Asia needs to manage its megacities better rather than build new ones

The real issue remains failures of governance in an era of fast urbanization

Asia's biggest cities, from Shanghai to Dhaka, are struggling to manage the impact of decades of growth. Some are sinking. Most are traffic-choked. And almost all struggle with chronic air pollution. Worst of all, coastal cities face the threat of being inundated by rising seas.

Indonesia’s capital Jakarta suffers these urban ills more acutely than most, which is why President Joko Widodo announced a plan last week to shift the government 900 miles away, to a relatively undeveloped section of Borneo. Indonesia isn’t the first Asian country to move its official capital and won’t be the last. But evacuating government officials