Scriptie van de week Fentsch en Nauckhoff Sustainable Infrastructure Development – A Socio-economic Impact Analysis of Airport Development in Vietnam

In de landelijke scriptie databank zoekt onze redactie iedere week naar de pareltjes onder de vaderlandse academische kunstwerken. Wij speuren de maker van een scriptie op en vragen hem of haar het hemd van het lijf. Deze week is het duo Pascal Fentsch en Jes Halim Nauckhoff aan de beurt. Met hun scriptie Sustainable Infrastructure Development – A Socio-economic Impact Analysis of Airport Development in Vietnam hebben zij hun master Environmental Sciences in Sustainable Development aan de Universiteit van Utrecht afgerond. Hieronder een aantal prangende vragen die we aan deze buitenlandse studenten hebben gesteld. Over hun scriptie, studie en toekomstplannen.

Waar gaat de scriptie in het kort over?
In short, the thesis discusses airport operation and development in Southeast Asia. Governments throughout the region are investing heavily to modernize their outdated and frequently under-dimensioned aviation facilities. While these processes have been found to benefit countries at the national and regional level, the associated socio-economic impacts on people living in the vicinity of major airports have seldom been documented. The aim of the research is to illustrate the need for innovative, context-specific, and sustainable models of airport development that mitigate negative spillovers while fostering economic growth and sustainable development at the local level. We used the case study of Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Viet Nam to examine these processes.

Wat is de conclusie?
Our findings indicate that in the case of Noi Bai Airport serious considerations of sustainable development and long-term planning were excluded. Negative impacts include the destruction of farmland, forced displacement of settlements, and large-scale urban sprawl. As peri-urban communities situated around airports in developing countries typically display low levels of human and financial capital, a distinct lack of consideration for local households can have a potentially devastating effect on their livelihoods foundation. Inversely, if responsible and context-specific planning is used, our findings underscore the potential of the aviation industry to not only increase the competitiveness of national economies, but also improve the socio-economic well-being of local residents through employment, trade and service development.

Waarom heb je voor dit onderwerp gekozen?
We wanted to choose a relevant topic that we could both identify with and which had previously received little attention in the field of development research. Southeast Asia represents the region with the fastest growing aviation industry worldwide, but also displays considerable issues related to poverty and underdeveloped infrastructure. When we heard that Airis, an airport facility developer from Houston, Texas, was actively involved in projects across Southeast Asia we contacted them and were invited to join their team of experts.

Hoelang is aan de scriptie gewerkt?
From the initial idea to handing in the final paper it took us about eight months.

Hoe was de begeleiding van de scriptiebegeleider?
We were lucky to have a supervisor that was very proficient in his field and showed a keen interest in our topic. He greatly helped us to streamline our work and provided advice on how to find a suitable structure for the components we wanted to include.

Wat was het moeilijkst aan het schrijven van de scriptie?
For us the most difficult aspect of the thesis was the data analysis. We collected more than 600 questionnaires with 40 questions each. While we would have liked to include all the data, we had to prioritize and chose only the most relevant information. Also, comprising both an economic and a social impact analysis, the large scope of the project was challenging and the individual components at times difficult to separate.

Wat heb je geleerd van (het schrijven van) de scriptie?
The success of a project such as this strongly depends on the people that you work with. We received a great amount of support from our partner organization in Vietnam as well as Utrecht University. Also, writing this thesis as a joint project taught us that working in a team can be a great asset through fostering creativity and interpersonal skills.

En nu, wat zijn je carriereplannen?
Both of us hope to continue working on socio-economic and sustainability issues, for example in environmental consulting or a research-related position. Corporate social responsibility represents another field of interest for us.