Both verbal and written comments were made on the paper. The nature of comments vary from direct responses to issues raised in the paper to reflections on country situations based on the issues raised by the paper. Verbal comments are summarized, while written comments are presented with only editorial and grammatical corrections.

Verbal comments

Some participants felt that the historical analysis was too anti-Western and negative. While colonialism did have adverse impacts on the colonized countries, the colonial powers had also improved living conditions in the colonies, particularly by increasing levels of education, the provision of infrastructure and the introduction of modern technologies. Many countries benefited from the rule of law and the establishment of modern government institutions and centres of higher learning. Similarly, the nation-building experience in Asia and the Pacific had not been all bad. National development policies had led to impressive economic gains and reduction in poverty.

Some participants felt that the paper ignored major past and present trends which have influenced cities, particularly the high population growth rate and the deterioration of both the rural and the urban environments. Others felt that the document as a whole, and this paper in particular, ignored the rural-urban continuum in the historical analysis. A sizeable portion of urban population growth stemmed from rural-urban migration.

Other participants felt that the paper's contention that an enablement paradigm had emerged was not true in many countries. The enablement paradigm, in fact, ran counter to the cultural heritage of East Asian countries which were heavily influenced by Confucianism and Buddhism, which emphasize respect and obedience for those holding positions of power.

At the same time, many participants agreed with the historical analysis, particularly the detrimental impacts of colonialism, the experience in nation-building and the cold war. Participants also agreed that enablement and empowerment were essential for addressing the future development of cities, particularly with regard to poverty alleviation.

Written comments

Professor Yue-man Yeung, Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong:

"The view of past development is too negative, too ideological. It is almost like an indictment of everybody concerned except the urban poor. This is not an accurate or fair statement ... Reference to Western and colonial influence is too negative. There have been positive aspects as well: new institutions, rule of law, infrastructure, education, health etc."

Hon. Ms Margaret Shields, Wellington Regional Councillor, and former Cabinet Minister of New Zealand:

"Western (influence) and modern nation state are crude labels ... Talk of an Asian model is impractical because Asia is too diverse ... Concepts should be accepted or rejected for their usefulness."

Ms Huey Romduol, Urban Community Development Adviser, SKIP, Phnom Penh:

"Our experience in Phnom Penh shows that a local institution, with sufficient powers on fiscal and physical resources and a political mandate, can become a vital tool to carry out enabling measures for the market, local government and the community. (The process can) sometimes be mediated by a NGO or community-based organization. However, such institutional changes have immense social, political and administrative consequences and involve fundamental shifts in the concept and tasks of NGOs/CBOs. In addition, where the institutions are weak and political conditions remain sensitive, enablement policies cannot be effective (Phnom Penh). In view of this, it is suggested that this (paper) review the specific applications of enablement in practice i.e., market enablement, political enablement and community enablement and explain with brief examples the prerequisites for enablement policies to be effective and sustainable."

Major General (Retired) A. Khan Chowdhury, Vice President, Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka:

"The solution to urban housing problems and associated environmental stresses has to be sought by looking into the root causes of such problems. In Bangladesh the rate of urbanization has been very high, about 7 per cent a year. The urban population is now about a fourth of the country's total population. The major factor behind this rapid growth has been rural-urban migration as a result of both push (e.g. poverty) and pull (e.g. expectation about jobs in urban areas) factors.

"However, while rural-urban migration initially propelled urbanization and is still important, migration in general has ceased to be the driving force behind urban growth. The urban poor are increasingly born in the urban areas, and urbanization has thus been accompanied by an increase in the number of the urban poor.

"Manufacturing industries, services and commercial centres are located at the core of big cities. Large numbers of the urban poor cluster in slums and squatter settlements around such centres or on the urban periphery putting tremendous pressure on municipal services and causing deterioration of the physical environment. Most of the urban poor live and work in hazardous exposure situations, shunned by the more affluent. They have to contend with bad sanitation, contaminated water or chemical pollution. In other words, the urban poor are affected by water pollution, inadequate sanitation facilities, insufficient collection and disposal of solid and toxic wastes, and indoor and outdoor air pollution.

