International businesses seeking opportunities in emerging Asian markets should take note of the market’s trends in urban development. For example, the emergence of Asia’s “mega cities” are evidently reflected in the planning and growth of their metropolitan transportation systems. In Asia, mega cities can be defined as “centralized urban clusters” where each cluster can host its own political and economic infrastructure while impressive physical infrastructure connect the clusters.
Let us take developing urban centers of Southeast Asia as example. The changing faces of Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Manila (with great influx of rural migrant population into urban centers) take stronger developmental influence from the developed mega cities of Seoul and Tokyo, than from European urban centers of Berlin, London, or Paris.
Asia’s urban population growth and the demand rising from higher population density place greater stress on road networks. Congestion issues are better solved by high coverage metro networks complimented by light rail and bus systems. Moreover, regional cooperation is strong. Chinese, Korean, and Japanese companies are highly active in the construction of emerging cities’ metropolitan transportation networks in Asia where technology transfer can be instant.