Urban transition and public space in vietnam, a view from the streets of ho chi minh city

URBAN TRANSITION AND PUBLIC SPACE IN VIETNAM: A VIEW FROM HO CHI MINH CITY STREETS Marie Gibert University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, Prodig Geographical Research Unit, Paris marie_gib

URBAN TRANSITION AND PUBLIC SPACE IN VIETNAM:

A VIEW FROM HO CHI MINH CITY STREETS

Marie Gibert

University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, Prodig Geographical Research Unit, Paris

marie_gibert@hotmail.com

INTRODUCTION

The emerging metropolises of Southeast Asia are currently undergoing an accelerated and globally-driven urban transition Their economic emergence is taking place in a context characterized by an exponential urban growth, a re-valuing of the city by the political authorities in the region and a fast process of urban renewal Theses urban transformations are not only architectural, but also economic and social: they lead to the reconfiguration of urban forms, to the reshaping of the urban management, and to a renegotiation of daily urban practices These processes raise social and political issues about the rise of civil society in Southeast Asia This paper aims to address these contemporary mechanisms of urban change in Vietnam, as they can be seen from the public space,

at the street level

Urban public spaces constitute an interesting angle from which to observe the evolution of urban lifestyle and citizenship Paradoxically, this object of study only found a true place within the field of urban studies at the end

of the 1990s, at a moment when the quality and the vibrancy of these public spaces appeared to be threatened by new forms of privatization, segregation and even sometimes by violence (Jacobs, 1995; Ghorra-Gobin, 2001 ; Decroly and al., 2003 ; Billard and al., 2005) But these analyzes mostly applied to the Northern metropolises The more recent exploration of this topic in the field of Southeast Asian studies constitutes an invitation to reconsider these conclusions (Heng, Low, 2010 Goh and Bunnell, 2013) De-centering the focus allows both to enrich the

o igi all àEu opea à o eptàofà pu li àspa e àa dàtoà e e àtheàstud àofàtheàlo alàu a àfa i ài à“outheastàAsia

“t eetàlifeàisài deedàaà ele a tà a àtoàassessàtheà ásia - ess àofàaà it ààI àtheàViet a eseà ase,àst eetsàa eàtheà most evident and widespread form of public spaces Indeed, Ho Chi Minh City counts nearly no squares – which is

a major difference from the urban matrix of the European classical city (Sitte, 1889) – and the city contains only a few parks, most of them being located in the inherited colonial centre On the contrary, walking trough Ho Chi Minh streets allows one to take in the pulse of city life and to experience vibrant urban rhythms

Theà st eetà o stitutesà theà pa adig à ofà theà u a à fo à Gou do ,à à asà ità othà e odiesà itsà ide tit à a dà reveals the mechanisms of its global functioning Looking at urban mutations through the lens of street life evolution allows one to consider the daily nature of urban changes This scale is particularly relevant to Ho Chi

Mi hàCit ,à he eàst eetà ultu eàhasàal a sà ee ào eàofàtheà it ’sàst o gestàfeatu es.àTheàli ità et ee àp i ateà and public spaces is everything but clear: the ground floor shops largely overflow onto the streets and the

do esti à spa eà isà ofte à idel à ope à toà theà passe ’sà ie à Drummond, 2000 ; Thomas, 2001 and 2002) But today, from a neo-functionalist perspective, economic growth and new street regulations are leading towards a shift from multiple-use public spaces to single-use ones The ongoing urban renewal, with streets and alleyways

(h ẻm) widening projects, bring into question the public space as a tool of social inclusion and the evolution of the

ightà toà theà it (Lefebvre, 1968) in the in post-reform and fast globalizing Vietnam Such urban projects question not only the ways a city is shaped by its inhabitants, but also the effective role, power and voices of the various stakeholders