"Apart from large cities, some new areas in Bangladesh have, of late, been included in the urban category. These are mufassil towns and thana headquarters where amenities are grossly inadequate. Municipal authorities and local governments are too inadequately prepared and unable to solve these problems.

"The mechanism of enabling and empowering the poor as suggested in this paper has its rationale. The solution to urban problems may be found in accelerating the process of economic growth, strengthening of local governments, rural development for poverty alleviation and administrative decentralization; all of which will lessen the attractiveness of large urban centres by reducing the pull factor. These are not intractable issues, but the political will among governments is badly lacking in most countries.

"Once poverty issues are effectively addressed, the low-income communities will hopefully be able to develop their own housing and urban amenities in their own way and using their own mechanisms and resources. A replication of conventional methodologies tried in developed communities of the West, without support from effective local governments, non-governmental and community-based organizations and, above all, a responsive central government dedicated to the improvement of infrastructure in slums and squatter settlements, is unlikely to improve the living condition in urban areas."

Ms Young Sook Park, Director, Korea Institute for Environmental and Social Policies (KESP):

"Seoul is the last capital city established as a result of ideological confrontation in the East-West cold war. Even though the Berlin Wall is gone, citizens in Seoul still have not been liberated from the threat of war, and this situation has often been used by undemocratic governments as a means to control citizens and this consequently withered urban societies. Seoul, the capital city of the country that had suffered most by conflict and contradictions in world history, also became an object of envy among Asian cities because Seoul showed a rapid achievement of economic growth over the remnants of war.

"Seoul has 12 million people, a quarter of the Korean population, a quarter of Korean universities, and it generates 40 per cent of the national tax. Seoul is the heart and brain of Korea for its financial and market functions. It has a 600-year history as a capital city; however, this gigantic city has the characteristics of the ultra-rapid growth of the national economy achieved in just 30 years, the vitality of a booming city and a confused situation. In one generation, the population in Seoul has tripled, the urban area doubled, the number of cars increased 160-fold, and the financial volume of the city expanded 1,000-fold. Because most economic and cultural resources were concentrated in Seoul, the governmental policy for decentralization of Seoul's population was helpless. During this rapid growth, uncontrollable urban problems also appeared. In this situation, city management in Seoul was bent on taking care of the city's expansion. Large amounts of resources and administration were spent on construction of infrastructure, including houses, schools, roads, waterworks and sewage. Owing to a poor financial situation, urban development had relied on real estate speculation which consequently produced a crowded and condensed city environment, and poor urban classes were marginalized as in other Asian cities, especially in the families headed by women and the elderly.

"Facing the twenty first-century, two huge waves from different directions are crossing the cities in the world. One is the wave of globalization and informationization, and the other of localization.

"Now Seoul is confronted with a transition era of real local autonomy and self-government. Seoul has to heal the scars from the rapid growth and, on the other hand, should deal with the challenges of highly industrialized societies and information in the twenty-first century. It requires a transition in the governmental paradigm. It should be the transition from an administration of external expansion of construction to a city administration having serious consideration for human values. Efforts of the city administration for poor urban middle classes needs to be expanded, and it is good to see the initiation of such a trend.

"From the experience of a bridge collapse in the Han river, the collapse of the Sampoong department store which took away 500 lives, gas explosions, etc., the changes in city administration should protect the lives and safety of urban citizens, resolve the severe traffic problems, repair contaminated environments, solve the neglected problems in urban poor classes, and promote citizen's welfare. In order to achieve these, administration officers, citizens and all constituents of society should abandon old ways of thinking and behaviour."

Dr. Kulwant Singh, Executive Director, Human Settlements Management Institute (HSMI), New Delhi:

"It is too strong to say that the political, economic, social and cultural heritage of Europe has been the predominant force in shaping the present world, and the Asia-Pacific region in particular. Indigenous forces of feudal social structures, autocratic political systems and Oriental philosophy have equally shaped and distorted the Asian urban development.

