Michael Waibel – författare

Investment treaties are some of the most controversial but least understood instruments of global economic governance. Public interest in international investment arbitration is growing and some developed and developing countries are beginning to revisit their investment treaty policies. The Political Economy of the Investment Treaty Regime synthesises and advances the growing literature on this subject by integrating legal, economic, and political perspectives. Based on an analysis of the substantive and procedural rights conferred by investment treaties, it asks four basic questions. What are the costs and benefits of investment treaties for investors, states, and other stakeholders? Why did developed and developing countries sign the treaties? Why should private arbitrators be allowed to review public regulations passed by states? And what is the relationship between the investment treaty regime and the broader regime complex that governs international investment? Through a concise, but comprehensive, analysis, this book fills in some of the many "blind spots" of academics from different disciplines, and is the first port of call for lawyers, investors, policy-makers, and stakeholders trying to make sense of these critical instruments governing investor-state relations.

Investment treaties are some of the most controversial but least understood instruments of global economic governance. Public interest in international investment arbitration is growing and some developed and developing countries are beginning to revisit their investment treaty policies. The Political Economy of the Investment Treaty Regime synthesises and advances the growing literature on this subject by integrating legal, economic, and political perspectives. Based on an analysis of the substantive and procedural rights conferred by investment treaties, it asks four basic questions. What are the costs and benefits of investment treaties for investors, states, and other stakeholders? Why did developed and developing countries sign the treaties? Why should private arbitrators be allowed to review public regulations passed by states? And what is the relationship between the investment treaty regime and the broader regime complex that governs international investment? Through a concise, but comprehensive, analysis, this book fills in some of the many "blind spots" of academics from different disciplines, and is the first port of call for lawyers, investors, policy-makers, and stakeholders trying to make sense of these critical instruments governing investor-state relations.

General international law is part and parcel of investor-state arbitration. This is the case not only regarding treaty law and state responsibility, but also with respect to matters such as state succession, the international minimum standard, and state immunity, all of which feature regularly in investor-state arbitration. Yet, although general international law issues arise in almost every investment case and often require extensive research, no systematic exploration of the relationship between the two exists. This Commentary is the first to fill this gap, providing a comprehensive treatment of the role of general international law in international investment law. It engages in detail with central matters of general international law, including in the practice of investment arbitration tribunals, moving beyond existing works which focus solely on procedural and institutional provisions. The Commentary's forty-six chapters do not focus on a single source or subject. Instead, each concentrates on a specific, relevant article from a particular source of public law - such as the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969) or the International Law Commission's Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (2001), among others. The entries combine detailed analysis with an examination of procedural and substantive aspects - such as nationality and unjust enrichment - and respond to the following questions: how have investment tribunals interpreted and applied the specific rule of general international law? To what extent and why does such interpretation and application align with or deviate from the practice by other international courts or tribunals? How could and should investment tribunals interpret and apply rules that have yet to feature in investment arbitration? This unique format means this commentary will serve as a central guide for all relevant case law and scholarship on international investment law.

Investment treaties are some of the most controversial but least understood instruments of global economic governance. Public interest in international investment arbitration is growing and some developed and developing countries are beginning to revisit their investment treaty policies. The Political Economy of the Investment Treaty Regime synthesises and advances the growing literature on this subject by integrating legal, economic, and political perspectives. Based on an analysis of the substantive and procedural rights conferred by investment treaties, it asks four basic questions. What are the costs and benefits of investment treaties for investors, states, and other stakeholders? Why did developed and developing countries sign the treaties? Why should private arbitrators be allowed to review public regulations passed by states? And what is the relationship between the investment treaty regime and the broader regime complex that governs international investment? Through a concise, but comprehensive, analysis, this book fills in some of the many "blind spots" of academics from different disciplines, and is the first port of call for lawyers, investors, policy-makers, and stakeholders trying to make sense of these critical instruments governing investor-state relations.

