World City Futures

World City Futures: The Role of Urban and Regional Policies in the Asia-Pacific Region The future of world cities depends to a great extent on the response of public policies to the dynamics of urban growth and expansion. In the Asian context, world city regions are currently expanding at rates that will lead to a doubling of size in less than 20 years. Each world city integrates a larger region of which it is the economic and financial capital. The world city hierarchy is not in a stable equilibrium, and individual cities may rise or fall in their economic standing as "control centres" of global capital. How cities respond to these dynamics/challenges will to a significant extent determine their future in the next century. Six policy issues are discussed, including spatial organization; regional governance; the question of environmental and social sustainability; the social integration of migrant workers and their families; the new relations between state, economy, and civil society; and the formation of intercity networks. The essay concludes by proposing a strategic alliance among major cities on the Pacific Rim - an Asian League of Cities - to promote these several purposes.