Characterizing Urban Development Patterns for Informed Climate Adaptation: The Case of Can Tho City, Vietnam

Urban adaptation a critical issue for Can Tho located in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, where despite significant scientific unknowns and uncertainties, strategic and robust policy decisions and action plans are urgently needed. This paper presents the classification of the city into different spatial units based on housing archetypes, functions, infrastructure, degree of planning, density, accessibility and open space. The official land-use plan for Can Tho until the year 2030 was used to accurately map 78,527 polygons into 53 distinct structures reflective of actual land-use and densities. The findings show that the current built-up land cover of the city is 6,677 ha (4,227 ha urban residential, 1,580 ha public use, and 868 ha industrial). Interestingly, informal temporary housing was seen to cover 128 ha, while currently another 503 ha of land is under construction. The analysis gives special emphasis to the understanding urban flood risks, and the socioeconomic fabric of the city in support of informing effective adaptation responses.