COPING WITH THE LAND GAME: A NETWORK ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY RESILIENCE IN HUE’S PERI-URBAN AREAS, VIETNAM

Abstract

Abstract: In Vietnam, urban expansion and its effects have appeared as a contentious issue among journalists, civil society organizations, academics, and NGOs in recent years. Along with the rapid urbanization, farmers in peri-urban areas are increasingly confronted with a loss of land as well as a change in livelihood strategies as the consequence of government policies. Using data from household surveys in the peri-urban village of Hue – Dạ Lê Chánh, the author attempts to answer the question “How do mobility practices reflect community resilience in the face of developmental processes of change?” The result indicates that as a peri-urban area, the proximity to Hue City, offers many employment opportunities. However, a focus on mobility shows that social and family networks are utilised for extended movement throughout the country and beyond. Mobility is shown to be a vital feature in the formation and maintenance of livelihood trajectories, allowing community access to human, information, financial and trade networks. In the face of these different demands on land in Vietnam, what is the future for a locality such as Dạ Lê Chánh? Caught in a web of future trade-offs, we find it foolhardy to speak of sustainable development when the appropriate line of development is unclear. However, within the push and pull of the land game, the voices of local residents to formulate their own futures will be lost. Therefore, government policy must find a way to acknowledge such voices whilst taking the best sustainable steps forward.

Keywords: livelihoods, mobility, peri-urban areas, Hue, Vietnam