ABSTRACT
This paper outlines research and design for housing rural-to-urban migrants in Viet Nam, focused on Da Nang City. Global capital flow in primary economic segments – manufacturing, services, and tourism – have infused developing countries with new knowledge and capital. Global forces produce internal migration in developing nations given the transition from agricultural to industrial and service economies. Around 7 million Vietnamese are expected to relocate to urban areas by 2019 to seek entry-level employment in the industrial or service sectors, and will be challenged to afford housing meeting minimum standards. Also, Viet Nam’s population is concentrated in low-lying coastal areas vulnerable to storm surge and tropical cyclones. Finding a solution to housing urban immigrants is critical to stabilize and grow the economy. This entails managing the movement, health, and welfare of people and minimizing out of country migration. In response, the Vietnamese government is implementing sustainable and resilience initiatives, and has a low interest loans program to encourage apartment ownership for qualifying individuals.
The research sought design solutions for affordable, sustainable, and resilient housing for Viet Nam’s urban immigrant workforce. The authors led research conducted in summer 2014 under the auspices of a Fulbright Specialist Grant in Urban Planning at Da Nang University of Science and Technology (DUT) involving a team of DUT lecturers and students. The team first researched and documented the development of Vietnamese urban infrastructure, planning, housing, and construction. Research on extant affordable housing indicated most were lacking in addressing basic needs of thermal comfort, sanitation, floor area, and social spaces. From these findings, design criteria were formulated, including: (a) Affordability – land, construction, energy, and maintenance cost; (b) Sustainability – embodied energy, passive shading and cooling systems, water re-use, and urban farming; (c) Resilience – structural integrity, water resistance, elevated floor levels, and protected building systems; and (d) Social Needs – community spaces, urban amenities, and unit types addressing varied family types.
A prototype housing block was designed incorporating the identified design criteria. A site was selected in Da Nang’s primary industrial zone comprised of 395 hectares, 10 km northwest of the city center, that includes factory, warehouse, school, park, commercial, and housing uses. Housing blocks are subdivided into 5 m × 20 m parcels intended for medium density row house development accommodating multi-generational family living. The prototype housing block structural bays conformed to the 5 m lot width, and 2 story apartment units were stacked and accessed by interior “streets”, thereby incorporating row house typology with increased density and inclusion of communal spaces. Given the density, a primary challenge was addressing human thermal comfort and providing public and semi-public social spaces.
The project was presented to the heads of the Da Nang Urban Planning Institute, who noted the merits of the project and who encouraged future research to optimize cost, size, and fit to demographic, environmental, and other conditions. Overall, the prototype housing design appears as a promising first step to find more optimal solutions to the current and ongoing Vietnamese workforce housing problem.
