Breathing Unequally: Air Pollution, Public Space, and the Class Geography of Exposure in Hanoi

Abstract

Air pollution is often treated as a city-wide environmental problem, yet exposure to polluted urban space is not distributed equally. This paper examines how class, occupation, and mobility shape the ability to avoid air pollution in Hanoi, Vietnam. It integrates three theoretical strands (the right to the city, neoliberal urban governance, and environmental justice) to develop the concept of “exit capacity,” referring to the socially differentiated ability to leave or buffer oneself from polluted public space. Drawing on Pulido’s theory of racialised sacrifice zones, the paper makes a theoretical contribution by reinterpreting its spatial logic through class rather than race in a Southeast Asian context. The analysis compares Hoan Kiem/Old Quarter and West Lake (Tay Ho), two contrasting urban environments with different levels of density, traffic exposure, socioeconomic composition, and access to protective indoor spaces. Based on secondary, document-based analysis of published spatial studies, monitoring data, and academic literature, the paper examines three hypotheses concerning prolonged exposure among low-income outdoor workers, class-based differences in exit capacity, and the distribution of state and market-based coping mechanisms. The findings suggest that environmental inequality in Hanoi operates not only through unequal exposure, but also through unequal capacity to escape exposure. Clean air therefore functions as a class-stratified urban resource: those with greater economic and occupational flexibility can purchase distance, mobility, or protective environments, while outdoor and informal workers remain disproportionately exposed. Finally, the paper argues that the right to breathe should consequently be understood as a question of spatial justice rather than merely individual risk management.

Cite

Trieu, V. (2026). Breathing Unequally: Air Pollution, Public Space, and the Class Geography of Exposure in Hanoi. School of International Liberal Studies, WRepo. https://wrepo.net/papers/breathing-unequally-air-pollution-public-space-and-the-class-geography-of-exposu