Abstract |
This paper addresses the urbanization of Ulaanbaatar (UB) city in Mongolia by examining ger areas that have experienced unprecedented expansion during the past two decades due to rural-to-urban migration. Regardless of drastic urbanization in UB, ger continue to sprawl out into the suburbs. This article attempts to discover some unique characteristics of urbanization in Ulaanbaatar city while focusing on ger area issues. The urbanization in UB is approached by focusing on three main issues of ger areas: socio-economic situation, infrastructure provision, and environmental pollution. Together, these issues construct a research framework for this paper. The results of this study imply that ger area need to be considered as historically unique assets embedded in Mongolia as well as urban squats in need of redevelopment. |