Introduction

Since Terry McGee’s book The Southeast Asian City (1967), scholars have further revisited perspectives on cities in Southeast Asia. Evers and Korff (2000) used the term “Southeast Asian Urbanism” in a book based on twenty years of research in which they posited several strategic aspects in studying cities in the region. Rather than finding a general pattern, they examined intersections between culture and identities with contemporary urban economies. The term “pattern” was of interest in Peter Rimmer and Howard Dick’s The City in Southeast Asia (2009), which referenced McGee’s work in proposing a general pattern as intersections between historical data and contemporary developments. The book followed up their article in 1998 that called for attention to the re-emergence of “Westernization” in “Southeast Asian cities” through globalization since the 1980s.