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Urban Planning and Design in

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam

USP 173

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< 1400 - Funan Kingdom and indigenous tribes

  • Thrived as an important port along maritime trade routes
  • Cambodia emerged to replace Funan
  • The Mois Tribes and Cham indigenous groups
    • Innovative vernacular architecture

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1400s - 1700s: Nguyen dynasty and French influence

  • Nguyen dynasty began southward expansion, conflict with Tay Son dynasty
  • Construction of the Citadel of Saigon in 1790 to reassert power
    • A Vauban-style polyhedron-shaped fortress

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Early 1800s - Civil unrest and a new citadel

  • Civil unrest throughout southern Vietnam due to religious, dynasty heirship, and economics concerns
  • The Nguyen lords ordered a smaller citadel to appease the rebels

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Late 1800s - Cochinchine (French colonial period)

  • Fusion of French and local styles in the urban landscape of Saigon
  • New plan based on the boulevard for Saigon by Ernest Hébrard and Léonard Charner

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Early 1900s - Cochinchine, continued

  • Thriving Ben Thanh Market (Les Halles Centrales) - largest market in Vietnam today
  • Emergence of a two-core system (Saigon & Ben Thanh Market)

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Mid-Late 1900s - U.S. Intervention

  • New Saigon government adopted the U.S. grid layout, Saigon as capital
  • Modernist architecture

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Mid-Late 1900s - U.S. Intervention, continued

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21st century global

  • Nguyen Hue Walking Street
  • Vinhomes Central Park mixed-use community
  • Foreign environmental protection standards

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21st century global, continued

  • 2 strategies to address urban congestion and natural resource exhaustion
    • Multi-core expansion vs. strategic use of existing land

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Lessons of Urban Design and Planning

  1. Turn disadvantages into advantages (e.g., Saigon’s river system)
  2. Urban growth must be planned and monitored
  3. Livability and ethics should be of first priority