Introduction to the Special Issue on “Neighborhood Transformation in East Asian Cities: Rethinking Gentrification and Global Capitalism”

Urban landscapes exhibit significant regional differences shaped by geography, history, and culture, yet how these variations influence human perception remains underexplored. This study investigates the impact of street scene characteristics on human perceptions in East Asian and European cities by analyzing the large-scale MIT Place Pulse 2.0 dataset. We employ DeepLab v3+ and Mask R-CNN to extract multidimensional physical and visual features and utilize logistic regression to model their association with six subjective perceptions. The findings reveal significant cultural differences: streets in East Asian cities are characterized by higher compactness and brightness, whereas European city streets exhibit greater levels of greening and openness. While perceptions of aesthetics and liveliness show cross-cultural consistency, the mechanisms influencing safety and wealth perceptions diverge significantly; for instance, East Asian cities associate safety with road openness, while European cities favor greater enclosure. The study provides practical insights for creating urban environments that resonate with local cultural identities, enhancing well-being and supporting sustainable urban development.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and nitro-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in five East Asian cities: Seasonal characteristics, health risks, and yearly variations

RETRACTED: A Conceptual Framework of the Human Dimensions of Urban Emission in East Asia cities

The Fifth Assessment Report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR5) revealed that the scale of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Asian cities is similar to those from developed economies, which are driven predominantly by economic growth. Due to variations in geographic and climatic contexts, culture and religion, living style and travel behavior, governance and institutions, and a wide range of density and land use mixes, there are significant variations in urban form patterns across Western and Asian cities. This paper uses a systematic review, which is a critical interpretive synthesis methodology, to review keywords of studies related to urban form among East and Southeast Asian cities. From 3725 records identified through database searching, 213 studies were included in qualitative analysis. The results show that, although the population density in built-up areas is higher, annual population density is declining significantly in East and Southeast Asia. In addition, there are various kinds of land use mixes including horizontal, vertical, and temporal forms. As a whole, the inconsistencies of urban form characteristics exist not only between Western and Asian cities, but also among Asian cities. Serious population density decreases in Asian cities might indicate that they are undergoing similar urban development processes to those of Western cities. We should be aware of the potential lock-in trends of urban development patterns in Chinese and Southeast Asian cities.

East Asian urbanization is characterized by complex processes of extensive densi fication. Fuelled by rapid economic growth, Asian cities' size, scale, and physical dimensions remain incomparable to any Western se ing. During the past thirty years alone, various concepts have a empted to de fine hyperdensity, layering, and intensity as core principles of Asian urban development. Although these concepts explore the physical properties of development, few examples provide insights into the behavioural and social dimensions of such complex morphological se ings. This paper examines the eff ects of urban compaction and volumetric urbanism on liveability in East Asian cities. Hong Kong exempli fies an extreme scale and rate of densi fication. Podium developments – commercial plinths elevated above street level that connect large residential towers to commercial complexes – are one of the city's most common development types. The hypothesis is that the combination of diff erent types of podium development results in the interiorization of the urban realm, which compresses public services, social engagements, and behavioural conditions into diverse privatized and fragmented 'public interiors'. To explore these conditions, this paper first outlines the conceptual premise of reading urban se ings through the lens of volumetric urban compaction. This framework combines urban compaction and volumetric urbanism. Second, the paper discusses theories that deal with the links between spatial se ings and behavioural traits. Privatization is of particular interest here, including those processes in which the private and the public become interchangeable conditions or where the temporary occupation of functions occurs. The diff erent concepts – volumetric urban compaction and interiority – are studied within Olympian City, a podium development in Kowloon (Hong Kong). Through fi eldwork, the case is investigated in terms of the elements that make up Olympian City's spatial con figuration and how diff erent groups use space at diff erent times of the day and week. The case study shows that Hong Kong's development follows an economically driven model of volumetric urban compaction; it supports a larger privatization strategy that depends on the interiorization of the city to the extent that makes the overall structure highly exclusive, static, and controlled.

