capitals are taking on the issues posed with "flexible governments, resourceful citizens and local infrastructure innovation." While he has explained innovations are important for South-east Asian capital, his innovative ideas are superficial. There are more pressing issues residing within these cities which should be the priority.

Firstly, Khanna mentioned that Bangkok has long faced severe issue of water and air pollution, dating as far back as 1970s. The transportation sector contributes the most to the pollution situation in Bangkok. Rattakul states that about half of the 14,000 buses in Bangkok do not fulfill air quality control standard. (as cited in Gluckman, 2007) 

According to The World Bank (2015), the government of Thailand has implemented measures to combat the issue of air pollution,; such as adopting emission standards, phasing out lead in gasoline and reducing polluting rickshaws in the streets. Bangkok has also encouraged a conversion from the old two-stroke engines to the cleaner four-stroke engines for the city’s motorbikes. By adopting emission standards, the city will be bound to build a lasting generative legacy on urban productivity.

Next, Jakarta currently has one of the most congested traffic situations in the world. This congestion is caused by the large amount of car ownership and the unreliable public transportation. Businesses in Jakarta are badly affected due to the lack of mobility.

To combat this issue, the public works office from Jakarta plans to build 10 elevated roadways, and some have already been completed. According to Prabandari , the new elevated roadway that she uses to travel from her home to work takes only “matter of few minutes”. (“Can Jakarta build,” n.d.) Previously, the journey would have taken her about an hour. However, Prabandari mentions that during peak hour, the traffic condition is still congested as Antasari elevated roadway merges with other streets. The traffic condition in Jakarta was made worse by their government. Their government did not implement any measures to control neither car population nor traffic condition.

As mentioned in the article, Khanna stated that cities need to be generative by making large scale investments that encourage creative economic potential, investing in both digital and physical spaces. However, issues such as pollution and transportation still persists and these issues require more concrete solutions

In conclusion, cities are putting in effort to build lasting generative legacy on urban productivity, but they might want to look further as being generative might not be enough and it might just be a short term solution as these cities might have limited resources. The cities ought to come up with long term solutions for issues revolving pollution and transportation.

References

Can Jakarta build answers to its transportation problems? (n.d.). Jakarta Globe. Retrieved September 30, 2015, from http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/can-jakarta-build-answers-to-its-transportation-problems/

The World Bank. (2015) From Santiago to Bangkok, cleaner air brings healthier lives. Retrieved September 30, 2015, from http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/04/13/from-santiago-to-bangkok-cleaner-air-brings-healthier-lives

Gluckman, R. (2007, May). Bangkok breathes easier. Retrieved September 30, 2015, from

http://www.gluckman.com/BangkokPollution.html

Hamer, A. (2014, January 30). Jakarta’s troubled infrastructure. The Diplomat. Retrieved September 30, 2015, from http://thediplomat.com/2014/01/jakartas-troubled-infrastructure/

Khanna, P. (2015, June 11). Explosive growth in Asian cities: bright ideas to 'seize the urban moment'. The Straits Times. Retrieved September 30, 2015, from http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/explosive-growth-in-asian-cities-bright-ideas-to-seize-the-urban-moment