Urbanization is widely believed to be an engine of growth. Cities host dynamic firms and create productive jobs, with agglomerations resulting in better matches between workers and jobs, strong input-output linkages, and more knowledge spillovers. But there is some concern that the nature of urbanization underway in developing countries today may undermine the potential for cities to serve as engines of growth and generate productive and well-paying jobs for workers at large. Underinvestments in urban infrastructure, limited coordination between economic and spatial planning, and a lack of affordable housing, among others, may lead the forces of congestion to overwhelm the benefits of agglomeration.

Co-organized by ADB and the Indonesian Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (MPWH), the Roundtable encouraged the exchange of views on the implications of the patterns of urbanization being experienced in Asia for cities' role as engines of growth and job creation. It also discussed key policy options and reforms needed to ensure that Asia's urbanization fosters growth and inclusion. The Roundtable is a critical avenue to inform Indonesia's key stakeholders of ADB's findings and receive their feedbacks in the context of transforming cities as the engines of growth that generates productive and well-paying jobs for workers at large.

The discussion was based on ADB’s flagship economic publication titled Asian Development Outlook Update 2019 that carries a special chapter on the same theme. Download the theme chapter here.