"Housing and Land in Hanoi" is the second booklet of a series of three: "Shelter and living in Hanoi n.1" and "Popular Housing in Hanoi n.3". Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam is an interesting city because it has almost a thousand years history full of changes and the evolution of urban housing models can be seen through its spatial structure. The 1986 reform of economic policy in Vietnam created a new context for an urban development process which is becoming increasingly dictated by the logic of the market. In the 1990s one can see two opposite development directions of the Hanoi construction environment. On the one hand, it is the appearance of high buildings beeing hotels, office buidings or business centers in the center of Hanoi (compared to a CBD); on the other hand, is a "sea" of single houses built by households. Thus this volume is more focus in the 1990s when Hanoi was characterized by turbulent waves of land and housing "fever". Land use and house constructions by different social groups, mainly by the private sector, day after day posed difficult challenges and serious problems for city management and municipality. It is only in 1999 that the public sector started housing construction and it is still in the experimental stage. The main question that this research attempts to answer is how the owner-occupier in Hanoi respond to the new, increased housing expectations and aspirations, and why they base their action overwhelmingly on the criteria of the market, much more than on conventional reasons for improvements, such as stress caused by the reduction of floor space, life-cycle, house vintage etc., given the existing very low housing standard. The different authors reflect the situation, provide a general picture of the housing, residential land issues and current problems generated by the private sector in present days in Hanoi. In the first article, is provided an overview on construction boom in Hanoi during 1990s and its spatial, socio-economic, and environmental consequences. In the second article, some of the specific forms of spontaneous construction and upgrade of houses by families are pointed out. The third article focuses on reconstruction and upgrade of private houses in the city center. Then, a case studies is presented on two "urban villages" having their own housing and residential problems in the suburban areas of Hanoi. Another case study shows the changes of houses and land surrounding an industrial zone in the East of Hanoi with original characteristics of a suburban commune under influences of industrialization and urbanization during the last few years. Finally, the last article compares a sample survey conducted in 1997 on situations and demands for housing of Hanoi residents with the data from Population and Housing Census in April 1999, the author also point out new data for preparation of housing development of the city in the coming decade.
The book also, approaches the subject of infrastructure and environment (electricity supply, safe water, garbage, draining and social infrastructure).