Southeast Asian Urbanism : The Meaning and Power of Social Space

by Evers, Hans-Dieter; Korff, Rudiger

• ISBN13: 9780312236281
• ISBN10: 031223628X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-02-10
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Southeast Asian Urbanism is based on the results of over two decades of field research on cities and towns of Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore. The connections between micro and macro processes, between grassroot interactions and urban structures, between social theory and empirical data are analysed to provide a vivid picture of the great variety of urban forms, the social creativity in the slums of Bangkok, Manila or Jakarta, the variety of cultural symbolism and the political and religious structuration of urban space. The book should be of interest to urban anthropologists, political scientists and sociologists, to students of Southeast Asian history, culture and society, to urban planners and policy makers.

Author Biography

Hans-Dieter Evers is Professor of Development Studies and Chairman of the Sociololgy of Development Research Center at the University of Bielefeld, Germany.

Rndiger Korff is Associate Professor of Development Studies, National University of Malaysia.

Table of Contents

Preface	v
Table of Contents	vii
Introduction	1	(24)
Modernisation and the Global City	1	(5)
Approaches to the Analysis of the Southeast Asian City	6	(5)
Emic Construction of the Southeast Asian City	11	(5)
The Cultural Construction of Southeast Asian Cities	16	(4)
The Economic Construction of the Southeast Asian City	20	(3)
Facets of Modernity	23	(2)
Urbanism in Southeast Asia	25	(42)
The Development of Urbanism in Southeast Asia	29	(17)
Urbansim and State Formation	29	(2)
The Colonial Cities	31	(9)
Present Patterns of Urbanization	40	(6)
Circuits of Urbanization on the Malay Penisula	46	(21)
Two Circuits of Colonial Urbanization	46	(6)
Post-colonial Malaysian Urbanization 1950-1980	52	(6)
Race and Class: The Structure of Malaysian Urban Society	58	(8)
Conclusions	66	(1)
Meaning and Power in the Construction of Urban Space	67	(64)
The Cultural Construction of the Theravadha Buddhist City	67	(13)
The Ritual Structure of the Early Capitals of Sri Lanka	69	(4)
The Ritual Structure of the Mainland Southeast Asian City: Mandalay and Ayudhya	73	(7)
The Image of Bangkok	80	(15)
From Sacred City to National Capital	81	(5)
Ideological Constructions: Bangkok as Symbiosis of Tradition and Modernity	86	(4)
Everyday Life Constructions of Bangkok	90	(4)
Conclusions	94	(1)
Urbanism and Local Traditions: The Example of Korat	95	(13)
Aspects of Korat as a Secondary Centre	98	(2)
Social Cohesion of Local Elites	100	(2)
The Ya Mo Tradition	102	(4)
Syncretism of the Ya Mo Cult as Background and Result of Local Integration	106	(1)
Conclusions	107	(1)
The Cultural Construction of Malay Cities	108	(11)
Conflicting Constructions: Space in a Multicultural Society	109	(2)
Differing Conceptions of Space and the Image of the City	111	(6)
The Example of Jakarta	117	(1)
Conclusions	118	(1)
Images of a Sumatran Town	119	(12)
The Growth of Urban Symbols	119	(2)
The Symbolic Universe	121	(1)
Domains of Meaning	122	(6)
Competing Symbolic Domains	128	(3)
Strategies of Survival in the Cities	131	(38)
Strategies of Articulation: Subsistence Production, Informal Sector and the Market Economy	131	(22)
Theoretical Approaches to the Analysis of a Casual Economy	132	(4)
The Subsistence Production Approach: Non-Market-Oriented Production	136	(16)
Light and Shadow	152	(1)
Survival Strategies in Southeast Asian Cities	153	(16)
Survival Strategies in Bangkok	153	(6)
Survival Strategies in Jakarta	159	(7)
Stepping out of the Shadow	166	(3)
Access to Urban Space	169	(74)
Urban Land Tenure, Ethnicity and Space	169	(19)
Urban Expansion, Land Speculation and Land Tenure	172	(10)
Changing Concepts of Land-ownership	182	(5)
Conclusion	187	(1)
Changing Property Rights in Padang	188	(15)
The Importance of Land-ownership in Manangkabau Society	189	(2)
Communal Land Tenure in Padang	191	(1)
Types of Urban Land Tenure	192	(4)
Dynamics of Urban Land Tenure	196	(7)
Access to Land in Bangkok	203	(25)
Pattern of Land-ownership and Access to Land in Bangkok	204	(8)
Limits to Urban Planning	212	(4)
Pattern of Development of Urban Land	216	(10)
The Real Estate Market Structure of Bangkok	226	(2)
Social Relations and Local Organizations	228	(15)
The Social Organization of Slums and Kampung	229	(6)
Localization as Resistance to Eviction	235	(5)
Conclusions	240	(3)
References	243