Jigsaw City: New Towns in Asia

Jigsaw City explore the phenomenon of growth in Asia through the lens AECOMS's work to create new urban settlements of many types at many scales. From India, to China, to the Phillippines, the developments explored include regional infastructure corridors, transit-oriented city extensions, downtown redevelopments, new communities, mixed-use open space districts, environmental conservation frameworks and ecological restorations. On display are the efforts of strategic planners, environmental and ecological planners, masterplanners, urban designers, landscape architects, and civil engineering to deliver the places and infrastructure needed by rapidly growing populations and economies. At stake is quality of life for millions of people, the rise of a new Asian middle class, and the question of whether frenetic growth can be brought into balance with natural systems already strained to the breaking point. The premise of the book and of AECOM s work in the region is that an interdisciplinary placemaking approach driven by a landscape urbanist ethos holds the best hope for tackling challenges of such magnitude. Increasingly relevant in this work is the use of quantitative modeling and decision making tools capable of processing the vast amounts of information at play as planners and designers seek the optimal outcome for projects under convergent pressure from social, economic, and environmental imperatives. Jigsaw City is a collection of case studies chronicling efforts over the past two decades looking to see what has been accomplished and what can be learned for the future as we continue to create the Asian metropolis."