"The development of cities coincides with the development of civilization. During the ancient period, cities emerged as a focal point of transport, trade, business, education, religion and governance. On these accounts rivers served as basic infrastructure in the form of inland transport, drinking water, irrigation and drainage potential. The holy cities in India which are considered most ancient, such as Ayodhya, Mathura, Maya (Hardwar), Kashi, Kanchi, Avantika (Ujjain) were located on the bank of rivers. Subsequent development witnessed a gradual emergence of a gap in the demand and supply of municipal infrastructure.

"(With regard to weakening of local governments) ... mention may be made of Kautilaya's Arthshastra (200-300 BC) which provided normative structures with respect to economic development and local administration in ancient India. Many of such doctrines have lost their specific application in a modern state; nevertheless these doctrines still eulogize the ethical and moral norms of political administration. Some rudiments of local government in India trace their origin to this ancient document.

"The governance in the pre-colonial Asia began with the concepts of tribal traditions, divinity and complete supremacy of monarch. However, during ancient India, particularly at the time of Kutilya, Buddha and Ashoka, the emergence of local representatives (Gana) and their elected leaders (Ganapati) is noticed. They used to manage the Ganarajya (republics) mostly in the form of city republics. Subsequently, the "king" became more powerful and eroded the powers of Gana and started ruling through his nominees. This approach experienced a significant shift during the colonial period whereby the city system was used to cater to the business and administrative needs of colonizers and their agents.

"(With regard to the impact of economic development policies on the poor) ... the role of massive rural investments vis-à-vis urban investments in the early post-colonial period needs to be stressed for the neglect of urban areas. Rural areas attracted disproportionately more outlays in development plans for the reasons of self-sufficiency in food, their long neglect during the colonial regimes, abysmal poverty and being massive vote banks. Failure of the growth models and their trickle-down effects to alleviate poverty prompted the national governments to invest in the urban sector to produce high growth economies.

"The post-independence period has also witnessed the emergence of a powerful central government which devised and implemented the policies aiming at massive development through heavy industries and expansion of infrastructure in a larger context of equity, job opportunities and affordability. Five-Year Plans were initiated to achieve national policy goals. This also encouraged the urbanization process and the countries in the Asian region have experienced rapid urban growth.

"The role of city governments in the phase of economic development during the post independence period, however, was not properly recognized and strengthened. The development of infrastructure and services was not assigned to city governments and was carried out by state line agencies (housing boards/water supply boards) or local-level specific agencies (development authorities/improvement trusts). At the same time the revenue authority of city governments also suffered from encroachment of powers by higher levels of governments and the technical capability of city governments was not upgraded to face the daunting task of the provision of infrastructure needed to accommodate a rapid growth of the urban population.

"That public sector interventions in low-income housing provided by parastatal agencies were gradually withdrawn is not correct for all the countries in the region. Rather some of these such as HUDCO (Housing and Urban Development Corporation) in India have widened and strengthened their activities. These agencies still provide techno-financial services in housing and infrastructure to fill the existing gaps.

"The role of HUDCO in the provision of housing is particularly significant. During the last two and half decades HUDCO has approved over 11,500 schemes aiming at the provision of nearly six million dwelling units out of which at least half have been constructed in cities and towns and 90 per cent cater to the needs of poor and low-income households. In order to facilitate low-income households, HUDCO operates on a differential rate policy with the provision of concessional loans for low-income households. It is also important to mention that the lower the cost of shelter, the higher is the loan component e.g. low-income households receive HUDCO loans in a ratio of 85-90 per cent whereas the middle and high-income households have a loan to cost ratio of 60-75 per cent. HUDCO also provides loans for infrastructure, urban employment generation schemes and night shelters. In order to promote structurally and functionally acceptable and cost-effective building materials and technologies, HUDCO has supported nearly 400 building centres across the country.

