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2026
How ‘visible’ is urban agriculture in Cameroun? Mapping urban agriculture practices by satellite imagery and field surveys
En attente d’épreuves
| Paul Émile TCHINDA, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham (2026)
Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes DOI
Résumé
Urban agriculture (UA), although promoted in numerous sustainability agendas, has been ignored in public policies of many African countries. This study evaluates the effectiveness of interviews and mapping techniques for characterizing UA and facilitating informed decision-making at the local level. The methodology used combines both multi-scale mapping (city, neighbourhood) and semi-structured interviews in two different sized cities (large and medium) in Cameroon. Satellite image (SPOT, 5m resolution) mapping provides a general comprehension of spatial distribution of different agricultural practices in the two cities. In contrast, field-based mapping and interviews reveal other characteristics of UA cannot be identified on satellite images, such as crop types, emerging entrepreneurial practices, and the temporality of crops. Moreover, the combination of two methods allows us to grasp influences of urban context on UA. Echoing scholars of critical remote sensing, we propose a methodological framework for profiling UA. We argue that research method choices shape our understanding of UA and should be made with consideration of cities’ specific characteristics of the city. We hope that our findings could enhance the understanding of UA, thereby reinforcing its significance within urban policy frameworks and informing decision-making processes related to food security and sustainable urbanization.
Citation
Public Spaces in an Industrial Town: What the Covid-19 Lockdown Tells Us about Publicness and Everyday Urbanism, the Case of Dĩ An (Vietnam)
En attente d’épreuves
| Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Sarah Turner, Khac Minh Trân (2026)
Asian Geographer DOI
Résumé
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnamese cities, adhering to the central government’s mobility and social restriction policies, enacted regulations that curtailed the accessibility and utilization of public spaces. In industrial zones, measures to create a ‘COVID-free’ environment led to even more stringent restrictions and surveillance in residential and work settings. This study seeks to unravel the shifts in public space perceptions and usage among the populace of Dĩ An, an industrial town in southern Vietnam, and the effects on their daily lives. We collected 15 Photovoice interviews conducted with residents in 2022—coinciding with the easing of Vietnam’s lockdown measures—, combined with insights gained from fieldwork in the town since 2016. Drawing a situatedness and assemblage framework of publicness, we propose a typology of public spaces to explore their trajectories and changes in social interactions within these spaces. We show that people’s conception of public and private spaces proved to be open and flexible, rooted in urban conditions, socio-cultural norms and needs. Public spaces and their transformation during the covid-19 lockdown, although fluid and open-ended, were constrained by the authoritarian state’s role in implementing new social and spatial surveillance. Yet, there were variations in space controls, allowing room for tactics and differentiation. Discrimination, trauma but also resilience represent people’s experience with public spaces, during and after the pandemic. Highlighting how the state-civil relations, labour conditions and socio-cultural structures impact the lived experience of urban spaces, this study contributes to a new narrative of public space generation.
Citation
The Urban Vegetable Garden: A Socioecological Component of the City
Chapitre de livre
| Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Paul Émile TCHINDA (2026)
Cities and Agriculture DOI
Résumé
Urban agriculture, and vegetable gardens in particular, has attracted growing attention from policymakers and planners at the municipal level. This chapter develops a conceptualization of the vegetable garden as a component of the socioecological and economic fabric of cities, building on both a literature review and a case study to illustrate the framework in greater depth. More broadly, it draws on urban political ecology, as this theoretical approach allows us to account for the multiple flows and forces that shape socio-nature in cities across different spatial scales, including urban agriculture sites. The chapter considers that the vegetable garden itself is a small-scale socioecological system embedded within larger socioecological systems, whose structuring forces operate across different timeframes and spatial scales, from the home and neighborhood to the city and even the planet.
Citation
Pulliat, G., Pham, T.-T., et Tchinda, P. É. (2026). The urban vegetable garden. Dans G. Pulliat (dir.), Cities and agriculture. Wiley.
Branding the Night: Entrepreneurial City Logics and the Governance of Pedestrian Streets in Hanoi, Vietnam
| Huu Lieu Dang, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Julie-Anne Boudreau (2026)
Asia Pacific Viewpoint DOI
Résumé
Cities have increasingly embraced pedestrian streets and the night-time economy in revitalising their downtown, justified by promises of livability and city branding. However, there remains a notable gap in scholarly work regarding the impacts of these programs on local life. Prior research on Vietnamese streets has concentrated on examining the production and usage of these spaces, often ignoring broader policies and their impacts on the streets. This study analyses policies, discourses and governance diapositives around pedestrianisation and the night-time economy in Hanoi (Vietnam), with a particular emphasis on the social dimensions, drawing on the concepts of entrepreneurial city and governmentality. Our research reveals that Vietnamese authorities have employed aesthetic and spatial governmentality to reshape and to some extent distort the model of the entrepreneurial city. We term this model as a pseudo entrepreneurial city, manifesting in forced policies of exclusion, as opposed to the ‘soft policies of exclusion’ commonly observed in Global North cities. This study contributes to debates on the entrepreneurial city and governmentality by analysing how state-led urban revitalisation initiatives are implemented not only as strategies for economic growth and city branding, but also as instruments of spatial regulation that reconfigure public space and unevenly affect urban actors, notably street vendors and other informal workers, and local residents.
