Introduction
Neocolonialism: the control of less-developed countries through indirect means (e.g. economic or monetary means).
The term was coined by Ghana’s first President, Kwame Nkrumah, to describe the influence of the former imperial nations on the ex-colonies in the areas of economy, language, culture, and political philosophy.
The term was first used with regards to European countries continuing relationships with the African countries which had been their colonial subjects since before the Second World War.
Neocolonialism can specifically relate to economic exploitation, which Nkrumah called “the main instrument of imperialism we have today.”
Traditional methods of colonialism had merely been replaced by new means of imperialism. Newly independent nations who hoped for true liberation found themselves entangled in financial and political obligations and power structures that perpetuate colonial subjugation.
Urban Growth: Increase in absolute size of population in an urban area.
Rapid Urbanization: A quick shift from rural to urban, often resulting in population displacement, unaffordable housing, social inequality, social exclusion, etc.
Urbanization has the potential to become a positive force for aspects of sustainable development. Yet, when left unchecked, urbanization can lead to a deteriorating fabric of social life: pollution, increased inequality, social exclusion, etc.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to reducing urban inequality; some governments have been able to address spatial, economic, and social aspects of the urban-divide and promote inclusive urbanization, which entails:
Establishing property and land rights
Increasing the availability of affordable housing and basic services (and accessibility to such services) between residential and commercial areas, including public transport networks
Facilitating access to education and employment
Introducing mechanisms to allow participation in decision-making
Monitoring and evaluating all policies
Image Source: Map of Southeast Asia, n.d.
In developing nations, rapid urbanization, especially when left unchecked, can cause inequality, cultural and historical erasure, housing crises, environmental impacts, etc. The following discussion of urbanization in Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City), Bangladesh (Gulshan Thana), and Indonesia (Jakarta) highlights the need for a more equitable approach towards urban development and measures that could be established to directly or indirectly minimize the negative consequences of urbanization.
Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City
Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays a key role in driving Vietnam’s economic growth and development: Vietnam’s customs authority reported that FDI companies exported $274 billion worth of goods in 2022–equivalent to 74% of the nation's total exported goods. Such investments have boosted Vietnam's quantity of industrial zones, especially with the lower labor costs here prompting a relatively open environment for foreign direct investment–thereby boosting the availability of employment for local economies.
However, such development comes at the cost of Vietnam’s cultural and historical landscapes. Rapid urbanization has been accompanied by accelerated installments of modern skyscrapers, which drastically transformed the skyline of Ho Chi Minh, the economic hub of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh’s historic downtown already presents a striking contrast to its former self, with a colonial-era cathedral, post-office, and opera house situated near glittering malls and office towers in the Central District of the City (District 1). With the rising profits of Ho Chi Minh’s property market after the 2008 financial crisis, many pre-war buildings were razed to make room for new ones: 35-plus-story skyscrapers have been erected since 2010. The installments of skyscrapers, rampant in District 1 have made the area financially inaccessible via the spike in housing prices. Many have to migrate to districts further out from District 1, the central economic hub, in order to seek affordable living arrangements–sometimes only on the outskirts of the city. These are the consequences that arose out of Vietnam’s GDP depending on the investment of foreign nations, especially those with former colonial ties to Vietnam: China, Japan, and the United States–passing a comment on Vietnam's economic entanglement with former colonial powers, at the expense of social inclusion and historical preservation.
Persisting Preservation
Thousands of Vietnamese residents started to network on Facebook groups dedicated to protecting the city’s historic buildings. The rise of social media has allowed millions of Vietnamese to discuss novel social issues online without much reprisal from the governing Communist Party. Social media creates the opportunity for ‘digital activism’ that piqued Vietnamese youths’ involvement in the movement: “[they] don’t want to watch and let the authorities decide what should be done; they want to have a voice,” said Mr. Hiep, an administrator of a Facebook group dedicated to vintage shophouses.
Aesthetics is not the only motivating factor. These historic buildings hold symbolic significance: pride, dignity, and culture. As a result, there has been a rise in contemporary effort by Vietnamese architects, paying more attention to sustainability and environmental integration within their designs–embracing Vietnam’s historic modernism architecture style. Interestingly, among Vietnamese youths, there has been a rise in cafe culture that fuelled the capacity for contemporary effort at historical architectural preservation. Remaining colonial-era apartment blocks are often rented out by local businesses and cafe owners, implementing interior designs that pay tribute to the historical building: a mix of modernity and nostalgia.
