Architect Joep Janssen (1977) lived and worked four years in Ho Chi Minh City. In Living with the Mekong he gives apersonal account of how Vietnam and the Vietnamese people cope with the consequences of climate change. He travelled through the Mekong Delta and Ho Chi Minh City and met farmers and urban inhabitants. Joep Janssen analyses the influence of the rapid economic developments on water management. He interviewed Dutch engineers who are involved in plans for improved coastal defence. He compares the Mekong Delta to other deltas.

In a historical analysis he shows how the developments of the city and its architecture have been influenced by French colonials as well as the canal ring of Amsterdam.

This book illustrates the dangers that delta areas in the world are facing. However, portraits of inhabitants of the Mekong Delta also show how people in their own environment take initiatives to survive and benefit from the rising waters.