Citation
Dang, H. L., Pham, T. T. H. et Boudreau, J. (2026). Branding the Night: Entrepreneurial City Logics and the Governance of Pedestrian Streets in Hanoi, Vietnam. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, apv.70039.
Green alleys in Quebec provide variable biodiversity support and ecosystem services
| Isabella Croft Richmond, Juste Rajaonson, Kayleigh Hutt-Taylor, Johanna Arnet, Lauren Bianco, Antonia Vieira Zanella, François Bérubé, Paola Faddoul, Étienne Perreault-Mandeville, Nathalie Boucher, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Carly D. Ziter (2026)
Ecosystems and People DOI
Résumé
Green infrastructure is increasing in popularity in cities globally because of its potential to improve urban sustainability and resident quality of life. In this paper, we studied green alleys in two Quebec cities, one with a resident-led green alley program and one with a municipally led program. Green alleys are conceptualized and promoted as green infrastructure that provide many benefits for urban residents. Using ecological methods supported by qualitative interviews, we assessed 53 green alleys’ capacity to support biodiversity and provide ecosystem services, alongside 23 grey alleys and 76 streets. We interviewed residents to identify the ecosystem services that were most relevant to people living around green alleys and then measured indicators of ecosystem service capacity with ecological techniques, harnessing an approach that incorporated both ecological data and resident preferences. Green alleys provided more biodiversity support than grey alleys and adjacent street segments but did not consistently increase the capacity for ecosystem services. Vegetative complexity and proportion of native tree species are both higher in green alleys than traditional grey alleys and adjacent streets. The proportion of flowering trees was one indicator of ecosystem services that was consistently higher in green alleys. Resident-led vs municipally led creation and management of green alleys resulted in differences, where resident-led alleys were more able to target the needs of residents but had high levels of variation in both support for biodiversity and ecosystem services. We recommend ongoing funding paired with technical expert support to increase the impact of green alleys.
Citation
Richmond, I. C., Hutt-Taylor, K., Arnet, J., Bianco, L., Vieira Zanella, A., Bérubé, F., Faddoul, P., Perreault-Mandeville, É., Boucher, N., Pham, T. T. H. et Ziter, C. D. (2026). Green alleys in Quebec provide variable biodiversity support and ecosystem services. Ecosystems and People, 22(1), 2624451.
Exploring green alleys through the lens of hybrid governance: opportunities and challenges
| Lisa Abou Rjeily, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Yves Petit-Berghem (2026)
Local Environment DOI
Résumé
Green alleys are urban greening projects that transform alleys into green infrastructure and spaces for citizen ownership. Despite a substantial body of literature on green alley initiatives in North America, insights into their governance mechanisms remain limited. This study addresses some of these gaps by examining programmes in three Quebec cities: Montreal, Quebec City, and Trois-Rivières. We draw on the concept of “hybrid governance”, which refers to collaborative processes between governmental and non-governmental actors in the planning and management of these projects. Our study is guided by two questions: How does the governance of green alleys vary across these three cities? And what are the benefits and limitations of “hybrid” green alley governance? Multiple sources of data were gathered, including field observations, surveys, and interviews with local stakeholders. Our findings elucidate the arrangements established among citizens, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and municipalities in the design, implementation, and long-term management of the projects, as well as how residents perceive and take ownership of these initiatives. We also highlight the critical role of residents and NGOs in the success of the projects, while underlining the risks of leading to undesirable socio-spatial exclusion. This research can support municipalities, NGOs, and citizen groups in promoting more equitable and sustainable urban greening.
Citation
Abou Rjeily, L., Pham, T.-T.-H. et Petit-Berghem, Y. (2026). “Exploring green alleys through the lens of hybrid governance: opportunities and challenges”. Local Environment, 1‑24.
Who participates in greening everyday urban space ? Understanding community-led urban greening through the case of the Green Alleys of Montreal (Canada)
| Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Ugo Lachapelle (2026)
Landscape and Urban Planning DOI
Résumé
Cities have increasingly been implementing greening initiatives in conjunction with residents and local community organizations, yet little is known about the household characteristics of people involved in greening small-scale and ordinary spaces. In this study, we investigate involvement in and uses of the Green Alleys of Montréal. These greening programs, originating with and maintained by residents, are not determined by city planning but rather by volunteers. We conducted a survey of residents (N = 400) living adjacent to 66 Green Alleys in one borough of the city. Between 20 % and 29 % of respondents were involved in vegetation planting, meetings, and Green Alley committees in the past, and are currently involved in maintenance. Walking and cycling, talking with neighbours, playing with children, and driving along alleys to park cars are the most frequent uses of Green Alleys. Common variables that are significant in involvement and usage include having children, being homeowners, and having alley-based friendships. Income is not the most important variable but, advanced levels of education, being part of a visible minority and parking-space ownership were of greater significance. This is because Green Alleys require no financial outlay from residents, but instead draw upon their skill sets, their sense of social cohesion, and their interests in long-term benefits. The Green Alley Programs are hence determined by localized social factors and raise questions about green space connectivity and who may not join the programs. We call for customizing the programs to address these questions, making the programs accessible for more neighbourhoods.
