36 PARTICIPATORY COMMUNITY DESIGN ACTION RESEARCH: The Case of Phu Xuan Commune, Ho Chi Minh City CHONG Keng Hua, Jezamine CHUA Zihui, Zheng Jia, LEE Wei Ji Desmond, NG Zi Kai, NGUYEN Minh Chau, TAN Yen Lin, TAN Yen Ping Janice, TO Kien, VO Le Hoang Long, WONG Kai Qi Sharlene Singapore University of Technology and Design International Design Center & Opportunity Lab Keywords: PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH, COMMUNITY DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT, HO CHI MINH CITY, SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY Abstract Recently, there is a rise of civic participation across the world that enable the communities to participate more directly and actively in need-deining and decision-making processes, thereby improve their lives and living environment The roles of design and designers have also started to shift from “design for community” to “design with community” or “design by community” This research strives to understand and explore the participatory community design process in the Phu Xuan Commune, a suburban district in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Having undergone rapid development in the past few years, Phu Xuan now faces multi-faceted urban and community issues, such as inadequate amenities, lack of waste management system and shortage of housing Participatory community design approach is new and emerging in many Asian developing countries like Vietnam; Phu Xuan as a choice site of investigation has allowed for unique opportunities to work closely with local activists and universities Our research framework and methodology consists of three phases The irst phase, Community, focuses on preliminary site and community analysis A series of techniques, including community asset mapping, data and system analysis and a community workshop with the locals, was used to understand and identify Phu Xuan’s strengths, challenges, threats and opportunities The second phase, Co-Creation, is focused on deeper examination of issues and potential design approaches, leading to collaborative design with community to solicit stories, feedbacks, ideas and designs Fieldwork encompasses innovative and participatory data collection methods, including interviews with important stakeholders and documentation of the community through multiple lens such as time-lapse of public spaces, geo-tagging sounds and photos, and setting up photo booths to reveal the community’s social network The third phase, Continuity, is concerned with reframing of design into sustainable model achievable by the community, while reining the design continually through multiple iterations of Community and Co-Creation processes A participatory exhibition and a post- exhibition community dinner will be held in Phu Xuan in September 2014 to bring together the community to proactively envision and pursue self-sustaining ideas that would in turn empower them to overcome their challenges in the long run The research ultimately aims to break ground in participatory community planning in Vietnam and examines how it can be carried out in the speciic context of Phu Xuan Commune It is a proponent for active community participation in the planning process, and studies how to empower the people of Phu Xuan to take ownership of the community development process toward a better future Introduction Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is a collaborative approach to research that equitably involves all partners in the research process and recognises the unique strengths that each brings CBPR begins with a research topic of importance to the community, has the aim of combining knowledge with action and achieving social change to improve health and quality of life of community members (Minkler and Wallerstein, 2001) Tracing its root back to Participatory Action Research (PAR), CBPR has been a growing approach in dealing not only with health but also larger urban issues where every stakeholder from people to planners are involved in studying and solving these issues together This approach aims to oppose the unspoken perspective that researchers are superior to those studied and empower the people to something for themselves This trend is gaining ground in developing countries where many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and governments are experimenting with alternative approaches in tackling pressing urban issues amid rapid urbanisation From the usual method of “design for community” to “design with/ by community”, this cultural shift poses a new area to research with CBPR approach Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is the largest city and the center of economic activity of Vietnam, a fast developing nation in SouthEast Asia The city recorded a population of 7.5 million in 2011 and HCMC’s population is expected to grow to 13.9 million in 2025 , with suburbanization occurring concurrently Such rapid development brings about various challenges for urban dwellers and planners, such as competition for limited urban space, lack of amenities, sanitation and housing In this research project, we were working with Phu Xuan Commune of Huyen Nha Be (Nha Be District) in HCMC, building on the relationships