Old Neighbourhoods and New Towns: Real Estate and Urban Policy in the Greater Saigon Region
VIETNAM STUDIES PROGRAMME WEBINAR
About the Webinar
Over the past 30 years, Vietnam has undergone a significant level of urbanization. New real estate projects have transformed the urban landscape in many towns and cities across the country. However, they have also presented urban planners with new challenges. Focusing on Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and Binh Duong Province, this webinar examines the ways housing typologies, real estate investment and urban policy intersect with the social and morphological aspects of urbanization in these two urban centres. The talk will first discuss the diversity of housing typologies in the region and how they emerged. Using the case studies of Phu My Hung, Thu Thiem and Phu Nhuan, the talk will juxtapose the development of New Urban Areas (NUAs) with that of the more established “ordinary” neighbourhoods and their impacts on HCMC’s urban development. Finally, the webinar will look into how Binh Duong authorities set priorities in their policies on housing development in the province’s NUAs and how investments into these NUAs contribute to the development of the HCMC megapolitan region.
About the Speakers
Erik Harms is Chair of the Council on Southeast Asian Studies and Associate Professor of Anthropology at Yale University. He specializes in Southeast Asia and urban Vietnam. His areas of expertise are post-war Vietnam, urban anthropology, as well as theories of space, time, and social action. He is the author of Luxury and Rubble: Civility and Dispossession in the New Saigon and Saigon’s Edge: On the Margins of Ho Chi Minh City, as well as numerous peer-reviewed articles.
Pham Thai Son is Senior Lecturer in Urban Economics at Vietnamese-German University (VGU), Binh Duong, Vietnam. Before joining VGU in 2014, he worked for international consulting firms Savills and Egis. Son has served as principal investigator for several research projects on urban development and as an urban development expert for the World Bank, UNDP and UN Habitat in Vietnam. He has also been the Team Leader of housing development programs in Binh Duong, Binh Thuan, Tay Ninh, Khanh Hoa and Kien Giang provinces. Son holds a Ph.D. in Cities and Societies from the National Institute of Applied Sciences of Lyon (INSA Lyon), France.
Registration
This webinar will be delivered online entirely. You can join the webinar at the specified date and time using devices (computer, phone, or tablet) with internet connection.
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2. Click on the unique link in your email.
If you have questions for the panellists, please key in your questions via the Q&A, stating your name and affiliation. The moderator will field them to the panellist during the Q&A session.