FIELD-WORKSHOP - HO CHI MINH CITY FUTURES: TYPOLOGIES TO OVERCOME
A collaboration between UAH and HKU, this field-workshop and exhibition explores future possibilities for Ho Chi Minh City through maps, research, and speculative design proposals across Cu Chi, Phu My Hung, and Nha Be. Addressing challenges of rapid urbanization, climate change, and social transformation, the project rethinks existing urban typologies to imagine more adaptive, inclusive, and resilient ways of living.The kick-off session features student presentations, a guest lecture on public spaces, and site visits to key urban areas—connecting research with the city’s real spatial conditions.
Ho Chi Minh City Futures: Typologies to Overcome invites the public into a shared conversation about the future of one of Southeast Asia’s most dynamic and complex urban environments. This exhibition in a gallery format, presents a collection of maps, design proposals, and speculative studies of three key areas of the city: Cu Chi, Phu My Hung and Nha Be; exploring how Ho Chi Minh City might adapt, transform, and thrive amid the pressing challenges of rapid growth, climate vulnerability, and social change.
By investigating persitent urban typologies these works reveal the city’s layered histories and the potentials embedded in the rich landscape system. Each proposal seeks not only to envision what could be built, but to reimagine how communities might live, move, and co-exist differently. The exhibition highlights the idea that overcoming the difficulties of the present such as flooding, density, displacement requires new forms of collective imagination and a willingness to reinterpret what is already there.
From research-based mapping and speculation, Ho Chi Minh City Futures encourages visitors to see the city not as a fixed object but as an evolving ecosystem. By reading, tracing, and engaging with these cartographies and speculative designs, the exhibition invites a wider audience to envision futures that are more inclusive, adaptive, and resilient. Together, these representations offer pathways to overcome current limitations and to rethink what is possible for the city’s shared tomorrow.
Instructors: MA. Vu Hoang Kim Qui (IIE-UAH) + MLA. Francisco Cevallos Barragan (DLA-HKU)
Student Participantion:
UD Student: Phạm Phú Duy, Nguyễn Khánh Hà, Đặng Ngọc Hải, Trịnh Thái Minh Hân, Lê Quốc Huy, Nguyễn Trọng Khang, Trịnh Phúc Khang, Huỳnh Nhật Khởi, Huỳnh Ngọc Kiều Long, Trần Phương Lộc, Trần Minh Mẫn, Trần Hoàng Mỹ, Nguyễn Thanh Ngân, Võ Ngọc Kim Ngân, Lê Thị Khánh Ngọc, Trần Khánh Nguyên, Hồ Hoàng Minh Nguyệt, Võ Nam Phương, Lê Thiên Thảo, Lê Thái Thông, Nguyễn Ngọc Xuân Trường, Lưu Thị Thanh Vân, Ngô Thanh Xuân, Trương Thúy Văn, Võ Ngọc Bảo Hân, Nguyễn Lê Nhật Long, Trần Thị Bảo Trâm
MLA Student: Chen Xiaoying Eleanore, Huang Siyuan Liam, Lai Tim Yu Natalie, Li Ning Demi, Li Ruiqi Anny, Lo Cho Yan Minnie, Scanlon Patrick Sean, Tang Hang Lam Laurie, Thomas Ines Laurette, Zhu Yuwei Vera
DAY 1: KICK OFF SESSION
Introduction about Research Sites, Field-Workshop program and Greeting group members
Pin up Preliminary studies from HKU students
Guest Lecture about Public Spaces in Ho Chi Minh city by DA. Vu Viet Anh
Visiting different typologies of public spaces explained by UD Students’ Presentation: Binh Tay Market + Hang Bang canal (Market and Water); Nhieu Loc – Thi Nghe canal (Water body of City); Turtle Lake (Roundabout for Walkability).
