International Cities: Saigon/Ho Chi Minh with Tu Truong and Triet Le (S02-EP05)

Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City is a metropolis of intense fascination for many of us.

A city of close to 10 million which has experienced explosive growth in the 21st century after coming  out of a turbulent 20th century. It was under French colonial occupation as Indo China until 1954 and of course reunited with North Vietnam in 1975, when it was almost instantly renamed Ho Chi Minh city.

It is now a city with a famously intense street life, incredibly fine grained density and is an increasingly favoured international tourist destination, as well as an attractor of foreign business investment. It continues to undergo rapid transformation, with a new underground metro line, and plans for a new airport, new sea port and several more metro lines. The city was one of our main characters in the book Supertight (I did with John Doyle) were we were fascinated with the intimacy and looseness of its urban environment.

We are joined today by two guests, HCMC locals who are currently in Melbourne- one residing, one visiting.

 Tu Truong is an architect and urban designer, trained at the University of Architecture in Ho Chi Minh City, and has spent time working at the Ho Chi Minh City urban planning department.

She is currently researching the wet markets of Vietnam in particular Saigon, and is visiting Australia for the first time as part of that research.

 Triet Le Is an architect and director of the Vietnam based practice 6A. He grew up in Saigon and did his architectural education in Oregon. He now resides in Melbourne while he carries out phD study and builds works in his home city. Triet has even worked as a delivery driver – an experience he has described as giving him a very extensive experience of the city.