established with the community by our Vietnamese partners – Ho Chi Minh University of Technology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport and Van Lang University 37 Phu Xuan Commune is located in the east side of Huyen Nha Be, with a size of 101 hectares and a population of more than 16,000 Surrounding Phu Xuan Commune are Sai Gon River, Long Tau River and Nha Be communes Phu Xuan Commune experiences one of the highest rates of urbanization among all communes in Huyen Nha Be In the past ive years, Phu Xuan Commune has developed rapidly in terms of infrastructure and economy However, many redevelopment projects are reportedly on hold because of land clearance issues Its strategic location and complexities in redevelopment would make for a suitable case study for this project approach of tapping on expertise across diferent universities, diferent disciplines (architecture and planning, information technology, environmental and system engineering), diferent cultures (Vietnam and Singapore) as well as knowledge and experience of the community would provide us multiple perspectives in understanding Phu Xuan’s urban issues In the following sections, we will describe the participatory research methodology, planning and implementation process, outcomes and relections of each of the research phases COMMUNITY - Community Design Workshop The irst phase, Community, focuses on preliminary site and community analysis A series of techniques, including community asset mapping, data and system analysis and a community dialogue with the local residents, was used to understand and identify community strengths, challenges, threats and opportunities Community Design Workshop Figure 1: Location of Nha Be A community design workshop was organized to provide a structured platform for students from diferent cultural backgrounds and disciplines including architecture, civil engineering, systems engineering, environmental engineering, information technology from three participating universities, to identify issues and opportunities together The three participating universities were Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) Ho Chi Minh University of Technology (HCMUT) and Van Lang University The workshop consisted of a rigorous and iterative process of community analysis, mapping, interviews, design, development and presentations over 10 days, exposing participants to the various approaches of addressing community issues through a series of exercises and site studies The aim was to understand the community and the underlying forces at work to scope the real issues faced by the people in Phu Xuan Participants were given opportunities to develop potentially self-sustaining ideas to empower the community to eventually overcome their own challenges Figure 2: Location of Phu Xuan The participatory research was conducted in three phases over a period of nine months, namely Community, Co-Creation, and Continuity, in order to study the urban issues that Phu Xuan residents are experiencing We hope that such multidimensional Figure 3: Diferent sets of techniques introduced in the Community Design Workshop including site analysis and Community Asset Mapping http://www.pso.hochiminhcity.gov.vn/c/document_library/get_ile?uuid=bb171c42-6326-4523-9336-01677b457b13&groupId=18 http://www.newgeography.com/content/002738-the-evolving-urban-form-ho-chi-minh-city-saigon 38 Figure 4: The Community Design Workshop in progress Figure 5: Site visit and interview with residents at Phu Xuan Phu Xuan Community Dialogue The community dialogue was held in the commune headquarters in Phu Xuan The workshop begun with the locals being invited to identify places where they live, work, learn and play on the map of their own neighbourhood A sharing session followed, where locals were given the chance to share their stories and views towards Phu Xuan Teams then presented their study of Phu Xuan and their proposals to the locals her land One woman shared that she was very contented with her life and that she valued the community spirit of Phu Xuan very much A few shared about the lack of entertainment and communal space In response to the proposals, a young girl also shared about her love for sports, learning musical instruments, reading and her wish for a better library Figure 6: Phu Xuan resident voicing out their opinions during the Community Dialogue The feedback towards the proposals was similar We realised it was due to the narrow scope of the ideas that were mainly architecturally focused on solving the lack of entertainment and public gathering space Some comments were regarding the aesthetic design of the libraries and parks, which steered away from the holistic and functional goals that would help the community Others commented on the proposals in terms of their feasibility and potential, but few ofered own ideas or constructive feedback These design proposals seemed to have been interpreted as ‘projects by students’ rather than points of references for the residents to inspire them to come up with their own ideas Besides, the objective of our dialogue as an educational and exchange platform was not made clear, which resulted in a misunderstanding of our proposals as solutions to be