a) Organization and Coverage

This study represents another methodological experiment. AUICK has from its outset been concerned with discovering accurate and economical ways to give voice to Asian urban administrators. The desire for accuracy and clarity is rooted in its basic orientation and aims, to hear from the front line administrators what their problems are, how they are addressing those problems, and what kinds of assistance they need from others. The desire for more economical methods is dictated by resource constraints. AUICK has never had the resources to undertake interviewer-administered surveys, or studies that would require large interdisciplinary teams of social scientists. Thus all of its efforts have been designed to obtain good information with little cost.

This study represented just one more such attempt. In this case eight cities were selected, and local teams were designated to carry out the research. The teams were asked to undertake in-depth interviews with top urban administrators, using a somewhat journalistic approach. We wished the researchers to tell the story of the city from the administrators' perspectives, to use that person's eyes to identify major urban problems. Then we asked the study teams to select two to four recent projects the city had undertaken to deal with its problems. They were to describe how the problems were identified, how the particular solution attempt was chosen, how the project was carried out, what the outcome was, and what.might have accounted for success or failure of the project. Study teams were also asked specifically to focus some attention on indicators of quality of life and on the status of women. The eight cities selected for this study were:

China: Changchun	Korea: Pusan
India: Bombay	Pakistan: Hyderabad
Indonesia: Surabaya	Philippines: Cebu City
Japan: Kobe	Thailand: Nakhorn Sawan

It will be noted that some of the cities have appeared in past studies. This was quite deliberate, and represents another attempt of AUICK to work out a long term strategy for studies and information gathering. Four of the sites have been studied in-depth previously. All but the Chinese city had been included in at least one of the past two Inquiries, and in three cases (Japan, Korea, Philippines) the cities chosen had been included in the past two Inquiries. This represents an attempt to focus on some Asian cities and to build up both experience and personal associations with them.


b) Observations

Quality of life and status of women indicators from the studies present a familiar picture. Quality of life indicators are lower for poorer countries than for the richer ones. Life expectancy, infant and maternal mortality rates, school enrollment, and labor force participation are typically used, as is the proportion of women in important, politically powerful, positions. All have made impressive gains in such conditions as life expectancy and infant mortality, with only Pakistan lagging substantially behind the others. Women have made substantial gains in most of the areas shown by the indicators. Life expectancy has improved and is higher than that for men in all countries, even in Pakistan, though there the female advantage is small and the lowest of any country. Throughout, however, women have made very little progress in areas of political power, such as in positions of authority in city government. Many are making progress, but all still show substantial disadvantages for women. Overall, Southeast Asia is more enlightened on this score than South or East Asia. For centuries Southeast Asian women have been directly involved in the market place, have owned property and have had a higher degree of autonomy in deciding their life patterns, even their fertility behavior, than do women in South or East Asia. A long history of gender relations is thus reflected in these current conditions.

The projects described in the eight case studies include a wide variety of urban activities, but most focus on the major problem areas that have already been identified in the Inquiries. They attempt to deal with housing, water supplies, garbage and urban transportation. In India there is a special interest as well in increasing the emphasis on curbing fertility and population growth. In the more developed countries, Korea and Japan, there is new concern with restructuring industry and revitalizing the inner city.

One project in particular was quite striking and deserves special mention, especially since it comes from Pakistan, which is in some respects the most troubled of the countries covered by these studies. Despite its relatively higher level and rate of economic development, it is below all other countries in translating its wealth into welfare. But in Hyderabad, there is a housing scheme that deserves special credit.

Learning from Squatters The Hyderabad Development Authority For decades the Hyderabad Development Authority HDA has tried to provide low cost housing by selling plots to poor families. Inevitably these have ended in the hands of more middle-class families, who buy the land for speculation. Recently the HDA began to change the rules, taking lessons from the squatter settlements, where families would work diligently to build their own houses, even when they did not have title to the land. Plots were set aside with minimal utilities. The poor were invited to purchase lots at very low prices, paying only a small deposit. But deposits would be forfeited if construction did not begin with a few months. This cleared out the speculators, and the HDA began to see the development of a real community, because it had been willing to change the rules and to learn from the poor squatters. The HDA was also willing to adjust in another way as well. It began by drawing communities together into local councils. When this did not work, it simply withdrew and allowed the people themselves to form whatever type of community organization was in their interest. Then new organizations grew for special interests. What drew people together on utility rates and availability, would not be the same thing that would draw them together for social or communal activities. Here was a case of success when a major development authority paid attention to the problem rather than to the bureaucratic rules by which it was supposed to operate; it is also a case where the agency was willing to listen to and follow the local inhabitants.

c) Lessons Learned

The overview paper for these studies identified eight lessons that could be learned from these cases. We can review them briefly here.