Investment treaties are some of the most controversial but least understood instruments of global economic governance. Public interest in international investment arbitration is growing and some developed and developing countries are beginning to revisit their investment treaty policies. The Political Economy of the Investment Treaty Regime synthesises and advances the growing literature on this subject by integrating legal, economic, and political perspectives. Based on an analysis of the substantive and procedural rights conferred by investment treaties, it asks four basic questions. What are the costs and benefits of investment treaties for investors, states, and other stakeholders? Why did developed and developing countries sign the treaties? Why should private arbitrators be allowed to review public regulations passed by states? And what is the relationship between the investment treaty regime and the broader regime complex that governs international investment? Through a concise, but comprehensive, analysis, this book fills in some of the many "blind spots" of academics from different disciplines, and is the first port of call for lawyers, investors, policy-makers, and stakeholders trying to make sense of these critical instruments governing investor-state relations.

This tribute to Professor Detlev Vagts of the Harvard Law School brings together his colleagues at Harvard and the American Society of International Law, as well as academics, judges and practitioners, many of them his former students. Their essays span the entire spectrum of modern transnational law: international law in general; transnational economic law; and transnational lawyering and dispute resolution. The contributors evaluate established fields of transnational law, such as the protection of property and investment, and explore new areas of law which are in the process of detaching themselves from the nation-state such as global administrative law and the regulation of cross-border lawyering. The implications of decentralised norm-making, the proliferation of dispute settlement mechanisms and the rising backlash against global legal interdependence in the form of demands for preserving state legal autonomy are also examined.

International law on sovereign defaults is underdeveloped because States have largely refrained from adjudicating disputes arising out of public debt. The looming new wave of sovereign defaults is likely to shift dispute resolution away from national courts to international tribunals and transform the current regime for restructuring sovereign debt. Michael Waibel assesses how international tribunals balance creditor claims and sovereign capacity to pay across time. The history of adjudicating sovereign defaults internationally over the last 150 years offers a rich repository of experience for future cases: US state defaults, quasi-receiverships in the Dominican Republic and Ottoman Empire, the Venezuela Preferential Case, the Soviet repudiation in 1917, the League of Nations, the World War Foreign Debt Commission, Germany's 30-year restructuring after 1918 and ICSID arbitration on Argentina's default in 2001. The remarkable continuity in international practice and jurisprudence suggests avenues for building durable institutions capable of resolving future sovereign defaults.

Globalization has deeply transformed the world economy: rule of law gained ground, especially in Eastern Europe and Latin America, poverty fell significantly, particularly in Asia, and capitalism triumphed, sometimes with massive state intervention. In the meantime, financial interdependence grew dramatically. The core argument of this book is that the high degree of financial interdependence forged during the “golden age” of globalization from 1991–2016 is now the main impediment to the reduction of the elevated public debts observed in many countries. Therefore, it investigates how the world economy may be deleveraged and how interdependence may be reduced or, wherever possible, made compatible with a deleveraging process.Readers of this book will gain a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted challenges stemming from high public debt burdens. Drawing on insights from economics, law, and political science, it argues that public debts may be reaching unsustainable levels in advanced as well as developing and emerging countries. This evolution is exacerbated by various forms of interdependence in which governments have been entangled since the globalization years. The book offers an overview of key issues, such as the interconnectedness between governments and “too-big-to-fail” financial institutions; the way financial crises lead to massive bailouts and significant increases in public debts; the debt sustainability problems posed by higher interest rates, geopolitical tensions, and climate change and the lack of coordination between the IMF and the Paris Club, on the one hand, and China, on the other hand, during the debt restructuring processes of developing countries.Owing to its multidisciplinary approach, the book will attract the interest of scholars and students from wide ranging fields, including political scientists, economists, and lawyers.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas.This Advanced Introduction provides the first concise and integrated exploration of the five core sub-fields of international economic law (IEL) (trade, investment, money, finance, and tax). Gregory Shaffer and Michael Waibel assess the contested principles, concepts, and contemporary challenges of IEL.Key Features:Brings together diverse perspectives to outline potential pathways for reformExamines binding law as well as non-binding instruments and mechanisms with significant impacts on private cross-border economic activityAnalyses how these five core sub-fields implicate other areas of law, such as intellectual property, competition, labour, and environmental lawAddresses critical issues and challenges in comparative chapters on governance and dispute resolution, liberalization and market access, non-discrimination, fairness, and state regulatory autonomyThis insightful Advanced Introduction is an excellent resource for students and scholars of IEL across its sub-fields. It is also a useful guide for policymakers and lawmakers interested in shaping and implementing IEL in light of contemporary challenges amidst considerable uncertainty.

