While we are often reminded that over 54 per cent of the world's population now lives in cities, this figure varies significantly by continent, and tends to be much greater and faster growing in developing regions. For instance, the figure is expected to rise to 65 per cent in Asia, and 90 per cent in Latin America (Jacobs, 2016a: S6). In addition, Asia is projected to be home to 17 of the world's projected 27 mega-cities (Think City, 2013: 21). This trend is also highly evident in Malaysia, where over 76 per cent of the population lives in cities, compared with 25 per cent in 1957 (TheEdge, 2016: S4; Tan, L.I., 2019). More specifically, the rate of urbanization in Penang is over 90.8 per cent, which exceeds the capital of Kuala Lumpur (Mok, 2016a). Such rapid growth is related to strategies that sought to link urban and rural development in Malaysia since the 1950s. This included the development of new towns, aiming to urbanize rural areas in order to eradicate poverty (Rabe et al, 2012). Moreover, the majority of the urban population in nearly all Asian countries is in medium-sized and smaller cities which are (on aggregate) growing at a much quicker rate than mega-cities. One of the reasons for this growth is that peri-urban areas and smaller, secondary cities tend to be the focus for manufacturing industries which generate economic and population growth (Yusuf, 2013: 62– 63). Furthermore, much of this urban growth will be in coastal cities like Penang, raising concerns such as how to cope with rising sea levels (Yusuf, 2013: 63).

Penang is also the only state in Malaysia to be completely urban, with both of its constituent municipalities being designated as cities within the past five years (Trisha, 2019).1 Tew et al (2019: 2311) have shown that urban areas in Penang expanded from 379.20km2 to 453.06km2 from 2004 to 2018, which equates to an average expansion of 5.28km2 per year. Despite some pockets of urban development in the forested hills of Penang Island (discussed in Chapter 4), much of this growth has been in the central and southern regions of Seberang Perai, on the mainland side of Penang State (see Figure 1.1).