Look Up Vietnam’s spiderweb, untangled
Why Vietnam's tangled power lines are 130 years of history hanging in plain sight - and why they might not be there much longer.
Luitpold-Alexander Zollorsch
@luitpold.me
Stumbled across this video by Hal On Earth about Vietnam’s infamous power line chaos and it’s way better than the clickbait title suggests. Focused on Hà Nội but applies to Sài Gòn and the rest of the country just the same. It traces the whole spiderweb from 1895 French colonial power stations through wartime destruction, Đổi Mới-era rapid electrification, and the informal repair culture that turned every pole into an archaeological dig of cables. The term he coins – “additive infrastructure” – is perfect: systems shaped by survival, not strategy. If you’ve ever looked up at a Vietnamese intersection and thought “how does any of this spider web mess work”… this is your answer. Surprisingly detailed. Recommended watch.
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