Usi gà Mi helà deà Ce teau’sà ideaà ofà ta ti à Deà Ce teauà età al.,à ,à theà ai à ofà thisà pape à is to analyze the everyday strategies used by dwellers to impose their vision of the street in a transitional context I therefore argue that streetsài àHoàChiàMi hàCit à o stituteà spa esàofà egotiatio àatàleastàasà u hàasà spa esàofà o t ol à My analysis is based on several years of participatory observation and in-depth interviews in Ho Chi Minh City streets

as part of my doctoral project First, I conducted 30 in-depthài te ie sà othà ithà ep ese tati esàf o àtheà it ’sà authorities at different administrative levels and with local residents I also conducted an extensive survey of 120 qualitative questionnaires, both before and after the implementation of the alleys widening projects, in 6 neighbourhoods of the inner districts of Phu Nhuan, Binh Thanh, district 3 and district 6 A spatial ethnographic app oa h,àfo usi gào à it àd elle s’àlo alàu a àp a ti esài à espo seàtoàtheà e à egulatio sàallows me to observe various postures of resistance on the streets This approach bridges urban planning, political science, and social studies while aiming to develop an integrated understanding of the street uses in Ho Chi Minh City

Figure 1 Location of the studied wards in Ho Chi Minh City inner districts

PART I HO CHI MINH CITY STREETS AND TRADE, A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON SOCIAL INCLUSION IN PUBLIC SPACE

A detour via a semantics study allows for a better understanding of the particular concept of the street within Vietnamese culture The Vietnamese language provides a categorization of the world characterized by the use of

classifiers for nouns, according to whether they are living things (con) or inanimate objects (cái) It is quite

e eali gàthatàtheà o o à a eàfo à st eet àisàthe efo eà o đ ường àa dà otà ái đường àTheàst eetàisàthoughtà

ofà i à Viet a eseà asà a à a ti eà ei g.à Theà so ialà p a ti esà o t i uteà toà defi eà theà st eet’sà ide tit à a dà the à accompany its metamorphoses

Trade as the Basis of Ho Chi Mi h City’s “treet Morphology

There are different ways to classify Ho Chi Minh City streets, using for example historical criteria that emphasize the morphological differences between colonial and post-colonial streets The first ones have been designed following a standardized grid Historical sources indicate that French engineers built their ideal modern city from the street pattern itself, which pre-dated and then framed the building scheme (Bouchot, 1927) The streets of the Chinese neighbourhood of Cholon also grew from the logical plans of merchants who placed particular importance on having road access for all types of buildings The streets were rectilinear and laid out in a logical way in order to have connection links to the canal Charles Goldblum considers that this attention to the network provided by the roads in the organization of the city makes the Chinese compartments the first form of modern city in South East Asia (Goldblum, 1985)

On the other hand, post-colonial streets – and especially the typical shape of the winding alley – are mainly born out of the pragmatism of city dwellers during uncertain historical times These narrow alleys no longer predate the housing frames, but rather they are the result of informal settlements and historical densification processes Faced with the lack of available land, the urban form of the shop house is still considered today as the best way to opti izeàe e à eside t’sàa essàtoàtheàst eetài àhighl àde seàa eas1

Figure 2 Extract of a cadastral survey in Binh Thanh district (Ward 22): the dominance of elongated plots

1

The average density of population in the Ho Chi Minh City urban districts was 12 450 inhabitants/ km2 in 2011 (Statistical Yearbook of Ho Chi Minh City, 2011)

The urban form of the tube house (nhà ph ố i à Viet a ese,à lite all à ea i gà theà houseà o à theà o e ialà

st eet àisàstillàdo i a tài àHoàChiàMi hàCit àtoda àE e àifàtheseàhousesàa eà uiltàhighe àa dàa eàa hite tu all à more sophisticated, the prevailing Vietnamese houses are still rectangular, very narrow and deep (around 3 to

4 m of width and 15 to 25 m of depth) and they are implemented perpendicularly to the streets (fig.2) The houses are only open on one side facing the street Trading functions have driven the urban housing form

The value of the land itself is directly connected to the commercial potential of the street the house opens onto The larger the street is, the higher its commercial potential, and the higher the price of the land In the same way, living on an intersection is valued.àTheàViet a eseàe p essio à nha mặt tiề designates a house localised on a

f o tageàst eetàa dàitàisài te esti gàtoàu de li eàthatàtheà o dà ti ền àalsoà ea sà o e in Vietnamese Even

urban authorities validated this principle by evaluating land property taxes based on the same criterion Land use property tax is based on four types of location: from type 1 – land fronting a street with good vehicle access – to 4 – land having extremely limited access (Decree on Land Pricing, 188/ND-CP, 2004, article 10)

