适应与抵制：越南为应对气候变化采取的措施

著：（比利时）布鲁诺·德·梅尔德 （比利时）凯利·香农 译：周尤美

在全球范围内，无论是在城市还是农村地区，气候变化问题的迅速加剧及生态环境危机的日益突出，给全球人居环境带来巨大的挑战。这些问题迫使我们从根本上重新审视为了应对不断变化的自然环境及适应周围景观，人类应该选择何种居住方式，以及如何居于景观之上。近几十年来，人们开始高度重视生态与风景园林学科。当代景观都市主义的概念正是在常规规划（一般特指土地利用、总体规划或蓝图规划）和学科划分方面效果不佳的背景下提出的[1-2]。随着风景园林在更宽泛的建成环境领域中的兴起，大量的“明星”风景园林师进入了大众的视野，他们多数人不断地复制已有设计构件及一系列项目，并将其大量剪切、粘贴到各种环境中。近二三十年中，强调兼具适应性和建筑弹性的景观和都市主义受到了诸多抨击。笔者认为这些建议共同构成了一系列现已被广泛接受的原则和应对措施的“工具箱”（toolkit）。事实上这种几乎普遍存在的应对挑战的发展既令人信服，又令人不安。令人信服，是因为人们认识到了新干预措施的迫切必要性；而令人不安，是因为通用的绩效为基础的应对方式所带来的威胁——其不顾任何环境的特殊性而展开的肆意地对全世界地毯式的覆盖。假设在景观设计和城市设计的层面上需要抵抗这种同质化发展，那么如果不是解决方案的工具包（在全球范围内由数量有限的公司传播），就是要提供一种基于当地环境的特殊性而创建策略的方法。

幸运的是，在新自由主义市场不加批判和放松管制压力的推动下，人们对同质化城市和企业架构的失效提出了很多批评。在半个多世纪中，恰恰是“明星”建筑师（无论他们追求何种形式主义自我满足）和开发商（最终损害市场规则的囚徒）为世界各地带来了一定程度的相似性和互换性。尽管社会文化习俗、经济、生态条件或气候有所差异，但高度同质性开始盛行，特别是在城市地区。平面铺装、外立面、材质的可替换性确保了这些设计在全球市场化时代的任何地方都可以实现。基本上有商品属性的物品就意味着具有可复制性。建筑历史学家Kenneth Frampton认为，建筑环境专业人员有责任通过重新认识景观来抵制文化和场所的扁平化趋势。他在几十年前明确提出的批判立场仍适用于当下，当时在颇受恶评的《走向批判性地域主义：抵制体系的6个要点》一文中写道：“普世文明战胜了地方传播的文化……”，并论述批判性地域主义是一种“参与‘培育’场所的行为……（其中）场所特质在不丧失感性的条件下得到表现”[3]17,26。1995年，Frampton深刻批评了建筑与规划之间的鸿沟，在他看来也就是“环境规划的艺术被削弱到没有价值，取而代之的是土地利用和交通管理学科。在这种形态下，占据主要位置的规划策略变成了组织和管理……想必是为了最大限度地实现地区经济发展”[4]83-84。Frampton后来提出一种补救景观的构想，可以对长期以来人造商品化造成的破坏性起到很好的补偿作用。建筑必须在最广泛的意义上表现出一种生态立场（在原文中强调）[4]92。为了延伸他提出的“理想都市环境发展的无情形态”的替代方案，并特别提及亚洲大陆，Frampton得出结论认为，巨构形态（megaform，作为地貌、生态）“是一种能够改变周围景观，并赋予特定方位和特性的要素，具体取决于规模、内容和方向”[5]39-40。他指出回归“地面营造”①“可能是当今仅有的仍然可用于实际调节随机特大都市的正式遗产之一”，它是从锚定发展到地理特性的反复迭代[5]40。

现在到了Frampton针对风景园林本身提出敏锐批判的时候，风景园林不应再被视为都市主义的救世主，其面临着新的同质化形态的风险。2011年，景观设计师兼学者Richard Weller既准确又讽刺地回答了这个问题：“随着全球化的淡出和场所精神被认定为古希腊的骗人把戏时，风景园林不再是国家或当地印象的措辞，而是近乎完全成为全球各地城市增强竞争力的附加值。”[6]176他进而批判性地剖析了2个新流行词，即场所营造（新都市主义对于建筑而言，正如场所营造之于风景园林）和生态系统服务（就像是一个银行收费的新项目）。他提倡风景园林项目应更多关注结构，而不是仅关注形态。与此同时，在《保持美丽。外观性能：一份分为三部分的宣言》一文中，Elizabeth Meyer强调了可持续风景园林必须“不仅实现功能或生态性，还应实现社会和文化要素”[7]16。

尽管全球充斥着关于可持续性、气候变化和无数环保政策的言论，但笔者主张的是只有通过细致分析周围景观的场域特性和自然逻辑（这一逻辑与其生态基础及社会、文化形成密不可分）[8]，才能为应对气候变化的紧迫性制定非广普的设计策略，同时抵制晚期资本主义市场化的均一性。笔者将着重介绍OSA/RUA（都市主义与建筑研究组）在越南开展的最新设计研究工作，尤其是与越南政府机构合作开发以及受国家和（或）地方市政委托的项目。笔者提出六大主题以弥合经济与生态、文化与自然、城市主义与景观之间的分歧。

1 加强农业生态区建设

Alexander von Humboldt（1769—1859）认为伟大的博学者将自然科学和人文科学融会贯通，自然是各种现象的整体相互作用结果。他通过一系列全球考察，对植物区域作为全球互连的网络有了深入的了解。他系统性编制了人类如何通过农作物、谷物和蔬菜干预景观的文化、生物和物理模式。Stephen Jackson认为Humboldt编写的《植物地理手记》“相当于一份提倡将植物视为景观科学、实践和美学的首要考量的声明”[9]150。Humboldt认为植物学取决于一些因素，包括气候、纬度、海拔、地形、大气条件、地质学和地貌学，他还强调“世界各地对于自然特征的认知与人类历史和文化有着最密不可分的联系”。Humboldt的研究工作为当代生态（体系）思想奠定了基础。

在20世纪60—70年代，德国植物学家Heinrich Walter发表了大量研究成果，强调植被、土壤和气候是生态系统最重要的组成部分。他构建了一个生态单位系统，将世界划分为九大气候生物群区和许多子区[10]。自20世纪80年代中期以来，为了预估农业如何面向21世纪发展，并着重发现存在食品问题隐患的地区，联合国粮农组织（the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations，简称FAO）与国际应用系统分析研究所（International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis，简称IIASA）合作开发了一些项目。他们制定了一种农业生态区（agroecological zones，简称AEZ）方法体系，该方法基于土地资源清单以及对生物物理局限性和潜力的评估，实现了合理化土地管理。他们建立了一个由气候参数、测绘地貌、土壤和地形、土地覆被以及人口分布情况组成的开放源代码和动态数字全球数据库，其中包括AEZ计算方案[11]。

1 农业生态区的印象引导下的适应性景观、新定居类型以及基础设施的概念重构Identification of agro-ecological zones led to an adaptive landscape, areas for new settlement types and a reconceptualization of infrastructure

