On Track for Modernity?: An Examination of Local Perspectives on Hanoi’s Infrastructural Development Through the Lens of the Cat Linh-Ha Dong Metro Within the Belt and Road Initiative

This thesis is an ethnographic attempt at understanding local perspectives on the implementation of a developmental project, labelled as part of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, in Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. Amidst a rapidly growing urbanization and population brought about by economic liberalization in 1986, Hanoi is facing a critical juncture in developing infrastructurally. To address the demand for improved urban mobility, the Hanoi Master Plan by 2030 and vision to 2050 was formulated. Included in the masterplan is a proposed metro system, for which the Vietnamese government aims to heavily invest in. In 2021, the first of eight metro lines, the Cat Linh-Ha Dong line, commenced its operations. Yet, while the government is intensively promoting the metro system undertaking in Hanoi as ‘modern’ and ‘greening’ the city, the construction process for the metro line faced major challenges with regards to funding, expertise and other pressing contentious issues. These...Show moreThis thesis is an ethnographic attempt at understanding local perspectives on the implementation of a developmental project, labelled as part of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, in Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. Amidst a rapidly growing urbanization and population brought about by economic liberalization in 1986, Hanoi is facing a critical juncture in developing infrastructurally. To address the demand for improved urban mobility, the Hanoi Master Plan by 2030 and vision to 2050 was formulated. Included in the masterplan is a proposed metro system, for which the Vietnamese government aims to heavily invest in. In 2021, the first of eight metro lines, the Cat Linh-Ha Dong line, commenced its operations. Yet, while the government is intensively promoting the metro system undertaking in Hanoi as ‘modern’ and ‘greening’ the city, the construction process for the metro line faced major challenges with regards to funding, expertise and other pressing contentious issues. These challenges faced were further exacerbated by the involvement of a Chinese contractor and the project’s simultaneous classification of the metro line within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, which from a historical and diplomatic perspective, was a broadly contested choice among citizens. Based on numerous informal conversations with Hanoi citizens, documentation gathering, observations, a survey, and eight in-depth interviews with stakeholders withholding particularly relevant positions within my research, this thesis aims at understanding citizens’ perceptions and experiences of the implementation of the capital city’s first ever metro line. By means of interrogating citizens’ perspectives with regards to notions of modernity, urban development, Chinese involvement, and domestic state responsibilities, the changes brought about by the Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro line and the future prospects of the broader metro system undertaking were examined through stories stemming from ‘on the ground’.Show less

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On Track for Modernity? An Examination of Local Perspectives on Hanoi’s Infrastructural Development Through the Lens of the Cat Linh-Ha Dong Metro Within the Belt and Road Initiative