Asia

According to UN-Habitat, Asia is urbanising at the fastest rate in the world, and a third of households in Asia live in slums and informal settlements. The pace of rapid socio-economic development, population growth, urbanisation and consequent changes in social structure brought about many challenges to the sustainability of cities and housing problems (such as slumisation, unaffordable housing prices, deterioration of community values and increasing poverty in urban areas) are one of the most critical issues that the region is encountering today. The vast majority of Asian countries are experiencing common urban problems, but to varying degree depending on the stage of urbanisation and institutional arrangements. However, many Asian countries are attempting to resolve the issues with different approaches and some of the cities are proactive in leveraging social economy public policies as a means to achieve more inclusive urban development.