近10年来，RUA在越南当地开展的研究工作系统性阐述了上述农业生态区的概念。事实上湄公河三角洲区域规划方案以上述概念为基础进行后续开发：检测当地情况的变化，包括土壤、海拔、洪水淹没模式等，掌握当前发展的趋势并预测气候变化的影响，从而找出具有特征性的子区域。曾经巨大的沼泽不断地调节着水流，改变着地貌和湿度变化（潮湿的土壤和饱和的淤泥之间的变化），成为一个嵌入生态位经济的丰富而有活力的生态系统。然后，在过去2个世纪中，越南经历了严酷的功利主义转变，历经多年动荡后最终实现全国统一，向粮食安全问题宣战。此后，湄公河三角洲成为一个庞大的单一文化产品的广泛融合之地。尽管如此，由此形成的低价值景观仍很大程度上指向区位、土质、海拔、水位等持续变化的潜在地理环境。这里有大片连续的苗圃、果园、花卉、棕榈树、各种蔬菜、水产养殖和随处可见的稻田。这一地区的盲目扩张和开发显然已经到了毁灭绝大部分自然环境、扼杀磅礴的湄公河生态分支的地步。这种“开发模式”无异于走入一个死胡同，迫切需要恢复平衡。因此，生态重构是非常必要的，它的本质不是“反发展”，而是寻求去创造一个植根于当地的更加丰富的生物多样性与结构，以及多样化经济体，在工业化大规模生产与热带水果和药用植物等特色产品之间取得平衡。基于自然的解决方案（例如作为自然海岸保护系统的红树林）增加了重新引入生态结构的观点，这些生态结构同时为生态恢复和生态自我更新，多样化（和更高价值）的生产提供了机会。关于六大农业生态区的界定，每个生态区挑战的任务是重新定义生态与经济、单一文化和混合物之间的平衡，这构成了湄公河三角洲区域计划的基本依据。开发策略以现有区位资产为基础，实现了土壤适宜性和生态完整性之间的平衡（图1）。

RUA与越南城乡规划研究所（Vietnamese Institute for Urban and Rural Planning，简称VIUP）受邀参加中部高地林同省保禄县竞赛，合作开展了不同规模的类似活动。由于地质和地形原因产生了一个急剧断裂层，短距离内海拔从850 m降至750 m。区段差异较大，这清晰地表明该地带适宜居住：位于夷灵高原上的城市和农业是由池塘和山谷（北向）组成的人工链系统，无数丘陵（南向和西北向）上有桑树、茶和咖啡农场，山脉陡坡上（北部，西部和南部）有特殊防护林，许多山上有瀑布和保护区。但是，从当前总体规划方案可以明显看出，预计城市开发将忽略该地区的地理和场域特定条件，引入与越南多数城市相类似的一般城市化模型。RUA-VIUP联合发布的“2040年总体规划”指出在改善自然环境和社会文化认同的同时，发展都市化和经济。新都市化集中在夷灵高原上，而冲积平原作为一个保护性干预，为城市致密区域变换的影响提供了缓冲。高质量城市发展的特定形态是在核心城市北部和南部的重点地形上创建的，形成优势互补的城市居住区，丰富了居住环境，并主动嵌入到退耕还林区中。在物种丰富和植被繁茂的环境中建立一种情境相关的高价值生态/农业旅游和休闲养护/健康开发项目，为周围环境提升品质，而不是随着单调的大规模开发消散（并且永远丧失）。这种经济模式有力补充了构成景观的农业和林业经济。该项目还将沿着夷灵高原南缘建立一个长近10 km的观景公园，该公园将作为城市外观，设有咖啡馆、餐厅和专门设计的建筑物；这些区域靠近市中心，景观海拔高度差达100 m，游客可俯瞰壮丽全貌。作为一处重要景观，观景公园可以清晰地表现城市形态以及城市与特定地理和地形的关联（图2）。

2 水都市主义

从历史上来看，世界上许多城市与水有着密不可分的联系。海岸、内陆河流和沿海三角洲可提供各种发展机会，便捷的地理位置带来的是低成本的交通运输，极为富饶的土地提供宝贵的资源。定居点意味着需要进行水管理[12]4。尤其是在亚洲，复杂的水管理不仅与社会文化和政治组织交织在一起，而且可以提供伴水而居——即字面上，定居的构造以及应对水的不确定性本质的处理[13]。然而，随着时间推移，以水为基础的定居点被以道路为基础的定居点取代。随着水道被填满、不透水表面成倍扩增以及工农业污染盛行，水被视为一种有限而珍贵的资源的同时，更应被视为一种威胁。而这种危险的情况，如果加上气候变化的后果（尤其是洪水、干旱、海平面上升和盐渍化），显然迫切需要新方法处理水的问题。水都市主义提供了一个新的可能性。

RUA所有的越南项目中，整个挖填过程都有明确的防洪设计。精心设计的水系和泛滥平原为水提供更多空间。哪里可以建设与哪里不可以建设的决定同样重要，这取决于微地貌的清晰度。在一次应邀参加胡志明市（Ho Chi Minh City，简称HCMC）“高度互动创新区”（Highly Interactive Innovative Districts，简称HIID）东部延伸竞赛中（与VIUP合作），RUA巧妙地利用该地区的物理特征将西贡河与同奈河之间的河间区域转变为气候变化敏感地带。西贡河与同奈河（以及Vam Co Dong河、Soai Rap河、Long Tai河）的宽广流域是巨大的泛滥平原，形成了相当错综复杂的水系统，覆盖HCMC 70%以上的大都市地区。“气候变化应对国家目标计划”（the National Target Program for Climate Change，简称NTPCC）对于HCMC的所有方案都显示，该区域的大部分地区会不可避免地定期出现洪水（2100年之前最高可达海平面上4 m）。东部地区已经进行了大规模填埋，地形发生了巨大变化。之后的规划开发将在大部分地区填入2 m（6 500 hm2）或3 m（另外6 500 hm2）的沙子。RUA项目终止了这个州现有的土地操作，将城市发展集中在较高的土地或者桩基/高脚支撑的建筑上，只用于高密度地区。城市发展变成了在多数湿润的自然环境中打造绿化群岛（其中有些区域重新引入原生植被和红树林）。传统城市化模型取代了自然环境，并将城市穿插在自然环境之中，具有自我更新和复原（加以净化）的特质。为HCMC的HIID创新区带来了一种全新的城市化形式：密集与分散共存，固体和流体同在。HIID是一个水上城市，水决定了城市化的结构，也是主要交通模式，并且引入一种以治理水为主的景观方式（图3）。

3 森林都市主义

3 水是西贡河和同奈河之间区域的DNA。阻断和掩埋逐渐改变了其流域（2003年，2018年以及根据2018年暂停法案提出）Water is the DNA of the area between the Saigon and Dong Nai Rivers.Cut and fill has progressively changed the territory (2003, 2018, proposed based on freezing condition of 2018)

城市森林于20世纪60年代在北美兴起，涉及从街边树木到郊区林地的所有森林和树木资源的多学科设计和管理。其逐步甚至激进地把植被带回到城市环境中。当然，这个新领域建立在自然（尤其是树木）与城市交织在一起的悠久传统的基础之上[14]。在亚洲数千年的历史中，树木已经在国境范围内被系统种植，起初由皇帝直接组织，之后由中央政府进行组织[15]。著名的《周礼》（公元前1100—770年）就证实，指定官员沿城墙的护城河种植和养护树木是必须的。该书还记录了沿河走廊的树木种植，涉及防洪、土壤流失以及中国城市街道植树的深厚传统。最初，首都的街道和御用官道开始植树，提供独立的御用通道、避风遮阴，防止洪水冲垮道路，以及提供特定的视觉效果。树木死亡后必须迅速更换[16]。俞孔坚及其合作者认为：“在城市街道和乡村道路植树被视为良好的道德行为，是对当地人民的一种庇佑，人们总会因为政府官员对绿道建设做出的贡献而纪念他们。”[16]230人们历来就认为在热带地区，植被（特别是树木）是非常必要的，可以缓解恶劣气候（直到现在，在日常生活的主要户外的环境中依然是如此）、改善健康状况并创造令人愉悦的环境。即使在过分强调基础设施和建筑形式的殖民都市主义中，无论是英国、荷兰还是法国，植被（尤其是乔木）被认为是城市规划的主要组成部分。在西贡的案例中，后者展示出规划更多是通过种植创造令人满意的环境（疏影花园、林荫大道等），而不是传统上的物理规划。热带城市规划从定义上就意味着城市森林占主导地位。尽管如此，目前盛行的城市发展的畅想仅仅是以城市的道路、车辆和一般意义上的所谓的“智能”高科技商业园区为主导对象的发展。

