This article has been published in NRC Handelsblad.

The Mekong Metropolis project is presented by The Netherlands Architecture Fund in its magazine Lay-out #14.

Source: Evers, H-D., Benedikter, S., Strategic Group Formation in the Mekong Delta – The Development of a Modern Hydraulic Society, Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, February 2009.

A canal in the Mekong Delta is dredged by the ‘Grand Picanon’ in 1920.

The flood control dam in Ben Tre Province, Mekong Delta.

The construction of the Cho Gao canal banks in 1876 by Emile Gsell. Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archives, Paris, ‘Le Myre de Vilers’, nr. A000760.

After the damaging floods that hit the Mekong Delta in 2000, the Government introduced a program for sustainable improvements of the communities. The program was based on the idea of ‘living with floods’ to protect poor people’s lives, properties and crops. The Government built flood control structures like dams, dykes, water reservoirs and canals. In cooperation with Care International the Government also constructed residential clusters. These regions are protected by a dyke and the ground level is backfilled up to 60 centimeter above the highest flood line.