Management challenges of spontaneous settlements in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: A case study at Thoi Tam Thon county

Management challenges of spontaneous settlements

in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: A case study at Thoi Tam Thon county

(Tr 575-586)

Hoang Cong Chi, Pham Minh Thien Phuoc, Nguyen Thanh Hung

Abstract: Informal housing is an acute phenomenon in most of the megacities of the developing countries.
With the fast pace of urbanization, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is facing rampant development of unorthodox houses. However, HCMC has some distinct differences to other cities in the developing countries: (I) Living environment of informal sectors is better, and (II) most households are able to legalize their houses. This is the results of flexible policies, in which local governments often legalized the ownerships and regularly upgraded infrastructures and facilities in informal areas. Although local government has attempted to reduce the number of informal housing, transactions in informal housing have been steadily increased in the last few years. Thoi Tam Thon County (TTTC), gathering a large number of illegally constructed houses in Hoc Mon District, HCMC, was selected as a pilot study to demonstrate the above differences and analyze policy challenges for informal housing. The survey showed that the costs of houses in the informal sectors are more affordable for low-income people. Additionally, living conditions in the impoverished neighborhoods are still acceptable. Results also reflect the awareness of the risks in illegally constructing houses. However, the affordable land prices and the opportunities to be legitimized are two major reasons encouraging low-income people take high risks. From the work presented in this paper, a few recommendations have been made to the local governments in order to have appropriate strategies to sustain urban growth and reduce informal housing in HCMC.

Keywords: Ho Chi Minh City; informal housing; spontaneous settlement; social housing; urban growth.

Received: 15^th­ March 2016; Revised: 25 ^th  October 2016; Accepted: 27^th October 2016

References

Bai, X, Chen, J and Shi, P. 2012. “Landscape Urbanization and Economic Growth in China: Positive Feedbacks and Sustainability Dilemmas,” Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 132-139.

Bizimana, JP and Schilling, M. 2010. “Geo-Information Technology for Infrastructural Flood Risk Analysis in Unplanned Settlements: a case study of informal settlement flood risk in the Nyabugogo flood plain, Kigali City, Rwanda,” in PS Showalter and Y Lu (eds), Geospatial techniques in urban hazard and disaster analysis, Springer, pp. 99-124.

CORC. 2010. Los Angeles Household Enumeration Report: Informal Settlement Network,Los Angeles Community Leadership and Community Organisation Centre, Cape Town.

Do, MK, Zhang, W, and Zheng, K. 2013. "Reasons and Countermeasures of Status Quo of Vietnam Real Estate", in R Zhang, Z Zhang, K Liu, and J Zhang (ed.), LISS 2013: Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Logistics, Informatics and Service Science, Springer, pp. 1195-1200.

Drakakis-Smith, D and Dixon, C. 1997. “Sustainable urbanization in Vietnam,” Geoforum, vol. 28, no. 1, Elsevier, pp. 21-38.

Durand-Lasserve, A. 2006. “Informal settlements and the Millennium Development Goals: global policy debates on property ownership and security of tenure,” Global Urban Development, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-15.

Gencer, EA. 2013. “Natural Disasters, Urban Vulnerability, and Risk Management: A Theoretical Overview,” in EA Gencer (ed.), The Interplay between Urban Development, Vulnerability, and Risk Management, Springer Science & Business Media.

GSOV. 2010. Niên giám thống kê 2009. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Thống kê.

Huynh, D 2015, “The misuse of urban planning in Ho Chi Minh City,” Habitat International, vol. 48, Elsevier, pp. 11-19.

LaSalle, JL 2015, "City Momentum Index 2015", JLL, viewed 2 Feb 2016,

 <http://www.jll.com/research/136/jll-city-momentum-index-2015>.

Le, NT. 2011. Phát triển nhà ở giá rẻ tại Tp.HCM, Luận văn Thạc Sĩ, Chương trình Giảng dạy Kinh tế Fulbright.

Li, GF, Xiang, XY, Tong, YY and Wang, HM. 2013. “Impact assessment of urbanization on flood risk in the Yangtze River Delta,” Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, vol. 27, no. 7, Springer, pp. 1683-1693.

Majale, M, Tipple, AG and French, M. 2011. Affordable land and housing in Asia - volume 2, UN-HABITAT.

Nguyen, MA. 2006. Analyzing the encroachment process of informal settlements in the periurban of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Master thesis, Master's Programme in Urban Management and Development, Lund University.

Pavri, F. 2009. “Urban Expansion and Sea-Level Rise Related Flood Vulnerability for Mumbai (Bombay), India Using Remotely Sensed Data,” in PS Showalter and Lu (eds), Geospatial techniques in urban hazard and disaster analysis, Springer, pp. 31-49.

Pham, T. 2006. TP HCM: Đập bỏ hơn 1000 căn nhà lậu ở Thới Tam Thôn-Hóc Môn?, Công An Nhân Dân Online, viewed 2 Feb 2016, <http://cand.com.vn/Xa-hoi/TP-HCM-Dap-bo-hon-1000-can-nha-lau-o-Thoi-Tam-Thon-%E2%80%93-Hoc-Mon-20856/>.

Roy, A. 2005. “Urban informality: toward an epistemology of planning,” Journal of the American Planning Association, vol. 71, no. 2, Taylor & Francis, pp. 147-158.

Storch, H, Downes, NK, Schmidt, M, Nguyen, TCV, Le, CD, and Bao, T. 2016. “Adaptation: Integrative Planning Framework for Adapted Land-Use Planning,” in A Katzschner, M Waibel, D Schwede, L Katzschner, M Schmidt, and H Storch (ed.), Sustainable Ho Chi Minh City: Climate Policies for Emerging Mega Cities, Springer, pp. 51-73.

Thu, TT and Perera, R. 2011. “Intermediate levels of property rights and the emerging housing market in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam,” Land use policy, vol. 28, no. 1, Elsevier, pp. 124-138.

Ubale, MY, Diah, M, Lizam, M and Sulaiman, N 2013, “Exploring consequences of the informal sector in residential property market in Bauchi Nigeria,” 2nd International Conference on Technology Management, Business and Entrepreneurship, Mahkota Hotel Melaka Malaysia, ICTMBE, pp. 204-215.

UN-Habitat. 2004. “The challenge of slums: global report on human settlements 2003,” Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, vol. 15, no. 3, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 337-338.

Waibel, M, Eckert, R, Bose, M and Volker, M. 2007. “Housing for Low Income Groups in Ho Chi Minh City, between Re-integration and Fragmentation,” Asien, vol. 103, Citeseer, pp.59-78.

WB 2011, Đánh giá Đô thị hóa ở Việt Nam - Báo cáo Hỗ trợ Kỹ thuật, WB and Cities Alliance.

Wit, JW de. 2011. "Land governance of suburban areas of Vietnam: Dynamics and contestations of planning, housing and the environment," ISS Working Paper Series/General Series, vol. 561, Erasmus University Rotterdam, pp. 1-34.

Yap KS 2015. "The enabling strategy and its discontent: Low-income housing policies and practices in Asia", Habitat International, pp.1-7, doi:10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.11.026.

  http://journal.ussh.vnu.edu.vn/index.php/vjossh/article/view/120