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"People do not realize what they've lost," Nguyen said as she looked through the locked gates of what was until recently the historic Ba Son shipyard. "Many do not even know what was there before."
The oldest and most important maritime heritage site in Ho Chi Minh City is hidden in the street by large blue palisades strewn with slogans such as "Never still" and "Redefine the skylines".
It is currently the largest development project in the district's central district 1 district, with a group of 50-storey buildings under construction, partly overhanging the fence. Volunteers for the Saigon Heritage Observatory, such as Nguyen, have not been allowed to enter since the start of construction work. All believe that the shipyard – founded in the 18th century by Gia Long, who was to become emperor – and that its unique industrial architecture was completely destroyed.
The renderings of what will replace it show rows of upscale townhouses between high glbad and steel towers, as well as a marina on the Saigon River: a life of luxury for a few.
"It was so beautiful," says Nguyen as we walk around Ba Son, a steady stream of scooters flowing around us. "I cried when I learned that we had lost the trees. My mother led me this way to school and the trees provided shade and oxygen. People were picking up and selling the tamarind … until last year, when they felled the trees. "
According to the latest UN forecast, 15 more cities will have more than 10 million inhabitants by 2035, bringing the total number of megacities to 48.
Guardian Cities is exploring these newcomers at a critical time in their development: from Tehran, focused on the automobile, to the harsh inequalities of Luanda; from the film industry of Hyderabad to the demolition of historic buildings in Ho Chi Minh City.
We will also be in Chengdu, Dar es Salaam, Nanjing, Ahmedabad, Surat, Baghdad, Kuala Lumpur, Xi'an, Seoul, Wuhan and London.
Read more from the next 15 megacities series here.
Nick Van Mead
Ho Chi Minh City (known as Saigon until reunification in 1976) has long been renowned for its international and cosmopolitan character, especially when compared to the political capital of the one-party country, Hanoi , North. Economic capital of Communist Vietnam, it has always been the ideal place to earn money, but with a population of 8.1 million inhabitants, which is expected to exceed 10 million inhabitants. By 2026, according to the latest UN estimates, the pace of change in this dynamic city has accelerated.
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Gone, gone, gone, gone …? Clockwise, starting from the top left: the Charner store, the art-deco 213 Dong Khoi apartments, the naval base and a government building from the colonial era. Photographs courtesy of historical Vietnam
Heritage experts say that virtually no historic building is immune to the ball of destruction. Ba Son is becoming Golden River, an upscale development presented as a "city in the city". It is a project of Vinhomes, belonging to the vast and ubiquitous conglomerate Vingroup, whose activities range from real estate to trade through the hotel and health care. The president, Pham Nhat Vuong, who founded the company in Ukraine in the 1990s as a producer of instant noodles, was Vietnam's first billionaire. He remains his richest man.
Among the villas, the gilded fences and palm trees of an almost completed section of Golden River, a billboard promises a new Vinschool branch and signs point out the Vinmart convenience stores. All that remains is the old shipyard of two pearly anchors, a cannon and old wooden planks, which now decorate the upscale Myst hotel. "Ba Son had a rich history but they destroyed everything," says Nguyen. "We are losing the character of the city."
Another subdivision of Vingroup, located one kilometer northeast, is Central Park, with the Landmark 81 skyscraper in its center, surrounded by 17 residential towers. What 's called supertall has become Vietnam' s tallest building and the 14th highest in the world, when it 's completed last year.
Guests entering the Vincom Center shopping center at its base are greeted by an explosion of air conditioning and a glittering showroom featuring a bright yellow Lamborghini Huracán supercar and three different models of Bentley. There is a Vinmec hospital, a Vinpro electronics store and a Vinsmart phone dealer. The vinmarts are located at the base of each tower.
While Central Park was largely built on reclaimed land and vacant land, anything that is built in the center is likely to lead to the demolition of a historic building.
No official public register is kept, but it is estimated that more than a third of the city's historic buildings have been destroyed in the last 20 years.
In 1993, the Center for Prospective and Urban Studies, a French-Vietnamese urban research agency, clbadified 377 buildings in Central Districts 1 and 3 as heritage sites. In 2014, 207 of these people had been demolished or modified in an inimitable way. "There is no doubt for four years," said a planner involved in the initial inventory, who did not want to be named.