implemented by the government The turnout for the workshop was good, and it saw many locals, including youths, standing up to express their stories and opinions regarding the proposals There were several interesting as well as heart-breaking stories An elderly woman broke down while sharing her life struggles Another elderly woman was angry at the government for forcefully taking away Nevertheless, the workshop succeeded in bringing people together, and provided an excellent platform for the locals to share stories, and an opportunity to be heard by their own community Albeit generic, the feedback provided by the locals prompted us to go back and question the feasibility and relevance of our proposals to their lives 39 Figure 7: Presentation to invited panel during the workshop review Evaluation and Review Based on the feedback, the team began reining and diversifying our ideas, while revisiting issues identiied earlier While engineering students had previously seen this as an architectural exercise, they began to see the multidisciplinary nature of the workshop and ways in which they could contribute, coming up with refreshing solutions such as video games, alternate cartographies and energy harvesting With these new ideas, the team evaluated their feasibility by analyzing Willingness-To-Pay (WTP), Value and Capability A mode of assessment was Capability of the community, in which the team, had to refer back to site mapping to identify relevant community assets This made the team appreciate the existing implementations, infrastructures, resources, and even the community spirit and attitudes of the locals The team relected that it was a useful skill to a world of factors and trade-ofs, such as the fall-backs of tourism in Phu Xuan These methods pushed the team towards greater sensitivity, and to settle the proposals upon more realistic and feasible grounds The workshop culminated in a review by a panel of professors, NGO representatives, investors, researchers and lecturers Teams presented their understanding of the community, followed by design proposals Comments given brought out perspectives from professional and experienced point of view, and towards implementing a solution that could be sustained by the community themselves in the long run The panel ended of, strongly emphasizing the need for raising environmental awareness, and collaborating with unions, agencies and local authorities to make such ideas a reality Relections The objective of the workshop was to convey the concept of community design initiated through multidisciplinary, multicultural, multi-stakeholder collaboration, as well as to acquire a deep understanding of Phu Xuan Initially, it was evident in the architecturally-focused ideas proposed that participants were very focused in their own ields However, the end of the workshop saw the branching of proposals into novel directions, seen in their variety and integration across diferent ields Besides picking up new ways and skills of understanding a community and evaluating ideas, the human-centred and multidisciplinary community design process made the participants rethink the notion of design The process of working closely with the locals, and students from diferent disciplines and backgrounds, reinforced that design is not about the product, but about people and the process Despite attempts to comprehend the community through site visits and interviews, we were still unable to ground the ideas created during the workshop upon the deeper understanding and sensitivity of the issues faced by the community The main reason was due to the participants needed to spend the more time in the classroom to learn many basic skills and techniques than on the actual site itself During this time, the participants focused more on analyzing site observations, ideating, producing deliverables over a short period of 10 days At the end, the reviews by the community made us realize that the site visits and interviews with locals were insuicient to formulate more rounded and sustainable solutions for the entire community, which therefore prompted us to adjust our direction for the next phase CO-CREATION - Data Collection The phase, Co-Creation, was planned to focus on deeper examination of issues and potential design approaches After the workshop, the team recollected and relected on the indings in Phu Xuan It was apparent that deeper understanding of the community was needed, thus we sought to focus the next phase of the project on understanding the community through the lens of a particular issue Re-Examination Of Issues It was the irst time most participants were collaborating on a multidisciplinary project and exposed to CBPR approach An overview of issues faced by Phu Xuan was put together and Willingness To Pay (WTP) is the maximum amount an individual is willing to sacriice to procure a good Value is the ordinal value of the beneits the particular measure might bring to the community 40 reframed into four categories: Environmental, Social, Cultural and Economic Figure 8: Potential issue for research and design: waste management in Phu Xuan Initially, we wanted to focus the project on tackling the issue of waste management as we observed that all four partial