Urban environmental problems may appear in different ways depending upon the city's stage of economic development, urbanization and legal system. This study aims at identifying the mechanism which causes different configurations of environmental problems between cities in different stages of development. The study areas include Greater London (U.K.), Nagoya (Japan), and Bangkok (Thailand). In this paper, the various types of urban environmental indices, such as economic conditions, level of infrastructure supply and physical/ chemical environmental quality are compared first. Then, the mechanism which generates environmental problems is analyzed. The analysis concentrates especially on economic development, urbanization and their effects on the environment. The supply of infrastructure such as transport systems are also included as a factor which affects urban spatial pattern and environment. It is found that the major causes of environmental problems in Bangkok come from the gaps between the high speed of urbanization (more than 2 times faster than London and Nagoya) and its slow supply of infrastructure. On the other hand, in London and Nagoya, pollution problems from transport have tended to occur due to the increase of mobility as the economy matures. Moreover, the configuration of urban environmental problems are different among cities; pollution versus lack of urban facilities supply in Bangkok, amenity versus convenience in Nagoya and pollution and economic recessions in London. The above mentioned phenomena and findings in this paper are systematically analyzed according to urban and product cycle theories.
Samenvatting