A Vietnamese Mekong Delta Regional Plan 2030 & Vision to 2050：Accentuating Six Agro-Ecological Regions

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1000-0232.2015.03.041

Abstract：The Mekong Delta is a relatively young cultural landscape formed and transformed over the last three centuries by its sophisticated water management—beginning with Viet and French colonization and continuing to the present day. The dynamic delta and its incredibly productive landscapes and dispersed, dense settlements are undergoing drastic economic development and simultaneously bearing witness to the impacts of climate change. Sea level rise, saline intrusion, massive inundation and as well periods of drought, rising temperatures, etc. are revealing unavoidable consequences on the productive landscapes, rural settlements and as wel as for urban areas. The present Mekong Delta Region Plan (approved in 2009) superimposed conventiona land sectorial land-use planning concepts, which are radically in opposition with the natural condition of the territory and its intense settlement culture. A revised plan for the region (to 2030, with a vision to 2050)is being co-developed by an international consultancy (RUA: Research Urbanism Architecture) with SISP (Southern Institute for Strategic Planning, Ho Chi Minh City) to address the contemporary challenges of the delta and embed its future transformation in its geographic specificity. Development is, in other words, anchored on the environmental qualities and dynamics of the region, which known for its economic dynamism.