‘Mini’ Singapore in Vietnam? Outcomes of regionalisation and circulation of urban expertise

Abstract

Using the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIP) as a main case, we investigate whether and how Singapore’s regionalisation strategies and its unique mode of exporting urban expertise have played a role in development and investment outcomes in Vietnam. We focus on Singapore’s unique positioning in Southeast Asia, the involvement of the government-linked company (GLC) with the entrepreneurial spirit and tight curation to export the ‘Singapore model’, as well as the urban model itself, characterised by compact development, hierarchical system and city branding. Our analyses suggest that these features helped the VSIP not only enjoy political acceptance and administrative assistance from the Vietnamese government during the development process, but also differentiate the physical plans of its projects from those of other industrial parks. We also demonstrate that the Singapore GLC’s leadership to imitate the Singapore model of industrial parks has a significant, positive association with actual investment in VSIPs. We find that this leadership, with tight curation, has contributed to keeping the Singapore model more or less intact in Vietnam. Our research adds the evidence-based understanding to the scholarship on regionalisation and circulation of urban expertise, especially within Southeast Asia.