Pattern of Suburbanization in Ho Chi Minh City and the Livelihood Transition of Suburban Farmers

Tóm tắt

    The trend of suburbanization is emerging in Vietnam's major cities at a growing pace; and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), being the most urbanized and economically affluent city in the country, has reached this so-called urban "U-turn" where studies have suggested of growing urban relocation to suburb areas as early as in the 1990s.

Expanding the urban area undoubtedly has many benefits for urban residents, businesses as well as for the city's government. Nonetheless as the city expands, along with the increase in land conversion and the number of constructions at the suburban areas, many local dwellers are forced to relocate elsewhere to make way for new development. Observing the socio-impacts of relocated households, the HCMC Institute for Development Studies (HIDS) in 2014 presented its research based on a survey of almost 2000 relocated individuals in the city. The primary results showed, for instance, that 14% of the respondents experienced increase in their income, while 57% saw no change, and 29% earned less than before.

This paper differs itself from the study done by the HIDS in that it chooses to focus only on the livelihood transition of farm households in the suburban districts, rather than the general relocated suburban population. It should be understood that many of the local dwellers in the suburban districts were traditionally farmers or worked in conjunction with farming. The transition for them from agriculture to non-farm work in a complex and vibrant economy like HCMC can prove to be extremely difficult, especially if they have little experience working outside farming. The core interest of this paper henceforth is to understand the experience of agricultural households throughout the transition process.