No matter how you look at it, the world’s largest urban centers are right here in the region. But in the age of remote work, have we reached peak city? 

There is one thing worldwide where Asia undoubtedly comes in first – and by a long shot. The sheer size of its cities.

In fact, according to data from Visual Capitalist, it is not even close. Whether you look at it based on administrative boundaries, urban concentration, or metropolitan areas, the cities in Asia take the five top spots. In fact, they make up a majority of the top 20 in all three categories.

From the point of view of very concrete borders, Chongqing, China is the arbiter of global bulk. It is as large as Austria, placing first with 32.1 million people, topping Shanghai, Beijing, Delhi, and Chengdu. If you are looking at urban density, then Tokyo leads the pack with a population of 37.7 million, followed by Jakarta, Delhi, Guangzhou, and Mumbai. The metropolitan area take also puts Tokyo in the lights with 37.3 million individuals, with Jakarta, Delhi, Seoul, and Mumbai rounding up the top five.

Meeting of Giants

All in all, it makes Hong Kong and Singapore look dauntingly medium-sized at best. And the interesting thing to note here is that except for Indonesia, Japan and South Korea, the largest cities in the world are also in its two most populous countries - China and India. Given the latter just overtook the earlier this year, something finews.asia previously commented on, it is more than likely that the cities in India will at some point overtake their mainland brethren.

But besides providing an unending supply of potential retail clients needing a flotilla of ATMs, why should this even matter to the finance industry?

As finews.asia has indicated extensively, we are very likely at an inflection point. It is about the future of office and work and so many trends are coming together right now that is hard to see the forest for the trees.

Digital Nomad 2.0

We are well into the post-pandemic era where a certain proportion of remote work has become standard, as has the neighborly digital nomad sipping on that one unending coffee at your favorite café, slowing your expected 5GB Wi-Fi signal to a crawl. In fact, we seem to have arrived at digital nomad 2.0 given that some schemes, such as Canada’s («CNBC make it», no paywall), are starting to dangle the prospect of permanent residency for the tech workers among them.

The thing is that it is not entirely clear if big megacities are going to be part of that or whether the constellation of currently still empty skyscrapers in Hong Kong are as obsolete as biplanes and battleships were at the outset of the Second World War. Not to mention China’s real estate crisis will likely take years, if not decades, to unwind, as finews.asia previously indicated. 

All that contrasts with other trends that point in the exact opposite direction. Hong Kong’s population has recovered sharply in a bounce triggered by the scraping of all Covid-19 restrictions late last year, something finews.asia also commented on, helped by rising numbers of applicants to a number of entry schemes, many of them created to attract mainlanders.

Urban Reversal

The Brooking Institution, a renowned US-based thinktank, looked at census data in 2021 and 2022 and found that the sharp losses sustained by urban centers during the pandemic have reversed, with some cities even showing gains in population. 

A TechCrunch investor survey (registration required) added that there needs to be a balance in the future between remote and office work, even though it is not realistic for any company to require employees to return to their desks full-time.

For once, much of what needs to change is now on the management side, and not with the employee. It is something that is just as relevant for banks and financial institutions, given that supervisors will have to adjust how they track productivity with a distributed workforce as they can no longer «rely on vibes» to measure employee happiness - and success.

Providing Access

There is also one big unsolved challenge related to remote work and a very simple one – reliable and affordable internet access.

«Yes, it’s 2023 — the year of AI going mainstream — but helping employees get access to superfast broadband that doesn’t drop out during video calls is still a major challenge for our team. Even if we wanted to fund better access, we often can’t,» says Barnaby Lashbrooke, the founder and CEO of Time etc in an interview with TechCrunch.

That would seem to speak for the continued existence of cities in some form or another for the foreseeable future, although it is also clear that they don’t have to be the dense, overcrowded megacities prevalent in the region.