Globalization has deeply transformed the world economy: rule of law gained ground, especially in Eastern Europe and Latin America, poverty fell significantly, particularly in Asia, and capitalism triumphed, sometimes with massive state intervention. In the meantime, financial interdependence grew dramatically. The core argument of this book is that the high degree of financial interdependence forged during the "e;golden age"e; of globalization from 1991-2016 is now the main impediment to the reduction of the elevated public debts observed in many countries. Therefore, it investigates how the world economy may be deleveraged and how interdependence may be reduced or, wherever possible, made compatible with a deleveraging process.Readers of this book will gain a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted challenges stemming from high public debt burdens. Drawing on insights from economics, law, and political science, it argues that public debts may be reaching unsustainable levels in advanced as well as developing and emerging countries. This evolution is exacerbated by various forms of interdependence in which governments have been entangled since the globalization years. The book offers an overview of key issues, such as the interconnectedness between governments and "e;too-big-to-fail"e; financial institutions; the way financial crises lead to massive bailouts and significant increases in public debts; the debt sustainability problems posed by higher interest rates, geopolitical tensions, and climate change and the lack of coordination between the IMF and the Paris Club, on the one hand, and China, on the other hand, during the debt restructuring processes of developing countries.Owing to its multidisciplinary approach, the book will attract the interest of scholars and students from wide ranging fields, including political scientists, economists, and lawyers.

Globalization has deeply transformed the world economy: rule of law gained ground, especially in Eastern Europe and Latin America, poverty fell significantly, particularly in Asia, and capitalism triumphed, sometimes with massive state intervention. In the meantime, financial interdependence grew dramatically. The core argument of this book is that the high degree of financial interdependence forged during the "e;golden age"e; of globalization from 1991-2016 is now the main impediment to the reduction of the elevated public debts observed in many countries. Therefore, it investigates how the world economy may be deleveraged and how interdependence may be reduced or, wherever possible, made compatible with a deleveraging process.Readers of this book will gain a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted challenges stemming from high public debt burdens. Drawing on insights from economics, law, and political science, it argues that public debts may be reaching unsustainable levels in advanced as well as developing and emerging countries. This evolution is exacerbated by various forms of interdependence in which governments have been entangled since the globalization years. The book offers an overview of key issues, such as the interconnectedness between governments and "e;too-big-to-fail"e; financial institutions; the way financial crises lead to massive bailouts and significant increases in public debts; the debt sustainability problems posed by higher interest rates, geopolitical tensions, and climate change and the lack of coordination between the IMF and the Paris Club, on the one hand, and China, on the other hand, during the debt restructuring processes of developing countries.Owing to its multidisciplinary approach, the book will attract the interest of scholars and students from wide ranging fields, including political scientists, economists, and lawyers.

The ICSID Reports provide an authoritative published collection of investor-State arbitral awards and decisions rendered under the auspices of the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), pursuant to other bilateral or multilateral investment treaties such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) or involving investment contracts entered by States. These decisions, which are fully indexed, make an important contribution to the growing body of jurisprudence on international investment law. The ICSID Reports are an invaluable tool for practitioners, scholars and government lawyers working in the field of public international law, investment treaty arbitration, international commercial arbitration, or advising foreign investors or States. Volume 18 of the ICSID Reports focuses on Defence Arguments in Investment Arbitration, including an opening piece from leading scholar and practitioner Professor Jan Paulsson, a founding partner of Three Crowns LLP, and a preliminary study by Professor Jorge E Viñuales, Harold Samuel Chair of Law and Environmental Policy at the University of Cambridge. Volume 18 of the ICSID Reports includes summaries, digests and excerpts of decisions rendered between 2007 and 2018 in 20 cases involving States from across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, reflecting the breadth of defence arguments in contemporary practice: Sempra v. Argentina, Continental Casualty v. Argentina, Cargill v. Mexico, Mobil v. Canada, Bankswitch v. Ghana, Yukos v. Russia, von Pezold v. Zimbabwe, Quiborax v. Bolivia, General Dynamics v. Libya, Philip Morris v. Uruguay, Devas v. India, Churchill v. Indonesia, Urbaser v. Argentina, Orascom v. Algeria, Karkey v. Pakistan, E energija v. Latvia, Mercer v. Canada, Antaris v. Czech Republic, ENKA v. Gabon, and Cortec v. Kenya.

