# Most suburban cities in Asia



## Chrissib (Feb 9, 2008)

After reading and participating in the Europe-thread I started wondering if there are heavily suburban cities in Asia as well. I remembered Riyadh and Kuala Lumpur, here are typical residential areas of those cities shown:


Kuala Lumpur:











Riyadh:











I tried to use the same scale.


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## binhai (Dec 22, 2006)

Jakarta looks to be mostly villas on Google Earth, though I think many of them are slums... I would say Dubai, despite its skyscrapers, it has large areas of villas and only one metro line


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

BarbaricManchurian said:


> Jakarta looks to be mostly villas on Google Earth, though I think many of them are slums... I would say Dubai, despite its skyscrapers, it has large areas of villas and only one metro line


Jakarta has a suburban feel to it like Los Angeles. The city is huge and spread out but it is mostly low-rise.

*Manila* also has a large suburban sprawl. 




























In fact there are middle to upper class residential villages within the city core.


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## nazrey (Sep 12, 2003)

GREATER KUALA LUMPUR










KUALA LUMPUR










PUTRAJAYA










SHAH ALAM










PETALING JAYA


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## eklips (Mar 29, 2005)

BTW does anybody know about how urbanism is in central Asia?


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## siamu maharaj (Jun 19, 2006)

Also Bangkok.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

siamu maharaj said:


> Also Bangkok.


Bangkok? Yes especially with the new suburban developments happening outside the city.

But suburbs in BKK is not like the suburbs you would find in America or even in some Asian cities say Manila. Its mostly either rice fields, new villages, industrial parks, etc. You won't find a drive-thru Mc Donalds or a suburban style shopping mall.

The same with most Chinese cities say Beijing or Shanghai.


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## Ribarca (Jan 28, 2005)

Of the places In Asia I visited Kuala Lumpur felt very suburban. The central core is very small and outside of that extending all the way from the center to the airport (which is way out of town) there are these row-houses as posted here by Crissib.

Manila is very suburban as well. It's crazy. It's a maze with little planning.


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## Ribarca (Jan 28, 2005)

Double...


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## Skyprince (May 2, 2006)

How about Brunei ? Many if not most people live in luxurious villas there .

Hyper-rich Gulf countries like UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain. Plus, Saudi Arabia .

Malaysian cities are quite sprawling. A friend of mine who came to KL was surprised on how endless KL metro is , with spacious residential neighborhoods and the ridiculously extreme car-oriented lifestyle here.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Skyprince said:


> How about Brunei ? Many if not most people live in luxurious villas there .
> 
> Hyper-rich Gulf countries like UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain. Plus, Saudi Arabia .
> 
> Malaysian cities are quite sprawling. A friend of mine who came to KL was surprised on how endless KL metro is , with spacious residential neighborhoods and the ridiculously extreme car-oriented lifestyle here.


Doesn't KL have a high pedestrian activity in the city centre?


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Ribarca said:


> Of the places In Asia I visited Kuala Lumpur felt very suburban. The central core is very small and outside of that extending all the way from the center to the airport (which is way out of town) there are these row-houses as posted here by Crissib.
> 
> Manila is very suburban as well. It's crazy. It's a maze with little planning.


That is the with most South East Asian cities including Singapore. Except Singapore's suburbs/new towns are mostly mid to high rise.

KL and SG's downtown cores are small since both are *mid-sized metropolis* by world standards. 

Manila and Bangkok on the other hand has several urban cores which are surrounded by middle to upper class residential developments.

Jakarta though has a long stretch of urban core surrounded by low-rise homes.


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## Ribarca (Jan 28, 2005)

WANCH said:


> Manila and Bangkok on the other hand has several urban cores which are surrounded by middle to upper class residential developments.


The difference between Manila and Bangkok that I witnessed is that Manila's urban cores are mostly offices surrounded by low rise housing. Only now do you see in Makati or for example the building of high rise residentials.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Ribarca said:


> The difference between Manila and Bangkok that I witnessed is that Manila's urban cores are mostly offices surrounded by low rise housing. Only now do you see in Makati or for example the building of high rise residentials.


That is true of Makati. It was originally planned as a suburban new town southeast of Manila sort of like an American style suburb with office parks, shopping malls and surrounded by some of the most expensive residential villages in Metro Manila. It gave an alternative from the already congested Binondo district.

But as development goes, Makati became part of Metro Manila's urban core and is now the main CBD in Metro Manila, if not the central core. Most companies both local and foreign have relocated their offices from Binondo to Makati, the original mid-rise planning became high-rise, the skyscrapers went taller and the place became dense sort of a mini Manhattan. And more malls were built.

And the residential villages surrounding it are more expensive than before.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Here is another example on Manila










Makati is the main central business district of the city. The CBD has the highest concentration of skyscrapers in Metro Manila. Some of the tallest buildings in the metro are located here. But again, the CBD is surrounded by middle and upper income residential subdivisions particularly on the south, east and west.

Within the CBD, life is fast paced and people are busy. Traffic is also common both pedestrian and cars.


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## diz (Nov 1, 2005)

What KL has is what I hate about the suburbs. No character. Calgary is the same.


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## Skyprince (May 2, 2006)

diz said:


> What KL has is what I hate about the suburbs. No character. Calgary is the same.


The opposite is true...... the best thing about KL in my opinion is its vast beautiful suburbs . Generally, vast suburbs= healthy, slow-paced, happy and high standard of living .

Who cares about character when you have wide open and relatively smooth traffic, in addition to spacious comfortable housing ? 

Character only matters when you do short-term tourism but for long term living- who cares actually ? I said the same thing to those who said Dubai is "characterless" city.


