El modelo de red híbrida exige un cambio de paradigma de los ecosistemas acuáticos en el delta vietnamita del Mekong

Sylvie Tram Nguyen

doi:10.12795/astragalo.2025.i40.09

Authors

Sylvie Tram Nguyen Wageningen University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6619-5555

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12795/astragalo.2025.i40.09

Keywords:

alteraciones territoriales, resiliencia al cambio climático, sistemas socioecológicos, modelos de red, adaptación del delta del Mekong

Abstract

As one of the world's largest rice exporters and most vulnerable low-lying deltas, the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD) has undergone radical territorial transformations primarily for agricultural purposes. However, human-induced water techno-managerial changes, coupled with climate change and sea level rise—causing flooding, drought, salination, subsidence, and biodiversity loss—have disrupted the Delta’s natural processes. This research investigates how these alterations exacerbate climate change impacts by analyzing human-induced fabric patterns. Employing Corboz’s Palimpsest method, a mapping analysis identified three dominant territorial configurations: 1) Star Node Connectivity, 2) Agrarian Grid Compartmentalization, and 3) Hybrid Diffusion. The Star Network Model aligns with Desakota rururban patterns observed along water infrastructure. The Gridded Network Model emerges from large-scale hydraulic projects that fragment water ecosystems. The Hybrid Network Model integrates built and natural landscapes, revealing adaptation potential. While the other two models inadvertently disrupt natural systems, the Hybrid model inclines to prioritize water and infrastructure in constructing diversified ecosystems, thereby providing insights into future resilience strategies. The study proposes reframing these models as Social Ecologies to foster resilience through a paradigm shift wherein the Mekong Delta is regarded as a subject and agency within the Ecological Transition. Thereby integrating livelihoods, and infrastructure in harmony with the Delta’s natural ecosystems. The findings regarding the Network Models facilitates an understanding of anthropogenic impacts across the territory and approaches to a more resilient Mekong Delta.

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Author Biography

Sylvie Tram Nguyen, Wageningen University

Sylvie is currently a guest researcher at Wageningen University Research (WUR), specifically in the Soils, Geography and Landscape division, as a postdoctoral mobility awardee from the Swiss National Science Foundation. Her Ph.D. was completed under Professor Paola Vigano, the section director of Territories of Urbanism at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (EPFL). Her research at WUR focuses on the Vietnamese Mekong Delta, which has experienced systemic loss of biodiversity, and the disruption of natural ecosystem processes due to the compounding effects of climate change. Her research objectives aim to reevaluate the history of Delta Management Plans by bridging the knowledge gap between the current planning process and the Delta’s physical characteristics as a territorial-based mechanism, to be reframed by urban design frameworks. Her research approach integrates scientific research advancements in environmental science and expertise in Nature-Based Solutions in water-sensitive urban design, to incorporate solutions as Delta Management strategies. As a former urban designer, she has led urban design projects across various integrated project types within multi-disciplinary engineering, urbanism, and landscape, spanning different countries such as the US, Hong Kong, China, and Vietnam.  In her capacity as a core faculty member at the University of Hong Kong, she has provided lectures and coordinated and developed the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) core urban design studio for the Master of Urban Design program. Her Ph.D. dissertation titled “Atlas Narratives of Anthropogenic Transformation across the Vietnamese Mekong Delta’s urban-rural Territories: Water Ecosystems as driver for the Social Ecological Transition” explores the impact of anthropogenic transformation on water ecosystems and their role in driving a social-ecological transition. She holds a Doctor of Science (Ph.D.) from EPFL, a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University (GSD), and a Professional Bachelor of Architecture from Woodbury University in Los Angeles.

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