Bangladesh: Gulshan Thana
When thinking of urbanization, Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, often comes up in conversation. The city, known for its cramped urban planning, has been undergoing initiatives supporting rapid urbanization. While the movement has been successful in terms of lowering poverty rates by allowing for an influx of job opportunities, its consequences counter these effects. An emphasis on production rate encourages quantity over quality. Public facility conditions have worsened to the point where public safety has been compromised. Due to neglecting the importance of sustainability, hazards (i.e. fire, gas, electricity) are not uncommon.
Along with the increase in hazardous conditions, land itself has grown more expensive due to urbanization effects. Consequently, housing prices have hiked as of late. Defined by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, a slum is the term for a grouping of five or more houses of “poor quality” that can either be on public land, private land, railways, roadside, embankments, etc (BBS, 2022). Regardless of higher earnings, a greater population is forced to move out or evicted in the slums since earnings have a direct relationship with cost of living.The Korail Slum next to urbanized Gulshan, a district in Dhaka, is a prime example of such migration.
In addition to housing displacements, urbanization has brought new cultural implications. In 2017, Coca Cola was able to establish its own Bangladeshi plant, a result of urbanization allowing for Western entries. The factory establishment has allowed for another venture of Coca Cola to take root in Dhaka: Coke Studio Bangla. Coke Studio Bangla is a musical initiative that features many different artists in order to create fusions of classic songs. Among the years, it has gained immense recognition for spotlighting different ethnic groups within the Bengal region. Some of its most recognized works includes “Nasek Nasek” and “Shob Lokey Koy”. Despite its expansion of the Bengali music community, some of their compositions often spark debates amongst the public about historical and important cultural contexts which are often omitted in favor of what would be best for marketing purposes and profit. Coca Cola is also known to claim some of the profit made from the studio. In a country that is attempting to undergo rapid urbanization for the sake of inclusivity and sustainability, a Western corporation receives greater infrastructural support than the local buildings and businesses within the city.
Indonesia: Jakarta
Rapid urbanization in Indonesia, which started in the 1970s, has been caused by various financial factors, and has subsequently led to detrimental environmental outcomes. In the 1980s and 90s, there was an economic boom in Indonesia, during which slum areas in the city (that were occupied by residents) were “converted into hotels, luxury high-rise apartments and shopping malls” (Firman, 2004, n.p.). Property businesses took advantage of this boom and the business that could be made off of converting even more land into urban areas, which led to large areas of land on the outskirts of cities like Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, to be continually acquired by developers. Land subdivision has proven to be difficult to implement as a result.
The uncontrolled conversion of agricultural to urban land areas has allowed developers to increase land prices. Developers often cannot properly develop the tremendous amounts of land that they hold as well, and many land areas get neglected for long periods of time, as the developers focus on the profits they can make off of the land. There’s a prioritization of raising revenue instead of controlling land-use development, only exacerbated by ineffective land taxation. The National Land Agency (BPN), tasked with administering land development among other responsibility has continued to issue development permits to large private developers in the outer areas of Jakarta until recently, even though during the mid-1980s to 1995, they issued enough land “to supply all the land necessary for housing in Jakarta and its surrounding areas up to the year 2018” (Firman, 2004, n.p.). The government has had a direct hand in allowing such rapid conversion of land to harm Indonesians who have no say in what happens to the land on which they live. Rapid urbanization has led to the displacement of folks who cannot afford to stay in the more urban and expensive areas. They are pushed further and further to the outskirts of the cities they once resided in, and are not given adequate resources in dealing with this displacement. The government’s capacity to enforce land-use management can be strengthened, at the local and national levels, to prevent further mishandlings with converting land to urban areas, and to ensure proper infrastructural development for the public.
Converting land happens on large scales, meaning thousands of prime agricultural land is acquired at once, disrupting the ecosystems and organisms that once benefited the land. Neglected land raises questions about the repercussions on food production, because new land is not able to open for production at a similar rate. Furthermore, not only has agricultural land been used to be converted for urban developments; areas that have been set aside for conservation purposes have also been converted. Mangroves have been destroyed in the process, which store carbon and act as buffers during coastal storms. General environmental effects of rapid urbanization such as air pollution and increased traffic congestion have also affected Indonesia and its population. Such problems are often put on the back burner, with business profit being prioritized when urbanizing. Urbanization has led to a need for controlled land and infrastructure development, and policies to ensure public safety in Indonesia.