RUA-VIUP针对HCMC的HIID的提案重新结合了这种明显的热带城市森林传统，同时为适应气候变化的要求对其进行了扩展。这一点通过一般措施来实现，例如未来人居人均至少拥有一棵树，以对抗城市生活不可避免的污染并增加固碳，抵消城市热岛效应，丰富栖息地和生物多样性。此类措施还可以提供更多的公共空间和休闲空间（两者都是目前HCMC极其匮乏的）。树木确实是使热带城市的气候更加宜人的关键，也带来令人愉悦的氛围和提升宜居性。由于HCMC的宜居性排名落后（122/140，经济学人智库，2016年最佳城市排名报告）[17]，必须大量增加自然和公共空间。这就要求新区开发过程中自然和公共空间的获取更加容易——在某种程度上与水系统融合，把整个城市变成了一个巨大（有人居住）的水上公园。

除了增加城市林木的举措之外，这一计划还根据特定地形和条件指定特定区域（例如，保护同奈河河床中的红树林并延伸发展，与邻近的Can Gio生物圈保护区连接起来）。原始村庄（历史上曾出现在略高的陆地上）的城市绿化策略不同于过去垃圾填埋场密集植树方案（已在Cat Lai工业区和Tan Cang港口实现），也不同于近期几个垃圾填埋场上建造Cat Lai桥。新的城市形态并不意味着填埋，而是嵌入到现有的环境特色中，与加强林业稳固性同步进行。因此，这些新的城市林业策略是西贡历史上的城市林业模式（例如殖民时期种植的林荫大道系统）的一种补充。它们产生了一种新的城市林业形态，交织于中等密度和高密度开发之中。这个提案整体的基本前提是2种都市主义自然系统的集约化、多样化和密集化（图4）。

4 移动性转移

根据德国国际合作协会（Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit，简称GIZ）的一份报告，2014年，运输业占全球能源相关二氧化碳排放量的23%左右，其中，公路运输（货运和客运）占运输能源使用总量的73%左右。此外，公路运输占全球石油消耗量的47%[18]6-7。值得庆幸的是，后汽油时代即将到来。尽管多国政府坚持修建新型多车道高速公路，但许多迹象表明，交通基础设施正在发生翻天覆地的转变。技术创新（电动汽车、智能基础设施和新型个人移动设备），加上不断发展的社会文化偏好，为城市设计带来了一系列新机遇。大量的指南和项目将城市植被、雨水管理、公共共享交通以及复兴的公共领域结合在一起，提供了引人注目的街道重塑功能。除重新规划之外，水基城市交通的再投资还存在尚待开发的潜力。亚洲的许多地区尤其如此，而如前所述，在三角洲、沿海地区、大型洪泛区都有大量的城市集中区域。从经济和物流的角度来看，在这种情况下，水运远远超过了路运，公路运输昂贵且建设工期长，因此需要聪明地转变基础设施交通政策，以寻找最有效、经济的方式达到相同的跨区域可及的方法。即将投资从公路转向水路。

在越南南部，尤其是湄公河三角洲地区，水路是几个世纪以来的自然运输方式。三角洲高度发达的水系统包括无数河流、7 000 km一级运河、4 000 km二级运河的广阔网络[19]19②。传统意义上，人们定居于天然的河道堤坝上，从而形成了一种流域文明，而河流的流域政权更替决定了定居点位置。水路和平行道路网络将多种功能及意义捆绑在一起，壮丽的蓝色网络仍然是工业大规模生产的最适合的运输方式。在拟议的“湄公河三角洲区域规划”中，亚洲开发银行和越南政府资助的一些公路计划将被取消，因其位于预计未来几十年将发生严重洪水的地区。与此同时，除修建新运河外，对现有水道的疏浚将为更多的货物、客流重新注入具有历史意义和环保意义的运输方式。

在HIID项目中，拟建的水上交通系统将建立在城市的地理基础之上。西贡城市建在西贡河西岸的同奈沙伊拉普河三角洲，与雄伟的湄公河三角洲汇合成一个面积约78 000 km2的广阔而平坦的泥质平原。这一广袤区域是以HCMC为金融中心的经济实体。自1790年建立以来（作为城塞），这座城市便由水系组成，它是该国的主要港口。区域间、区域性、地方性的运河和沟渠与河流系统交织在一起，形成了基本的水网，同时也是该地区的空间标志。修建运河的目的是引水、交替排水、灌溉土地以及运输。宏伟的植被、宽阔的林荫系统补充了水系，并在严酷的热带阳光下形成可接受的微气候。林荫大道可以提供通往（花园）陆地的通道，并允许多种交通工具通行，包括马、自行车、行人、汽车以及同样重要的有轨电车。反观之，有轨电车这种交通方式对于一座从一开始就将广袤与人口密度结合在一起的城市而言，具有重大意义。

新开发项目位于西贡河和同奈河之间，是一个在自然环境下多水的群岛。该项目将自然的水上交通（包括为电动摩托车提供的起始与终点的场地）与智能技术的优势相结合。不同于传统的固定线路和时间表，一支由各种规模的船只组成的船队将按需工作（通过应用程序）。浮标平台网络允许广泛地访问，水上地铁（WETRO）不仅高效、经济、生态合理，而且是一个极其舒适的交通工具，它以创新而高效的方式跨越技术障碍，使得湿地生态系统可以随着HIID的发展而不断地演进。在地势较高的地区（主要是历史悠久的HCMC和Thu Duc区南部、中部高地的丘陵地带），有轨电车系统（一种新型智能系统）是最方便的公共交通工具，可与电动摩托车形成互补（逐渐取代目前HCMC超850万辆的摩托车）。移动的未来是基于自然解决方案与智能技术的结合（图5）。

4 跨尺度上，建议利用当地植物物种创建公园，提升生物多样性，作为对应碳排放和空气污染的渠道Across scales, local vegetal species are proposed to create public parks, expand bio-diversity and work as carbon and air pollution sinks

5 沿海退耕还林

沿海地区，尤其是三角洲，既有明显的湿润梯度，也有相应的动植物自然变化。随着时间的推移，景观功能退化，过渡为满足人类活动和耕种的干湿区划。运河、堤坝和沟渠等坚固的工程在很大程度上消除了曾经丰富的干湿梯度。联合国资料显示，目前全世界37%的人口生活在海岸线100 km以内[20]。这个比例在低海拔沿海地区（LCEZ，指沿海岸且海拔低于10 m的水文相连区域的陆地）甚至更高。中国、印度、孟加拉国、印度尼西亚和越南是世界上沿海人口最多的国家[21]。同时，这些地区极易受到气候变化、盐碱滩和海平面上升以及风暴潮和异常天气事件强度和频率增加的影响。迫切需要从根本上对沿海地区的发展进行彻底改革。除了新的水都市主义类型之外，人们对恢复自然动力和生态系统的认识越来越多，而对于这一点最根本的就是沙丘的动态发展演变和重新造林，以及红树林和沿海湿地的再生和延伸。沿海植被对固碳有着非常重要的作用，同时能够缓冲气候变化带来的海平面上升和波浪冲击的影响。在海岸线及沿海通过森林重塑和重新造林达到的智能空间重构的背后蕴含着巨大的机会，其中包括提供带有栖息地保护功能的生活生产性景观、休闲方面的新的可能性。沿海再造林与造林策略可以逆转湿度梯度的驯化和固定化。将海岸视为一条线的主流观点因而受到谴责，被认为是一种站不住脚的“守住防线”的态度。相反，应该将海岸视为一块巨大的区域，其自然动力会产生稳固性和丰富性，这是海岸（线）智能空间重构的关键所在。