Citation
Pham, T.-T.-H. et Lachapelle, U. (2026). Who participates in greening everyday urban space? Understanding community-led urban greening through the case of the Green Alleys of Montréal (Canada). Landscape and Urban Planning, 266, 105533.
Circular food system governance at the local level: Perspective from a Canadian case study
| Valérie Lacombe, Juste Rajaonson, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham (2026)
Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes DOI
Résumé
Green infrastructure is increasing in popularity in cities globally because of its potential to improve urban sustainability and resident quality of life. In this paper, we studied green alleys in two Quebec cities, one with a resident-led green alley program and one with a municipally led program. Green alleys are conceptualized and promoted as green infrastructure that provide many benefits for urban residents. Using mixed social and ecological methods, we assessed 53 green alleys’ capacity to support biodiversity and provide ecosystem services, alongside 23 grey alleys and 76 streets. We interviewed residents to select the ecosystem services that were most relevant to people living around green alleys and then measured indicators of ecosystem service capacity with traditional ecological techniques, harnessing an interdisciplinary approach to ecosystem service assessment. Green alleys provided more biodiversity support than grey alleys and adjacent street segments but did not consistently increase the capacity for ecosystem services. Vegetative complexity and proportion of native tree species are both higher in green alleys than traditional grey alleys and adjacent streets. The proportion of flowering trees was one indicator of ecosystem services that was consistently higher in green alleys. Resident-led vs municipally led creation and management of green alleys resulted in different results, where resident-led alleys were more able to target the needs of residents but resulted in high levels of variation in both support for biodiversity and ecosystem services. We recommend ongoing funding paired with technical expert support to increase the impact of green alleys.
Citation
Richmond, I. C., Hutt-Taylor, K., Arnet, J., Bianco, L., Zanella, A. V., Bérubé, F., Faddoul, P., Perreault-Mandeville, É., Boucher, N., Pham, T.-T.-H. et Ziter, C. D. (2025). Green alleys in Quebec provide variable biodiversity support and ecosystem services. Ecosystems and People.
2025
Deep learning applied to urban agriculture: spatial-temporal changes of agricultural land in a rapidly urbanizing Southeast Asian city
| Thi Dieu Dinh, Jérôme Théau, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Mathieu Varin, Jean Marchal, Marc-Antoine Genest (2025)
European Journal of Remote Sensing DOI
Résumé
Rapid urbanization in Southeast Asia has been posing huge impacts on local food systems, altering spatial-temporal patterns of urban agriculture, ecosystems and social life. Understanding these changes is crucial for cities planning their land use and infrastructure development to achieve a balance between urban growth, agricultural sustainability, and food security. This study mapped the changes between 2013 and 2020 of five agricultural types within (peri)urban areas in Huế, a province’s capital in Vietnam. High-resolution SPOT satellite images (1.5m) and a deep learning model based on the U-net architecture were used to map land use and agriculture types. This approach addresses challenges in generating extensive labelled datasets in urban settings characterized by fragmented farmland and dense development. The optimized U-net model achieved high classification performance (for 2013: IoU = 0.86 and Kappa = 0.93, for 2020: IoU = 0.87 and Kappa = 0.92) even when operated on regular CPU computers, demonstrating its practical applicability for countries with limited technical infrastructure. This is also the first study in Southeast Asia to accurately map (overall accuracy 85% for 2013 and 87% for 2020) multiple types of urban agriculture at 1.5 m resolution, enabling detailed spatial-temporal changes analysis. These results can inform decision-makers in elaborating effective land use strategies and food security plans, and offer researchers a scalable deep learning framework for urban agriculture mapping in rapidly urbanizing regions.
Citation
Dinh, T. D., Théau, J., Pham, T.-T.-H., Varin, M., Marchal, J., & Genest, M. A. (2025). Deep learning applied to urban agriculture: spatial-temporal changes of agricultural land in a rapidly urbanizing Southeast Asian city. European Journal of Remote Sensing, 58(1).
Pedestrianizing strategies and street liveliness: a case study of Montreal (Canada)
| Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Huu Lieu Dang, Philippe Brodeur-Ouimet (2025)
Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability DOI
Résumé
Pedestrianization has become one of the strategies privileged, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, to handle social distancing measures and boost the local economy. Yet there is little knowledge about street design impacts people’s usage as well as how pedestrianization is conceived by local governments. In this paper, we examine two pedestrianized streets in Montreal (Canada), having different goals and design. In summer 2021, we conducted a systematic observation of street users and a review of policy, design, and press documents. In both streets, we found design important in explaining the presence of large groups in private consumption spaces and small groups in segments with rich public furniture. Local life explained street usage of homeless people and seniors, while cultural activities increased large groups. We underline the preponderance of economy-oriented goals in the municipality’s strategies which favour crowdedness but potentially undermine social functions of streets. We call for more attention to the public realm in and around pedestrian streets in order to make space for vulnerable populations and to enhance the sense of community. As such we hope to contribute to an inclusive streetscape reallocation and inform practitioners in creating lively public spaces.
