Examining the governance of emerging urban regions in Vietnam: the case of the Red River Delta

ABSTRACT

This essay investigates the process of urbanization in the Red River Delta (RRD) of Vietnam and critically assesses its governance. Focusing on recent periurban dynamics, it shows that the rapidly increasing scale of urbanization in the delta along with new forms of urban development and modes of real estate investment have contributed to outstrip Vietnam’s established planning approach. The analysis contrasts the country’s current socio-economic and spatial planning systems with everyday urbanization and governing practices that have emerged in parallel to it. The preeminent role of these practices, conceptualized as ‘actually existing urbanisms,’ is illustrated through a discussion of periurban land redevelopments conducted by business-state coalitions. The paper concludes by calling for a better understanding of the role played by such alternate regimes, not only in shaping the RRD’s urban growth, but also in constraining avenues to adapt its governance in the face of increasing urban scale and complexity.

KEYWORDS:

• Vietnam
• urban development
• regional planning
• urban region

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. For census purpose, the Vietnamese government defines the urban population as individuals officially registered in administratively designated urban areas through the residence permit system (ho khau). This definition therefore excludes a large number of rural migrants permanently or temporarily living in urban areas but unregistered in those areas. It also excludes populations living in places displaying urban or quasi-urban characteristics but that remain administratively designated as rural.

2. Often translated as ‘renovation,’ doi moi is a set of reform policies, progressively adopted starting in the 1980s, through which Vietnam departed from centralized economic planning by giving market mechanisms a greater role in the domestic economy while preserving the Vietnamese Communist Party’s political domination.

3. Chimerical planning is defined here as a form of planning that is improbable and deceptive.

4. Called ‘quy hoach’ in Vietnamese, and primarily focused on spatial and land-use planning, this form of planning is more in line with Western understandings of urban, city, or regional planning.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada: [Grant Number 430-2016-00144].