A Comparative Study of Urban Environment in East Asia: Stage Model of Urban Environmental Evolution

This article aims to present a theoretical and conceptual model of urban environmental evolution in East Asia that can serve as a common analytical framework for the comparative study of urban environment in this region. The model describes the division of the urban environmental evolution of this region into four sequential stages: the poverty stage, the industrial pollution stage, the mass consumption stage and the eco-city stage. The authors adopted a three-step approach in building this model. The first step defines certain types from the diverse urban environmental issues, focusing on different drives and impacts, and then examines their relationship to economic development. The next step explores the common dynamics of these urban environmental issues in East Asian cities. The last step builds a conceptual evolutionary model and discusses possible alternative scenarios of the evolutionary paths. The model is supported factually by a horizontal comparison of current urban environmental issues in East Asian countries, and also from the chronological changes of these issues in eight case study cities in the region. The article proposes possible applications to environmental and development policy of urban municipalities. As a whole, this comparative study aims to provide a better understanding of the region’s urban environmental status, evolution and mechanisms and thus contribute to the theoretical bases as well as practices of urban environmental management.