Citation
Pham, T.-T.-H., Dang, H. L. et Brodeur-Ouimet, P. (2025). Pedestrianizing strategies and street liveliness: a case study of Montreal (Canada). Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 1‑20.
Être jeunes au bon endroit ? Cartographie critique des espaces négatifs pour les jeunes à Saint-Léonard (Montréal)
| Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Nathalie Boucher, Étienne Perrault-Mandeville (2025)
Mappemonde DOI
Résumé
Le changement socio-démographique majeur caractérisant l’arrondissement de Saint-Léonard (Canada) affecte la relation des jeunes issus de l’immigration à l’espace public. À partir d’observations, de groupes de discussion par photovoix et d’entretiens semi-dirigés, nous avançons que les espaces publics dédiés aux jeunes sont limités et limitants. Nous proposons une cartographie critique des espaces dits négatifs du quartier afin d’informer et d’influencer la planification des espaces publics.
Citation
Pham, T.-T.-H., Boucher, N. et Perrault-Mandeville, É. (2025). Être jeunes au bon endroit ? Cartographie critique des espaces négatifs pour les jeunes à Saint-Léonard (Montréal). Mappemonde, 139.
Effets de la revitalisation urbaine sur les villes moyennes à travers l’étude des espaces publics: Le cas de la ville de Trois-Rivières
| Fabien Kerambrun, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham (2025)
Cahier de géographie du Québec DOI
Résumé
Dans le domaine de la recherche en géographie, on a généralement accordé une attention prédominante aux métropoles et aux zones rurales, négligeant souvent les villes de taille moyenne. Avec cette étude, notre objectif est de combler certaines lacunes relatives aux transformations engendrées par la revitalisation urbaine dans une ville moyenne, en examinant la perception des habitants des espaces publics, tant sur le plan physique que social. En considérant que les espaces publics sont des endroits sociaux qui reflètent des dynamiques sociopolitiques d’une ville, nous avons utilisé une méthodologie qualitative pour comprendre le cas de la ville de Trois-Rivières et les effets de sa revitalisation urbaine. Nos conclusions mettent en évidence des améliorations culturelles notables ainsi qu’une revitalisation significative des quartiers dans cette ville, mais elles soulignent également des défis à relever en matière de logement abordable. En outre, cette recherche contribue à enrichir notre compréhension du développement urbain tout en apportant un éclairage sur les conséquences de la revitalisation urbaine dans ces contextes spécifiques.
Citation
Kerambrun, F. et Pham, T.-T.-H. (2025). Effets de la revitalisation urbaine sur les villes moyennes à travers l’étude des espaces publics: Le cas de la ville de Trois-Rivières. Cahiers de géographie du Québec, 67(188), 155‑166.
Behavioral Mapping and Rhythmanalysis: Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Pedestrian Streets in Hanoi
| Huu Lieu Dang, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Julie-Anne Boudreau (2025)
The Professional Geographer DOI
Résumé
Research on streets and public spaces in general has predominantly relied on systematic observation and behavioral mapping to investigate human behavior and its spatial patterns. This approach, however, often lacks the depth needed, especially in densely populated urban areas of Global South cities, to uncover the intricate social processes and politics that shape people’s behavior and patterns. In response to this limitation, our study takes a multifaceted approach, combining behavioral mapping (through systematic observation data) with rhythmanalysis (using general observation data and in-depth interviews) to study pedestrian streets with a case study in Hanoi, Vietnam. This research contributes to urban geography and urban studies methodology by analyzing the limitations and strengths of behavioral mapping and rhythmanalysis. We call for combining these methods in a way that allows them to complement each other. Such a combination should provide a nuanced and comprehensive understanding of the temporal and social forces that shape everyday life in public spaces.
Citation
Dang, H. L., Pham, T.-T.-H. et Boudreau, J.-A. (2025). Behavioral Mapping and Rhythmanalysis: Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Pedestrian Streets in Hanoi. The Professional Geographer, 77(3), 269‑284.
Rhythmanalysis of pedestrian streets in Hanoi: A spatial–temporal reading of public spaces
| Huu Lieu Dang, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Julie-Anne Boudreau (2025)
Geoforum DOI
Résumé
Streetspace reallocation has been drawing considerable attention from city governments and practitioners, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the last ten years in Vietnam, pedestrianization has rapidly been adopted by many cities across the country. Despite this, there is still a gap in our understanding of how pedestrianization is conceived and used in Vietnam and in other parts of the Global South, where high population densities and informal economic activities shape urban public spaces. Our research explored how pedestrian streets are imagined, used, and negotiated by different user groups (planners, locals, informal vendors, and visitors) in downtown Hanoi. Drawing on rhythmanalysis (Lefebvre, 1992), our conceptual framework included analyses of the street’s usage as well as socio-political aspects of rhythms. We conducted systemic observations of the pedestrian street in the spring of 2022 and 70 in-depth interviews in the summer of 2022. This research enriches the conceptualization of rhythms by introducing the dominant-adapting-dominated rhythms triad, which uncovers a network of power dynamics that limit informal-sector street vendors’ access to public spaces. By characterizing street sectors based on magnitude and types of rhythms, we demonstrate the methodological significance of rythmanalysis. Our findings offer valuable insights for policymakers and designers seeking to create more inclusive pedestrian streets.
