This week my project group went to a newly-developed, upper-class section of Hanoi. We mapped out the prices and locations of the same daily necessities that we did last week. The apartment complexes in our area towered above an overgrown field that contained straw huts for the construction laborers. The buildings that were completed were depressing, grey, concrete rectangles. The residents only left the buildings on motorbike and all were obviously wealthy. We could not locate a single item on our list in this new area so we had to walk about 10 minutes away into an older section of town to complete our map.
While I had a good time with my friends picking flowers and enjoying the overgrown plantlife, the area was disturbingly eerie. It had residents, but felt like a ghost town. Once we traveled into the older area I felt at home again. These new areas that are being built are secluded, sterile, and lifeless emulations of Western lifestyle. Living in such a place would be a nightmare for me. The lively yet comfortable street that we mapped the first week felt far more real than the staged “communities” that have been constructed for rich Hanoians and foreigners.
These sorts of Western sanctuaries are a bizarre new chapter in the [mal]“development” of Hanoi, but also a reflection of the process that many other Third World population centers will face if the First World’s economic imperialism continues. Third World cities will be polarized between rich and poor communities. There will exist two separate worlds within one population center. I experienced a taste of such a dichotomy, and I never want to again.
No comments:
Post a Comment