Urban Demolition, Reconstruction, and the Culture of "Civilized Living" in Ho Chi Minh City's New Urban Zones

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Dr. Erik Harms (Yale University) will investigate the demolition and reconstruction of the urban landscape in two of Ho Chi Minh City's New Urban Zones. The first site, Saigon South, has been largely completed and is gradually becoming populated. The second site, Thu Thiêm, has not yet been built, but recently approved site clearance and construction will evict all of the current residents. Both sites propose to foster "civilized urban living," and offer a window into the symbolic, ideological, material, economic, and social forces that drive and emerge from urban development projects. The research will document the meaning different actors ascribe to the concept of "urban civilization," how ideas and plans for building urban civilization ultimately shape the built environment, how living in these sites ultimately transforms the ideas that first informed them, and how the construction of new urban spaces transforms what it means to be an urban Vietnamese citizen. Working alongside Vietnamese anthropologists, the researcher will, (1) photograph, map, and archive spatial changes to the landscape; and (2) employ a mix of ethnographic research methods including spatial analysis of urban land-use, analysis of newspapers and other documentary materials, participant observation, and formal ethnographic interviews with a cross-section of residents, displaced households, officials, planners, developers and builders. This research is important because it takes advantage of a timely opportunity to evaluate how dramatic urban transformations both respond to and transform official and popular conceptions currently driving rapid urban transformation in many parts of the developing world. By studying contested visions of urbanization and development at these sites, the research will illuminate how urban citizenship rights are negotiated in spaces where formal civic discourse is largely circumscribed. Data collected from a cross section of stakeholders will inform policymakers and planners, thus contributing to more sustainable and culturally sensitive urban development. Funding this research also builds international research collaborations and supports student training.