Title/Position: Professor Emeritus
Department/Faculty/Institution: Department of Geography, Institute of Asian Research. University of British Columbia
Degree(s)/School(s): B.A. (1957) Victoria University of Wellington, N.Z .M.A. Geography ( (1959) First Class) .Ph.D. (1969)Victoria University of Wellington .N.Z
Email: tmcgee@ geog.ubc.ca
MCRI Projects: Advisory Board Member
Background: Between 1959 and 2006, Terry Mc Gee has taught at Victoria University (Wellington, NZ), the University of Malaya, the University of Hong Kong, the University of British Columbia (Vancouver) and the University of New South Wales (Australia). He has published more than 40 books reports and monographs and over 200 articles. Mc Gee received the award for “Scholarly Distinction in Geography” in 2000, the President of Vietnam’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to Vietnamese Social Sciences in 2004, and the “Vautrin Lud International Prize in Geography” from the International Geographical Union in 2009.
Over a research career spanning more than 50 years, Mc Gee has focused his research on the urbanization process in Asia, particularly in Southeast Asia. His research has concentrated on four main areas: first, the processes of rural–urban migration to Asian cities as part of the patterns of urban–rural linkages; second, processes of labor force formation in Asian cities, with a major emphasis upon the economic activities in the informal sector; third, the processes of spatial growth in Asian cities focusing upon the outer zones of cities and the conflict between rural and urban activities in these areas; fourth, the policy challenges of Asian urbanization, including food supply for urban areas, poverty problems, the challenges posed for government and governance as well as sustainability and livability by environmental change, global economic volatility and rampart globalization. He is now carrying out research on regional sustainable development in urbanizing regions of Malaysia and Indonesia.
Selected Publications:
Mc Gee, T. G., ( 1967.) The Southeast Asian City. A Social Geography of the Primate Cities of Southeast Asia. London: G. Bell & Sons Limited; New York: Praeger, 204 pages.
Mc Gee, T. G., (1971.) The Urbanization Process in the Third World: Explorations in Search of a Theory. London: G. Bell & Sons Limited, 179 pages.
Mc Gee, T. G. and Y. M. Yeung, ( 1977.) Hawkers in Southeast Asian Cities: Planning for the Bazaar Economy. International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, 140 pages.
Mc Gee, T. G. and W. Armstrong, (1985. ) Theatres of Accumulation: Studies of Urbanization in Asia and Latin America. London & New York: Metheun, 270 pages.
Mc Gee, T. G. and Y. M. Yeung (eds.), (1986. ) Community Participation in Urban Development: The Search for New Solutions in Asia, IDRC, Ottawa, 278 pages.
Mc Gee, T. G., N. Ginsburg and B. Koppell (eds.), ( 1991.) The Extended Metropolis: Settlement Transition in Asia. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 562 pages.
Mc Gee, T. G. and I. Robinson (eds.), ( 1995). The Mega-Urban Regions of Southeast Asia. Policy. Challenges and Response . Vancouver: UBC Press, 385 pages
Mc Gee,T.G and Asfaw Kumssa ( eds.) (2001) New Regional Development Paradigms. Volume 1. Globalization and the New regional Development. Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut and London.
Mc Gee,T.G George.C.S. Lin, Andrew Marton, Mark Y.L. Wang and Jiaping Wu (2007)China’s Urban Space. Development under Market Socialism. Routledge Studies on China in Transition Routledge. London and New York.
Mc Gee,T.G and Erika de Castro(eds.) (2010) Inclusion,collaboration and urban government. Challenges in the Metropolitan Regions of Brazil and Canada. Centre for Human Settlements, University of British Columbia
