Suburban in American that Affects Other Places in the World

            We might not feel the effects, or even aware of the effects, when living in the United States. But other countries around the world look up to what is happening in the West and implementing it in their countries. The idea of suburbia has been influenced the development of countries like those in Southeast Asia in the past recent years.

            The image above is a view of a subdivision called Phú Mỹ Hưng in Vietnam. The reason suburbia was introduced and gained attraction in Vietnam was the same reason in the United States – to have more square footage, standalone homes, green spaces, etc. You could see why people with financial resources gravitate toward the suburban idea because they can get out of the dense nature of the city. You can kind of see how dense the city is in the background. We could see the same influence of suburbia in Vietnam’s neighboring countries like Cambodia and Thailand.

            What I find quite interesting is how we are addressing the problem of sprawling in the United State now when this movement happened a long, long time ago. I just think of how the problem could be in countries like Vietnam where there is not an abundance of land like the United States, and not to mention that Vietnam is a small thin sliver of land with half of it facing the ocean.