C. Problems and Data Needs

Top Three Problems Mentioned. In open ended questions, the administrators in all countries were asked to describe what they perceived to be the three most important problems their cities faced. The total number of major problems identified in this manner was 358 except Japan, with some administrators listing 4 or 5 major problems. The distribution by major categories of problems is shown in Table 11.

As might be expected public utilities and infrastructure, transportation and housing received the great majority (68%) of the listings. Employment also ranks quite high, with 52 mentions for 12 percent, raising the total to 80 percent of all identifications. These are the conditions associated with the combination of poverty and rapid urban growth. They are also, however, problems that can be effectively addressed by extensive infrastructure construction programs.

This is more evident when we examine the specific problems that require infrastructure construction for their solution. Under public utilities there were 79 (22%) identifications of such things as sewage pollution, solid waste treatment, industrial waste, garbage, and flooding. Added to this under housing are 15 (4%) listing of homelessness and 14 (4%) of low cost housing. Under transportation, traffic volume (18%) and flow (25%), plus parking (10%) and road conditions (9%) add up to 62 mentions, or 17% of the total. These all represent the massive pressures rising population densities produce on confined urban areas. But that can all be addressed by infrastructure construction, and it is precisely such past and present construction that distinguishes the more wealthy from the less wealthy nations.

Table 11.
Most Important Problems
Identified by Administrators in 7 Asian Countries

On the socioeconomic side, housing and employment present the most serious problems. Together these made up 92 (26%) of the problems mentioned. We noted above that homelessness (15%) and low income housing (14%) stood out in the housing area. In employment it was primarily male (14%) and general (22%) unemployment that were identified among the top three problems. Thus the problems related to poverty were listed 65 times, for a total of 18 percent of all listings.

Administrative problems were mentioned 46 times (13%). Personnel quality and quantity were mentioned only 5 times, while all the rest were concerned with the size and the local control over the revenue base. Again, urban administrators are saying that their administrative problems are not personnel, but control over resources.

Finally, the problems that were least mentioned deserve some attention. Social services, such as health, education and primary health care received only 12 mentions, and only 7 administrators (all from Indonesia) mentioned population growth as a problem. In the area of economic conditions, the problem of hawkers received three mentions, and industrial decline only 1.

Data Needs. We also asked what information or data administrators needed to address their problems. These follow the problems listed above, but also show a desire for more information and data about planning. There were 117 specific responses that spoke of the kind of information needed. The largest set of mentions (34 or 29%) was for some form of land or urban planning, for housing, traffic flows, market location and physical planning.

Next came the need for technical information on the physical infrastructure problems noted above primarily in the area of public utilities. This included 33 (28%) identifications of information on garbage, environmental quality, water supplies, pollution control, drainage and flood control.

There were 22 (19%) requests for administrative information. This included 15 requests for information on on raising revenue. Obviously the revenue base is not only a major problem, but one on which urban administrators feel that some technical assistance on information and data collection would be useful. There were also requests for administrative planning information, on personnel training, survey techniques or integrated development planning.

There were also scattered requests for information on such things as crime, employment, population distribution, education, health, income, and hawker control. These could readily be included under both planning and administration.

In effect, the urban administrators are asking for data and information on urban administration. They need technical information relating to their overstressed urban infrastructure. They also need, however, more general information about the processes of planning and administration, and more technical data about the problems they face so that they can plan for their amelioration. This represents an important and highly specific call for precisely the kind of assistance foreign governments and international organizations can provide.