The Economic and Social Imperatives of Street Access

HoàChiàMi hàCit ’sàhisto i alàfeatu eàpa tl àe plai sà h à ostàofàitsà it àd elle sàa eàstillà e à elu ta tàtoàli eài à

an apartment building, since it immediately results in loosing trade capacity Surveys conducted both among people living in inner city alleyways and in resettlement high-rise building sites illustrate this feeling well2 This, in turn, explains the failure of the resettlement to high-rise buildings after the implementation of an urban project3 Public place is therefore considered as a resource intuitively used to meet various needs Indeed, not only is the street a place of business, but residents have also become accustomed to considering their doorsteps and street

as a natural extension of their own homes (Drummond, 2002) As a result, various domestic activities, such as ooki g,à doi gà o e’sà lau d ,à i stalli gà o a e talà pla tsà o à u i gà oti eà o je ts,à take place directly on the

st eetsàofàHoàChiàMi hàCit àT adi gào àtheàst eetào ào ào e’sàdoo stepàhasàalsoà ee ào eàofàtheào l à a sàtoàea à

a living in post-reform Vietnam when many people had lost their state sector positions The renewal of the private sector in the Vietnamese economy is thus strongly characterised by small and very small businesses4

A riot of ad ertisi g o erhead, a l e of traders elo , e ery alley ay a pote tial oodle stall a d e ery shady tree a possi le ar er’s shop (Hayton, 2010)

Obtaining official usage rights on a plot of land has indeed been highly regulated by the government since 1975 in

Ho Chi Minh City, with the establishment of the residency registration system (h ộ khẩu) This system aims to control and limit rural migrations to the city Being registered in a ward (ph ường) requires many administrative

procedures Surveys show that many residents find these procedures too complex and unpredictable The burden

of being closed off from city life and its amenities is however counter- ala edà àtheàha ke s’à elati el àf eeà accessibility to the streets since economic liberalization This right to street access is highly unequal but

nevertheless remains aàke àstepàtoàtheà ightàtoàtheà it

2 People surveyed mostly insist on the importance on private land as a form of investment in Vietnam and explain that the

st eet’sàa essi ilit à o stitutesàaà ajo à ite iaàtoàassessàtheà alueàofàa house

3 For example, in 2000, four years after the end of the resettlement programme of the Nhiêu L ộc - Thị Nghè canal project, more than 70% of the households had resold their apartment and left the resettlement building (Castiglioni, Cusset and Gubry, 2006)

4 Ha to à o side sàthatà ediu àa dàs allàsizedà usi essesàstillà ep ese tà à%àofàtheà ou t ’sà usi essesà Ha to ,à

PART II “TREET“’ “PATIAL ORGANISATION AND URBAN RHYTHMS

Despite antagonistic morphological conceptions, both the main streets and the alleyways create a strong commercial matrix for Ho Chi Minh City Fairly conventional main thoroughfares are the scenes of semi-specialised or semi-specialised trade, such as the sale of furniture, video products and labelled cosmetics Their catchment area can be quite extended, while alleyways are the scenes of daily proximity trade In larger streets, the displayed products often occupy both the eadthàofàtheà uildi g’sàg ou dàfloo àasà ellàasàtheàst ategi àshopà frontage and street sidewalk The sidewalk can serve both as the continuity of the shop -it usually exhibits new goods or promotions- or can simply be converted into a motorcycle parking lot for customers Perhaps paradoxically according to Western conceptions of the street, one use that is not associated with Ho Chi Minh City streets is strolling When city dwellers want to walk, they tend to prefer parks and often walk around the park with an athletic approach, rather than with the intention of strolling