sites of Phu Xuan were heavily afected by a lack of waste management, which is linked to many other issues faced by Phu Xuan Studying waste management would also be an indirect and less intrusive way to understand the community However, a community representative feedback that such approach was too externally imposed Thus, we redeined the next phase of the research to continue understanding the community through collecting more information about Phu Xuan together with the residents instead, while at the same time raising awareness and interest in this initiative Figure 10: Methods and proceeses of the data collection Surveys After organising survey responses, we realised that that there were three types of reponses: locals who had mild opinions, locals who displayed a strong sense of appreciation, and locals who actively sought improvement For this project, we hope to irst capture the interest of those with a strong desire to change the community We collected the contacts of all who were interviewed, and we hope to get in touch with them in the future During the classiication of the responses to the above categories, we identiied three main areas that the responses were targeted at: social connections, recreation and environment These were similar to the results we collected from our site visit to Phu Xuan during the irst phase Through the analysis, we narrowed down the scope of possible changes the residents could bring in the future Figure 9: Design of data collection We designed the data collection method based on two main criteria, i.e they should collectively capture as many aspects of the community as possible, and they should collectively exploit our diferent physical senses in collecting those information Finally, we came up with ive data collection methods, including interview with important stakeholders, documentation of the community through multiple lens such as time-lapse of public spaces, geo-tagging sounds and photos, and setting up photo booths to reveal the community’s social network Figure 11: Conducting a home survey in Phu Xuan Sound Recordings Mapping the sounds and photographs gave us a macro view of the community Through the soundscape, we realized Phu 41 Xuan was full of life in the day, but streets turn quiet once the sun sets This relected their rural, early-to-sleep and earlyto-rise lifestyle While empty wastelands were often silent, street corridors bustled with conversations and sounds of motorcycles, which is the residents’ primary form of transport This showed people preferred to gather in corridors between houses Conversations often had women’s voices, which imply men are usually not around in the day, perhaps due to work Sound recordings often captured children’s laughter and conversations in the background, which relects the prevalence of children in Phu Xuan playing outside Video Recordings At most locations, there was a recurring theme in that people of Phu Xuan enjoyed gathering in groups and chatting with each other They gathered over drinks at a roadside cafe, to play card games or even just to watch their children play To them, there was no speciic public space that they had to go to; it seemed as if they gathered wherever convenient Due to the unique nature of Vietnamese businesses where shop owners would operate in front of their houses, with barely any partition separating their living space and shop, neighbours would gather at someone’s house and cafe at the same time It is special because it blurs the boundary between what is considered public and private space In Phu Xuan, there is strong sense of neighborly spirit when small groups of neighbours would gather, especially in the afternoons However, we also observed from the videos that there are hardly any community gatherings that bring the whole of Phu Xuan together Thus, other than the few immediate neighbours around their house, the typical Phu Xuan household has very few opportunities to interact with others outside of that circle It could prove challenging to inspire community action to something in Phu Xuan if the people were not used to gathering as a community in the irst place Geotagging Photos Access to location-based information helped us understand patterns of social gathering spaces, cultural landmarks and even the empty lands that have the potential to be meaningfully repurposed Figure 12: Geotagging sound maps and photos Photobooth During the four days of data collection in Phu Xuan, the Photobooth team has interviewed more than ifteen groups of residents There are friends, neighbours and families and we have managed to pass each of them a group photo for keeping One particular group caught our attention We interviewed this woman with an older daughter who is around seven years old and a toddler daughter From the interview, we have found out that the seven years old daughter is not her biological daughter She has been abandoned by her parents when she was young and the woman keeps her after that All the while, she has taken care of her like her own child Through the photobooth interviews, we realised there is a strong sense of kinship in Phu Xuan Commune where friends, family members and neighbours care for each other Figure 13: Taking group photos