5 现有的精制水系统是水运网络和应用程序的基础，结合WETRO，以及个人出行机制的以需求为基础的交通系统The existing,fine-mazed water system is the basis for a water transport mesh and an app, on-demand based system of transport that combines WETRO, METRO and personal mobility mechanisms

在承天顺化省（Thua Thien Hue）60 km长Tam Giang-Cau Hai潟湖的空间发展战略（由RUA与VIUP合作）里，重新定义了沙丘岸线生态的原动力。香河（Perfume River）河口，东南亚最大的潟湖位于顺化下游20 km处。受伊恩·麦克哈格（Ian McHarg）著名的《设计结合自然》（DesignwithNature）[22]中关于沙丘部分的启发：我们重新建构一个深层的沙丘和潟湖景观，为重构动态景观和定义发展策略提供了基础。提议将潟湖视为一个“保护区”、一个重要而脆弱的自然保护生态环境，在其中重新种植本地植被。这种脆弱的动态系统，大部分脆弱及有生机的栖息地建议选在“后沙丘”上以及老沙丘的部分区域。同时，一种新的林冠开放式林木结构将“逝者之城”（一种奇特的墓葬文化景观）[23]聚集为一系列生态基石，标记为一个较大的文化嵌合体，与正在形成的定居点交织在一起。与传统的土地利用规划相反，这个重新配置的沙丘区内产生的每个环境体系都具有多种作用（例如，绿化墓葬景观同时也具有生态和保护的功能以及墓地的功能，图6）。

6 利用本地可再生材料

最后，在大多数情况下，越南乡土建筑与其地域环境及当地气候有着天然的契合度。Bernard Rudofsky称之为乡土建筑，是从其适应环境中演变而来的[24]。它关注地形、土壤和植物环境、光线和社会文化习俗；而气候与当地资源的可用性推动了以低技术为主的建筑实践。在MOMA著名展览Architecture without Architects目 录中，Rudofsky强调建筑与城市化是一种文化建构和公共事业概念。他引用了Pietro Belluschi的言论：“这是一种公共艺术，它不是由少数知识分子或专家创造的，而是由具有共同财产的全体人民在共同经验下自发持续地活动产生的”，他们“展示了一种令人钦佩的天赋，使其建筑与自然环境相互适应”[24]3-4。如前所述，在20世纪80年代，Frampton、Tzonis和 Lefaivre[25]在1990年提出了受到广泛关注的批判性地域主义。他们重新审视了主流现代主义建筑的替代性以及更具时代感的建筑实例。有趣的是，历史学家Lewis Mumford早在20世纪40年代就警告说，“地域主义并不是指最大量地使用当地材料，也不是照搬祖先在一两个世纪前为了优化而使用的某些简单建筑形式。地域形式是最符合实际生活条件的形式，也是最能使人们在所处环境中有宾至如归之感的形式：它不仅利用了土壤，而且反映了该地区当前的文化状况”[26]30。

6 通过采用建筑师伊恩·麦克哈格开发的深层景观部分，重建了潟湖的生态The lagoon’s ecology is reconstituted by adopting a deep landscape section developed by architect Ian McHarg

7 现代热带批判区域主义是由大量巧妙利用的当地材料所启发的“高跷型”创意A contemporary tropical critical regionalism is created by a stilt typology inspired by the existing clever adoption of abundant local materials

虽然RUA项目并没有直接涉及建筑规模，但所有的区域性及城市规模的项目都应采用适应气候与环境的新类型。显然，重新审视桩基/高脚支撑及漂浮是必要的，以应对预计的洪水急剧上升。此外，还须大幅降低能源依赖——尤其是空调消耗的能源——并转向可再生能源。对古代建筑低技术的重新诠释可以实现自然通风和微气候的融合。同时，越南的材料创新，特别是交叉层压木材（CLT）具有巨大潜力，全国大部分地区都有木材资源。木材质量的大幅降低同时降低了地基的成本（在土壤承载能力极低的三角洲地区，这一成本过高）。这个国家的大部分地区利用太阳能和雨水收集是大有可为的。太阳能可用于个人移动、街道照明、公共交通系统和大型建筑构件。此外，屋顶雨水收集可与重力供水配置配合使用，用于厕所、灌溉与建筑冷却系统。更普遍地，使用局部材料和透气材料可以减少冷却的能量负荷。

如今，众多的越南建筑事务所，包括西泽建筑师事务所（Nishizawa Architects）、a21studio、Vo Tring Nghia Architects，正在开发各种非凡建筑，企图创造出一种新式当代地域性建筑。例如，西泽建筑师事务所在Chau Doc（湄公河三角洲与柬埔寨交界处的一座城市）建造了一座三代人居住的房屋，使用当地廉价的材料、木工技术和建筑方法创造出一个既适合环境又具有独创性的结构——包括使用3个倒置蝶形屋顶和可移动的立面和内部隔板，达到改变采光、通风和使用条件的目的。它的架空建筑和通道楼梯是对洪水的应对和对当地构造的智能适应（图7）。

7 适应与抵抗

正如已揭示的，RUA在（设计）研究和干预之间迭代重复。越南的RUA项目在适应气候变化的同时，抵制本土的普遍同质化，它们根植于各自的地理位置与社会文化实践中。创建设计方案、咨询本地专家及利益相关者的调整过程，应遵循归档工作和密集的实地工作。所有项目都是与当地城市及规划机构合作进行的。这些提案解决了严峻的全球挑战，同时有意识地从根本上抵制通用解决方案。社会所面临的危机——特别是气候变化——须采取适用于具体情况的方法，这种方法在使用一般技术（例如实地调查、设计研究、合作生产程序）、思考和方法（例如上文强调的六大主题）的同时，不断寻找当地的特色，并应深入了解当地传统、特征与特性、内在优势与能力以及场地资源。

总之，作为城市与干预行为的科学，城市化必须大胆地发展成为顺应自然的局部反映性适应系统。它不能归入众多基于性能的“修复”中的任何一个，因为它们不可避免地使区域、景观具有通用性。健康的社会生态系统需要所有类型的异质性和多样性。考虑到地球的脆弱性，我们还必须注意奥尔多·利奥波德的《土地伦理》——被称为环境经典的《沙郡年鉴》（1949年）[27]的最后一卷。土地伦理是一种超越人类中心主义的道德与生态世界观。根据利奥波德的说法，“我们滥用土地是因为我们认为土地是属于我们的商品……土地伦理只是扩大了社区边界，包括土壤、水、植物和动物，或将其统称为土地”[27]203-4。城市规划者与风景园林师不仅对人类同胞负有道德义务，对土地本身也负有道德义务。

注释：

① 这一概念是指Vittorio Gregotti在1966年出版的《建筑领域》（Ilterritoriodiarchitectttura）一书中提出的人类地理景观概念。

② 来自农业和农村发展部（Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development，简称MARD）。

