Preface

Urban risk is increasing and will increase for next several years. For the first time in the history, the urban population is more than the rural population in the world. The speed of urbanization is highest in Asia, and consequently unplanned development, migration from rural areas and increasing vulnerabilities are the characteristic features of urbanization in Asia. Urbanization is increasingly located in the developing countries: in 1970s, 50% of urban residents lived in developing countries, whereas it is increased to 66% in 1990s, and is projected to be 80% by 2020. The key issue of Asian urbanization is its variation. Each country has its characteristic context and the nature and issues of urbanization is different from the others.