VIRTUAL Manchester Livable Cities

Abstract

We are living in an ever-growing world, where urbanization and modernization have altered the natural environment. Simultaneously, the impacts of global warming, including the emergence of urban heat islands, are becoming increasingly severe. These current socio-ecological and climatic crises have renewed interest in envisioning a more sustainable and greener future for cities and territories. Throughout the history of urbanism, planting trees, fields, gardens, parks, urban forests, and green spaces has contributed significantly to forming, structuring, purifying, cooling, and creating ideal urban environments for the settlement activities of humans and sometimes non-humans. However, in the Southeast Asian fast-growing urban context, these landscapes are gradually diminishing. This paper will revisit the power of urban forestry and horticulture—historical practices that have shaped the urban environment alongside urban planning and water management—through a case study of Ho Chi Minh Metropolis, one of the fastest-growing metropolises in the region. It is hypothesized that urban forestry will re-emerge as a key discipline, shaping future development where settlement forms are integrated with/within urban forested landscapes to address socio-ecological challenges by 2050. The paper asserts that urban landscapes of the metropolis still comprise fragments of settlements engaged with urban gardens, parks, and forests, which have persisted despite the heavy urbanization and industrialization since the 2000s. By employing interpretive mapping as a research tool, the study will analyze these fragments as forms of forest urbanism, closely tied to the ecological floors, which could aid in conceptualizing a comprehensive urban ecological landscape framework for the metropolis.