图片来源：

图 1©RevisionoftheMekongDeltaRegionalPlan2030and Vision2050[由建设部和SIUP委任，2014—2018年：RUA（B.De Meulder, K.Shannon, C.Rojas Bernal）]；图 2©BaoLoc Until2030[邀请赛，与VIUP合作，2019—2020年：RUA（B.De Meulder, K.Shannon, Nguyen Q.M.）]；图 3～5©Highly

Adaptation & Resistance:Vietnamese Context-Specific Responses to Climate Change

Authors: (BEL) Bruno De Meulder, (BEL) Kelly Shannon Translator: ZHOU Youmei

Globally, the rapidly accelerating consequences of climate change and the impeding ecological crisis present huge challenges to the human occupation of the world, regardless of whether in urban or rural territories.They also demand a radical re-envisioning of how to settle—in both the sense of how to deal with an ever-changing nature and how to settle in, how to inhabit landscapes.In the past decades, there has been an overwhelming and renewed focus on the disciplines of ecology and landscape architecture.The very notion of contemporary landscape urbanism was a response to the failure of business-as-usual in terms of planning (conventionally with an emphasis on land-use, master or blueprint planning) and the separation of disciplines[1-2].The ascendance of landscape architecture into the broader realm of the built environment has brought with it a plethora of star landscape architects, many who themselves endlessly replicate formal design components and a host of projects that are cut and pasted into various contexts.Over the past two to three decades, there has been on onslaught of landscape and urbanism proposals that offer both ways forward in terms of adaption and building resilience.This paper claims that collectively these proposals comprise of a now widely accepted series of principles and “toolkit” of responses.The fact that there has been the development of nearuniversal “fixes” to the challenges is simultaneously compelling and disturbing—compelling because the urgent necessity of new interventions is recognized and disturbing since there is the danger of a generic, performance-based typologies that begin to indiscriminately blanket the world regardless of any context specificity.It hypothesizes that there needs to a resistance to such homogenous development at the level of landscape architecture and urban design.Instead of a toolkit of solutions(disseminated across the entire world by a limited number of corporations), if offers an approach to creating strategies that build on the specificity of locational assets.

Fortunately, there has been a great deal of criticism leveled on the failures of the generic city and corporate architecture, driven by uncritical and deregulated neo-liberal market pressures.For more than a half century, it was star architects (regardless of their formalistic ego-trips) and developers(ultimately prisoners of debilitating market conformity) who brought a degree of similarity and exchangeability to everyplace.A huge degree of homogeneity began to reign, particularly in cities,despite various socio-cultural practices, economies,ecological conditions or climates.An exchangeable palette of floor plans, facades and materials confirmed particular sites in the interconnected,global marketplace.Commodification of almost everything evidently implies replicability.For architecture historian Kenneth Frampton, the professions of the built environment had a responsibility to resist the flattening out of cultures and places through re-engagement with landscape.His precise critical stance remains as valid today as decades ago when, in his infamous essay,‘Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance’ Frampton wrote of ‘the victory of universal civilization over locally infected culture …’ and pled for a critical regionalism as an ‘engagement in the act of “cultivating” the site … (where) the idiosyncrasies of place find their expression without falling into sentimentality’[3]17,26.In 1995, Frampton directed his poignant criticism to the split between architecture and planning,which according to him as well ‘entailed reducing the art of environmental planning to the valuefree, applied science of land-use and transport management.In this form, the dominant planning strategy became logistical and managerial …presumably to maximize the economic development of the region’[4]83-84.Frampton then made a call ‘to conceive of a remedial landscape that is capable of playing a critical and compensatory role in relation to the ongoing, destructive commodification of the man-made world.Architecture must assume an ecological stance in the broadest possible sense’(emphasis in the original text[4]92).Furthering his assertion for an alternative to the ‘ruthless forms of motopian development,’ and with specific reference to the Asian continent, Frampton concludes that the megaform (as landform, as ecology) ‘as an element which due to its size, content and direction has the capacity to inflect the surrounding landscape and give it a particular orientation and identity’[5]39-40.He claims that a return to the ‘making of the ground’①… ‘may be one of the only formal legacies that remain available for the realistic mediation of the random megalopolis as an iterated form’ anchoring development to the specificities of geography[5]40.

It is by now high time that variants of Frampton’s astute criticism are directed to landscape architecture itself which must no longer be viewed as the savior of urbanism, but risks to become a new form of homogeneity.In 2011,landscape architect and academic Richard Weller accurately and satirically addressed the issue: ‘As the bogey man of globalization fades and genius loci is recognized for the ancient Greek hocus pocus it is, landscape architecture is no longer couched in terms of national or even local identity but almost exclusively in terms of adding value to cities that are competing globally with one another’[6]176.He went on to critically dissect the new buzzwords of ‘place-making’ (what new urbanism is to architecture, place-making is now to landscape architecture) and ‘ecosystems services’ (as a new bank charge).He called for landscape architecture projects which are more engaged with structure and less preoccupied with mere form.Meanwhile,Elizabeth Meyer in her essay, ‘Sustaining beauty.The performance of appearance: A manifesto in three parts’, underscored the need for sustainable landscape design to ‘do more than function or perform ecologically; it must also perform socially and culturally’[7]16.

Although the world abounds in rhetoric of sustainability, climate change and innumerable variations of green politics, the claim of this article is that only through a careful reading of the site-specific and innate logics of landscapes—inextricably tied to their ecological foundation and social and cultural formation[8]—can nongeneric design strategies be developed to respond to the urgencies of climate change while simultaneously resisting uniformity of late-capitalist market.The article will focus on recent design research by OSA/RUA (Research Urbanism and Architecture) in Vietnam, focusing on projects codeveloped with Vietnamese government agencies and commissioned by national and/or local municipalities.It distills six major themes which work to bridge the divide between the dichotomies of economy and ecology, culture and nature and urbanism and landscape.

1 Accentuating Agro-ecological Regions

For Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859),the great polymath who combined the fields of natural science and humanities, nature was a holistic interplay of phenomena.He developed a sophisticated understanding of vegetal zones as a global interconnected web.For Humboldt,botany was dependent upon climate, latitude,altitude, topography, atmospheric conditions,geology and physiognomy, but he also stressed that ‘the knowledge of the natural character of different parts of the world is connected in the most intimate way to the history of humanity and to that of its culture’[9]150.Humboldt’s work laid the foundation for contemporary ecological(systems) thinking.In the 1960s and 1970s, the German botanist and academic Heinrich Walter published a number of works which underscored vegetation, soil and climate as the most important components of ecological systems[10].Since the mid-1980s, a collaboration between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO) and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) develop programs to estimates how agriculture would develop toward the 21st century and highlight problematic regions with regards to food security.They developed an agro-ecological zones (AEZ) as an open-source and dynamic digital global databases of climatic parameters, topography, soil and terrain, land cover,and population distribution which includes AEZ calculation procedures[11].