S-29C3-2 Background/Aims: An extensive literature review was conducted to evaluate the sources, composition, and ratios of particulate matter (PM) air pollution in Asian cities as part of a broader review of the literature on the health effects of air pollution in developing Asia. Methods: The reviewed air quality studies were published between 1995 and 2009 and were conducted in 16 Asian cities representing major urban conglomerates and background sites. Each reviewed study used receptor-based methods that include the following: Chemical Mass Balance Analysis, Principal Component Analysis, Positive Matrix Factorization, or other accepted chemical speciation methods. Results: The results obtained from these studies were regrouped into 6 different categories of sources that include: mobile, stationary, biomass, fugitive, secondary, and other. The highest fine PM concentrations were observed in Beijing, Hanoi, Delhi, and Kolkata reaching over 100-μg/m3 (annual average). There was great variation of source contribution by city suggesting the differences among the cities' PM problem. For some major cities, the ratios of PM2.5 to PM10 were calculated. South Asian cities seemed to have a higher coarse fraction in their PM compared to East Asian cities. In the South Asian cities of Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chennai, Islamabad, and Chak Shahzad, the ratios of PM2.5–PM10 were in the range of 0.22 and 0.35 illustrating that the coarse fraction dominated because of resuspended road dust, soil dust, and uncontrolled construction particles. With progressive development in recent years, this ratio is probably shifting to equal portion of both fine and coarse fractions as seen in many East Asian cities. In Bangkok, Beijing, Taiwan, and Bandung, the fine fraction slightly dominated the coarse fraction as vehicle emissions and industrial activity have progressively increased in the last decade. In more developed countries such as South Korea and Japan, this ratio was as high as 0.77. Conclusion: Together, the fine to coarse fraction PM ratio, the source contributions of PM, and the amount of fossil fuel burning and/or associated stage of development, provide a foundation for understanding the potential health risk and air quality status for some of these Asian cities. This work was funded by the Health Effects Institute.

The Relationship Between External Contact and Unmarried Adolescents' and Young Adults' Traditional Beliefs in Three East Asian Cities: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Reshaping economic geography in East Asia illustrates how extensively spatial factors have influenced and informed by growth and development in the region. This study was conceived as a companion volume to and informed by the World Development Report (WDR) 2009: reshaping economic geography. By providing case studies and illustrative examples and by deepening the understanding of the forces of economic geography in the East Asia region, this work helped to substantiate some of the key concepts in the WDR 2009. There is full consistency in terms of the analytical framework used and broad agreement on how economic geography has influenced growth trends across a diverse range of countries. Reshaping economic geography in East Asia also highlights the dramatic urbanization process under way in the region, evidenced by the number of globally recognized 'mega cities'. Seven of the world's 21 mega cities are in East Asia. Cities in East Asia generate about three-quarters of annual output and between a half and two-thirds of exports. Often, much of this is concentrated in one major city: Bangkok. Bangkok accounts for 40 percent of Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP) and Manila for 30 percent. Other major centers such as Guangzhou, Jakarta, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo are seen as driving their economies. East Asian cities have been able to deliver the agglomeration benefits required for growth and are now exceptionally well connected to the global economy. The region, excluding Japan, is home to 16 of the largest 25 seaports in the world and 14 of the largest 25 container ports. Without this improved connectivity, the region's rapid expansion in trade volumes will not have been possible. This collection of studies is organized in four sections. The first section comprises chapters dealing with the 'context and concepts' for this volume. The second deals with Southeast Asia, specifically, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. The third deals with Northeast Asia: China and the Republic of Korea, and the fourth section provide an overview of lessons learned. The time perspective for most of the studies spans several decades; in many cases, outcomes and policies can be traced back half a century or more.