Though the alleyways of Ho Chi Minh City are places of trade, their functional organisation has a different nature The alleyways are characterised by their lack of sidewalk, which does not prevent them from having a strong commercial use but requires a different spatial organisation The households with small shops on the ground floor use the space in front of their houses to display goods or install tables and chairs if they own a coffee shop Alleyways are most of all defined by the presence of hawkers or temporary market places that succeed each other throughout the day (fig.3) Crossroads are considered the most strategic place to invest in, and every blind wallis

o side edà aà lo atio à toà eà f eel à usedà fo à t ade.à Theà alle a s’à u a à spa eà o espo dsà toà hatà theà u a à sociologist Tôn Nữ Qu nh T à ide tifiesà asà theà uietà it à asàopposedà toàtheà d a i à it àofà ajo à a te iesà (Qu nh Trân, 2007) This distinction is mainly based upon the criterion of urban rhythm

Figure 3 The Spatial Organization of Commercial Activities Along Alleyways in district 3

O se i gàtheà altzàofàHoàChiàMi hàCit ’sàa ti itiesàallo sào eàtoàu de sta dàtheàfu tio i g of their polyvalent nature In such a dense city where space is a rare and precious commodity, juggling with urban rhythm is the only way to allow every type of city dweller to benefit from everything the city has to offer (fig.4)

Figure 4 Ide tifi atio àa dàRep ese tatio àofàDail àU a àRh th sào àHoàChiàMi hàCit ’s Alleyways

The Case Study of 248/ 138 Xô Viết Nghệ Tĩ hàálle a

This analysis shows that trade cannot simply be considered as a threat to public space On the contrary, these

a ti itiesàa eàaàt peàofàgua a teeàfo àu a àso ialài lusio àa dàfo àe e àd elle ’sà ightàtoàtheà it àFo àtheàlastà decade, the authorities have nevertheless questioned this specific urbanity, on that mainly results from forty

ea sàofàspo ta eousàu a àde elop e t.àTheàu geàfo à ode izatio àisài deedà halle gi gàtheàst eets’à apa it à toàoffe àaà ightàtoàtheà it àtoàe e àe o o i àa ti it àa dàcity dweller

PART III NEW REGULATIONS AND CONCEPTIONS CHALLENGING THE STREET’“ MULTIPLE U“E“

The urban authorities have recently expressed a sturdy will to regulate, control, and plan the urbanization process This has occurred through the application of various innovative regulations and by the preparation of new master city plans5 It is enlightening to decipher the effects of these new regulations at the local scale and to

fo usào àtheà e à ulesà ega di gàtheàst eets’àuses,à hi hà eakà ithàaà u er of former practices Focusing both

o à theseà egulatio sà a dà o à it à d elle s’à e à u a à p a ti esà taki gà pla e,à allo sà usà toà o se eà theà o goi gà

p o essàofàaàst i te àdisti tio à et ee àtheà atego iesàofà pu li àa dà p i ate à

5 The first Master Plan for Ho Chi Minh City was validated in 1993 Since then, it has been reviewed and followed by detailed Master Plans for the planning of new urban areas, such as Phú M ỹ Hưng or Thủ Thiêm areas In addition, the land law of

àa dàtheàu a àpla i gàla àofà àa eàa o gà ajo àlegislati eàtu sài àtheàu a àpla i g’sà o eptio

New Street Regulations for a Ci ilised City

The streets of Ho Chi Minh City are also places of expression for the authorities: large banners and official regulatory signs are multiplying along streets and alleyways These colorful elements are part of the street landscape and e phati all à i iteà it à d elle sà toà eha eà i à aà ultu al à a dà i ilized à a à o à theà st eet.à

Mode izatio à Xây d ự g đô thị ă i h, hiệ đại) has indeed become a key concept and requires the respect

of a series of criteria laid down by the government and its local representatives Among these criteria, the proper uses of what a civilized street should be are very informative as to the vision of the street for tomorrow The main objective of these propaganda campaigns is to regulate the activities in the street and to clarify what must stay in theàdo esti àsphe e.àThus,àthe eàisàa àag ee e tào àtheà ode à e essit àtoàde easeàtheàfootp i t of trade stands on the sidewalks and roads, and avoid the presence of hawkers It is nevertheless important to recall that most of these new regulations do not yet have the value of a law and remain indicative But these official programmes remain the indicator of the main future trend of considering and regulating the streets

