توسعه شکل های پایداری شهری برای کشورهای آسیایی با چگالی بالا و درآمد کم: مورد ویتنام : موانع سازمانی عمومی و غیرعمومی

Urban development with sustainable urban forms in high-density low-income Asian countries is a great challenge in the context of acute land scarcity. Though the model of compact cities is a natural choice for high-density urbanizing Asia, fierce competition for limited urban land resources without effective governance often results in an unfavorable form of densification and urban compaction. From the perspective of land rights, this problematic urban form is generated in the presence of the anticommons and commons. The co-existence of the anticommons and the commons results in the under-utilization of scarce land resources and over-consumption of scarce environmental amenities, and the combination of the two constitutes a mechanism that induces a vicious cycle continuously degenerating urban environment, reducing social equity, and locking the city in an unsustainable form which exacerbates housing shortages and land scarcity. The case study of Vietnam has demonstrated that state capacity and governance should be the key factors for the city development in a sustainable urban form, as market failures of the anticommons and commons are caused by state failures.

Since the publication of the report Our Common Future (WCED, 1987) and the Rio Earth Summit (UNCED, 1992), sustainability has become one of the key issues of policy formulation for the current and future world development. It is nearly universally accepted that sustainable urbanization should be considered one of the most important tasks facing the world community. While sustainability is a responsibility for every country, developed or developing, it is well recognized that sustainable urbanization is a formidable challenge in low-income developing countries, as pursuing economic growth and improving social welfare are still the top priorities for their government agendas and aspirations of their citizens. It is indisputable that sustainability for the developing countries hinges on their economic sustainability which, in turn, relies to a large extent on the efficiency of their economic development. Inefficient economic development wastes resources unnecessarily, and thus adds to tension in social relations and heightens pressure on the environment. Deficiency of wealth often leads to social injustice and environmental un-sustainability. The Commission of the European Communities (1990) proposed for densification and urban compaction, on the assumption that compact city can reduce travel distance and save natural and agricultural land for future generations. The form of the compact city supports public transports and promotes efficient utilization of public and social facilities, though it appears that in certain socioeconomic circumstances high density breeds crime, vandalism, and social irresponsibility (Fuerst & Petty, 1991). Nevertheless, high population density, which is prevalent in many Asian countries, indicates that urban land resources are acutely scarce, and makes compact cities a necessity rather than a choice. The main premise of this paper is that in high-density Asian cities, optimal land utilization is necessary in order to maximize the provision of housing spaces per unit area of land (Glaeser, 2011). Suboptimal land utilization either exacerbates housing shortages, or consumes more land resources to meet housing needs driven by the rapid urbanization and thus worsens land scarcity. As set out in the following text, there should be two practical modes of densification and urban compaction measured by the parameters of plot-ratio and site-coverage. The critical question is which one of the two makes cities more sustainable in terms of environmental amenities and land use efficiency. The sustainable compact urban form is produced exogenously by design with imposed order, supported by the institution of land rights which curbs the two property rights situations of the commons and anticommons.1 Through the case study of Vietnam, one of the high-density, low-income and rapidly urbanizing countries in Asia, and its key commercial center Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), this paper shows that its current unsustainable form of densification and urban compaction (low-plot-ratio with high-site-coverage, explained in detail in the following section) stems from fragmented land holding due to the de facto private landownership in the local context of high population density. For high-density rapidly-growing HCMC, sustainable forms of densification and urban compaction refer to those built forms that can optimally utilize its urban land by accommodating as many residents as land-use regulations allow, so that housing space per unit area of land can be maximized. When a high-density developing country is urbanizing, its cities need to provide decent housing to the existing urban residents as well as newcomers with limited land supplies. Originally low-plot-ratio housing quarters should be able to be redeveloped so as to accommodate new urban citizens. From the perspective of land rights, it is the anticommons and commons that trap the city in an unsustainable vicious cycle. Sustainable and unsustainable urban forms are produced under certain institutional structures. It is demonstrated that the institution of land rights is a crucial mechanism coordinating the land development market for the collective benefits of urban sustainability. By assigning rights and liabilities, the state plays a fundamental and supportive role in the pursuit of that beneficial goal.

The compact city form is crucial for high-density countries. Among the combinations of two variables measuring densification and urban compaction, there are two practical types of compact cities: high-plot-ratio with low-site-coverage (HPR–LSC), or low-plot-ratio with high-site-coverage (LPR–HSC). The HPR–LSC mode is more conducive to a sustainable urban form and more equitable than the LPR–HSC mode, but the choice between the two is facilitated or constrained by the institution of land rights imbedded in the land development market. The case study of Vietnam has demonstrated that the unfavorable mode of low-plot-ratio with high-site-coverage is generated in the presence of the anticommons and the commons in the land development process. The co-existence of the anticommons and the commons results in under-utilization of scarce land resources and over-consumption of scarce environmental amenities. The combination of the two constitutes a mechanism that creates a vicious cycle of continuous degeneration of the urban environment, worsening social equity between those current residents and incoming newcomers, and the entrenchment of the city in an unsustainable form. The presence of the anticommons and commons reveals the absence of effective collective actions. It is clearly shown that the unsustainable urban form is developed in the context of market failures which are caused by state failures. Private (de facto) land ownership and equal land distribution may not be a boon for rapidly urbanizing countries with acute land scarcity. What could be more usefully pursued instead is ownership of housing space (apartments), instead of ownership of residential land (houses). People’s ownership of land use rights may be upheld as a socialist entitlement, but land development rights should be centralized to the land authority for collective land development. The state’s developmental and regulatory capacities are the keys to shaping high-density low-income cities into a sustainable urban form, which hinges on the state’s credibility in the delivery of public and social goods in the first place.