The People's Committee, which manages the city, currently divides about 1,000 historic buildings into three categories: Clbad 1, which is protected; Clbad 2, where the owner can build on the land but can not destroy the old building; and clbad 3, which can be demolished.
"It's sad, but the owners of clbad 3 are considered the winners," says the planner. "In general, they are looking for immediate profits and people want modernity, cleanliness, air conditioning … they are not interested in preserving old tiles. They see that the owner next door demolished to build a 32-story office with restaurants and luxury apartments and they wonder why can not I? "
A walk in the elegant Dong Khoi Street illustrates the magnitude of the change. Art Deco and Modernist buildings of the early 20th century fell during the Vietnam War, but the area has recently experienced a revival with stores of Gucci, Dior and Louis Vuitton.
Destruction, however, is never far away. The 213 Dong Khoi (formerly mentioned in The Quiet American) by Graham Greene, a prestigious art deco building, was demolished for a new government office. One block west, the 1924 Charner Department Store (now the Tax Trade Center) was demolished to make way for the city's subway, which was far behind. Assurances were given that its large Moroccan-style staircase and intricate floor tiles were to be removed and preserved, but heritage groups believe that they were destroyed.
Right next to the 19th-century Continental Hotel, where Greene drank and wrote, the Eden Building (used as a media center during the Vietnam War), on six floors, featured the distinctive style of curved corners , especially the modernist buildings of Dong Khoi, and housed a cinema and a games room of the colonial era – until its demolition in 2009 for a shopping center Vincom. Only one Art Deco-style building survives in Dong Khoi, where a maze of small retailers and workshops are currently living, its old shaky dust-covered elevator. It too must be demolished.
Architecture historian Mel Schenck said the city's modernist heritage could be next.
Schenck estimates that 70 to 80% of the city is built in a modernist style, largely by renowned Vietnamese architects such as Ngo Viet Thu, who designed the Independence Palace. If you choose a random clbadic shophouse street and look at it, most of the upper floors are modernist. "There are so many that it has become ordinary and people do not even think about it," he says. "When I see awnings and junks around a house, that's good because it means that the building is well used and is not likely to be demolished. If the house is cleaned, it's not a good sign. "
Even designed by Ngo Viet Thu himself is not a protection. One of his District 3 villas is currently vacant, with the exception of a concierge. "It's on a busy street," says Schenck. "There is a lot of land. It will be fine. "
Ngo Viet Thu's son, Ngo Viet Nam Son, is also an architect. He lives and works between Ho Chi Minh City, the United States and Canada. He thinks his hometown must learn from the mistakes made by other fast-growing Asian cities before it's too late.
"We are not the only city to have experienced this growth and we should learn from these experiences," he said. "But this city has not taken this lesson yet. In Ba Son, they could have created a beautiful neighborhood, a cultural and green space for the city – much like Pier 59 in New York or Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco – but they destroyed it.
"The developers do not realize that when they destroy historic buildings, they lose a potential economic gain. If you are considering tourism, people want to see the old city to get an idea of their place. Preservation can contribute to economic value. "
He turns to Shanghai, which shares a similar geography – a historic center facing most of the vacant land on the other side of the river – and political conditions. There, the historic center is largely protected. The Pudong Marsh, east of the river, has been developed into the financial district.
"We should keep District 1 as our old downtown – a new building, but the priority should be to preserve," he said. "Then Thu Thiem in District 2 above the river may be the international financial district."
Instead, Ho Chi Minh City has two separate master plans, one for the historic west providing for a wall of skyscrapers going down the river. New developments are often built on raised land to protect them from flooding, while ironically preventing rainwater from freely flowing into the river, causing more floods elsewhere.
They do not provide much public space either. Security guards are guarding a new green space in the development of Central Park, also built on land reclaimed from the river, which asks if the users are residents. Unaccompanied children under 12 years old and pets are prohibited, and signs warn people to protect "etiquette, order, safety and aesthetics".
In the middle of all the concrete and the glbad, there seems to be a belated appreciation of the heritage among the young people of the city. "Vintage" cafes are popular, even though they are often located in modern air-conditioned buildings, just like dresses and vintage clothing.
"Heritage is in fashion now, but I'm afraid it's just a bubble," says Nguyen. "It may be popular for a year, but I do not know who will be with us after that.
"In the end, I'm optimistic that more people will learn, become interested and involved, but I feel frustrated that sometimes people do not care."
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