In order to systematize the respect shown to different social criteria of what is appropriate on the street, the government launched a programme in the late 1990s to improve the implementation of new regulations at the

e àlo alàs alesàofàtheàhouseholdàa dàtheà it à lo kà Gia đì h ă hoá, Khu ph ố ă hoá ) If a household meets

atà leastà %à ofà theà p og a eà e ui e e ts,à ità isà de la edà aà ultu alà fa il à a dà e a dedà ithà a à offi ialà certificate Furthermore, a neighbourhood block that counts more than 80% of cultural families is recognized as a cultural neighbourhood and is awarded a conspicuous sign, which is placed at its entrance One chief of a neighbourhood unit6 (T ổ Dân phố) in Phú Nhuậ à Dist i tà e plai sà thatà theà ost important is to avoid people

th o i gà thei à ga ageà o à theà st eet,à ua elli gà et ee à eigh ou s,à o à t adi gà i à pu li à spa es 7

He highlighted the official rules displayed directly on the street near the local news board This same local chief describesàhisà oleàasà aàst eetà ediato àTheàeffe tsàofàthisàoffi ialàp og a eàa eà e e thelessà i i izedà àtheà fact that once a neighbourhood has been rewarded with an official gate, it is never taken down In addition, an investigation with different real estate developers in the same district reveals that status as cultural neighbourhood does not affect land prices

Theàst eet’sàusesà e ai à ai l àaàtopi àofà egotiatio sàa dàlo alàa a ge e tsà Koh,à àNe e theless,à hatàisà still possible in the local alleys is sometimes no longer possible in the main streets of the city centre, where the authorities care more about the image of the city, which is displayed to the visitors Studying the evolution of the Turtle Lake area in the very heart of district 1, Erik Harms underlines that since the organisation of the Southeast Asian games in 2003, the authorities have succeeded in clearing this popular place of the many small street coffee-stands that characterized the Turtle Lake (Harms, 2001)

Towards New Street Conceptions

In conjunction with the diffusion of new regulations concerning the uses of the street, city authorities have been conducting an ambitious program of urban renewal for around ten years (VUUP) This programme aims to modernize the built environment of the street and includes providing systematic enlargement patterns This programme, conducted both on the main structure of the city streets and in the alleyways in the very hearts of city blocks, is thought to be a major and necessary response to the recurring problems of street congestion It is true that the exponential increase in the number of motorcycles and cars travelling the streets each day makes

6 It is the smallest unit of administrative control in the city and corresponds often to one alley At this scale, everyone knows everyone especially into such a dense morphological urban configuration The chief of the neighbourhood unit plays a role of go-between for the inhabitants and the sub-district authorities

7

Survey conducted in May 2010

the issue of traffic flow very difficult in Ho Chi Minh City8 The lack of secondary roads and the dual city pattern explains that the local alleyways are increasingly used by motorcycle drivers during morning and evening rush hours The usage conflicts that emerge from the competition between road traffic and commercial or social uses

of the alle a ’sàspa eàa eà egula l à ela edà àtheàp ess9 In this regard, the authorities have decided to improve theà ualit àofà it àt affi à àu de taki gàaàp oje tàtoà ide àtheàst eets,à oupledà ithàtighte à egulatio àofàst eet’à side uses References to the functionalist movement are recurrent in interviews with district leaders and officials

of the Department of Transportation The best incarnation of this model of urban development in Ho Chi Minh City is without question the organization of new suburbs, which are designed and implemented from scratch and

o i i gà isio sàofàaà it àthatà a tsàtoà eà ode

PART IV THE VIETNAMESE STREET IN TRANSITION, A HYBRID MODEL

The E ergi g Middle Class’ Ne Ur a Pra ti es

Political management and official regulations or programmes are not the only catalysts in the contemporary levers of the public versus private spaces dynamic The functionalist urban planning that the authorities are aiming for in Ho Chi Minh City streets today is fits with the new expectations of the emerging urban middle class

