For a certain generation, the mere word Vietnam conjures up a country doomed by circumstances; its place in history marked by brutality and rebellion, the tragedy and the horror. For years such memories have been stoked by the media, creating an important mythology to help the West come to terms with barbarism, defeat and destruction. Meanwhile, Vietnam itself has simply, quietly and stoically got on with it.

The country reunified in 1976. Very soon, its foreign-aided economy reported an annual GDP growth rate of 7-8 per cent (remaining fairly consistent ever since). By 1990 Vietnam had opened up to tourism, and in 2013 invested US$94 billion in hotel construction and other tourism infrastructures. As a result, you can now visit the scene of the My Lai massacre and buy a souvenir lighter engraved with the American slogan ‘death is my business and business has been good’; the Mekong Delta is now a location of choice to buy a pizza in Cappuccino’s, and Hanoi boasts a nightclub called Apocalypse Now. Plus ça change, as the French used to say in these parts.

Ground floor plan

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is now the largest urban area in Vietnam and the economic centre of the country, with an annual GDP growth rate of 11 per cent (50 per cent higher than the national average). The city’s population has been growing at 3 per cent per annum since 2002 and it is now home to 7 million people (although the United Nations suggests that the actual figure may be as high as 8.7 million when migrant workers are taken into account).

For tourists with no particular historical memory, the teeming alleys and congested highways of HCMC are simply part of the authentic experience. But the reality of many parts of the city comprises high population densities exacerbated by poor infrastructure, inadequate transport and large pockets of poverty and inequality. Just like the low-lying wetlands of the Mekong Delta, parts of the city are also prone to flooding and consequently expansive development in new urban areas is a limited option. Even so, much of the natural land that had traditionally been used to dissipate flooding has already been built upon as the city continues to sprawl outwards....Continue Reading

> via The Architectural Review