The Urban Village and the Megaproject: Linking vernacular urban heritage and human rights-based development in the emerging megacities of Southeast Asia

Abstract

Human rights and heritage may at first seem unlikely partners in the task of building Southeast Asia’s emerging megacities. Nonetheless the urban heritage of Southeast Asia demonstrates bottom-up, human centric alternatives to conventional top-down urban development approaches. As populations urbanise conventional global urban planning approaches are unable to effectively deliver the vast quantity of urban services and environments necessary to accommodate Southeast Asia ’s rapidly growing urban populations. In cities such as Yangon, Myanmar and Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, centralised approaches have not kept pace with rapid urbanisation. Neither are such top-down approaches adept at building upon the specific cultural assets of local urban communities. The cultural knowledge embedded in the ‘ urban vernacular’ or ‘ urban heritage ’ offers culturally specific approaches that can promote urban participation, facilitate wealth creation and deliver specific urban rights to urbanising populations.