From Research to Design: From Design to Action

Abstract

The research approach and the strategic orientation of the action field Urban Development of the HCMC Mega City Project is in focus of this chapter. It will be discussed how and through which approach interventions in urban systems, determined by both physical form and social actions in space, could lead to urban change processes. The approach applied in the project can be classified as an action research approach aiming to combine the analysis and understanding of the system with practice-oriented interventions. The objective is an improvement of the built environment in a way that it is more climate-effective and resilient to the climate-change induced impacts through a bi-directional implementation strategy, combining top down and bottom up intervention strategies. As the entire BMBF Megacity research initiative was aiming—apart from the creation of the scientific knowledge of effective measures of adaptation and mitigation in fast growing megacities—to improve the concrete situation through applied solutions in the participating cities the article will evaluate critically how the specific approach of the project in Ho Chi Minh City could contribute to this objective and what lessons were learned specifically with regard to the cooperation with local partners and the involvement of stakeholders that were in the centre of the strategic concept for applied research in urban development seeking for impact and innovation.