Abstract
The rapid population growth in Asian megacities has posed a serious challenge for policymakers in managing and containing urban spatial expansion. Adopting an analytical–comparative approach, this study examines urban growth management policies in four selected Asian capitals—Beijing, Seoul, Riyadh, and Tehran—based on documentary analysis and insights from spatial policy theories. Within this framework, three key dimensions—political support, public preference, and planning priority—are analyzed alongside two dominant orientations: development-oriented and conservation-oriented policies. Findings reveal that greenbelts and urban growth boundaries have been the main instruments for controlling urban sprawl in these metropolitan areas. However, differences in governance structures, levels of social support, and planning priorities have led to distinct patterns of growth management. Riyadh has deviated from its growth boundary policy, resulting in dispersed development; Seoul has implemented a controlled conservation-oriented greenbelt policy; Beijing has adopted a hybrid approach combining conservation and development through both greenbelts and growth boundaries; and Tehran, through a dual model of growth boundaries and legal urban fringe, has emphasized conservation in theory but exhibited scattered and uncoordinated development in practice. Overall, the study concludes that the success or failure of urban growth management policies depends primarily on institutional and political conditions and the alignment of spatial policy instruments with governance objectives, offering valuable lessons for other developing megacities.