to reveal social connection and neighbourliness The data collection process was fruitful We built a huge database of diferent types of information, all of which helped us to form a much clearer picture of the Phu Xuan community However, the amount of time allocated for data collection was too short We did not put in bufer time to respond and plan around things we could not predict, such as residents’ reception to our methods and new volunteers’ skill levels It was a pity we had to abandon one of the participatory method of asking residents to take photos of things around Phu Xuan because of lack of time and planning On hindsight, our methods could have been a lot more participatory We could have let the residents collect more information about themselves and their neighbours, which would have made for an interesting research We focused too exclusively on collecting as much data about the community as possible, and did not consider to include more participatory elements in our methods Therefore, we decided that the next phase of the project would continue to involve collecting information, but at a greater level of participation from the participants 42 CONTINUITY - Community Exhibition Relections The phase, Continuity, involves reframing of design issues into a sustainable model achievable by the community In this phase, we aimed to build a platform to bring together the community to proactively envision and pursue self-sustaining ideas that would in turn empower them to overcome their challenges in the long run Thus, we decided to organize a participatory community exhibition, which in itself would be shaped by data collected so far, as well as a community tea Our overall exhibition aim was to motivate and empower residents for change in the community, which is not an easy concept to express clearly to residents Brochures explaining this were given out, but a personal guide tour will relay the message in a clearer manner However, we were constantly shorthanded on Vietnamese volunteers to explain to participants There could have been ten minute interval tours of 1:10 guide-visitor ratio, so that the Vietnamese volunteers can explain the exhibition to more people at the same time Data Analytics and Exhibition Experience Design The method of presenting our data in the form of an exhibition allows the community to add on onto our research and rethink their current situation in the co-creation of their future We aimed to create a highly interactive and organically growing exhibition where visiting residents could leave their mark We sought to use the exhibition as part of the community design process, using existing data to further gather and extrapolate stories and ideas from the participants, such that the people become the researchers of their own community and through the process build their conidence, capacity and network as community designers Figure 14: Aims of the exhibition Our previous trip employed various data collection methods which we hoped to present in the exhibition in a coherent and clear manner As such, we grouped the data into the following themes: Stories, Treasures, and Future Figure 16 : Participants expressing opinions and interacting with exhibits Through feedback, participants commended the novel concept of the exhibition People enjoyed experiencing their community in new ways, such as through interacting with the sound map The children were also very enthusiastic about illing in questionnaires It was also remarked that the use of colour themes for each space brought clarity to the experience We created the Future section to be interactive and ever-growing, but we should have extended this concept to the sections on Stories and Treasures too Post-it notes could have been handed out to the participants to encourage the addition of their opinions or stories in those sections Discussion The importance of collaborators, not just the community While deining our objectives, we realised that empowering the community was not only about managing the expectations of the community, but also recognizing the support of stakeholders involved: Vietnamese Student Volunteers Figure 15 : Objectives of the themes: Stories, Treasures and Future and the Community Tea Both work time and informal recreational time spent with our Vietnamese counterparts were vitally important to the success of this project Working and playing hard together allowed for greater opportunities to build sincere friendships and trust, allowing us to forge our bonds as friends with a common vision to engage the community However, on hindsight, we should have spent more time equipping the Vietnamese with more skills to lead and sustain the project As initiators of the 43 project, SUTD could have better expressed the underlying vision of the project such that the Vietnamese students could eventually rise up to take ownership of the project This could have included demonstrations on PAR/CBPR, collaboration during each phase or more mentoring sessions to teach student leaders how to continue the project well Community Volunteers and Leaders Support from the local community could not be any less important When we posted about the project on a HCMC community project online forum, we were