ABSTRACT
In June 2001, West Lake in Hanoi became a landscape over which a struggle took place between local people and foreign developers, planners, historians and environmentalists. In a dramatic move by the government, a US$32 million Austrian-funded project to clean up the waters of the capital's landmark lake was rejected following a barrage of criticism in the official media (Agence France-Presse, 30 June 2001; hereafter AFP). The largest of around twenty lakes which dot the capital and are the pride of Hanoians, the 526 hectare (1,300 acre) West Lake shelters some of the capital's plushest residential neighbourhoods on its shores. Home to more than 450 species of animals and 59 species of birds, it is seen as a major environmental and leisure amenity. Throughout Hanoi, people are joining forces with professional associations to protest against the planning and destruction of their city. These interventions are a clear departure from the previous timidity with which the populace watched the transformations take place about them.
