Urbanization in Asia Pacific has been proceeding at a phenomenal rate. Forty years ago, Southeast Asia was largely rural as the United Nations (2001: 133) estimated that only one on five persons in the developing economies of its ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific) region resided in urban areas[1]. By 1980, one in four persons is an urban resident, and by 2000, it was one in three. A key factor for urban growth has been economic globalization and the tendency for foreign investments and economic activities (manufacturing and services development) to concentrate in the larger cities. Thus, globalization and its effects on cities create a set of socio-economic and political issues that will require systematic, comparative analysis with an interdisciplinary focus.

The Global Cities Research Cluster aims to bring together scholars from across disciplines with a common interest in urban phenomena. Situated within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the cluster encourages and enables interaction between members across an array of departments within the faculty as well as with members from other faculties across NUS and beyond. The Global Cities Research Cluster members come from a range of disciplines such as Geography, Sociology, Economics, English Language and Literature, Chinese Studies, Japanese Studies, History, Philosophy, Political Science, South Asian Studies, Southeast Asian Studies and Communication and New Media but they all share a common interest in the City.

The ultimate goal of the Cluster is to provide a platform for researchers to envision and produce quality research projects enriched by the range of perspectives brought to bear on each topic by experts from the different domains of humanities and social sciences academia.

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[1] United Nations (2001) Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2001, New York: ESCAP.