Over the past decade, the work of RUA in Vietnam has systematically elaborated the concept of agro-ecological zones.In fact, for the Mekong Delta Regional Plan, it was the foundation for future development: detecting the variations in locational assets such as soils,elevations, inundation patterns, etc.hand-inhand with current development tendencies and predicted climate change effects in order to define characteristic subregions.The once gigantic quagmire had continuously adapting water flows, shifting landforms and wetness variations(between humid soil and silt saturated water).It was a rich and dynamic ecological system in which niche economies nested.However, it underwent draconian utilitarian transformation during the last two centuries, with the conquering and subsequent occupation of the delta by Vietnamese emperors,the French colonization, the decolonization and American war, and finally a unification and food security battle after ages of turmoil.Subsequently,the Mekong Delta became an extensive patchwork of vast monocultural productions.Nonetheless,the resulting low-value landscapes remain largely anchored on the varying underlying geographies,defined by location, soil qualities, elevations, water regimes, etc.There are large contiguous surfaces of areas with tree nurseries, orchards, flowers,palm trees, various vegetables, aquaculture and surely omnipresent rice.It is however clear that the merciless expansion and exploitation of the territory has come to the point of obliterating almost all natural environments and ecologically killing the branches of the monumental Mekong River.Such “development” is literally a dead end.Rebalancing is urgently required.The reconstitution of ecologies is necessary; it is not inherently“anti-development,” but seeks to create more biodiversity and structure locally-embedded, yet diverse economies, balancing industrial-scale mass production with specialty products, such as tropical fruit and medicinal plants.Nature-based solutions(such as mangroves as natural coastal protection systems) add to the argument for the reintroduction of ecological structures that simultaneously offer opportunities for ecological restoration and diversified (and higher value) production.The definition of six agro-ecological zones, each with a task challenged to redefine balances between ecology and economy, monocultures and mixtures,form the fundamental basis for the Mekong Delta Regional Plan.Development strategies are anchored on inherent locational assets, balancing soil suitability and ecological integrity (Fig.1).

A similar exercise, on a different scale,was done by RUA in cooperation with VIUP(Vietnamese Institute for Urban and Rural Planning)(through an invited competition) for Bao Loc in (the Lam Dong Province of) the Central Highlands.The geology and topography define a sharp rupture,where the altitude falls from 850 to 750 meters over a short distance.The strong sectional difference articulates occupation and settlement: the city and agriculture on the Di Linh plateau, a system of man-made chains of ponds and valleys (to the north) with mulberry, tea and coffee farms on the innumerable hillocks (to the south and northwest),protected and special forests on the steep slopes of the mountain ranges (north, west and south) and waterfalls and sanctuaries in various mountains.However, the projected present-day urban development neglects the region’s geographic and site-specific conditions, introducing a generic form of urbanization similar to many Vietnamese cities.The RUA-VIUP proposed plan to 2040 develops urbanization and the economy in a manner that simultaneously strengthens its natural environment and socio-cultural identity.New urbanization is concentrated on the Di Linh plateau, while flood plains are safeguarded as productive interruptions that give articulation to the alternating sequence of densified urban districts.Particular forms of high-quality urban development are created on the accentuated topography north and south of the core city offers complementary urban quarters that add to the variety of residential environments and are consciously embedded within figures of reforestation.A context-responsive, high-value eco- / agro-tourism and retreat / wellness development is set within the rich and lush environment and adds qualities to the landscape instead of consuming it (and losing it forever)with mundane mass development.This economy complements the agricultural and forestry economy that structures the landscape.The project also creates a nearly 10 km-long belvedere park front as the city facade along the southern edge of the Di Linh plateau with areas for cafes, restaurants and special-programmed buildings; they benefit from both proximity to city center and spectacular panoramas across the landscape’s hundred meters altitude difference.As a strong landscape figure,the belvedere park, articulates the city’s form and its relationship to its particular geography and topography (Fig.2).

2 Water Urbanism

Historically, many of the world’s cities had an inextricable connection to water.Seacoasts,rivers inland and coastal deltas were magnets for development, providing geographies easily amenable to cheap transportation, extremely productive territories and offered valuable resources.Settlement inherently implied water management[12]4.Particularly in Asia, complex water management not only intertwined social-cultural and political organization, but also afforded the settling with water—literally the construction of settlement as well as settling with (dealing with)water’s unpredictable nature[13].Nonetheless, over time, water-based settlements gave way to roadbased ones.As waterways were filled, impervious surfaces exponentially expanded and industrial and agricultural pollution reigned, water simultaneously came to be viewed as a finite, precious resource and more of a threat than an asset.Once the consequences of climate change—particularly flood, drought, sea level rise and salination—are added to the perilous situation, it is clear that new ways of settling with water are urgently required.There is a renewed possibility for water urbanism.

In all of RUA’s projects in Vietnam, there is the explicit design of space for flooding through the process of cut-and-fill.Water lines and flood plains are choreographed to give more space to water.The decision of where to build is as important as where tonotbuild, which is determined by the articulation of micro-topographies.In an invited competition for the Highly Interactive Innovative Districts’ (HIID) large eastern extension of Ho Chi Minh City (in cooperation with VIUP)the intelligent use of the region’s physical characteristics transforms the interfluvial area between Saigon and Dong Nai rivers into a climate change responsive territory.The wide river basins of the Saigon and Dong Nai rivers (as well as the Vam Co Dong, Soai Rap, Long Tai rivers) are vast flood plains.The system results in a territory of an amazingly fine-mazed water system that covers more than 70 % of the metropolitan area of HCMC.All scenarios for HCMC of the National Target Program for Climate Change (NTPCC)indicate that substantial parts of the area will inevitably regularly flood (up to 4 meters above sea level by 2100).The eastern area has already had dramatic transformation of its topography with extensive land-filling.Subsequent and planned development will fill vast areas by 2 (6,500 hectares)or 3 (another 6,500 hectares) meters of sand.The RUA project freezes the land manipulation in the state it is now and concentrates urban development on higher land or buildings onpilotis/ stilts and opts for only high density.The urban development becomes an afforested archipelago in a mostly wet natural environment (in which native vegetation and mangroves are reintroduced where possible).The conventional model of urbanization that replaces natural environments is inverted into a system where the urban is inserted within the natural—which is acknowledged for its self-renewing and healing (and hence sanitizing) qualities.For the HIID of HCMC,this results in a radically new form of urbanity:simultaneously dense and distributed, solid and fluid.HIID is a water city where water structures urbanization, is primary mode for movement and introduces a way of settling with water-dominated landscapes (Fig.3).

3 Forest Urbanism

As a field, urban forestry emerged in the 1960s in North America.It entails the multidisciplinary design and management of all forest and tree resources—from street trees to periurban woodlands[14].It gives rise to progressively,and sometimes even radically, bring vegetation back into urban environments.The new field,of course, builds on long-standing traditions of the intertwining of nature, and particularly trees,into the city.For millennia in Asia, trees have been systematically planted on national scales and directly organized first by emperors and later by central and municipal governments[15].The famous book,RitualsoftheZhouDynasty(1100-770 BC)verifies that tree planting and maintenance by designated officials along moats of city walls was obligatory.The book as also documents tree planting along riparian corridors in relation to flood protection and soil erosion as well as the strong tradition of street planting in Chinese cities.Initially, capital city streets and imperial highways were planted to provide separated royal passage, shelter against wind, provide shade,protect roads from flooding, and perform specific visual functions.Whenever trees died, they had to be quickly replaced[16].According to Kongjian Yu and collaborators, ‘Tree plantings along city streets and country roads were considered as good moral behavior and a blessing to the local people,and state officials were always memorialized for their contribution to the construction of greenways’[16]230.In tropical contexts, vegetation,and trees in particular, were historically recognized as an evident necessity.They mitigate the harsh climate (in an environment where, until recently,daily life mainly took place outside), improve health conditions and generate a pleasant environment.Even in colonial urbanism, with its overemphasis on infrastructure and built form, vegetation, and specifically tree planting, was a main component of urban planning, regardless the colonial power—English, Dutch or French.The latter, in the case of Saigon, demonstrated that planning was more about creating an agreeable environment by planting (shadowed gardens, tree lined boulevards,etc.) than conventional physical planningperse.Tropical city plans, by definition, imply a dominant urban forestry layer.Nonetheless, the currently prevailing urban development imaginary orients cities solely to roads, cars and generic, supposedly“smart” high-tech business parks.

