UDI E S

N ST
AB ASIA

LE T ' S
A V E L
TR D
O U N
AR
T H E
E A S T
O U T H
S A
A S I y n a E.
a l o, Re
y : M an
s en t edb
Pre B AS 1A
A
 AT I O N
AS P IR
IN )
(I Z IN G
U R B A N
H E A S T
S O UT
A S IA
TOPIC OUTLINE
Rural to urban migration and
mobilities

Remaking ( oneself
through) the city

The middle-class city

Globalizing aspirations; relationality,

world classism and the model city
RURAL TO URBAN MIGRATION AND MOBILITIES

• Migration to the big city has been perhaps the

defining image of the second wave of
urbanization, and the Southeast asia provides
some iconic cases in the megaciticies of
Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila. (Jones and Douglas
2008)
• separation of the economic and the cultural
aspects of aspiration
• urban scholars working is southeast asia were
among the first to recognize that the push-pull
hyphothesis
.( MccGee 1971)
REMAKING ( ONESELF THROUGH) THE CITY

• cities remain powerful sites/ sites in aspirations

for upward social mobillity and self realization.
• realistic pathway to development for the urban
poor
THE MIDDLE-CLASS CITY

• The rise of the urban middle classes and

fledging civil society activism engaging with
contentious urban issues.
• Urban activism has taken on greater
significance in the face of increasing
degradation of public spaces and their political
symbolism.
• Middle-class aspirations are caught in an
inevitable duality, and the middle-classes
produce and inhabit urban spaces that that are
equally ambivalent.
GLOBALIZING ASPIRATIONS; RELATIONALITY,
WORLD CLASSISM AND THE MODEL CITY

• cities in southeast asia have themselves come

to be seen and even promoted as "best practice"
for aspects of urban development and policy .
• Aspirations do not emerge from some
endogenous localized vision or regional culture
but are formed relationally and, increasingly, at
the global scale.
THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING!