Watch the full video of the workshop (above), which sheds light on the process of waste collection and recycling in Hanoi, Vietnam. With the process of metropolisation and the growth in population in Hanoi, the volume of waste is increasing rapidly. Waste collecting (buying/picking) and selling scrap recyclable material have become important informal businesses among peri-urban villagers.

The presentation combines several perspectives (longitudinal, spatial, social and political) to offer new perspectives to understand the various aspects of the urban processes in Vietnam: the top-down policy of the state and the municipal authority and the bottom-up one through everyday urban practices of migrants and inhabitants of the burgeoning urban villages. The presentation highlights the different actors in charge of waste-management, the way they operate, and the main challenges of the sector.

Marie Lan Nguyen Leroy is the Project Manager at Paris Region Expertise – Center for urban studies, Hanoi. Thai Hoa Nguyen is a member of the JEAI RECYCURBS VIET, a joint research team between the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development and Hanoi Architectural University. Nguyen Thai Huyen is Lecturer, Education, Deputy Head, Division of Landscape-Architecture responsibility in Hanoi Architectural University, 2011.

The question and answer session that followed can be accessed here. Find all available videos of previous workshops here.