Service Industries and Asia Pacific Cities: New Development Trajectories (Routledge Studies in the Growth Economies of Asia)

'This book adds to the literature on "service economies" by examining the role of advanced services in the transformation of cities of the Asia Pacific region. Its central aim is to show that in this context, the growth and urbanization of service industries have not followed the Western model, but have forged a new path in which advanced level services act as key drivers of economic and urban change.' - Economic Geography 2006

During the second half of the twentieth century, development in the Asia-Pacific region has been dominated by industrialization. However, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, services, in particular, finance, information and creative services, have become deeply embedded in the processes of urban growth. In Asia-Pacific the rise of service industries has lead to national modernization programmes and globalization strategies. Services are also driving change in the internal form of city regions and are being actively deployed as instruments of metropolitan reconfiguration and land use changes. These changes have created problems such as social polarization and the displacement of traditional industries and residential districts. Also, there are tensions between local and global processes in the development of service industries, and between the imperatives of competitive advantage and sustainable development.

Service Industries and Asia Pacific Cities brings together a multi-disciplinary team of experts to explore and illustrate the theoretical, conceptual and practical issues arising from the transformation of Asia-Pacific cities by service industries.