surprised to receive enthusiastic responses from people who were interested to ind out more, share their expertise and even collaborate with us Through this same forum page, we came to know of a resident of Phu Xuan who ofered tremendous support to our project She worked closely with us and ensured that we did not jump into implementing something that would not be sustainable in the community In the irst trip, when we were tempted to start prototyping and building our ideas, she advised us against narrowing our scope too early as we yet to have a deep understanding of the community She often ofered valuable local insights of Phu Xuan so that we could make more informed decisions on our next step She would always explain to curious locals about our project and rally them to support us She eventually became an instrumental igure in our project A leader of a union, which is a link between government parties and the people, also visited our exhibition and indicated his interest to support us further With strong support from locals, we are conident that the project can reach the next level Corporate Sponsors We were also very fortunate to be able to attract a few potential industry partners who were interested in the nature of our project This led to a real possibility of sponsorship of funds for the community to kick-start their initiatives, which brought much excitement to the locals While corporate sponsors usually take a passive role in the project, one particular sponsor was highly invested in the progress of the project This potential sponsor often took personal time out to check in on the project and provided many useful insights along the way engineering students would view the bigger picture and always direct the project towards meeting the macro objectives, architecture students would be focusing on better engaging the residents through design At the same time, another team member from a computer science background would igure out how to bring the whole project to another level of creativity and eiciency using technology Along the way, we learnt that it was not about implementing the best ideas from their ields of interest but about ultimately working as a team to reach out to the community in an efective and sustainable manner Understanding Culture And Language Cultural Sensitivity It is important to understand the culture of the community Some situations that seem socially acceptable to us might actually be frowned upon by the community One of the examples would be the ofering of free food to the residents during the exhibition’s community tea Our team thought that it would be seen as good will to ofer free food, but some residents took the gesture as an insult Another example would be how many residents mistook the invitation cards prepared for the community workshop as invitation cards to a funeral due to a visual resemblance we were unaware of As a result, many residents refused to accept the invitation without knowing about the event details If we had taken more time to understand Phu Xuan’s culture, we could have prevented ourselves from doing anything that might damage the relationship between the community and us Language Barrier Language barrier was a huge obstacle in understanding the residents We have been heavily reliant on translation through the process, whether it is obtaining inputs from the community in interviews or directing outputs to the community such as preparing exhibition materials This has also caused a chokehold in the preparation of the exhibition, when we had to wait for the Vietnamese students to complete the translation of surveys from Vietnamese to English so that we could understand them After preparing exhibition materials in English, we then required the Vietnamese students to translate them to Vietnamese We had to put up with some mistranslations of original meanings as well, which caused certain information to be inaccurate Multidisciplinary Team Government Intervention At Appropriate Timings The SUTD team consists of people with diverse nationalities, skills, ages and backgrounds The multidisciplinary nature of the team became its strengths Throughout the entire process, each member was able to ofer diferent yet critical perspectives and opinions of the project For instance, while the systems We learnt that while government support is good, we should seek help from them only at appropriate timings For example, during the irst trip, the government ofered their commune headquarters for the community workshop However, many residents thought that it was a government meeting and were 44 reluctant to go While a sizeable number of residents came, we anticipated more to show up For those who turned up, some even mistook the event as a ‘complaint feedback session’ organized by the government If we had used the commune headquarters as a meeting place in the later stages of the project, after more residents have a clearer idea on this project, it would not have confused residents so much Therefore, the timing for introducing the government’s presence in such a community design project is vital in ensuring that there is no miscommunication of intentions Wide Spectrum Of Data Collection Methods The introduction of the diferent data