Economic reform in Vietnam through out the past decade has brought about lots of changes, many of which have been very beneficial while others have caused problems. Industrialization and urbanization have had their benefits economically but have also had some negative effects. As big cities such Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi develop there is a demand for labor, which draws people from the city from rural areas. In Cu Chi Loi’s article on rural to urban migration in Vietnam she states that Ho Chi Minh City has the greatest percentage of rural-urban migrants in Vietnam.
Cities like Ho Chi Minh City are expanding into the surrounding areas of the city that were once rural. In order to do this people are being kicked off of their land and out of their homes so that highways, malls and housing developments can take their place. I hypothesize that most new developments around the city are geared towards the upper class, when the real demand for housing is for poor rural migrants and the rural people being kicked off their land on the outskirts of the city.
On a driving tour around Ho Chi Minh City I observed whether in fact the new developments are geared towards a wealthy demographic. I also observed whether since the demand for housing is in fact for the lower class, are there unfinished projects or abandoned houses because of a lack of demand for upper class housing and destinations such as malls and resorts. I found that newly erected developments on the outskirts of the city did in fact target the upper class. In district 7, an especially wealthy and newly developed district, there was an abundance of western fast food chains, almost everything was in English, which is more commonly accessible by educated upper class. There were parking lots for cars, which is a rarity to see in the center of the city, also drive ways in front of houses. There were giant malls with expensive western stores and everything in English. The mall that we went into was completely empty, and I observed numerous empty housing developments and abandoned projects. It is unclear whether empty housing developments merely had not gone on the market yet or if they were too expensive to be sold as I suspected. My observations supported that there is a contrast of supply and demand between rural migrants and upper class urbanization in Ho Chi Minh City.