"One major problem faced by the site-and-services scheme was the filtering up process. Many allotted households sold their dwellings at much higher prices to relatively better-off families (and moved) to squat at another site for a possible benefit in getting subsidized land in the future. As a result, government policies have undergone a shift towards in-situ development of slums and low-income areas and relocation is planned only for the slums situated at strategically important locations.

"The proposed enabling paradigm identifies several actors as vehicles of support. Under the public sectors subdivision, emphasis on promotion of intra-governmental and intergovernmental coordination and cooperation needs further exploration. The mechanism for making several actors responsible and disciplined agents of the enabling mechanism is found deficient.

"The implications of marginalization of city government in the development process are serious. It is particularly visible in the South Asian region where almost half of the urban population does not have access to in-house water connections and safe sanitation. The collection of garbage is only in a range of 50-70 per cent and the regular maintenance of roads is not carried out in most of the cities.

"In the current phase of productivity as the main agenda of national governments in this last decade of the twentieth century, the importance of city government is increasingly realized and initiatives are being taken to enable cities to make the urbanization smooth, productive and beneficial to the country, city and urban populace itself. The adequacy in the municipal services is important as they provide enabling environments for the productivity of households and firms. In this sense, the agenda on productivity is also linked with the provision of safe environment, human health and equity concerns. The adequacy of municipal services, therefore, assumes further importance.

"...housing has been stressed too much (in the paper) as government intervention in urban development, whereas aspects such as public health, education and physical infrastructure, which are equally important for improving quality of living in the Asian city, have been either ignored or mentioned very casually. Likewise, the issue of land and the role of local and state governments in its development and delivery need greater attention in the discussion.

"CBOs find no mention in the rise of socialist approaches to development. They are the recent addition to the list of non-formal organizations and they distinguish themselves from NGOs for being socially active at the most micro level unit. There are too many examples from Thailand in this and subsequent papers. Case studies from less mentioned countries such as the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Viet Nam, Nepal and Cambodia could reduce the bias.

"Urban land management needs to be included in a big way, as this will be the major conflicting issue in the future development and growth of the Asian cities. The role of government in the growth of small and medium towns is lacking (in the paper). Many central and state governments, including those of India, made serious efforts for their sustained growth. Future healthy urbanization in the region will depend on the growth of such towns and hence an evaluation of the government policies towards their growth would have been desirable."

Ms. Ellen Vera Allen, Rooftops Foundation, Toronto, Ontario:

"(With regard to the weakness of local government structures, from a Canadian perspective) ... this may be viewed, in fact, as a strength! This is because it has allowed the growth of the informal sector (with all its flaws). This, in turn, has resulted in the belief of the people that they are capable of providing for themselves, or perhaps are the only ones who are going to provide for them. This has been affirmed by the fact that they are doing so daily by creating their own (slum) communities where they alone are responsible for their own planning and management.

"A weakness of Western culture and politics is that, although it is theoretically very democratic, the people are disempowered by the efficiency of their governments. They trust the Government to provide for them and are mostly incapable of acting for themselves, because of the excessively structured systems. Even activists are more likely to spend effort trying to change government policy rather than doing.

"From what I have seen in my few weeks in Thailand, the inefficiencies, lack of effective policies, etc. on the part of government bodies have in fact empowered people to believe that given the tools, they will do the job themselves. Therefore, the challenge is to provide them with tools, of policy and process (which they can evolve for their own purposes) as a critical enabling process."

Mrs. Chandra Ranaraja, Municipal Councillor, and former Mayor, Kandy Municipal Council:

"The period of weakening seen in local governments could be given in specific years. For instance, the central government could dissolve all local authorities and place them under special commissioners who are centrally controlled so that politically it is advantageous to the government in power.

