Author Description

The poor living environment in old apartment blocks is one of the major housing challenges in Vietnam. These blocks are called Khu tập thể (KTT). These soviet style collective buildings for people working in the administration and state-owned enterprises had only three or four floors with very small apartments, with sharing kitchens and bathrooms. Reading "Urban Puzzles: Once Upon a Time, KTT...", readers will relive beautiful memories of a life that was cramped but full of beautiful memories. The book is like a slow-motion film, bringing us back to a close-knit community life, where village love and neighborliness are nurtured through shared meals, street vendors weaving through every sidewalk and the echoing cries of the late night. The book also gives us a clearer view of the long-lasting cooperation between Vietnam and the Soviet Union, reflected in the architecture of collective housing areas for workers and laborers that bear the appearance of the old Soviet Union. And from those puzzles, we have been able to create urban areas and high-rise apartments comparable to the world's great powers.