Introduction

A different urban paradigm is emerging in Asia.Citizens and communities are becoming increasinglyinvolved in shaping neighbourhoods and cities, whichseems to represent a significant departure fromearlier state-led or market-driven urbandevelopment. These emergingcivic urbanisms are largely a result ofan evolving relationship between the state and civilsociety. In this volume, we take Hong Kong, Seoul inSouth Korea (hereafter Korea), Singapore, and Taipeiin Taiwan as cases to explore the recent surge ofcivic urbanisms in the region (Figure 1.1). Thesefour countries became known as the ‘Four AsianTigers’ for their successful economic development inthe past (Castells, 1992: 34). Their success hasresulted from rapid export-orientedindustrialization during the 1960s and 1970s, whichwas steered by strong interventionist andauthoritarian regimes. These regimesinstrumentalized economic growth and rapidurbanization to break up (post-)colonialdependencies of once impoverished countries, improvenational security, and strengthen their politicallegitimacy (Woo-Cumings, 1999; Beeson, 2004).

Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, and Taipei share a historyof urbanization, which goes back to colonial times(Watson, 2011; Cho and Križnik, 2017). While decadesof seemingly endless urban growth improved thequality of Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, and Taipeishare a history of urbanization, which goes back tocolonial times (Watson, 2011; Cho and Križnik,2017).