Abstract
The book titled Informal Services in Asian Cities: Lessons for Urban Planning and Management from the COVID-19 Pandemic is edited by A. Das and B. Susantono, jointly published by the Asian Development Bank Institute and Asian Development Bank, funded under the Regional Technical Assistance; Asia Infrastructure Insights and being implemented by the Economic Analysis and Operational Support Division (EREA) of ADB’s Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department (ERCD). This joint knowledge product of ADBI and ADB discusses urban informality and recommends some guidelines and policy measures for more operational urban planning and infrastructural development in Asian cities. The book comprises 11 intriguing and insightful chapters. The first chapter covers the introductory part and the last one deals with concluding remarks.
The introductory chapter by the editors of this book introduces the complete book and briefly illustrates linkages between urban informality and the COVID-19 pandemic. This introductory chapter illuminates the complete book that how informality works in some prominent urban parts, how digital technology can be a revolutionary instrument to elevate informal-sector informality, how COVID-19 offers cautionary lessons about ignoring the informal sector and how effective urban policies and planning can be made and implemented to end up informality from urban sectors.
The second chapter was authored by V. Sharma and A. Bailey, and they have discussed how climate resilience amid urban poor in the formal and informal sectors can be attained at the community level. The authors have illustrated the ADB’s holistic framework that focuses on four aspects of system resilience, that is, infrastructural, ecological, social and institutional and lastly financial. They have concluded that community-led processes must be targeted to reduce the magnum of vulnerability and enhance their abilities to build more resilient communities. Social exclusion and climate change vulnerability must be mainstreamed to alleviate poverty in the informal sector.
Focusing on a multidimensional approach to poverty eradication, Etten and Tran, authors of the third chapter, have looked at slum areas for formulating programmes and policies for abolishing urban poverty. This chapter clarifies the overlap between urban informality and urban poverty with a clear focus on slum upgradation. To adopt an integrated approach for slum upgradation, the policy or programme must embrace a multidimensional approach to address technical, institutional and financial challenges of programme implementation and poverty alleviation. In addition to this, the fourth chapter, written by Das et al., argues that the growing need for better urban planning, deepening urban inequality, accelerating urbanisation in developing regions and climate change pushes to focus more on urban resilience and implementing policies and programmes that must prioritise urban poor’s access to basic services and livelihoods.
The fifth chapter by Taylor et al. discusses food insecurity and the nutritional behaviour of poor communities in Bangladesh. The authors propose to stimulate imperative and intensive policy and planning attention to breaking the vicious cycle of nutrition deprivation of poverty and inequality in Bangladesh. The study has concluded that during the pandemic, women were the worst affected section and people were lack of hygiene and healthy food which made it evident to prioritise the role of the state in boosting synergistic civil societies that is pivotal for attaining food security. In a related vein, the sixth chapter by Dutton et al. has examined the vitalness of water supply and sanitisation services in Asia’s informal urban areas. The study has analyzed multiple cases in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal and the Philippines to examine whether the service provides adaptability to confront external challenges like the 2019 epidemic. It has examined that collaborating formal water and sanitisation utility services with local governments, some intermediaries like social enterprises and SMEs are complementary suppliers. They have found evidence of innovation, agility and resilience of social enterprises and SMEs that are vital for the water and sanitisation sector in Asia’s informal settlements.
The seventh chapter, authored by Rahut et al., has examined micro and small enterprises from a gender viewpoint in urban Cambodia. They have analysed Cambodia’s socio-economic survey of 2019–2020 and uncovered that assets, education and access to credit are vital instruments of participation in MSEs. The study reveals that there is a gap in MSME participation between men and women. Women have higher participation in retail, wholesale, restaurants and smaller enterprises, whereas, on the other hand, men are more likely to deal with manufacturing, construction and repairs. One step further, the eighth chapter by S Shinozaki has discussed the challenges and policy actions of the MSME sector and digitalisation in Indonesia. The study has discovered that construction, administrative services, education and entertainment services were badly hit in revenue during the pandemic due to social restrictions. On the other side, information and communication, financial services and health and social services were remained intact to some extent since they were essential services. The study has discovered that digitally operated informal firms have experienced less impact than non-digital informal firms. Henceforth, formalising and digitalising the informal MSME sector is vital for uplifting countrywide productivity, escalating employment prospects and stimulating inclusive growth. Related to some extent, the ninth chapter by Morgan et al. has examined the relationship between the use of financial technology services (fintech), government aid and firm’s performance in ASEAN economies during the pandemic time. The study has concluded that the use of fintech services is positively correlated with ‘continuation in business’ and lowers the probability of diminishing revenue during the pandemic due to a wider customer base, an easy method to receive and make payments and a trouble-free process to obtain finance. However, there is no positive association between a firm’s performance and government aid.
The tenth chapter by Yamano et al. has discussed the post-pandemic employment recovery of tricycle drivers in Manila, Philippines. The surveyed data were analysed from 2019 to 2021, and it was found that the mean weekly working hours declined by 70 hours in 2019 to 54 hours in 2021, and average family income fell more than half by ₱15,949 to ₱7,716 because their spouse income also fell and lastly the average household income among tricycle drivers declined by almost 60%.
At the end, the eleventh chapter by A. Das and B. Susantono has summed up the complete book and discussed the learnings from informality during the pandemic and explained leveraging informal services for improved transformative planning in Asian cities. The book contributes towards the urgent need for inclusive urban planning and governance and provides informal modes to access core and supporting services in Asian cities. The authors have concluded that policymakers must focus on education for improving understanding, planning and governing of Asian cities and engaging civil societies and universities in local planning and inclusive development.