People-led Urban Development in Vietnam: Interstitial Practices and the Production of Differential Spaces in Hanoi (Routledge/City University of Hong Kong Southeast Asia Series) - Hardcover

Trần, Hoài Anh; Yip, Ngai Ming

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1032771801 ISBN 13: 9781032771809

Publisher: Routledge, 2025

Synopsis

This book provides an analysis of urban development in Vietnam with a focus on activities carried out by ordinary people. Using Hanoi as a case study, this book offers a rich ethnographic account of people‑led development emphasising spatial practices of the emerging middle/lower‑middle and small entrepreneurial classes.

In this book, the concept practice is integrated with Lefebvre’s framework of the production of differential space to conceptualise the diverse and seemingly ad‑hoc space‑making activities of urban residents, situating these in relation to the state’s disciplining projects through housing and urban planning. Moving beyond a simplistic, dichotomised discussion of informality and formality, temporality and permanence, this book highlights the tensions between the state visions of modernised urbanisation and the everyday space‑making practices of ordinary people. It offers a substantive narrative and an in‑depth analysis of the power relations, social hierarchies and complex interactions that are embedded within the differential spaces created by diverse interstitial practices in Hanoi.

As a novel contribution to the literature highlighting the entrepreneurialism of the subaltern and the role of ordinary people in urban development, this book will be of interest to researchers of Vietnam’s urban development, Southeast Asian Studies, Urban Studies and the Global South.

About this title

About the Author

Hoài Anh Trần is an associate professor in the Department of Urban Studies, Malmö University. Her research investigates urban and housing policies, urban space production and public spaces. Her research in Vietnam highlights the role of ordinary people in the production of housing and urban spaces, as well as in the shaping of housing and urban development policies.

Ngai Ming Yipwas a professor of housing and urban studies in the Department of Public and International Affairs at the City University of Hong Kong before he retired in 2023. He researches on urban and housing issues with a focus on the neigbhourhood and resident organisations in changing urban and political contexts. He has been active in both the academic, policy and professional communities.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1032771801
• ISBN 13: 9781032771809
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 142