As was the case previous reports in this series, this report provides an introductory and cursory examination of the data that was obtained from the Asian Urban Inquiry. The data, written to various computer formats, is available on disk to scholars who would like to conduct their own analysis. All that has been attempted here is to briefly introduce and to highlight the respondents' views of their cities and some of the problems that they face. An additional purpose of this report has been to point out some of the problems encountered with the survey itself. These problems may not be immediately evident from data but should be considered when attempting an analysis of the data. Further analysis of this data is of course possible and would provide additional insights into the respondents' perceptions.

Although this report is an introduction to the third bi-annual, round of the Asian Urban Inquiry, some conclusions concerning the respondents' perceptions of the problems facing their cities and concerning the survey in general can be drawn.

Respondents and Their Perceptions:

As in past rounds, many respondents were unable to provide the quantitative data asked for in some of the sections of this survey. This reoccurring problem has been seen in all three rounds of this survey. It may be the case that administrative sections are not always well equipped to provide statistical information, as illustrated by their inability to provide much of the requested quantitative information. This is a major problem that has come to light through this survey. For the analysis in this report, the lack of response to requests for quantitative data is viewed not as a failing of this survey but as an indication of the difficulties facing the Asian urban administrators within their own situations.

1. Basic Data on City Size: Although this survey focuses on medium sized cities, we see a considerable range of city area, population, and density. The information provided for the more recent time periods was far more complete than that for the earlier periods, indicating an increase in the availability of such information.

Despite this apparent improvement in access to data, many respondents were still unable to provide even the most basic information regarding their cities' size and population. In these cases, it is unclear if this failure to respond is due to a lack of basic data or to a lack of access to existing data. It is quite possible that the data exists but that the administrators who are responding to this survey simply do not have ready access to that data.

2. Current Rate and Source of Population Growth: Whereas the survey in the last round asked 18 specific questions regarding growth rate and migration, the same section in this round asks, in one question, for basic data regarding official or estimated current growth rate and source of that growth. The considerable inconsistencies in the form of data given by some of the respondents indicates that there may have been some confusion about how to report the requested information.

This is another section that asks for quantitative data. Like the section on city size and population, the low rate of response may point to a lack of communication between the administrative and statistical section of the cities' governments.

As mentioned throughout this report, the cities participating in this survey, despite being classified as "medium-sized", represent a broad range of sizes, populations, and contexts. They are at varying level of development and urbanization.

The diversity in context of the cities represented here leads to some difficulties in analysis of the data. Future rounds should cover this diversity while striving to obtain manageable data. It is clearly very difficult to reach a balance between diversity in respondents and manageable data, but this would lead to a much more meaningful analysis.

3. Perception of City's Growth: As with the section regarding rate of growth, only the most basic information is asked for in this section. The survey simply asks for the respondent's perception of their city's growth. The data gathered in this section is useful in comparison with that of other sections.

4. Poverty: The section on poverty is new in this round. Many respondents were not able to provide information in this section. This indicates two possible situations. First, this section in its present form may not have been appropriate for this survey. Alternatively, as with other section that ask for quantitative data, may indicate the respondents lack access to statistical information or that the information simply does not exist. Considering that less estimated data was given than official data, the question itself likely need to be improved for future surveys.

5. Status of Women: This is another section that is new in this round of the survey. The response rate to this section was quite high, and the information provided is useful for analysis. It seems that women are perceived generally as having equal access to basic education and health care services. Access to high education, and thus to high levels of employment and political participation, is lower than the access that men enjoy. Most of the respondents see the situation regarding the status of women in their city to be better than the norm in their countries. Very few- respondents indicated that the situation in their city was worse than in the country at large. Again, the fact that these responses are subjective should be kept in mind.

6. Quality of Life: Also new in this round, respondents were asked to rank, in importance, what they see as the top five Quality of Life Indicators. The four indicators which ranked above the others are income, health care, employment, and housing. These results are interesting when compared to those of the section on general problems. It seems that the items considered to be the most important Quality of Life Indicators are also the areas that the respondents see as being in the middle range of problems in their cities. Two of these, employment and housing, are actually in the top five areas seen as being most problematic.

7. Family Planning: The Asian cities responding to this survey have had considerable success with their family planning and population control programs. The respondents reflect this in their perceptions of fertility rates and family planning. Respondents indicate general satisfaction with their cities' fertility rates. They also overwhelmingly indicate that family planning services are available. The declining growth and fertility rates tend to support this perception. Many respondents provided information regarding either official or estimated contraceptive use.

8. General Problems: This section remains from the previous two rounds of this survey. There are some minor changes in the order of ranking and in the average score for each responding country, but the results are quite consistent with those of past surveys. Transportation, public utilities, employment, housing, and crime are seen as being the most problematic areas. Each of these problems is associated with industrialization and urbanization. Many cities are feeling the effects of the rapid industrialization and urbanization that occurred in the recent past.