E ikàHa sàu de li esàfo àe a pleàtheài te esti gà o e ge eà et ee àtheàautho ities’à illàofà o t olli gàa dà lea i g àtheàpu li àspa eà ithàtheà e àaspi atio sàofàtheà iddleà lass to protect their interests (Harms, 2001) This social category, very emblematic of recent Vietnamese development, has recently accessed new property rights, especially since the land law of 2003 Thus, they are now more willing to support a clearer distinction between public space and private space in order to strictly identify what is their own private property The most visible spatial incarnation of this new trend is be the ostentatious gates that certain households erect in front of their houses (fig 5) The border between public and private space is now fixed and more than symbolically marked

8 According to the Department of transports, there were more than 4 millions of motorbikes and 400 000 cars registered in

Ho Chi Minh City in 2010

9 Fo àe a ple:à K ẹt xe ở TP.HCM: Bầm giập hẻm dân lập à T affi àja sài àHoàChiàMi hàCit :àtheàda ageà ausedàtoàtheàalle s’à

eigh ou hoods ,àNg ười lao động, dec 2009

Figure 5 New Gates in Front of Houses: Towards a Clearer Boarder Between Private and Public Space

Most of the households erecting gates do not own shops in their houses but work in a different area Their lifestyle is quite different from that of the traditional small business owners of the alleyways Most of the time, they commute to offices and shops in the inner districts of the city This emergence of daily commuting on a mass scale affects the relationship between the residents and their neighbourhood Residential strategies are now changing among the middle class that is looking for bigger lots and high value investments on urban land Phú Nhuận district, ward 13, is a good example of this evolution of the alleyways in Ho Chi Minh City today This

district is one of the most advanced in the implementation of the enlargement of alleyway projects The

i te ie sà o du tedài àalle a à àL àVă à“ĩàdu i gàtheà o st u tio àpe iodàsho àthatà ostàofàtheà iddle-class residents do agree that this project is going to increase the value of their land, even though they do loose one or two meters in front of their house10

This evolution is much more criticized by the households running a business in the alley or who own a small house, as they cannot sustain the loss of a part of their house These tensions as well as the different opinions on the necessity of this urban programme highlight the divergence of interests between the residents, which depends on how much they have to rely on trade to survive The notion of a neighbourhood community is therefore questioned, and the emergence of individualistic practices clearly contributes to the new definition of private and public spaces These trends have just began to impact the development of the alleyways On the contrary, the fixed border between private and public spaces has immediately been identified as a fundamental principle in the new peripheral urban zones, where functionalism has been the basis of the urban matrix This emerging trend has nevertheless been balanced out by the very creative ways in which people negotiate these major changes

10

Interviews conducted in June 2010

A Negociated Street in the Course of Transition

This urban process is still incomplete and the current situation creates many hybrid cases A business man who has installed a massive gate in front of his house and works in the business district might continue to enjoy his morning beverage at a sidewalk coffee stand And a shop owner who closes his shop space with a window may continue to display certain goods outside There are many examples of these hybrid uses of the street today The multitude of individual actions carried out day after day creates strong links between the people and their urban

e i o e t,à i à aà p o essà ofà ha ge.àMi helà deà Ce teau’sà ideaàofà ta ti à fitsà e à ellàtheà d elle s’àe e da à strategies to impose their vision of the street in a non-democratic context By altering the street, by adapting it to their needs, the people are involved in the construction of the city itself In this way, the people manage to establish a form of continuity in their habits during a period of a significant rupture with the past It is precisely through these habits that the genesis of the city takesàpla eài àHoàChiàMi hàCit àO eàe a pleàofàtheseà ta ti s àisà the implementation of first floor balconies by the inhabitants of the alleys that have been widened In doing this, the residents are taking advantage of loopholes in urban regulations about the widening of streets and only respect the compulsory new width on the ground floor(fig.6)

Figure 6 The spontaneous implementation of first floor balconies in a widened alley:

á àe a pleàofàa à u a àta ti ài àt a sitio alàHoàChiàMi hàCit

Whatever the urban evolutions may be and despite the construction of many malls along the main boulevards, Ho ChiàMi hàCit àisàstillà e àst o gl àide tifiedà àitsà st eetà ultu e àTheà a à e àto e sàappea i gài àtheà it à centre all open shops on their ground floor for example, a fairly different model from Hong Kong, illustrating the capacity of the streets to sustain the deep economic and urban transformations and to smoothly integrate new urban development tendencies