The urban parenthesis
Migration trajectories from rural delta and coastal areas of Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh City in a context of uncertainty
Clara JULLIEN (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne / Géographie-cités) will defend her doctoral dissertation entitled “The urban parenthesis. Migration trajectories from rural delta and coastal areas of Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh City in a context of uncertainty, under the supervision of Natacha AVELINE-DUBACH, Senior researcher (CNRS / UMR 8504 Géographie-cités) and Gwenn Pulliat, cResearcher (CNRS) in Geography (UMR 5281 ART-Dev) on
December 15, 2025
1:00 pm
Auditorium de l’Humathèque
Campus Condorcet
10 cours de Humanités
93322, Aubervilliers
(Métro 12 Front populaire ou RER B La Plaine – Stade de France)
A videoconference will also be available to follow the defense remotely. If you would like to receive the link, please write to the following address: clara.jullien (at) parisgeo.cnrs.fr.
Jury
Geneviève Cortes, Professor of Geography, University of Montpellier Paul-Valéry, UMR 5281 ART-Dev – Reviewer
Frédéric Landy, Professor of Geography, Paris Nanterre University, UMR 7218 LAVUE – Reviewer
Sylvie Fanchette, Senior Researcher (IRD) in Geography, UMR 245 CESSMA – Examiner
Olivier Tessier, Associate Professor in Anthropology, École française d’Extrême-Orient – Examiner
Ngô Thị Thu Trang, Associate Professor in Geography, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City – Vietnam National University – Examiner
Natacha Aveline, Senior Researcher (CNRS) in Geography, UMR 8504 Géographie-cités – Supervisor
Gwenn Pulliat, Researcher (CNRS) in Geography, UMR 5281 ART-Dev – Supervisor
Abstract
At the intersection of migration, urban planning, and environmental research, this thesis focuses on rural-urban migration in the context of environmental change, through a case study in Vietnam. Based on a multi-sited qualitative survey conducted between 2019 and 2022 in Ho Chi Minh City and three rural provinces in the Mekong Delta and Central Coast of Vietnam, it analyzes migration as an adaptation strategy to risks and global uncertainty. Migration to Ho Chi Minh City is a response to the need for adaptability, not only in the face of environmental changes affecting agricultural and aquacultural activities, but also in the face of social, economic, and land use changes. Often considered at the household level, across generations, and along a continuum between mobility and immobility, migration complements on-site adaptation practices (including the construction of protective infrastructure, relocation, changes in farming practices, and diversification of income sources). However, rural-urban migration leads to renewed vulnerability in the city, as highlighted during the Covid-19 pandemic. This vulnerability results from both economic and land dynamics, and the absence of appropriate public policy.
The concept of “long-term temporary” reflects the tension between living in the city and the prospect of returning to the village, sometimes after several decades. The codependency that connects rural and urban areas is reflected in the translocality of migratory practices. These migrations are made possible by a double tolerance: that of the central government, which tolerates long-term temporary migration in the service of regional development, and that of migrants, who tolerate ordinary precariousness. This convergence gives rise to the urban parenthesis, which encompasses both the prolonged temporary nature of migrants’ life trajectories and the transitory nature of the country’s development phase. However, land and environmental pressures on rural areas could jeopardize the prospects for return, as well as the fragile balance that underpins these migratory trajectories for individuals, families, and territories.
