This document is a summary of eight baseline survey reports from nine Asian cities: Chittagong (Bangladesh), Weihai (China), Chennai (India), Surabaya (Indonesia), Kuantan (Malaysia), Faisalabad (Pakistan), Olongapo (Philippines), Khon Kaen (Thailand), and Danang (Vietnam). These cities are members of the network of AUICK Associate Cities (AACs) which was created on 1 August 2004 as our new strategic project for the years 2004-2007 under the initiative of our organization. 

The objectives of the baseline studies were to: (a) to collect baseline levels of various indicators of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) so that they could be used as a platform for assessing the impact of the project; (b) to determine various problems and issues, and the priorities assigned to them; and (c) to identify successful practices so that case studies of these experiences could be developed for use in training courses and sharing them with other cities through AUICK Newsletter and the website. 

The surveys were conducted between September and December 2004 by local research teams in each country. Each research team was basically composed of two academics from the relevant city academic partner and two officials from the relevant city government. Originally, a report was submitted from the Olongapo research team. In spite of their considerable efforts, they failed to collect the city level data because relevant MDG data are not available at the city level in the Philippines. Therefore, we reluctantly excluded the report from Olongapo.

We would like to express our deep appreciation for the invaluable contribution of each research team member in collecting and analyzing the data in spite of the difficult problems. We also greatly appreciate for the editorial editorial assistance that Dr. Gayl D. Ness performed for us.

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank the United Nations Population Fund and the Kobe City Government for funding the baseline survey and the publication

28 December 2005

Kazutoshi Sasayama
Chairman, Asian Urban Information Center of Kobe
Chairman, Kobe International Center for Cooperation and Community
(Former Mayor of Kobe)