The book compares different approaches to urban development in Singapore and Seoul over the
past decades by focusing on community participation in the transformation of neighbourhoods
and its impact on the built environment and communal life. Singapore and Seoul are known for
their rapid economic growth and urbanisation under a strong control of developmental state in
the past. However these cities are at a critical crossroads of societal transformation where
participatory and community-based urban development is gaining importance. This new approach
can be seen as a result of a changing relationship between the state and civil society where
an emerging partnership between both aims to overcome the limitations of earlier urban
development. The book draws attention to the possibilities and challenges that these cities
face while moving towards a more inclusive and socially sustainable post-developmental
urbanisation. By applying a comparative perspective to understand the evolving urban paradigms
in Singapore and Seoul this unique and timely book offers insights for scholars professionals
and students interested in contemporary Asian urbanisation and its future trajectories.