Citation
Dang, H. L., Pham, T.-T.-H. et Boudreau, J.-A. (2025). Rhythmanalysis of pedestrian streets in Hanoi: A spatial–temporal reading of public spaces. Geoforum, 159, 104200.
Environmental equity and access to parks in Greater Montreal: An Analysis of Spatial Proximity and Potential Congestion Issues
| Victoria Jepson, Philippe Apparicio, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham (2025)
Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability DOI
Résumé
Past studies have shown that the distribution of parks is not always equitably distributed in urban areas, raising concerns about environmental equity and justice. Most of them have analyzed park access by using the closest walking network distance. However, access could also vary locally according to both supply (park area or facilities) and the potential demand (population surrounding the park) by using the enhanced two-step floating catchment area (E2SFCA) method. This study aims to verify the existence of environmental inequities for four population groups (children, seniors, low-income individuals, and visible minorities) according to park proximity and potential park congestion. To do so, three accessibility measures are calculated: closest park (shortest walking distance) and two gradient E2SFCA (hectares and facilities per inhabitants). We find higher potential park area and facility congestion in inner-city neighborhoods than in suburban municipalities. Generalized linear models and multinomial logistic regression analyses show no drastic degrees of inequity over Greater Montreal. However, visible minorities and low-income households are more prone to live closer to potentially highly congested parks both in terms of hectares and facilities.
Citation
Jepson, V., Apparicio, P. et Pham, T.-T.-H. (2025). Environmental equity and access to parks in Greater Montreal: an analysis of spatial proximity and potential congestion issues. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 18(3), 534‑552.
2024
Revisiting small and mid-sized cities in Canada: Old questions, new challenges
| Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Jeffrey Biggar, Yolande Pottie-Sherman (2024)
Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes DOI
Résumé
Citation
Pham, T.-T.-H., Biggar, J. et Pottie‐Sherman, Y. (2024). Revisiting small and mid‐sized cities in Canada: Old questions, new challenges. Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes, 68(1), 4‑7.
Se nourrir autrement : quelle différence dans l’accès aux systèmes alimentaires alternatifs selon la taille de la ville et ses conditions géographiques?
| Mélodie Cantin Lafrance, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham (2024)
Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes DOI
Résumé
Citation
Cantin Lafrance, M. et Pham, T.-T.-H. (2024). Se nourrir autrement : quelle différence dans l’accès aux systèmes alimentaires alternatifs selon la taille de la ville et ses conditions géographiques? Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes, 68(1), 72‑87.
Un classement multicritère des villes du québec pour favoriser la prise en compte de leurs différences
| Michel Rochefor, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Paul-Émile Tchinda, Logan Penvern (2024)
Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes DOI
Résumé
Lorsqu’il s’agit d’intervenir en matière d’aménagement et de développement, les notions de petites, moyennes ou grandes villes sont quelquefois évoquées pour adapter les politiques publiques et les instruments mis en place, voire pour mettre l’accent sur des défis qui seraient spécifiques à certaines catégories de villes. Dans cet article, nous revenons sur différentes dimensions pouvant être utilisées pour établir une caractérisation des villes de façon à tester empiriquement une approche multicritère et constituer ainsi une typologie des villes du Québec. À l’aide d’une classification ascendante hiérarchique, nous obtenons 11 classes de villes dont l’interprétation et leur représentation graphique permettent de mettre en exergue leur rôle et, en partie, d’interpréter leur aire d’influence. Cet article complète, en les enrichissant, plusieurs travaux réalisés par d’autres chercheurs au cours des 20 dernières années. Bien qu’il n’ait pas pour objectif de proposer des adaptations concrètes aux politiques et aux instruments proposés, cet article peut servir de référence aux décideurs publics lors de leur élaboration ainsi qu’à enrichir les débats théoriques sur la nature des petites et moyennes villes plus particulièrement.
Citation
Rochefort, M., Pham, T.-T.-H., Tchinda, P. et Penvern, L. (2024). Un classement multicritère des villes du québec pour favoriser la prise en compte de leurs différences. Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes, 68(1), 101‑114.
2023
Exploring park crowding across a metropolitan region using a GIS-based observational methodology: The case of six Greater Montreal parks
| Victoria Jepson, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Philippe Apparicio (2023)
Canadian Journal of Urban Research DOI
Résumé
Understanding how park configurations and equipment impact the ways people use parks can help create more appropriate park design in function of users’ needs. Research on parks in Canada tends to ignore how to empirically evaluate park crowding. In this paper, we put forward a GIS-based observational method to examine the notion of crowding in different types of parks. This methodological approach is applied to six Greater Montreal parks located in urban core and suburban neighborhoods that have different levels of accessibility. Our bivariate and visual analyses point to some determinants of park crowding, i.e., accessibility indicators (proximity and hectares per person), urban services near the parks (e.g., daycares), and park equipment. We show sports facilities attract all visitors, but a low presence of adolescents and seniors is observed in all parks. Urban core parks offer less passive activity infrastructure but have more diverse uses and crowding than suburban parks.
