Heritage-led gentrification in Southeast Asian historic cities: A comparative analysis of Chiang Mai Old City and Hue Citadel
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This article examines heritage-led gentrification in Southeast Asia through a comparative analysis of two historic cities: Chiang Mai Old City in Thailand and Hue Citadel in Vietnam. While both cities are UNESCO-recognized heritage environments and major tourism destinations, they are shaped by contrasting governance regimes and development logics. The study examines how different political and institutional contexts influence the processes, indicators, and outcomes of heritage-led gentrification. Methodologically, the research adopts a comparative case study approach, drawing on secondary data from planning documents, spatial studies, policy reports, and scholarly literature. A consistent set of indicators—land-use transformation, property market change, demographic displacement, tourism intensity, and heritage meaning—is applied to both cases. The findings reveal two distinct trajectories. In Chiang Mai, gentrification unfolds incrementally through market-driven tourism economies, resulting in commercial conversion, rising property values, and gradual cultural displacement within a living-heritage environment. In Hue, transformation is driven primarily by state-led conservation policies, with large-scale relocation programs clearing residential areas to create a monumental imperial landscape. Despite these different mechanisms, each case demonstrates a shared paradox: the preservation of built heritage often coincides with the erosion of everyday cultural practices and social networks. Based on this comparison, the article proposes a preliminary theoretical framework distinguishing between market-mediated living-heritage gentrification and state-led monumental-heritage gentrification. This typology contributes to emerging debates on Global South urbanism by highlighting how governance regimes shape heritage transformation beyond classical Euro-American gentrification models.
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