AUICK's Strategy and Goals: As noted throughout this report and in previous reports, this type of self-administered and highly subjective survey has some innate problems. The data and any subsequent analysis must take into consideration the aspects of national context and character that influence each respondents perceptions and responses. Subjective responses are always difficult to analyze when they come from a range of sources as wide as the ones here. The factual information asked for also is influenced by national contexts. The economic and communication resources available to the cities often determines the amount and quality of information available to the respondents.

It seems that this round, the third in the series, provides a good opportunity to reflect on what has been accomplished thus far and what futures changes are necessary. This round seems to be a good final summary of the information available under AUICK's previous strategy and is also a good starting point for the next phase of AUICK's planning. The information gathered during these three rounds provides a solid base from which to launch future, more detailed, inquiries.

Proposed Future Strategies. Plans, and Goals: AUICK has given considerable thought to the next phase of the Asian Urban Inquiry project. The following is a brief outline of AUICK's proposed future strategies, plans, and goals.

AUICK was founded with the goal identifying the perceptions and plans of Asia urban administrators regarding the problems facing their cities. This project was intended to support the goal of information exchange with various Asian cities regarding their problems and strategies to deal with these problem. Because Asian cities are at such varied levels of development, the experiences, both positive and negative, of one city can be useful to other cities currently facing similar situations. The problems that Asian cities face are often similar, and this information exchange, intended to help cities deal with their problems, is the driving idea behind AUICK's goals.

In the pursuit of these goals, AUICK has sent surveys to urban administrators in various medium-sized Asian cities. With each of these three surveys, AUICK has taken a slightly different approach in order to improve the quality of the data collected. Through the various changes made over these three rounds, a number of points have come to light.

1) increasing the number of questions to provide more detailed data lead to more questions being left blank,

2) a good deal of fundamental data is simply not accessible or not maintained,

3) asking for subjective judgments on specific items results in a great deal of ambiguity.

To help advance the overall goals of AUICK by conducting the best survey possible, the following suggestions for improvement can be made:

1) Survey Method
A) The current survey should be divided into two separate surveys - one quantitative and one qualitative. These two, separate surveys should be sent to different people. The survey asking for quantitative data should be directed to the city's statistical section or the countries population research center, and the qualitative survey should go to the urban administrators. The quantitative data gathered will be used to make a computer data base for each participant cily.
B) Careful consideration should go into the selection of participant countries and cities. The countries level of economic and social development and the cities level of urbanization should be important factors when choosing the participant countries and cities.

2) City Selection
A) In future rounds, the capital city of each participant country should be excluded. Capital cities usually have a special nature and relation with the other cities that sets them apart from the cities that are the intended targets of this survey.
B) Bearing in mind the special characteristics and attributes of each city, a good strategy for future surveys is to choose the second through the tenth largest cities in each of the chosen participant countries. This will eliminate some of the glaring differences in size and population that have caused problems in past rounds. By limiting the number of participants to nine cities per country, AUICK will get much more manageable data and be able to have more personal contact with the participants.

As stated above, the basic goal of this survey is to collect information that can be exchanged and used for the purpose of providing Asian urban administrators with some insight into how to deal with the problem facing their cities.

To help realize this goal, AUICK has begun, with the cooperation of the UNFPA, a Training Course in Integrated Urban Policy. This training differs from other training programs in Japan, such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency. It is unique in that it strives to provide training in urban policy for administrators of medium-sized Asian cities.

From 1996, AUICK plans to expand the scope of this training program. Not only will general urban policy training be offered, but more specific, administrative specialty training will also be a focus of this program.

The motivation behind this training program comes from a wish to deal with some of the problems that have come to light through the various AUICK projects. This training program will help improve the technical areas that have been found to be lacking in many of the participating cities.

For the goals of this training program to be fully realized, careful consideration must be given to a number of areas. Japan's, and in particular Kobe's, experience and how this experience is applicable to the situations found in other Asian cities must be given thought. Kobe's experience in fundamental data collection, administrative methods, and practical applications provides the premise for this training program. It is vital that AUICK considers how this experience is best used in the training of Asian urban administrators.

As this training program grows and the number of successful trainees increases, AUICK will be able to enter new dimensions in its projects. With the trainees help, the access people will be able to make more practical use of their lime. They will be able to lake on the advisory role that they were originally intended to hold. After the training, AUICK will have a broader human network from which to conduct its surveys and information exchange. Maintaining this network will offer new challenges and problems for AUICK, but there are many benefits of maintaining such a human network.

To facilitate the information exchange that is central to AUICK's goals, the information acquired through this round will be available in various computer formats. As soon as possible, the information from the previous rounds will also be made available for computer analysis. AUICK will strive to provide the participant cities with this data. AUICK is also considering the possibility of using the Internet or World Wide Web as a way to make its data more readily available. Having this data made readily available will provide others with the opportunity to expand upon the analysis presented here and will bring AUICK closer to achieving its stated goals of information exchange.