Citation
Jepson, V., Pham, T.-T.-H. et Apparicio, P. (2024). Exploring park crowding across a metropolitan region using a GIS-based observational methodology: The case of six Greater Montreal parks. Canadian Journal of Urban Research, 32(2), 78‑98.
“No flooding, no traffic jams here, no jobs either”: Conceiving urbanization in small cities of southern Vietnam
| Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Khac Minh Trân, Thi My Duyên Thiêu, Thi Mai Thoa Trâ (2023)
Habitat International DOI
Résumé
Citation
Pham, T.-T.-H., Trân, K. M., Thiêu, T. M. D. et Trân, T. M. T. (2023). “No flooding, no traffic jams here, no jobs either”: Conceiving urbanization in small cities of southern Vietnam. Habitat International, 142, 102949.
Agrotourism and fast urbanisation: The double pressure of development on peri‐urban agriculture in Hôi An, a small city of central Vietnam
| Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Hai Son Cao, Dominic Lapointe (2023)
Asia Pacific Viewpoint DOI
Résumé
Agrotourism in Vietnam has been identified as one of the strategies used to achieve green growth and countryside modernisation, and it is often included as part of the national and local agenda. In this paper, we examine agrotourism in a village in the periphery of Hội An city (an international tourism hub in central Vietnam) to question tourism’s interaction with ongoing development processes. More specifically, we aim to understand the impact of fast peri-urbanisation on agrotourism and the impacts of agrotourism on people’s daily lives, specifically when it comes to physical changes in their living environment, tensions in their social life and their concerns about the future. Our analysis is supported with data generated from interviews with farmers, local officials, tourism workers and tourists. We find that agrotourism products lacked authenticity and farming was not of great interest for tourists, yet the state’s investment in the village tended to favour spaces and infrastructure that could attract more tourists and generate profit, to the detriment of cultural infrastructure. Land speculation and an unequal distribution of income were the main tensions in the village along with farmers’ concerns about their rural heritage, income diversification and environmental quality. As such, agrotourism in the village has been driven by rapid urbanisation and mass tourism, creating a competition between a consumption activity and a productive activity. Those are important parameters that future policymakers need to take into consideration in order to sustain the city’s food production and tourism.
Citation
Pham, T. T. H., Cao, H. S. et Lapointe, D. (2023). Agrotourism and fast urbanisation: The double pressure of development on peri‐urban agriculture in Hôi An, a small city of central Vietnam. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 64(3), 408‑424.
Creative counter-discourses to the “green city” narrative: practices of small-scale urban agriculture in Hanoi, Vietnam
| Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Melody Lynch, Sarah Turner (2023)
Local Environment – The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability DOI
Résumé
As a central component of the “green city” narrative, urban agriculture is gaining importance in urban planning and global sustainability agendas. In Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam, the “green city” is core to the state’s urbanisation agenda, with a green corridor envisioned as part of the city’s Master Plan for 2030. We investigate the patterns and processes of small-scale urban agriculture underway in this green corridor to better understand whether this type of agriculture actually intersects with, and is supported by, state plans. We frame our paper in conceptual debates around food safety and everyday governance, while supporting our analysis with data from interviews with resident gardeners and officials, as well as the mapping of urban gardens in seven wards in and alongside the green corridor. We pay attention to practices and motivations of residents who maintain small-scale vegetable and fruit plots (the most prevalent form of urban agriculture), and the challenges and constraints they face. Our work reveals the temporary and interim status of urban agriculture in Hanoi, highlighting the contradictions within Vietnam’s “green city” discourse. Nonetheless, urban residents still undertake urban agriculture, negotiating or compromising with state officials, to meet their demands for fresh and safe food.
Citation
Pham, T.-T.-H., Lynch, M. et Turner, S. (2023). Creative counter-discourses to the “green city” narrative: practices of small-scale urban agriculture in Hanoi, Vietnam. Local Environment – The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, 28(2), 169‑188.
Expanding in the mountains: spatial patterns of urban form in a rapidly urbanising small city of Vietnam
| Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Jérémy Gelb, Isabelle Gagnon (2023)
Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability DOI
Résumé
Measuring urban form is particularly important in rapidly urbanising countries as it can help assess problems caused by inefficient planning. Despite this, there is a dearth of research on fine-scale measures of urban form in Asia and Vietnam. In this paper, we aim to identify spatial patterns of urban form measured at the intra-urban level in Lào Cai, a provincial capital city in northern Vietnam that has been transformed dramatically since its integration in the Greater Mekong Subregion. We compute 15 indicators of urban form divided into four groups: shapes of built areas, street connectivity, density of services and population, and accessibility. A spatial clustering of the indicators allows to identify five urban form types and their spatial patterns, showing that this small city is experiencing an extensive and fragmented urban growth. We question urbanisation policy underlying such urban form and suggest avenues for a more sustainable urban planning.
