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The present paper explores the implications of smart growth principles for Asia-Pacific urbanization, and discusses how to use such principles for development in this region over the coming decades. After the United States of America experienced urban pathology due to sprawl, the country implemented growth management policies, and later adopted smart growth policies. While Asian cities experience rapid growth and concentration, the principles of American urban planning can benefit future urban policy and public investment in the region. The paper also argues that smart growth policies can lead to more sustainable and equitable urban development by overcoming the current unplanned sprawl. The concept of smart growth emphasizes a sense of community, the preservation of natural resources and open space, support for existing communities, and predictability in decisions and plans.

The Asia-Pacific Development Journal (APDJ) is published twice a year by the Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

The primary objective of the APDJ is to provide a platform for the exchange of knowledge, experience, ideas, information and data on all aspects of economic and social development issues and concerns facing the region and to stimulate policy debate and assist in the formulation of policy.

The development experience in the Asian and Pacific region has stood out as an extraordinary example of what can be achieved when policymakers, experts, scholars and people at large harness their creativity, knowledge and foresight. The Asia-Pacific Development Journal has been a proud partner in this process, providing a scholarly means for bringing together research work by eminent social scientists and development practitioners from the region and beyond for use by a variety of stakeholders. Over the years, the Journal has emerged as a key United Nations publication in telling the Asian and Pacific development story in a concise, coherent and impartial manner to stimulate policy debate and assist in the formulation of policy in the region.

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