The RUA-VIUP proposal for HCMC’s HIID,however, reconnects with this evident tropical urban forestry tradition and expands it as climate change adaptation requires.It does this with general measures, such as the provision of at least one tree per future inhabitant—countering the inevitable pollution of urban life and increasing carbon sequestration, offsetting the urban heat island effect and enriching habitats and biodiversity.Such a measure would also provide more public and recreational spaces (both of which the current HCMC is dramatically lacking).Trees are indeed key to humanizing the climate of a tropical city, they are also responsible for its pleasant atmosphere, hence livability.Since HCMC is at the bottom of the livability rankings (122/140 Economist Intelligence Unit, 2016 Best Cities Ranking Report)[17], the drastic increase of nature and public space is a necessity.It goes without saying that this required provision of nature and public space is much easier to obtain in the development of the new district,that in a certain way becomes, together with the water system, a large (inhabited water) park for the entire mega-city.

Besides the general measures to increase urban forestry, the plan consequently designates specific areas (such as preserving and expanding mangrove across in the bed of the Dong Nai River, continuing the adjacent Can Gio biosphere reserve) that are anchored on exceptional landscape morphologies and conditions.Urban afforestation strategies in the original villages (that historically emerged on slightly higher land) are indeed different than intense tree planting schemes on historical landfills as realized for the Cat Lai Industrial Zone and Tan Cang Port, as well as for recently added landfills for the landing of the Cat Lai Bridge.New urban typologies that do not imply land-filling but are rather embedded in the existing environmental qualities go hand-in-hand with strengthening forestry robustness.As such, these new urban forestry strategies complement historical urban forestry patterns in Saigon such as the colonial planted boulevard system.They generate a new urban forestry typology that is woven into mediumand high-density developments.The base premise of the entirety of the proposal is that there is an intensification, diversification and densification of both urbanism and natural systems (Fig.4).

4 Mobility Shift

In 2014, according to a Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Report,the transportation sector accounted for about 23% of global energy related CO2emissions and road transport (both freight and passenger) represents around 73% of total transport energy use.Road transportation accounts for 47% of global oil consumption[18]6-7.That is the bad news.The good news is that a post-petrol age is clearly approaching.Despite many governments’ insistence building of new multi-lane highways, there a number of indications that there is a fundamental mobility shift underway.Technological innovation (electric vehicles,smart infrastructure and new personal mobility mechanisms), coupled with evolving socio-cultural preferences, opens an array of new opportunities for urban design.There are a proliferation of guidebooks and projects that offer compelling street re-profiling—combining urban vegetation,stormwater management, public and shared mobility and a revived public realm.In addition to re-profiling, there is an untapped potential in the reinvestment of water-based urban transport.This is particularly true in many parts of Asia, whereas previously mentioned, there are extensive urban concentrations in deltas, along coasts and in large flood plains.Economically and logistically, in such contexts, the logics of water-based transportation far outpaces that of road-based, where obtaining building stability is expensive and a timely undertaking.There must be strategic infrastructure provision which entails the wise shift of generic transport policies that seek equal accessibility across territories towards the most effective and efficient means.It is clear that there should be a shift in investment from roads to waterways.

In the south of Vietnam, and specifically in the Mekong Delta region, waterways have been the natural mode of transport for centuries.The delta’s highly developed water management system includes innumerable rivers and an extensive network of 7,000 km of main canals, 4,000 km of secondary canals[19]19②.Populations traditionally settled on the natural levees of waterways, creating a river-water civilization and the rhythms of the rivers’ water regimes determined the location of settlements.The waterways, along with parallel road networks, bundled multiple functions and meanings.The majestic blue network remains the most appropriate mode of transportation for agricultural mass produce.In the proposed Mekong Delta Regional Plan, a number of planned, Asian Development Bank and Vietnamese governmentfunded highways are proposed to be cancelled since they are in areas that are predicted to have severe inundation in the coming decades.At the same time, the dredging of existing waterways,in addition to the creation of new canals, would reinvigorate the historic and environmentallylogical mode of transport, for both more goods as well as for passengers.

In the HIID project, a proposed watertransport system builds on the city’s geography.Saigon was founded on the western bank of the Saigon River in the Dong Nai-Soai Rap River Delta that merges with the monumental Mekong Delta into one vast and flat mud plain of approximately 78,000 km2.The vast area operates as an economical entity with HCMC as its financial center.Since its earliest establishment (as citadel) in 1790, the city was organized by water and it was (and remains)the primary harbor of the country.Interregional,regional, local canals and ditches, intertwined as warp and woof with the river systems, define the base water structure that is simultaneously the spatial register of the territory.Canals were constructed to divert water, alternatingly draining and irrigating land and for transport.A system of majestically planted and wide boulevards complemented the water system and generated a bearable microclimate under the harsh tropical sun.The boulevards accommodated access to (gardened) plots and allowed transport for a multitude of mobility means,including as horses, bicycles, pedestrians, cars and,last but not least, tramways.In hindsight, the trams were a transport mode that that makes a lot of sense in a city that from the onset combined vastness with population density.

The new development is proposed as an archipelago in a mostly wet natural environment in the territory between the Saigon and Dong Nai rivers.The project combines the naturally evident water transport (with places for e-motorbikes,essential for the first and last mile) with the advantages of smart technology.A fleet of various sized boats will work “on demand” (via an app) as opposed to the more traditional system of fixed lines and timetables.A web of buoyed platforms will allow extensive accessibility.The WETRO (a water metro) will not only be highly efficient, cost effective and ecologically sane, but also an extremely comfortable mobility system that leapfrogs technology in a very innovative and performative manner.The WETRO system can be built iteratively and organically evolve with the development of the HIID.On higher lands(predominantly historical HCMC and at the foothills of southern mid-highlands in Thu Duc District)a (new smart type of) tramway system is the most evident mass transport system to complement e-motorbikes (that gradually replace the more than 8.5 million motorbikes currently in HCMC).The future of mobility is in the combination of naturebased solutions and smart technology (Fig.5).

5 Coastal Re-afforestation

Coasts, and particularly deltas, have both blatant and subtle gradients of wetness with corresponding natural variations of fauna and flora.Over time, the domestication of the landscape led to the shift from a gradual transition between water and land towards a categorical division between wet and dry to allow cultivation and human occupation.The once-rich gradient was largely eliminated through the hard-engineering of canals, dykes and ditches.Today, according to the UN, 37% of the world’s population lives within 100 kilometers of a coastline[20].There are even higher percentages in territories identified as lowelevation coastal zones (LCEZ)—defined as the contiguous and hydrologically connected zone of land along the coast and below 10 m of elevation.China, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam are predicted to have the world’s highest coastal population exposure[21].At the same time, coastal areas are extremely vulnerable to the consequences of climate change, primarily sea level rise, salination and increased strength and frequency of storm surges and exceptional weather events.There is an urgent need to fundamentally overhaul coastal development.In addition to new water urbanism typologies there is the growing recognition to restore natural dynamics and ecological systems.Fundamental to this is the reforestation and evolution of the dynamic development of dunes and regeneration and extension of mangroves and coastal wetlands.Coastal vegetation contributes significantly to carbon sequestration and buffers the impacts of sea level rise and wave action that are associated with climate change.There is an enormous opportunity in the intelligent spatial reconfiguration of coastlines and their reforestation and afforestation, which can include new living, productive landscapes, recreational possibilities with habitat preservation.Coastal re- and afforestation strategies can reverse the colonization and domestication of the wetness gradient.Recognizing the coast—in opposition to the prevailing belief that conceptualizes it as a line and hence is condemned to an untenable hold-theline-defense attitude—as a vast area, which natural dynamics generate a robustness and richness, is key to intelligent spatial reconfiguration of coast(line)s.