The Asian Americans Experience
Chinatown & Cultural Towns
Cultural-specific towns, also known as ethnic enclaves, are a common symbol of the Asian American experience. Often emerging in areas that are dense in Asian immigrant communities, these towns help preserve traditional cultural elements including food, clothes, music, and more. Some of the most well-known ‘towns’ are Chinatowns- the largest ones being located in New York City and San Francisco, in addition to numerous other cities across the U.S. However, a study conducted by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) makes clear that in recent years the impacts of urbanization and the growth of large corporations began to shift the demographic and structural make-up of these towns. A growing number of white residents in three Chinatowns on the East Coast accompanied by increased displacement of low-income immigrant families raises questions about the changes that are occurring. The clear occurrences of gentrification, a common result of urbanization, have also come with shifts in who has more power (often equated with money), which also has resulted in efforts to ‘modernize’ ethnic enclaves. The bricks of row houses in Boston that witnessed years of immigrants adapting to their new homes are now being replaced with contemporary condos. Small homes in San Francisco, including single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels which low-income families called home, are recently being advertised to tech employees and college students. Furthermore, essential buildings that many immigrants found employment in, such as factories in New York, are being turned into gyms, art galleries, and doctors’ offices. The loss of economic opportunity by urbanization puts many individuals at risk, and without providing proper alternative opportunities to combat these changes, many families at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder struggle to stay afloat.
These issues regarding urbanization and consequently gentrification continue to be prevalent today. Just this past year, the Eden Center, home to numerous Vietnamese businesses, faced the risk of closure. Located in Falls Church, Virginia, the Eden Center opened in 1984 and is the largest Vietnamese shopping center on the East Coast. Its origins trace back to earlier impacts of urbanization in Clarendon, Arlington, where many Vietnamese immigrants originally set up their businesses. In 1979, the opening of a new metro station in Arlington caused landlords and developers to contemporize the area for it to look more ‘appealing’ to Commuters. To them, in other words, this meant that Vietnamese businesses had to move. By raising rent nearly every month, the majority of Vietnamese-owned businesses were forced to relocate, many of which moved to Falls Church.
The location of the Eden Center helped revive many of the relocated businesses that faced the prospect of closure back in Arlington. Today, the Center consists of not only Vietnamese businesses but also Taiwanese and Korean shops, all highlighting the diverse Asian American community in the Northern Virginia area. However, a recent challenge began this past summer when the Falls Church city council voted unanimously to approve the “East End Small Area Plan”, which would redevelop a 10-block zone that includes the Eden Center. The results would mirror those of Clarendon, including higher rent prices, and even the name of “Eden Center” being changed, which would greatly impact businesses that rely on the Center’s popularity and recognition for customers. Overall, the risk of increased rent prices due to the goals of new redevelopment plans put at risk the 115-plus businesses that contribute to the rich environment of Eden Center.
Sanctuary Cities & Immigrant and Undocumented Workers
The detrimental consequences of rapid urbanization beget the necessity of ‘sanctuary cities’: “communities with a policy (written or unwritten) that discourages local law enforcement from reporting the immigration status of individuals unless it involves investigation of a serious crime,” (LIRS 2021). Sanctuary cities exist to promote the ideals of human rights, separation of local and federal law, and fostering the wellbeing of immigrant communities. Such initiatives are vital in the threat of unchecked urbanization that rapidly erodes employment opportunities, affordability of living standards, and general well-being of a community.
With rapid urbanization, this creates employment opportunities which create the movement of migrants in search of work, and subsequently a combination of factors that culminate in a site where economic exploitation is the norm. Immigrants and undocumented persons are in especially precarious legal standing, which the process of urbanization and the labor it requires seek to exploit. The existence and organization of ‘sanctuary cities’ help to mitigate and potentially cease the rampant economic exploitation that comes with urbanization. Rapid urbanization has created an imbalanced dynamic for immigrants and undocumented communities whereby their precarity status is used as a tool of justification for violence. Social stigma surrounds the perception of their presence in the United States, so much so that even when immigrant and/or undocumented communities experience violence, their voices are disregarded when it comes to the surrounding cityspace. Sanctuary cities are a step towards the cessation of their exploitation as communities where migrant workers’ autonomy is amplified, exploitation is not the norm in one’s search for employment, and migration is treated as the human right it is.
-The Activist
Designed by: Marketing Committee of ASU
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