The ICSID Reports provide an authoritative collection of investor-State arbitral awards rendered under the auspices of the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and other institutions. These decisions, which are fully indexed, make an important contribution to the growing body of jurisprudence on international investment law. The ICSID Reports are an invaluable tool for practitioners, scholars and government lawyers working in the field of public international law, investment treaty arbitration, and international commercial arbitration, whether advising foreign investors or States. Volume 19 of the ICSID Reports focuses on The Meaning of Investment, including an opening piece on the unity of investment by leading scholar and arbitrator Professor Christoph Schreuer and an overview of subject-matter jurisdiction by Professor Michael Waibel. Volume 19 of the ICSID Reports includes summaries, digests and excerpts of decisions rendered between 2004 and 2016 in 21 cases: Mitchell v. DRC, Malaysian Historical Salvors v. Malaysia, Bayview v. Mexico, Biwater Gauff v. Tanzania, Quasar de Valors v. Russia, Phoenix Action v. Czech Republic, Romak v. Uzbekistan, Fakes v. Turkey, Global Trading Resource v. Ukraine, HICEE v. Slovakia, Abaclat v. Argentina, Caratube v. Kazakhstan, Deutsche Bank v. Sri Lanka, Standard Chartered Bank v. Tanzania, Ambiente Ufficio v. Argentina, AES v. Kazakhstan, Enkev Beheer v. Poland, Poštová banka v. Greece, Gavazzi v. Romania, and MNSS v. Montenegro.

The ICSID Reports provide an authoritative collection of investor-State arbitral awards rendered under the auspices of the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and other institutions. These decisions, which are fully indexed, make an important contribution to the growing body of jurisprudence on international investment law. The ICSID Reports are an invaluable tool for practitioners, scholars and government lawyers working in the field of public international law, investment treaty arbitration, and international commercial arbitration, whether advising foreign investors or States. Volume 20 of the ICSID Reports focuses on Attribution of Conduct, including an opening piece by ICSID Secretary-General Meg Kinnear regarding the investor-State application of the International Law Commission's Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts and an overview of the international law on attribution in investment disputes by Professor Jorge E Viñuales. Volume 20 of the ICSID Reports includes summaries, digests and excerpts of decisions rendered between 2009 and 2020 in 16 cases: Bayindir v. Pakistan, EDF v. Romania, Kardassopoulos v. Georgia, Hamester v. Ghana, Tulip Real Estate v. Turkey, Mesa Power v. Canada, Almås v. Poland, Flemingo DutyFree v. Poland, Saint-Gobain v. Venezuela, Ampal v. Egypt, Beijing Urban v. Yemen, Tethyan Copper v. Pakistan, Gavrilović v. Croatia, Unión Fenosa v. Egypt, Ortiz v. Algeria, and Strabag v. Libya.

International law on sovereign defaults is underdeveloped because States have largely refrained from adjudicating disputes arising out of public debt. The looming new wave of sovereign defaults is likely to shift dispute resolution away from national courts to international tribunals and transform the current regime for restructuring sovereign debt. Michael Waibel assesses how international tribunals balance creditor claims and sovereign capacity to pay across time. The history of adjudicating sovereign defaults internationally over the last 150 years offers a rich repository of experience for future cases: US state defaults, quasi-receiverships in the Dominican Republic and Ottoman Empire, the Venezuela Preferential Case, the Soviet repudiation in 1917, the League of Nations, the World War Foreign Debt Commission, Germany's 30-year restructuring after 1918 and ICSID arbitration on Argentina's default in 2001. The remarkable continuity in international practice and jurisprudence suggests avenues for building durable institutions capable of resolving future sovereign defaults.

