by Michael Waibel
Vietnam’s transitional development since the introduction of market-economy reforms in the late 1980s can certainly be described as a success story. The adoption of export-orientated growth and integration into economic globalization has opened the way for a modern consumer society. In accordance with most regional transition theories, the metropoles of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi have derived the most benefit from the successive opening-up of the economy to global capital. These urban agglomerations are Vietnam’s most outstanding motor of innovation, growth, and globalisation and represent main target regions for flows of foreign direct investment (FDI). Here, the urban population can enjoy the highest overall living standard. However, it is also here that the most extreme income disparities are to be found. Furthermore, the metropoles suffer from increasing migration pressure, environmental problems such as air pollution, and rising crime rates. Moreover, the transition of Vietnamese urban society has also led to increasing social differentiation in terms of income, education, family size, consumption patterns, etc. to produce hitherto unknown class divisions. In terms of urban spaces, the commodification of urban development through several land use reforms allowing land use rights to be traded led to a transfer of state resources to private hands and consequently to a marketization of housing and land. Similar as in China, the state gave up its unique control on urban space and allowed the new actors, such as trans-national corporations, household enterprises or individuals. As a result, Vietnam’s metropoles have been witnessing the production of new urban spatial forms and elements driven by multiple forces.
Overview: New Urban Spaces
The production of globally orientated spaces in the inner city cores can be seen in the massive and continuing construction of office and hotel space mostly by trans-national corporations. This contributes to the fast-track development of an internationalized Central Business District (CBD) (see Photo 1). In the urban periphery, export processing and industrial zones have been established to channel foreign direct investments, which initially also served as demarcated laboratory spaces for market economy conditions. In this context, the most important actors are companies from Japan and from the tiger economies of Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, which in some cases have even taken over the operation of these zones. In Ho Chi Minh City alone, there are three export processing zones and ten industrial zones that have a total size of 2,354 ha and have attracted a cumulative of US$1.54 billion in FDI capital.
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| New residential quarters in Hanoi, Vietnam, image by E8Club |
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| New residential quarters in Hanoi, Vietnam, image by E8Club |
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| Kham Thien St. in Hanoi, Vietnam, image by adam79 |
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