For the spatial development strategy of the 60 km long Tam Giang-Cau Hai Lagoon in Thua Thien Hue Province (by RUA in cooperation with VIUP), requalification of dune coastal ecology was a primary motive.The lagoon is the largest Southeast Asia, an estuary of the Perfume River and located 20 km downstream from Hue.Reconstructing a deep section of the dune and lagoon landscape, inspired by the dune section in Ian McHarg’s well-knownDesignwithNature[22],provides the basis for reconstituting the dynamic landscape and defining a development strategy.The lagoon is proposed to become a “reserve”,a naturally protective, essential and vulnerable ecological environment that is replanted with indigenous vegetation.Most habitation of the fragile and dynamic system is proposed to be on the “back dune” (of the primary dune) and selective parts of the old dune.At the same time, a new open-canopy forest structure clusters the “city of the dead”—an extra-ordinary cultural landscape of tombs[23]—as a series of ecological stepstones and demarcates a larger cultural mosaic that is systematically intertwined with the settlement-inthe-making.In opposition to conventional land-use planning, each of the environments generated within this reconfigured dune section performs a multitude of roles (for example, the afforested tomb landscape simultaneously performs ecological and protective functions while offering cemeteries, Fig.6).

6 Use of Local and Renewable Materials

Finally, as in most contexts, Vietnamese vernacular architecture was innately attuned to its regional context and local climate.Vernacular architecture, termed by Bernard Rudofsky[24],evolved from a patient adjustment to circumstances.It was attentive to topography, soil and vegetal contexts, light and socio-cultural practices;climate and availability of local resources drove building practices that were primarily low-tech.In the MOMA catalogue to the well-known exhibitArchitecturewithoutArchitects, Rudofsky underscored the notion of architecture and urbanism as a cultural construct and communal enterprise.He quoted Pietro Belluschi on this point‘a communal art, not produced by a few intellectual or specialists but by the spontaneous and continuing activity of a whole people with a common heritage,acting under a community of experience’ and goes on to say that they ‘demonstrate an admirable talent for fitting their buildings into the natural surroundings’[24]3-4.In the 1980s, as mentioned earlier, Frampton and Tzonis and Lefaivre[25], in 1990, built the case for a critical regionalism which received widespread attention.They revisited alternative responses to main-stream modernist architecture and as well as more contemporary examples that were contextually-embedded.It is also interesting to note that already in the 1940s,historian Lewis Mumford warned that ‘Regionalism is not a matter of using the most available local material, or of copying some simple form of construction that our ancestors used, for want of anything better, a century or two ago.Regional forms are those which most closely meet the actual conditions of life and which most fully succeed in making a people feel at home in their environment:they do not merely utilize the soil but they reflect the current conditions of culture in the region’[26]30.

Although RUA’s projects do not directly address the scale of architecture, in all the territorial and urban-scale projects, there is a call for new typologies that are climate and context-responsive.Clearly there is the necessity to revisit stilt/pilotisas well as floating in order to address the predicted dramatic rise in inundation.As well, there is a need to drastically reduce energy dependence—particularly as consumed by air-conditioning—and move towards renewable energy.Natural ventilation and the integration of micro-climates can be accomplished through the reinterpreting ancient typologies and low-tech construction techniques.At the same time, material innovation,specifically CLT (cross laminated timber) has huge potential in Vietnam.Wood resources are largely available throughout the country.The substantial lower weight of wood simultaneously reduces the expensive costs of foundations (which are excessive in deltaic areas where there is very low load bearing capacities of soil).In most of the country, there is the great promise to employ solar energy and rainwater harvesting.Solar energy can obviously be used for personal mobility, street lighting, public transport systems and large building components.As well, roof top rainwater harvesting can work with gravity-fed configurations to be reused for toilets, irrigation and building cooling systems.More generally, the use of local materials and breathable materials can reduce the energy load for cooling.

Today, numerous Vietnamese architecture offices, amongst which Nishizawa Architects,a21studio, Vo Tring Nghia Architects, are developing a great diversity of extraordinary buildings that create a new contemporary regional architecture.For example, a house in Chau Doc (a city along the Hau River in the Mekong Delta at the border with Cambodia) for three generations by Nishizawa Architects uses local and inexpensive materials, carpentry techniques, and construction methods to create a structure that both fits into its context and capitalizes on ingenuity—including the use of three inverted, butterfly-shaped roofs and movable façade and interior partitions to allow inhabitants to modify the light, ventilation and use.Itspilotisand access stairway are flood responsive and intelligent adaptations of local tectonics (Fig.7).

7 Adaptation and Resistance

As has been revealed, RUA iterates between(design) research and intervention.The RUA projects in Vietnam simultaneously adapt to the consequences of climate change and resist the generic homogenization of the territory.They are embedded in their respective local geographies and socio-culture practices.The iterative process of creating design scenarios and consultation with local experts and stakeholders, follows archival work and intensive fieldwork.All projects are made in collaboration with local urban and planning institutions.Proposals address acute global challenges, while, at the same time, intentionally and radically resist generic solutions.The crises facing society—particularly climate change—necessitate a contextually immersed approach that, while using general techniques (as for example fieldwork,research by design, co-production procedures),insights and methods (for example, the six themes underscored above), continuously seek local specificity.There needs to be a deep understanding of local traditions, characters and identity,endogenous strengths and capacities, and site assets.

In conclusion, urbanism—as the science of the city and the act of intervening—must boldly be developed as locally-response adaptive systems that bend to natural forces.It cannot fall into any of the many performance-based “fixes” which inevitably render territories and landscapes as generic.Heterogeneity and diversity of all types are required for healthy social and eco-systems.For the sake of the vulnerability of the planet, it is also imperative to heed Aldo Leopold’s ‘Land Ethic’—the finale toASandCountyAlmanac(1949)[27], known as an environmental classic.The land ethic was a moral and ecological worldview that went beyond anthropocentricism.According to Leopold, “We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us....The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils,waters, plants and animals, or collectively: the land”[27]203-4.Urbanists and landscape architecture have ethical obligations not just to fellow human beings but to the land itself.

Notes:

① Referring to Vittorio Gregotti’s concept of anthrogeographic landscape as described in his 1966 bookIlterritoriodi architectttura.

② Coming from MARD (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development).

Sources of Figures:

Fig.1©RevisionoftheMekongDeltaRegionalPlan2030and Vision2050[(commission by Ministry of Construction and SIUP) 2014-18: RUA (B.De Meulder, K.Shannon, C.Rojas Bernal)]; Fig.2©BaoLocUntil2030[(invited competition,collaboration with VIUP) 2019-20: RUA (B.De Meulder,K.Shannon, Nguyen Q.M.)]; Fig.3-5©HighlyInteractive InnovationDistrict(HIID)Vision[(invited competition,collaboration with VIUP) 2019:RUA (B.De Meulder, K.Shannon, Vũ M.P., Vũ T.P.L.) and atelier horizon (A.De Nijs,N.Hubert)]; Fig.6©TamGiang-CauHaiLagoonComplex Masterplan[(commission, VIUP) 2018-ongoing: RUA (B.De Meulder, K.Shannon, Nguyen Q.M.)]; Fig.7©House in Chau Doc, An Giang Province (Mekong Delta)[Nishizawa Architects (S.Nishizawa, Nguyen D.H.Q., Luong T.T.)]。