Preserving the Past, Shaping the Future: Introducing Heritage andland Readjustment in Vientiane, Laos
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2025-07-21
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en
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This thesis examines the way cultural heritage can be preserved within urban redevelopment processes in Laos, by analyzing the potential of LR. The research is oriented on Vientiane, where rapid urbanization puts pressure on spatial planning and heritage protection. While Laos has formal laws for heritage preservation, it lacks a structural framework in which heritage is integrated in urban development plans. Therefore, the current institutional capacities limit the effective application of LR as a policy instrument.
By conducting a comparative case study with China and Japan, both countries with composure to LR and heritage, policy strategies and governance structures will be analyzed. The theoretical frameworks used are the Policy Transfer-framework (Minkman et al., 2018) and the Planning Systems as Institutional Technologies (PSIT)-framework (Rivolin, 2012). This offers insights into the transferability of foreign policy and the institutional anchoring of this policy in the Laotian context.
The findings show that the successful integration of heritage policy and LR is dependent on three core principles: horizontal and vertical coordination, legal anchoring, and societal involvement. In China, heritage policy is used top-down as economic capital in national development goals, while Japan shows how local participation and creating identity through machizukuri-processes, heritage can be anchored in urban development. Laos can be placed in between these models with a centralized system without the implementation capacity of China, but also without the decentralized participation structures of Japan.
This study concludes that policy transfer to Laos is only feasible when it comes with institutional reforms, like the strengthening of local governance capacity, by connecting the heritage policy with urban instruments, and improving its participatory decision-making. Land readjustment could be a valuable instrument under these conditions for realizing sustainable inclusive urban growth. In this case, heritage is not lost, but it plays a significant role in the identity and economy of a city.
This study contributes to the scientific discussion about heritage protection in developing countries and offers policy recommendations for Laos and other countries that are coping with similar urban and institutional challenges.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen