Liberalisation, urban governance and gridlock: Diagnosing Yangon's mobility crisis

Abstract

The city of Yangon is home to over 5 million people, hosts Myanmar's largest port and produces a disproportionate share of national output. But a mobility crisis is undermining the city's economic potential and contributing to a deteriorating quality of life for its residents. The most obvious symptom of this crisis is acute traffic congestion. The proximate causes are clear: growing demand for journeys, a surge in vehicle numbers, a modal shift away from buses, and myriad 'flow disruptions'. However, solving this mobility crisis requires recognizing the underlying causes, including a 'congestion incentive spiral' fuelled by rapid liberalisation of vehicle imports in a context where there are few viable alternatives to buses and private automobiles. This situation is a direct consequence of systematic failures in urban planning, investment and regulation linked to active neglect from successive military regimes and dysfunctional institutional arrangements. To preserve its rich urban heritage, Yangon will need to embrace 21st century integrated planning practices that seek to maximise accessibility and mobility for all people rather than minimise traffic congestion for those who use cars.

A Review of Transport Policies in Support of Climate Actions in Asian Cities and Countries

“…Public transport management, the promotion of active mobility, and the introduction of stringent emission standards and fuel quality have been suggested to improve mobility and air quality in Kathmandu [35,36]. Yangon needs to focus on an integrated approach to enhance accessibility rather than simply addressing urban traffic congestion [37]. A study on Indian cities suggests that governance, strategic understanding, and interaction among all state and non-state actors is essential to integrate local development and climate actions [38].…”

Self-Sufficient Urban Socio-Economic Space

“…The implementation of a systematic approach in the SSUSES methodology is reduced to the territorial entity examination on the developing its emergent and synergistic qualities possibility, to identification of the diverse links and mechanisms that ensure these qualities in a dynamic system. The essence of the systematic approach implementation to the SSUSES ensuring process can be described using the structure of indicators: ) , ,..., , ( 1 Pis economics and business; 2 Psmall and medium business; 3 Pinvestments and industry; 4 Pstate and municipal services; 5 Pfinance; 6 Phousing and utilities infrastructure and energy; 7 Ptransport and communication; 8 Pland resources, real estate, property; 9 Parchitecture, construction; 10 Psocial politics; 11 P -Internet, information policy, media and public relations; 12 Pculture and tourism; 13 Pphysical Culture and sport; 14 Pyouth policy; 15 Pinternational and regional relations; 16 Peducation; 17 Pconsumer market: trade and personal services; 18 Pmunicipal control; 19 Pcivil registry offices; 20 Psecurity; Ttime interval (month, quarter, year).…”

“…One of the main goals of the city's socio-economic development is to improve the quality of life of citizens [1,2]. The process of ensuring SSUSES should include: increasing income and improving the health of citizens; raising the educational level; creating conditions conducive to the growth of people's self-respect; the formation of sufficient social, political, economic and institutional subsystems [3].…”

Sustainability of Slum-Based Settlement Management Community Socio-Economic Empowerment (Study on Slum Settlements in Panakkukang District, Makassar City)

“…The development of municipal activities in this area is characterized by the existence of shopping centers, elite settlements, entertainment facilities, hotels and restaurants which affects the transportation system. Furthermore, rapid growth, coupled with a legacy of under investment and laissez-faire governance has resulted in acute traffic congestion (Fox et al, 2019). The advancement of the business center agrees with the growth of shanty towns along the banks of the Tallo River and urban informal economic activities of which most are located along the main roads.…”