     1. Geographic constraints and opportunities. All these cities occupy distinctive geographical, physical sites, and those sites present problems and constraints as well as offering opportunities. No single model for progress will fit all cities. All must find ways to deal with their own local conditions. This, again, reinforces a common argument made for more local control.

     2. Economic development, urbanization and human welfare. Historically the three seem to go together in almost lockstep fashion. But these studies remind us that while economic development and urbanization may increase human productivity, they do not always and inevitably increase human welfare. When governments work well, they find ways to translate their wealth into higher quality of urban life. When they do not work well, that increased human productivity may benefit only a small portion of the population.

     3. Population Dynamics. The cities represent various positions along modern population trajectories. All have achieved relatively low levels of mortality. Japan is the most advanced with both low mortality and low fertility. It is now facing the problem of anaging population, which shows other countries what their futures will look like. Korea, China and Thailand have made rapid movements through the demographic transition to lower mortality and fertility, and now experience the advantage of lower rates of population growth. Indonesia is not far behind. India and the Philippines, but even more Pakistan, lag behind in this transition. Religious objections and weak government delivery of all social services keeps the Philippines birth rate high, and it also brings in its wake a rising tide of deaths and sickness from illegal and unsafe abortions. In India, government fixation on sterilization remains a problem, weakening the public delivery system for fertility limitation. Pakistan remains far behind in all areas of health and social services, with little relief in sight for women who want help to reduce the burden of child-bearing, or simply to improve their status in life.

     4. System overload. An administrator from Bombay put it well in describing that city as one that bears all the symptoms of overload. Population and economic growth in most cities strains physical, social and administrative capacities to the limit. Most city administrators, especially in the poorer countries, feel inundated by urgent problems they cannot solve. Transportation, housing, sewage, water supply, electricity, roads all seem to need more resources than are available and to deteriorate faster than they can be repaired. Yet we have also seen in all cities valiant and effective efforts to address some of the problems. The wealthier cities are more advantaged here, and Kobe provides a model to be emulated. But more than simply wealth is at issue. We have seen that there is a considerable advantage when city administrators have authority and responsibility, and resources, to deal with local problems themselves. System overload can be addressed best by work at the local level, and this requires that local administrators have resources to do the job.

     5. Unequal benefits and the problem of gender. One of the most common, and depressing, observations of the process of economic development is how unequally the benefits are shared. The poor continue to be neglected in all social services; benefits go to those with greater wealth and influence. Here Hyderabad offers a striking and contrasting example showing that projects can be designed to help the poor as well as the rich. There is also a good argument to be made here about the economic and political benefits of such egalitarian moves.

     Despite all the progress made, even in the wealthiest societies, we face the stubborn condition of gender inequality. In all areas of welfare women seem to be gaining, to be reducing the gap between themselves and men. Education and health statistics show constant gains, even in the most disadvantaged situations. Yet differences remain in access to powerful and influential positions.

      6. Leadership and Administration. Despite all the problems of system overload and lack of resources, we find that urban administrators can make a difference. Leadership counts. But there are also some observations to be made about other conditions that help good leaders to make a difference, and also help to assure that good leaders will come to power.

One concerns the control over territory. We have often seen how better urban planning requires control over a larger area. On the negative side, Hyderabad showed us how difficult it is to deal with overlapping authorities, a problem shared by many urban administrators. Extended and consolidated control over an urban territory seems to be closely associated with success in urban administration, a point we saw much earlier in the comparative study of Kobe and Singapore.

Closely related is the devolution of authority, responsibility and resources from central to local level, whose importance we have also seen in many of these studies and Inquiries.

Third, flexibility appears most important. We saw in Hyderabad that a flexible approach to the application of rules was necessary for success of the housing program.

Finally, it appears that popular participation has many important roles to play in promoting urban administrative success. When Surabaya enlisted the participation of its citizens it could do a better job of cleaning the city, and also of raising in comes. But local participation does not mean simply providing cheap labor for governments. Poor people have often suffered from such schemes. Local participation also means increasing power, influence and wealth of people. This will do far more than any exhortation to enlist their support for urban projects.