From Shanghai to Dhaka, Asia should fix its megacities, not move them

Asia's biggest cities, from Shanghai to Dhaka, are struggling to manage the impact of decades of growth. Some are sinking. Most are traffic-choked. And almost all struggle with chronic air pollution. Worst of all, coastal cities face the threat of being inundated by rising seas.
 
Indonesia’s capital Jakarta suffers these urban ills more acutely than most, which is why President Joko Widodo announced a plan last week to shift the government 900 miles away, to a relatively undeveloped section of Borneo. Indonesia isn’t the first Asian country to move its official capital and won’t be the last. But evacuating government officials and their families won’t solve the problems of Jakarta, Bangkok, Dhaka or any other megacity.

 
The challenges faced by Jakarta and other developing Asian cities were seeded in the 1970s as countries across the region liberalized their economies. In Indonesia, land-use controls were aggressively deregulated in the 1980s while entire sectors of the economy were opened up to direct investment. Economically, the results were spectacular: Factories, shopping malls and housing developments sprouted up across Jakarta and the surrounding region.
 

Meanwhile, Indonesians, keen for opportunity, flocked to the city. Between 1970 and 2000, the population of the greater Jakarta region — which now encompasses 12 municipalities or regencies — grew from roughly 5 million people to over 20 million. And from 2000 to 2010, it added another 7 million people, making it the world's fastest-growing urban region outside of China. By 2030, greater Jakarta will be home to 35 million people, topping Tokyo for the title of world's most populous city.

 
The results are well-known. Jakarta is home to some of the world's worst traffic jams; drivers are accustomed to spending two hours to move three miles. That traffic accounts for 75 per cent of Jakarta's air pollution, which also happens to be among the world's worst.
 
Meanwhile, 60 per cent of Jakarta's residents rely upon often illegally pumped groundwater, in part because of how polluted other sources are. That’s caused the land to subside: Since the 1970s, parts of Jakarta have sunk as much as 13 feet, at a rate of almost 10 inches per year. Today, roughly 40 per cent of the city is below sea level and floods are a regular occurrence.