Citation
Pham, T.-T.-H., Gelb, J. et Gagnon, I. (2023). Expanding in the mountains: spatial patterns of urban form in a rapidly urbanising small city of Vietnam. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 16(3), 380‑406.
Rooftop gardening complexities in the Global South: Motivations, practices, and politics
| Sarah Turner, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Hạnh Thúy Ngô, Celia Zuberec (2023)
Geographical Research DOI
Résumé
An increasing number of urban residents in the Global South are turning to rooftop gardening, whether through soil or hydroponics, to cultivate their own vegetables, fruit, and herbs. In Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital, rooftop gardening serves as an important alternative to traditional wet markets and more recently established supermarkets. In this paper, we examine the motivations, practices, and constraints of Hanoi’s rooftop gardeners, along with the level of government support or disapproval for rooftop gardening. Our study is grounded in critical urban geography and urban political ecology and specific debates regarding informal life politics. Our findings reveal that Hanoi’s rooftop gardeners feel confronted by a critical food safety crisis, emphasising their need to access safe, fresh, and affordable produce through rooftop gardening. Simultaneously, they express scepticism about the capacity and willingness of formal political institutions at both the municipal and national levels to address and resolve these concerns. We explore whether Hanoi’s urban rooftop gardeners can be considered to be engaging in a form of everyday life politics and examine the dynamics emerging in this regard. We conclude by offering potential policy recommendations for Global South cities to support urban gardening communities.
Citation
Turner, S., Pham, T.-T.-H., Ngô, H. T. et Zuberec, C. (2024). Rooftop gardening complexities in the Global South: Motivations, practices, and politics. Geographical Research, 62(2), 248‑262.
The rise of the urban food question in Vancouver and Montreal
| Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Michelle Kee, Nathan McClintock, Tammara Soma (2023)
Regards croisés des études urbaines entre le Québec et la Colombie Britannique
Résumé
Citation
Pham T-T-H., Kee M., McClintock N., Tamarra S. (2023) The rise of the urban food question in Vancouver and Montreal. Dans ‘Regards croisés des études urbaines entre le Québec et la Colombie Britannique’ (Breux et Holden, eds). P. 123-150. Presse de l’Université Laval.
2022
Home-grown food: How do urban form, socio-economic status, and ethnicity influence food gardens in Montreal?
| Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Nathan McClintock, Eric Duchemin (2022)
Applied Geography DOI
Résumé
Citation
Pham, T.-T.-H., McClintock, N. et Duchemin, E. (2022). Home-grown food: How do urban form, socio-economic status, and ethnicity influence food gardens in Montreal? Applied Geography, 145, 102746.
Greening the alleys: Socio-spatial distribution and characteristics of green alleys in Montréal
| Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Ugo Lachapelle, Alexandre Rocheleau (2022)
Landscape and Urban Planning DOI
Résumé
Citation
Pham, T.-T.-H., Lachapelle, U. et Rocheleau, A. (2022). Greening the alleys: Socio-spatial distribution and characteristics of green alleys in Montréal. Landscape and Urban Planning, 226, 104468.
Subaltern struggles to access public spaces: Young rural migrants in Hanoi, Vietnam
| Danielle Labbé, Sarah Turner, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham (2022)
Population, Space and Place DOI
Résumé
This paper explores the relationships between youth who are rural labor migrants and public spaces in Hanoi, Vietnam. A host of constraints limit the access of these young subalterns to the city’s public spaces, ranging from a shortage of such spaces in areas where they live, to limited leisure time, constrained mobility, and social stigmatisation. Yet, these young men and women still manage to use and enjoy a number of public spaces in Hanoi for socialisation and recreational purposes. In analysing the practices adopted by these youth to access and use these spaces, we bring a stronger focus on socio-spatial critiques and everyday politics to existing understandings of rural migrant experiences in Vietnamese cities. We approach the everyday socio-spatial practices of young labour migrants in Hanoi as a complex amalgamation of both their individual subjectivities, needs, and desires, and the multiple obstacles they face to engage with urban public spaces. By unpacking these tensions, our analysis uncovers the specific importance of informal sidewalk stalls and pedestrian streets for this engagement. The multiple ways by which the youth comply with or subtly resist expected norms in these spaces uncovers their creativity in developing a range of everyday politics and spatial negotiations. Despite their subaltern position, migrant youth are able to challenge the material and socio-normative constraints they face in Hanoi to gain a respite from their harsh working conditions and pursue their desires for distinctively urban experiences.
Citation
Labbé, D., Turner, S. et Pham, T.-T.-H. (2022). Subaltern struggles to access public spaces: Young rural migrants in Hanoi, Vietnam. Population, Space and Place, 29(2), e2614.
