City life in the village of ghosts: A case study of popular housing in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

The cities of Vietnam have been undergoing tremendous change since the introduction of doi moi (economic reform) policies in the late 1980s. One significant outcome has been the growth of 'informal' or 'popular' housing settlements. Popular housing can be looked upon as intrinsically a doi moi phenomenon as it arises from such policy changes as the loss of housing subsidy, the relaxation of controls on population movement and the institutionalisation of land markets to stimulate urban development. This paper reports on research on one recently established popular settlement in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest city. The experiences of this settlement - Xom Ma, or the 'Village of Ghosts' - illustrate the socio-economic and physical effects of these changes and give a picture of an important component of Vietnam's urban future.