Theory paper

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Street life The loss of street life in rapidly urbanising upcoming economies in South East Asia: a focus on Hanoi Course AR3U022, Theory of Urbanism MSc Urbanism, Delft University of Technology

Marten Reijnen 4129660 martenreijnen@gmail.com September, 2013 Vertical Cities Asia 2013 12th Graduation Lab Urbanism Conference Abstract – Drastic transformations in the economy in many South East Asian countries lead to a drastic changes in lifestyles and the built environment. Without any respect to context giant utopian new developments are being built. These new developments tend to fragmentise the city, breaking places and are devastating for existing physical and social structures. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the theory on the topics of sense of place. That will be illustrated with evidence from Hanoi, Vietnam, as it is a representative case in Southeast Asia. This leads to a plea for paying more respect to existing context in the design process.

Key words – street life, sense of place, placemaking, placelessness, utopia, dystopia, South East Asia, Vietnam farmland, creating a construction boom 1 Introduction (Jacobson, 2011; Waibel, 2006). The influence of globalisation brings The Vietnamese society is undergoing rapid 'impositions of foreign models of urban changes ever since Doi Moi -­‐ the economic development on Vietnam' (Labbé & Boudreau, renovation -­‐ in 1986, where market 2011, p. 275). The new developments are mechanisms were given a greater role in the implementing a western lifestyle of security, domestic economy (e.g. Labbé & Boudreau, order and comfort, promoting spatial, 2011; Geertman, 2007; McGee, 2009; Douglass functional and social segregation within the & Huang, 2007). Its economy has been on the Vietnamese metropolises (Waibel, 2006). rise as well as its urbanisation ever since. These new developments in western style can Living standards are increasing and Hanoi is be seen as the 'visual symbol for the political as growing rapidly and influenced greatly by well as the individual wish to be part of a globalisation. With the newly gained economic globalising modern community, as well as prosperity the communist government is representations of internationally standardized redeveloping much of its state-­‐owned town planning, driven by market forces' 1


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Theory paper by Marten Reijnen - Issuu