Content of studies conducted so far
I have been studying the growth and development of cities in South East Asia, mainly in Thailand, from the perspective of development economics and regional economics. In the background of this interest is the fact that the explosive growth of cities in developing countries cannot be understood with the traditional theoretical framework that is used to analyze the growth of cities in the West, and that urban analysis based on the single-track theory of modernization/growth of early-stage development economics for developing countries fails to grasp the increasingly multi-layered nature of urban dynamism. In order to go beyond this, I have actively adopted the perspective of area studies, using both macro analysis (empirical and policy study) and micro-level empirical studies using long-term field studies, and have performed dynamic analysis of cities in developing countries in the age of globalization, and in particular theoretical and empirical studies of the informal economy.
In the area of policy analysis, I have analyzed the emergence and transformation of policies on urban poverty and support policies for the informal economy in Thailand, together with their politico-economic backgrounds. The failure of support policies to keep up with the reality of multi-faceted cities and urban lower classes is becoming increasingly clear.
In terms of empirical studies and situation analysis, I have adopted a dynamic perspective, focusing on the dynamism of the informal economy and the labor and livelihoods of the urban lower classes.
Finally, from a macro perspective, I have analyzed the reorganization of the economic structure (industrial structure and labor markets) and urban space using various macro statistics, materials and geographical materials, and have looked empirically at the economic and spatial structure of the city. I have analyzed the effects of the reorganization of the global economy and labor since the latter half of the 1980s on the “labor” and “livelihoods” of urban lower class people and their response to it, mainly from the aspects of “occupation” and “dwelling.” It has become apparent that changes in the occupation and dwelling patterns of urban lower class people are linked to the dynamism of the cities, and that a stratification has taken place within the urban lower classes along with this dynamism.
Future studies
It was quite some time ago that people began to proclaim that “the 21st century will be a century of cities.” According to the UN Population Fund, the urban population, which accounted for only one tenth or so of the world’s population in 1900, is expected to top 3.3 billion, making up more than half of the world population, by the end of 2008. Moreover, it is expected that by 2030, about 80% of the world’s urban population will be concentrated in developing regions and that the large Asian cities will account for a half of the large cities of the world. In the Asian region, however, perhaps due to the diversity, there is a tremendous lack of urban studies compared to the enormous accumulation made in rural studies, even though the importance of urban studies has been pointed out. The ongoing process of rapid globalization and urbanization, however, has posed various problems not just for Asia but for the entire world. Therefore, in considering a global sustainable development paradigm, cities are an important theme that cannot be overlooked. By further developing studies on the cities and informal economy of Asia, in particular South East Asia, I plan to participate in the empirical study of the history, present situation, and future prospects of the sustainable humanosphere path and, ultimately, to present a way of sustainable development for cities in Asia which is different from the Western type, taking into consideration the relationship with other regions.