TRANSFORMING WATERSCAPES: MANIPULATING LOCAL MICROTOPOGRAPIES, CA MAU, VIETNAM
IRENE CROWO NIELSEN
Supervisor: Kelly Shannon
As a result of territorial transformations and the response that the government is proposing, a series of ‘mis-
matches’ in the landscape are evident at the tissue scale: residual spaces on low land that are polluted and
underutilized. A critical question in Ca Mau is how can a landscape architect design such residual spaces so
they can become productive and benefit the local community? The strategy is to stage the landscape for what
is to come and introduce new ecologies that can create new economies. When water-levels rise and salinity
intrudes, a sustainable algae-culture can take over. Algae is easily grown and creates income, food, fertilizer,
treats chemicals in effluents, as well as cleans pollution by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. A
new plantation regime of algae-culture can be combined with the already existing aquaculture. The new algae
system can easily be applied to residual spaces as a cut-and-fill strategy. The fill would then be used to build
higher safe platforms, creating a new system of civic infrastructure. These new urban platforms will be above
any water level change, and therefore form ‘safe lands’. These will stage for future urbanization, which is pro-
jected to double over the next 30 years.
