Loose threads: The translocal making of public space policy in Hanoi

• Published in: Singapore journal of tropical geography Vol. 34; no. 2; pp. 244 - 260
• Main Authors: Söderström, Ola, Geertman, Stephanie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.07.2013; University of Singapore; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Asia; Bgi / Prodig; culture; Historical analysis; mobility; planning; Policy making; Public policy; public space; Public spaces; Southeast Asia; Studies; Topology; Urban policy; Vietnam; Vietnam. Cambodia; Vietnam; Hanoi; Public space; Social space; Urban practice; Urban planning; Urban policy; Mobility; Cultural studies; Urban area; Regulation
• ISSN: 0129-7619; 1467-9493
• DOI: 10.1111/sjtg.12027

This paper analyses the recent developments in public space policy in the city of Hanoi, Vietnam. It has three aims. The first is to look at a potentially progressive urban policy in contrast to most work on ‘policies in motion’ that has primarily been concerned with neoliberal policies. The second is to put the process of public space policymaking in Hanoi in historical and cultural perspective. We therefore describe public space in Hanoi as historically constituted by different layers of meaning and physical urban patterns. The paper's third aim is to analyse the translocal connections involved in a policy that is still in the making, and therefore characterized by a series of ‘loose threads’. We show how different types of connections – policy mobility, topological relations and inter‐referencing – relate Hanoi to multiple locales elsewhere. The conclusion reflects on the ‘politics of reception’ showing how analysing a policy in the making develops a critical analysis of policies in motion.