Small city politics in the Global South: state imaginaries and everyday realities of a frontier city in northern Vietnam
| Ammar Adenwala, Sarah Turner (2022)
Urban Geography DOI
Résumé
In the northern Vietnam uplands, the socialist state’s urbanization plans are rapidly expanding the region’s small cities and re-configuring their built form. Drawing on conceptual debates concerning small cities, urban space production, and everyday politics, we investigate dynamics of urbanization in one such small upland city, Cao Bằng. While legislative planning documents and official ideologies prioritize Cao Bằng’s regional economic expansion, we find the resulting transformations in the city’s built form engender sprawl and fragmentation. In reaction to both these physical changes and retributions for “disorderly” space use, the city’s most marginalized residents adapt their everyday spatial approriation tactics, while implementing a range of covert resistance approaches to protect their livelihoods. We suggest that such contentions between residents, state officials, and the plans they implement, reflect broader struggles regarding the state’s “territorialization” project for these remote uplands, with the region’s small cities being adopted as useful entry points.
Citation
Adenwala, A. et Turner, S. (2022). Small city politics in the Global South: state imaginaries and everyday realities of a frontier city in northern Vietnam. Urban Geography, 43(2), 206‑227.
2021
Visualizing frictional encounters: Analyzing and representing street vendor strategies in Vietnam through narrative mapping
| Sarah Turner, Celia Zuberec, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham (2021)
Applied Geography DOI
Résumé
This paper examines the strengths and complexities of utilising narrative mapping to better understand and represent street vendors’ everyday experiences as they attempt to access public spaces for their livelihoods. We draw on three case studies from urban Vietnam to compare and contrast both vendor experiences and narrative mapping potential. Focusing on stationary and itinerant vendors in the country’s capital city, Hanoi, and in a rapidly growing upland tourist town, Sapa, we want to better understand the lived experiences and strategies of vendors who are often targeted by state officials for fines or bribes, as well as being demeaned for being ‘non-modern’ and ‘out of place’. We find that narrative mapping allows us to identify spatial and temporal patterns emerging from our data more easily than traditional text-based analyses, helping us to illustrate public space competition, frictions, and negotiations. Such an approach could make related research more accessible to a broad audience and support non-governmental organisations wanting to inform government officials with regards to how public spaces can be more equitably shared and utilised. More broadly, we suggest that narrative mapping can add nuance to analytical interpretations regarding marginalised populations in the Global South.
Citation
Turner, S., Zuberec, C. et Pham, T.-T.-H. (2021). Visualizing frictional encounters: Analyzing and representing street vendor strategies in Vietnam through narrative mapping. Applied Geography, 131, 102460.
2020
‘If I want safe food I have to grow it myself’: Patterns and motivations of urban agriculture in a small city in Vietnam’s northern borderlands
| Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Sarah Turner (2020)
Land Use Policy DOI
Résumé
Urban agriculture literature regarding the Global South reveals important knowledge gaps concerning spatial variations of food gardens across cityscapes, gardener motivations, and tensions with urban planning regulations, especially in locales beyond sub-Saharan Africa. In Vietnam, urban agriculture is growing in popularity and gaining media attention but there is little research as to why urban agriculture is practiced in smaller Vietnamese cities, especially those close to rural hinterlands. In this paper we investigate small-scale urban agriculture – or food gardens – in Lào Cai, a small upland city located on the Sino-Vietnamese border. We find a complex diversity of garden sizes and land management arrangements where gardens are built, including on state institutional land, thanks to informal arrangements. Gardener motivations focus predominantly on food safety concerns, contrasting with key motivations found elsewhere in the Global South. Throughout the city, albeit more so in newly urbanising sectors, this urban practice remains precarious due to irregular land access and confusing city authority regulations. We thus examine how urban residents are working to access safe food and contribute to their city’s urban food system while state officials tend to focus their priorities elsewhere.
Citation
Pham, T.-T.-H. et Turner, S. (2020). ‘If I want safe food I have to grow it myself’: Patterns and motivations of urban agriculture in a small city in Vietnam’s northern borderlands. Land Use Policy, 96, 104681.
The Territorialization of Vietnam’s Northern Upland Frontier: Migrant Motivations and Misgivings from World War II until Today
| Sarah Turner, Thi-Thanh-Hiên Pham, Ngô Thúy Hạnh (2020)
Migration and Society: Advances in Research DOI
Résumé
Agricultural expansion and resource exploitation are reconfiguring the Southeast Asian Massif in important ways, with related in-migration to these uplands increasing rapidly. Within this region, the northern Vietnam frontier has an unusual migration history, including state-sponsored resettlement and spontaneous migration. While analyzing the reflections of 90 migrants, we investigate the patterns and processes by which Vietnam’s northern uplands have been peopled with lowland migrants from World War II until today, revealing three key waves or temporal groups. Focusing on these groups, we compare migrants’ everyday lived experiences during and soon after their journeys, with a range of unmet expectations, concerns, and tensions becoming apparent. This combination means that while the taming and territorialization of this upland frontier can be considered structurally complete, for migrant settlers their new home remains an ambiguous social space.
Citation
Turner, S., Pham, T.-T.-H. et Hạnh, N. T. (2020). The Territorialization of Vietnam’s Northern Upland Frontier. Migration and Society, 3(1), 162‑179.