The development of a city is not only a long-term process of material environment construction, but also a long-term process of cultural development and civilization accumulation. The essence of a city is that the city can provide people with a high-quality lifestyle: “valuable, meaningful, tasteful, dignified and dreamy”. When a city's material civilization is built to a certain extent, the excessive materialization needs cultural harmony to be more perfect. The Capital of Culture in East Asia has rich cultural resources, and also excellent tourist cities. The core task of building the Capital of Culture in East Asia is to protect and utilize cultural resources fully, and promote the regeneration of urban cultural resources and cultural development. This study used research data derived from the relevant statistics officially released by the cities, and mainly using the case study with the Capital of Culture in East Asia in China as the example. Previous studies have shown that the realization of a city's cultural value is first to promote the regional development of the urban culture, so as to allow the residents to establish “Asian awareness” and “Asian vision”, promote the development of urban culture in life, and increase opportunities for host and guest participation. On this basis, the spatial carrier of urban culture production, trade and consumption is built through the construction of urban culture space and the production of space. Finally, through the implementation of a brand strategy for the Capital of Culture in East Asia, the city's cultural space, cultural taste and consumption level will be improved, the city brand based on local culture and regional culture will be built, and its competitiveness will be achieved on both regional and global levels.

This study aims to make a conceptual and empirical contribution by developing and operationalizing suitable scales to capture certain Confucian values (face saving, humility, group orientation, hierarchy and reciprocity) that can influence East Asian consumers. Based on the pertinent literature, focus group discussions with extended East Asian families and East Asian scholar interviews, we develop and validate our measures on data from over 400 respondents across four East Asian cities (Tokyo, Hanoi, Beijing and Singapore). Despite some variance, our findings signal that East Asians are highly influenced by such traditional values. Several implications are extracted and future research directions suggested.

State-led creative/cultural city making and its contestations in East Asia: A multi-scalar analysis of the entrepreneurial state and the creative class

In many land-scarce Asian cities, planning agencies have sought to reduce space for the dead to release land for the living, encouraging conversion from burial to cremation over several decades. This has caused secular principles privileging efficient land use to conflict with symbolic values invested in burial spaces. Over time, not only has cremation become more accepted, even columbaria have become overcrowded, and new forms of burials (sea and woodland burials) have emerged. As burial methods change, so too do commemorative rituals, including new on-line and mobile phone rituals. This paper traces the ways in which physical spaces for the dead in several east Asian cities have diminished and changed over time, the growth of virtual space for them, the accompanying discourses that influence these dynamics and the new rituals that emerge concomitantly with the contraction of land space.

From the environmental perspective, wooden structures are favorable insulators that are suitable for carbon fixation and wooden-related products are considered the most sustainable material. Research has indicated that wooden structures have superior energy-saving performance compared to reinforced concrete (RC) structures. In this study, a CLT-based hybrid structure system that potentially improves the efficiency of energy consumption is proposed. The proposed hybrid structure system, which preserved original RC beams, columns and replaced CLT floors and walls, has less building weight compared to the original RC building. Additionally, less energy required for the manufacturing of building materials in the renovation of the aged building is achieved, compared to building a new CLT building. The energy consumptions for buildings with heights of 10 stories were compared. CLT and RC were selected as benchmark building materials to compare the energy-saving efficiencies with the proposed hybrid structure system. In addition, to examine the energy consumption differences at different latitudes, the energy consumptions in Taipei, Tokyo, Harbin, and Singapore were compared as well. The simulation results indicate the proposed hybrid structure system, which comprises RC beams and columns and CLT floors and walls, and has an energy-saving efficiency close to that of a CLT structure, by approximately 3–5% higher, however, had a superior energy consumption performance to the RC structure. In general, the proposed hybrid structure system can be effectively used for old building renewal in the selected Asian cities.

Material exposure experiments were performed to evaluate the relationship between air pollution and material corrosion rates based on collaboration with researchers in China, Japan, and Korea. Qualitative and quantitative atmospheric corrosion was estimated from damage caused to bronze, copper, steel, marble, cedar, cypress, and lacquer plates exposed to outdoor and indoor conditions in certain East Asian cities. The effects of atmospheric and meteorological factors on the damage to the copper plates and marble pieces were estimated using a regression analysis. The results indicated that sulfur dioxide produced the most destruction of the materials, especially in South Korea and China. In Japan, the copper plates were damaged as a result of natural conditions and sea salt. Copper was also found to be damaged by the surface deposition of sulfur and chlorine. Meanwhile, marble was substantially degraded by gaseous sulfur dioxide, yet sulfate ions in rain had no effect. Accordingly, the analysis of air pollution from the perspective of material damage was determined to be very useful in evaluating and substantiating the intensity of air pollution in East Asia.

List of Contributors