Episode Details

Asia’s urban future is being written not in Tokyo, but in fast-growing megacities like Jakarta and Dhaka, which now dwarf it in population. These cities promise economic momentum, yet daily life is choked by traffic, pollution, and overstretched services—symptoms less of poverty than of fragmented governance. In this episode, we explore why overlapping authorities and weak regional coordination undermine public transport and infrastructure, and how more integrated models like Tokyo and Shanghai have managed scale more successfully. The story argues that for Asia’s megacities, better governance—not just more concrete—is the key to livability, productivity, and escaping the middle-income trap.

https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/12/11/why-many-asian-megacities-are-miserable-places