Unprecedented Urbanisation in Asia and Its Impacts on the Environment

Asia is home to almost half of the global urban population and is urbanising at a pace faster than any other region, leading to greater environmental challenges that are already serious. This article offers a balanced assessment on the relationship between urbanisation and the environment from the Asian perspective. It concludes that urbanisation is a cause of, but more importantly, a solution to environmental degradation. Policy-makers should take an optimistic and proactive, rather than conservative, approach to unprecedented urbanisation in Asia.