"In 1978, in Sri Lanka amendments were brought to the Municipal Corporations and Urban Councils Ordinances, thereby changing the election law to allow mayors to be elected directly by the people. The mayor was also made executive head, giving him more authority. The elections were based on the proportional representation system. In 1987 the election law was once again changed. The voters were given three preference votes instead of the list system that prevailed. Mayors were selected by the Party that obtained the highest number of votes. In the mid 1980s local authorities although more powerful and effective, had financial difficulties. The revenue was inadequate to meet the high demand for development. This was taken up by the Minister of Local Government, who agreed to have the salaries paid by the ministry for all categories of employees. Further assistance was also provided by way of funding high-cost projects either by the ministry or the Treasury. Training programmes for local-level officers under the UPU Programme were initiated. Competitions to improve services housing programmes, especially for the poor, were organized. The Government also undertook land regularization.

"Owing to the above meaningful steps, local authorities expanded their services especially for the poorer sectors. Pre-schools, libraries, sports facilities, health clinics, etc. were provided by local authorities. It was possible to assist the poorer segments by providing them with water and electricity on easy-payment terms. The cost was recoverable in several instalments.

"Urban population growth and poverty caused the development of slum and shanty settlements along reservations, waterways, hill slopes and on unused agricultural land. Despite environmental hazards and degradation, these unauthorized settlements have been regularized for political advantage causing further problems to the environment.

"(With regard to national government intervention in local government) ... initially for the purpose of equitable development of cities, various parallel organizations were set up to plan and implement urban development. They have, in practice, turned out to be organs of negative influence. The Urban Development Authority Act of the 1980s supersedes the local authorities ordinances and is detrimental to good governance. The authority of the mayors and councils has been eroded. Needs and aspirations of the local people have been ignored in the planning process. Urban Development Authority laws need to be reviewed.

"In the section discussing public sector intervention in low-income housing, more examples could be cited of successful programmes especially those in slum upgrading and self-help housing, as well as examples of programmes which involve women.

"(In Sri Lanka), upgrading has resulted in land regularization and infrastructure development under the Urban Basic Services programme initiated by UNICEF. Other services such as pre-schools libraries, vocational training centres have been provided as a result of land regularization.

"(In Sri Lanka), although NGOs supplemented local authorities services they tended to be more participatory in their involvement. They encouraged savings and credit schemes amongst the poor communities which resulted in income generating projects. At the initial stages, these communities tended to depend heavily on the assistance of NGOs rather than building up their own initiative.

"(With regard to free market and the retreat of governments, in Sri Lanka) ... the government's inability to meet the development challenges along with the open economy paved the way for the community to undertake its own tasks. This community participation process was a useful base for poverty alleviation. The influence of international agencies has been remarkable. Not only were basic needs met but they helped to train officials to meet the needs of the day. The poorest of the poor received the highest priority in the development agenda.

"(With regard to the enablement paradigm) ... it should be noted that this goes hand in hand with greater government efficiency and effectiveness through structural adjustments, deregulation, decentralization and the devolution of responsibility and authority in government administration. Enablement creates and promotes social and political cohesion. Women's role in enablement is significant, especially in housing and environment, as individual households decide on planning. More examples of this should have been given.

"The public sector, namely government, provincial and local-level administrations should gear up to meet the needs of people. Awareness, sensitivity and the will to achieve have to be generated. Hence, training and capacity-building for decision-makers at all levels are needed. Infrastructure development needs new technical know-how and allocation of budgets for priority areas identified by a participatory process.

"(Central and provincial government) organizations and arrangements made for urban planning should be reviewed. Are they playing their role or have they weakened the local authorities?

"NGOs and the other informal sector participants should be partners in the development of urban areas, together with advocacy groups and professionals. Indigenous practices in the communities could be mechanics.

"(With regard to the new paradigm) ... improving urban areas is the responsibility of the central governments, provincial governments, local governments and the civic groups. These groups have different roles but must, as far as possible, be participatory through different mechanisms. The central government needs to have urban policies - the cabinet ministries should have short-term and long-term plans for all-round development. Similarly, provincial governments should work closely with local authorities to remove funding and planning bottlenecks and provide technical advice in the planning processes. The devolved and strengthened role of local governments should be recognized by amendments to legislation and by new legislation. There is a need to encourage networking, sister-city exchange programmes for all actors especially decision makers and officials."