collection methods allowed us to have a multi-dimensional view on the Phu Xuan commune The interviews conducted with the community represents the locals’ perspective on their own community while some of the other methods we adopted such as the recording of the sounds at the various locations, geotagging of the signiicant sites and recording videos of the daily lives of the residents represents the outsiders’ view of the community Through the combination of both perspectives, they provided an alternative viewpoint for both the locals and the outsiders as they understood the community based on each other’s viewpoints International Design Centre (IDC) of the SUTD Special thanks go the following key contributors for their signiicant contributions in making this study possible: Student participants from all three participating Vietnamese universities - Ho Chi Minh University of Technology, Van Lang University and Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport; co-mentors Prof Nguyen Huong Trung, Prof Pham Duc Thang, Prof Le Thi Hong Na and Prof Ngo Minh Hung from HCMC University of Technology and Prof Pham Thi Anh from HCMC University of Transport The authors also wish to thank Victoria Gerrard from Opportunity Lab (O-Lab), Prof Kristin L.Wood and stafs from IDC; government oicials from Phu Xuan Commune; workshop guest speakers Mr Ly Khanh Tam Thao from HCMC Department of Planning and Architecture and Mrs Le Dieu Anh - a freelance community expert; workshop panelists Prof Luu Xuan Loc, Prof Pham Quoc Vinh, Mrs Le Dieu Anh, Mr Do Huu Nhat Quang from GreenViet, Mr Vu Linh Quang from Ardor Architects, Mr Alek Cannan from Global Green Growth Institute, Mr Pham Tran Hai from Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies; the principal and stafs from Le Van Huu Secondary School; Ms Nguyen Thi Thinh and other Phu Xuan residents and activists; and inally the entire Phu Xuan Community References Conclusion Guided by a broad framework of three phases (Community, CoCreative and Continuity), our participatory community design research adopted a versatile and dynamic approach, whereby we explored new and innovative design methodologies to engage the community and constantly re-evaluated our plans Overall, the project has provided us a platform to understand how to conduct participatory community design, and how receptive the Phu Xuan community is towards it While it would take a longer period of time for the whole community and all our stakeholders to fully internalize and embrace this design approach, we have already seen many enthusiastic early adopters Various activities including the community workshop, data collection and community exhibition, have helped us establish a real presence within the community Signiicant positive progress has also been made in the working relationships between the team and other key personnel These factors have encouraged us to proceed further, possibly through the prototyping of a few emerging ideas Next, we would continue to support the project by taking on a facilitator role and passing the baton to the Vietnamese students to be the key drivers of the project This shift in leadership is a step forward towards a self-sustainable project We look forward to seeing Phu Xuan transformed by participatory community design for the better someday Acknowledgements This research has been supported by the SUTD-MIT DeLyser, D, & Sui, D 2014, 'Crossing the qualitative-quantitative chasm III: Enduring methods, open geography, participatory research, and the fourth paradigm', Progress In Human Geography, 38, 2, pp 294-307 Freudenberg, N, & Tsui, E 2014, 'Evidence, Power, and Policy Change in Community-Based Participatory Research', American Journal Of Public Health, 104, 1, pp 11-14 Glassman, M, & Erdem, G 2014, 'Participatory Action Research and Its Meanings: Vivencia, Praxis, Conscientization', Adult Education Quarterly, 64, 3, pp 206-221 Lazarus, S, Naidoo, A, May, B, Williams, L, Demas, G, & Filander, F 2014, 'Lessons learnt from a community-based participatory research project in a South African rural context', South African Journal Of Psychology, 44, 2, pp 149-161 Salimi, Y, Shahandeh, K, Malekafzali, H, Loori, N, Kheiltash, A, Jamshidi, E, Frouzan, A, & Majdzadeh, R 2012, 'Is Communitybased Participatory Research (CBPR) Useful? A Systematic Review on Papers in a Decade', International Journal Of Preventive Medicine, 3, 6, pp 386-393 Winschiers-Theophilus, H, Bidwell, N, & Blake, E 2012, 'Altering participation through interactions and relections in design', Codesign, 8, 2/3, pp 163-182 ... there are hardly any community gatherings that bring the whole of Phu Xuan together Thus, other than the few immediate neighbours around their house, the typical Phu Xuan household has very few... http://www.newgeography.com/content/002738 -the- evolving-urban-form -ho- chi- minh- city- saigon 38 Figure 4: The Community Design Workshop in progress Figure 5: Site visit and interview with residents at Phu Xuan Phu Xuan Community Dialogue The community. .. on the Phu Xuan commune The interviews conducted with the community represents the locals’ perspective on their own community while some of the other methods we adopted such as the recording of