Country VietnamMunicipalityHo Chi Minh CityWardAn Khánh, Ho Chi Minh CityArea6.57 km2 (2.54 sq mi)
Thủ Thiêm new urban area (Vietnamese: Khu đô thị mới Thủ Thiêm) is an 6.57 km2 (1,620-acre) ongoing urban redevelopment project and a planned community locates in the former District 2 and subsequently Thủ Đức City, now An Khánh ward of Ho Chi Minh City. It is currently under development.[1] As of 2026, the area has been chosen to be the new seat of government for the expanded Ho Chi Minh City.
Thủ Thiêm is situated on a point bar of the Saigon River, which also references as Thủ Thiêm Peninsula, in the municipal division known as Thủ Đức. On the opposite bank of the river are the area of former Bình Thạnh District, District 1—Ho Chi Minh City’s historic central business district—District 4 and District 7. It includes some wards of Thủ Đức: Thủ Thiêm, An Lợi Đông and a part of An Khánh (now is all An Khánh, Ho Chi Minh City).
Before its clearance for redevelopment, Thủ Thiêm was one of the most densely settled areas of Ho Chi Minh City and included a central market established in 1751, around the Saigon riverside area.[2][3] Beginning in 2002 and continuing for almost a decade, between 14,000 and 15,000 households were removed from the development site and resettled.[4][5]
Master planning for the site began in 1998, anticipating the completion of several bridges and tunnels that would connect District 2 to Ho Chi Minh City’s central business district across the river.[5] In 2003, Sasaki Associates won an international design competition to plan the site.[5]
The project is being carried out in stages, and is scheduled to be completed in 15 years, depending on the investment capital. Priority is given to the infrastructure investors with favorable assistance for the city government as well as preferential taxation.
Many local residents protested against relocations.[6]
The urban area covers an area of 7 square kilometres and consists of several sections: residences, pools, parks and office sections. Almost all buildings here are to be of 10 to 40-story. Once completed, this new urban area will be the city’s new center along with the historic center District 1. This new urban area is connected with the existing downtown with 5 bridges tally, including finished Thủ Thiêm Bridge (connect to Bình Thạnh district), Ba Son Bridge (connect to District 1; both are completed), Saigon River Pedestrian Bridge (connect to Mê Linh Square, District 1; under construction), Thu Thiem 3 Bridge (connect to District 4), Thu Thiem 4 Bridge (connect to District 7; both are planned) and a completed 6-lane underwater tunnel.
Based on the urban railway planning of Ho Chi Minh City 2025, Thủ Thiêm will have three MRT Lines, including:
- Ho Chi Minh City Metro Line 7 (planned), run along under Trần Bạch Đằng Blvd (Crescent Blvd – Route R1), connecting with Tân Kiên Medical Campus (Bình Chánh), Phú Mỹ Hưng urban area, Thanh Đa – Bình Quới, Trường Thọ New Town and Saigon Hi-Tech Park
- Ho Chi Minh City Metro Line 2 (under construction), run along under Mai Chí Thọ Blvd (East-West Highway, Route T13) connecting with Bến Thành and Củ Chi (Northwest urban area)
- Thủ Thiêm Station is an interchange of Line 2 with Thủ Thiêm-Long Thành Light Rail and North-South express railway, connecting Thủ Thiêm with Long Thanh International Airport, both railways run along with the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway
- Harms, Erik (2012). “Beauty as control in the new Saigon: Eviction, new urban zones, and atomized dissent in a Southeast Asian city” (PDF). American Ethnologist. 39 (4): 735-750. doi:10.1111/j.1548-1425.2012.01392.x.
- Harms, Erik (2013). “Eviction Time in the New Saigon: Temporalities of Displacement in the Rubble of Development”. Cultural Anthropology. 28 (2): 344-368. doi:10.1111/cuan.12007.
- Thủ Thiêm New Urban Project PMU official website
- Master Plan of Thủ Thiêm new urban area released Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine, on Tuoi Tre daily (4 March 2006) (Vietnamese only)
- New Urban Vietnam—A National Science Foundation-sponsored study of Thủ Thiêm and other new urban developments in Vietnam
- Thu Thiem new urban area – An overview of the project with archive of news links.
10°46′24″N 106°43′22″E / 10.773285°N 106.722912°E / 10.773285; 106.722912
