The Landscape Signature: A Framework for Comparative Tropical Urbanism in Southeast Asia

Scott Geoffrey Hawken1,2*, Christophe Pottier3, VÕ Thị Phương Thúy4, Shinatria Adhityatama5, Martin Polkinghorne6, Adam Wijker3, Vladyslav Sydorov3, and LÊ Thị Lan7

The study of Southeast Asian urbanism has long been constrained by theoretical models derived from temperate-zone cities, which fail to capture the region’s distinctive low-density, agrarian-based settlement patterns. This paper develops the ‘landscape signature’ – the material encoding of a society’s organizational principles, economic strategies, and ecological relationships – as a methodological framework for comparative analysis. Drawing on historical ecology, patch urbanism and niche construction theory, our approach uses systematic analysis of high-resolution remote sensing data and other geospatial sources to decode these signatures at a district and territorial scale. We develop this framework through examination of major premodern urban complexes (including Tuol Basan / Srei Santhor, Sukhothai, Borobudur-Prambanan, Hoa Lu), systematically mapping and classifying settlement features, hydraulic networks, agricultural landscapes, and spatial hierarchies that defined them. This comparative analysis reveals diverse, monsoon-adapted strategies of water management, resource production, and political integration that underpinned their long-term resilience. By examining how different societies developed unique signatures we demonstrate the usefulness of this approach in revealing nuanced historical trajectories. Through establishing a robust, replicable methodology for recognizing and interpreting landscape signatures, this research develops a paradigm for understanding tropical urbanism in the long term. It also serves to decolonizes urban theory by centring indigenous modes of settlement and their socio-ecological dynamics. By revealing the spatial signatures these societies create, our research offers vital, historically grounded lessons for sustainable development, water security, and climate adaptation in this rapidly urbanising region.