Laquian, Aprodicio A. 1935- (Aprodicio Arcilla Laquian)

PERSONAL:

Born March 23, 1935, in Pampanga, Philippines; son of Narciso Cruz (a tailor) and Crisanta Laquian; married Eleanor del Rio (a journalist), October 24, 1962; children: George Edwardo, Agnes Helen. Education: University of the Philippines, B.A., 1959; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ph.D., 1965. Religion: Roman Catholic.

ADDRESSES:

E-mail—laquian3@shaw.ca.

CAREER:

Writer, political scientist, lecturer, consultant, and educator. Associate professor of political science, University of the Philippines, Manila; University of Hawaii, East-West Center, Honolulu, senior specialist, 1968-69; International Association for Metropolitan Research and Development, Toronto, Ontario, director of research, beginning 1969; University of British Columbia, professor emeritus of community and regional planning. York University, Faculty of Environmental Studies, lecturer, beginning 1970. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, scholar, 2002-03. Consultant, United Nations, 1970.

MEMBER:

Society for Public Administration of the Philippines, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society for Public Administration, American Political Science Association, Canadian Association for Asian Studies, Canadian Association for African Studies, Asia Society, Phi Kappa Phi.

WRITINGS:

The City in Nation-building: Politics and Administration in Metropolitan Manila, School of Public Administration, University of the Philippines (Manila, Philippines), 1966.

Slums Are for People: The Barrio Magsaysay Pilot Project in Urban Community Development, College of Public Administration, University of the Philippines (Manila, Philippines), 1968, 2nd edition, 1969, revised edition, East-West Center Press (Honolulu, HI), 1971.

(Editor) Rural-Urban Migrants and Metropolitan Development, Intermet (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1971.

Administrative Aspects of Urbanization, United Nations (New York, NY), 1971.

Slums and Squatters in Six Philippine Cities, International Development Research Centre (Ottawa, Canada), 1972.

(With Alan B. Simmons and Sergio Diaz-Briquets) Social Change and Internal Migration: A Review of Research Findings from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, International Development Research Centre (Ottawa, Canada), 1977.

(Editor, with Stephen H. Yeh) Housing Asia's Millions: Problems, Policies, and Prospects for Low-Cost Housing in Southeast Asia, Unipub, 1979.

Basic Housing: Policies for Urban Sites, Services, and Shelter in Developing Countries, International Development Research Centre (Ottawa, Canada), 1983, Unipub, 1984.

(With Eleanor R. Laquian) Joseph Ejercito "Erap" Estrada, the Centennial President, Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada), 1998.

(With Eleanor R. Laquian) The Erap Tragedy: Tales from the Snake Pit, Anvil Pub. (Manila, Philippines), 2002.

Beyond Metropolis: The Planning and Governance of Asia's Mega-urban Regions, Woodrow Wilson Center Press (Washington, DC), 2005.

(Editor, with Vinod Tewari and Lisa M. Hanley) The Inclusive City: Infrastructure and Public Services for the Urban Poor in Asia, Woodrow Wilson Center Press (Washington, DC), 2007.

Philippine Journal of Public Administration, managing editor, 1962-64; Local Government Bulletin, editor-in-chief, 1965-68.

SIDELIGHTS:

Aprodicio A. Laquian is a retired professor of community and regional planning at the University of British Columbia. In addition to his lengthy academic career, Laquian also served in various positions in the governments of Canada, the United States, and the Philippines, as well as in the United Nations.

In Beyond Metropolis: The Planning and Governance of Asia's Mega-urban Regions, Laquian analyzes the characteristics, planning needs, and potential future of rapidly growing, large-scale metropolitan areas in Asia. He "draws upon four decades of academic and policy planning experience in constructing an authoritative account of those urban agglomerations in Asia that extend beyond conventional conceptions of a central city and surrounding urban (izing) communities," noted Tim Bunnell, writing in Pacific Affairs. He offers detailed assessments of the planning needs of four types of mega-urban areas: "technologically advanced East Asian cities; megacities of China; the primate cities of Southeast Asia; and South Asian cities," Bunnell stated. Development, management, and governance of these huge areas should begin with the "urban built environ- ment" and how it affects the city's heart and its outlying areas, commented a reviewer in Reference & Research Book News. Laquian considers these issues in terms of such factors as urban water supply, government, housing, transportation and traffic, basic services, health and safety issues, the increase in slum and squatter areas, urban sprawl, and the nature of the urban periphery and outskirts. "This volume provides a planning perspective of the Asian city that has seriously considered the politics and economics of accommodating rapid urban growth in the mega-urban regions," commented reviewer Giok-Ling Ooi in the ASEAN Economic Bulletin.

With Vinod Tewari and Lisa M. Hanley, Laquian is the editor of The Inclusive City: Infrastructure and Public Services for the Urban Poor in Asia. The book contains the text of twenty papers by an international group of urban scholars, as presented at a 2004 conference on "urban infrastructure and public service delivery for the urban poor in Asia," stated a Reference & Research Book News contributor. The authors offer studies of cities in China, India, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and elsewhere, and consider how housing, public utilities, transportation, and other basic services can be made more accessible to Asia's urban poor. "Readers who are concerned with the plight of the disempowered and marginalized people living in cities throughout Asia will agree with the coeditors' call for an inclusive approach to formulating and implementing policies that bring more public goods and services and improved infrastructures to poorer urbanites," commented Robert L. Curry, writing in the ASEAN Economic Bulletin. Curry concluded: "This is a thoughtful, useful, well written, and carefully researched book that is void of trivia. It has this reviewer's strongest recommendation."

Laquian told CA: "My interest in slums and squatters in developing countries is rooted in the fact that until I was twenty-five years old, I lived in the slums of Manila…. To me, slums and squatter areas are necessary parts of urbanization—they make it possible for many migrants from the countryside to live in the city and find their place in society."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

ASEAN Economic Bulletin, August, 2006, Giok-Ling Ooi, review of Beyond Metropolis: The Planning and Governance of Asia's Mega-urban Regions, p. 266; December, 2007, Robert L. Curry, review of The Inclusive City: Infrastructure and Public Services for the Urban Poor in Asia, p. 376.

Pacific Affairs, spring, 2006, Tim Bunnell, review of Beyond Metropolis, p. 106.

Reference & Research Book News, August, 2005, review of Beyond Metropolis, p. 147; August, 2007, review of The Inclusive City.