Yangon : the emergence of a new spatial order in Myanmar's capital city

Change has marked Yangon, Myanmar's capital city in recent years. Most notably the establishment of three new towns by the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) in the late 1980s increased the city's area to more than twice the previous area. The rapidity with which the most recent new towns were established, their size, and the radical change in the shape of the city brought about by the creation of these new towns, or townships, set them apart from new towns developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Two major components of Yangon's growth, demographic and areal expansion, are the focus of this article, which draws attention to the political dimension of urban growth in Myanmar.