Bringing together an interdisciplinary and international group of researchers working on a wide variety of cities throughout Asia, Latin America and Europe, this book addresses, rethinks and, in some cases, abandons the notions of formal and informal urbanism. This collection critically interrogates both the ways in which 'informal' and 'formal' are put to work in the governing and politicisation of cities, and their conceptual strengths and weaknesses. It does so by focusing on a wide variety of topics, from specific forms of housing and labour often traditionally linked to the formal/informal divide, to urban political negotiations, cultural practices, and ways of being in the city. The book takes stock of and reflects on how contemporary urban informality/formality relations are being produced and are/might be understood, and puts forward an enlarged and comprehensive understanding of urban informality.

Bringing together an interdisciplinary and international group of researchers working on a wide variety of cities throughout Asia, Latin America and Europe, this book addresses, rethinks and, in some cases, abandons the notions of formal and informal urbanism. This collection critically interrogates both the ways in which ''informal'' and ''formal'' are put to work in the governing and politicisation of cities, and their conceptual strengths and weaknesses. It does so by focusing on a wide variety of topics, from specific forms of housing and labour often traditionally linked to the formal/informal divide, to urban political negotiations, cultural practices, and ways of being in the city. The book takes stock of and reflects on how contemporary urban informality/formality relations are being produced and are/might be understood, and puts forward an enlarged and comprehensive understanding of urban informality.

Bringing together an interdisciplinary and international group of researchers working on a wide variety of cities throughout Asia, Latin America and Europe, this book addresses, rethinks and, in some cases, abandons the notions of formal and informal urbanism. This collection critically interrogates both the ways in which ''informal'' and ''formal'' are put to work in the governing and politicisation of cities, and their conceptual strengths and weaknesses. It does so by focusing on a wide variety of topics, from specific forms of housing and labour often traditionally linked to the formal/informal divide, to urban political negotiations, cultural practices, and ways of being in the city. The book takes stock of and reflects on how contemporary urban informality/formality relations are being produced and are/might be understood, and puts forward an enlarged and comprehensive understanding of urban informality.

Bringing together an interdisciplinary and international group of researchers working on a wide variety of cities throughout Asia, Latin America and Europe, this book addresses, rethinks and, in some cases, abandons the notions of formal and informal urbanism. This collection critically interrogates both the ways in which 'informal' and 'formal' are put to work in the governing and politicisation of cities, and their conceptual strengths and weaknesses. It does so by focusing on a wide variety of topics, from specific forms of housing and labour often traditionally linked to the formal/informal divide, to urban political negotiations, cultural practices, and ways of being in the city. The book takes stock of and reflects on how contemporary urban informality/formality relations are being produced and are/might be understood, and puts forward an enlarged and comprehensive understanding of urban informality.