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## castermaild55 (Sep 8, 2005)

Skyprince said:


> The opposite is true...... the best thing about KL in my opinion is its vast beautiful suburbs . Generally, vast suburbs= healthy, slow-paced, happy and high standard of living .
> 
> Who cares about character when you have wide open and relatively smooth traffic, in addition to spacious comfortable housing ?
> 
> Character only matters when you do short-term tourism but for long term living- who cares actually ? I said the same thing to those who said Dubai is "characterless" city.


if so, I think Japanese suburbs are chaos ^^
because The Japanese doesn't buy the house that others newly built.

these are never seen in Japan


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## castermaild55 (Sep 8, 2005)

> Suburban developmentLike all major urban areas in the world, Japanese cities have seen massive suburban expansion in recent decades. The nature of suburban development, however, has been significantly different from that in most other countries.
> 
> Many Japanese suburbs have developed around what were once small villages and towns rather than as divisions or subdivisions carved out of unpopulated farmland. This gives suburbs the feeling that they are simply overgrown villages which are connected by railroads to each other, but which nevertheless maintain a distinct and autonomous identity. Clustered around each suburban train station are numerous small shops where commuters and housewives shop on a daily basis. Travel to the stations is generally by foot or bicycle as the suburbs are usually compact, small, and densely populated.
> 
> ...


http://www.nakasendoway.com/suburbs.xhtml


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## sc4 (Apr 6, 2006)

castermaild55 said:


> if so, I think Japanese suburbs are chaos ^^
> because The Japanese doesn't buy the house that others newly built.
> 
> these are never seen in Japan


Well, that's becoz Japan has a higher population with less land for build-up


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## Skyprince (May 2, 2006)

Actually, if being marketed well, one of the best tourist attractions of Malaysia is its vast suburb living. This is especially appealing to Asian visitors, since they don't need to travel far to US, Canada or Australia to see this. Whenever my friends from abroad came I always took them for tour around different residential outskirts having peep around different style of homes etc.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

Skyprince said:


> Actually, if being marketed well, one of the best tourist attractions of Malaysia is its vast suburb living. This is especially appealing to Asian visitors, since they don't need to travel far to US, Canada or Australia to see this. Whenever my friends from abroad came I always took them for tour around different residential outskirts having peep around different style of homes etc.


I can't think of anything worse than going on a tour of suburbs when I visit a place. Why on earth would anyone go to Australia or New Zealand to see our suburbia. Living in suburbia here is an awful car-centric hell of bad commutes and lack of sociability with all forms of entertainment simply too far away to bother to travel to.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Victory08 said:


> It is really prestigious to live in suburban location, because the ecology there is better than in the city and you can live in your own house, not in apartment.


These are one of the reasons why people prefer living in the suburbs. Plus suburbs provide a perfect environment to raise a family.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

In HK, The west, south and southeastern parts of HK Island, The New Territories and outlying islands provide a suburban-like atmosphere.










Due to lack of land, suburban developments in HK are more high-rise new towns like *Tsueng Kwan O* for example.










Despite being high-rise the environment here is more quiet and laid back compared living in the city centre. Public transportation is also good as this area is served by both bus and MTR.

Though there are affordable middle class housing developments around New Territories like *Hong Lok Yuen*.










This is the closest to actual suburban living. The only disadvantage is public transportation is scare so those living there rely on automobiles compared to most HK residents.


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## sathya_226 (Mar 26, 2006)

What about a whole new city being developed out side Mumbai called New Mumbai.... rated as the worlds largest planned city on planet!! I believe this is the world's largest suburban formation happened any where any time!!


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## castermaild55 (Sep 8, 2005)

sc4 said:


> Well, that's becoz Japan has a higher population with less land for build-up



why dont not Malysian build own house by individual person?
it is like cookie cutter.


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## poshbakerloo (Jan 16, 2007)

HK suburban....erm no lol


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

Although there are new towns in Hong Kong, the central nodes have always been the core areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. Don't think HK is suburban at all.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

HK city-wise is more urban.

South East Asian cities on the other hand more has that suburban feel to it.


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## castermaild55 (Sep 8, 2005)




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## travelworld123 (Sep 24, 2008)

after recently visiting KL, i did see some various sections outside the CBD of these 'clone' style housing.

heres a photo i managed to take while on the way to the airport, sorry about the picture, just randomly snapped it when driving by:










do most people in KL/Malaysia live like this?

how about bangkok?


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## World 2 World (Nov 3, 2006)

^^yes, most malaysians. These are some housing examples from Kuala Lumpur suburbs.







































nazrey said:


> http://www.panoramio.com/photo/40228720
> 
> 
> 
> ...











by myf282828


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## sc4 (Apr 6, 2006)

^^ Yes we do live that way, mostly in terrace, semi-detached houses (cookie-cutter) or condos. That's also partly because of the government initiative for every citizen to own a home and has a certain quota to developers to provide that. So for cost-effectiveness, most developers will adopt the cookie-cutter homes. Those who can afford to pay more to buy land may design their own houses or bungalows...So cookie-cutter homes but I dare say the majority of the population are home-owners....We have very few squatters here


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

When it comes to major Asian cities, *Jakarta* is the most suburban looking.


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## travelworld123 (Sep 24, 2008)

i see, interesting!

I'm used to seeing more suburban housing in places like Australia/US/UK and it's kind of weird imagining it in a bustling, Asian city.

Seems out of place but interesting!


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

travelworld123 said:


> i see, interesting!
> 
> I'm used to seeing more suburban housing in places like Australia/US/UK and it's kind of weird imagining it in a bustling, Asian city.
> 
> Seems out of place but interesting!


If there is one Asian suburban area that is closest to an American or Australian suburb would be that of *Manila*.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Even the major cities of *Mainland China* have their own suburban developments as such those of

Shanghai


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