International investment law has become one of fastest growing fields in international law. Numerous arbitral decisions have been focused on interpreting the relevant substantive protections guaranteed by international investment law and other related questions. This book examines concisely the scope of each substantive protection, highlighting the ongoing controversies and serving as a guide to the leading cases on these protections. Each chapter of the book is dedicated to a different substantive protection in international investment law, namely: (i) expropriation; (ii) fair and equitable treatment; (iii) full protection and security (iv) free transfer of funds; (v) umbrella clauses; (vi) national treatment; (vii) most-favoured-nation treatment. Within this framework, the critical issues at play within each protection are explained and the main cases are reviewed. Each reviewed case benefits from a concise summary of the facts and the relevant parts of the decision being highlighted. Clear and comprehensive, this is required reading for all students and practitioners in the field.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world’s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas.This Advanced Introduction provides the first concise and integrated exploration of the five core sub-fields of international economic law (IEL) (trade, investment, money, finance, and tax). Gregory Shaffer and Michael Waibel assess the contested principles, concepts, and contemporary challenges of IEL.Key Features:Brings together diverse perspectives to outline potential pathways for reformExamines binding law as well as non-binding instruments and mechanisms with significant impacts on private cross-border economic activityAnalyses how these five core sub-fields implicate other areas of law, such as intellectual property, competition, labour, and environmental lawAddresses critical issues and challenges in comparative chapters on governance and dispute resolution, liberalization and market access, non-discrimination, fairness, and state regulatory autonomyThis insightful Advanced Introduction is an excellent resource for students and scholars of IEL across its sub-fields. It is also a useful guide for policymakers and lawmakers interested in shaping and implementing IEL in light of contemporary challenges amidst considerable uncertainty.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas.This Advanced Introduction provides the first concise and integrated exploration of the five core sub-fields of international economic law (IEL) (trade, investment, money, finance, and tax). Gregory Shaffer and Michael Waibel assess the contested principles, concepts, and contemporary challenges of IEL.Key Features:Brings together diverse perspectives to outline potential pathways for reformExamines binding law as well as non-binding instruments and mechanisms with significant impacts on private cross-border economic activityAnalyses how these five core sub-fields implicate other areas of law, such as intellectual property, competition, labour, and environmental lawAddresses critical issues and challenges in comparative chapters on governance and dispute resolution, liberalization and market access, non-discrimination, fairness, and state regulatory autonomyThis insightful Advanced Introduction is an excellent resource for students and scholars of IEL across its sub-fields. It is also a useful guide for policymakers and lawmakers interested in shaping and implementing IEL in light of contemporary challenges amidst considerable uncertainty.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world’s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas.This Advanced Introduction provides the first concise and integrated exploration of the five core sub-fields of international economic law (IEL) (trade, investment, money, finance, and tax). Gregory Shaffer and Michael Waibel assess the contested principles, concepts, and contemporary challenges of IEL.Key Features:Brings together diverse perspectives to outline potential pathways for reformExamines binding law as well as non-binding instruments and mechanisms with significant impacts on private cross-border economic activityAnalyses how these five core sub-fields implicate other areas of law, such as intellectual property, competition, labour, and environmental lawAddresses critical issues and challenges in comparative chapters on governance and dispute resolution, liberalization and market access, non-discrimination, fairness, and state regulatory autonomyThis insightful Advanced Introduction is an excellent resource for students and scholars of IEL across its sub-fields. It is also a useful guide for policymakers and lawmakers interested in shaping and implementing IEL in light of contemporary challenges amidst considerable uncertainty.

As climate change and urban development are closely interlinked and often interact negatively, this edited volume takes Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam’s first mega-urban region as a case study to analyse its vulnerability to climate change and to suggest measures towards a more sustainable urban development. The book offers an overview on land use planning regarding the aspects of urban flooding, urban climate, urban energy and urban mobility as well as spatial views from the angle of urban planning such as the metropolitan level, the city, the neighbourhood and building level. It shows that to a significant degree, measures dealing with climate change can be taken from the toolbox of sustainable urban development and reflects how institutional structures need to change to enhance chances for implementation given socio-cultural and economic constraints. This is merged and integrated into a holistic perspective of planning recommendations, supporting the municipal government to increase its adaptive capacity.The authors are members of a German government funded research project on how to support HCMC’s municipal government to adapt to risks related to climate change.

As climate change and urban development are closely interlinked and often interact negatively, this edited volume takes Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam’s first mega-urban region as a case study to analyse its vulnerability to climate change and to suggest measures towards a more sustainable urban development. The book offers an overview on land use planning regarding the aspects of urban flooding, urban climate, urban energy and urban mobility as well as spatial views from the angle of urban planning such as the metropolitan level, the city, the neighbourhood and building level. It shows that to a significant degree, measures dealing with climate change can be taken from the toolbox of sustainable urban development and reflects how institutional structures need to change to enhance chances for implementation given socio-cultural and economic constraints. This is merged and integrated into a holistic perspective of planning recommendations, supporting the municipal government to increase its adaptive capacity.The authors are members of a German government funded research project on how to support HCMC’s municipal government to adapt to risks related to climate change.