By Christian Berg – photographer and blogger based in Ho Chi Minh City. Read Christian’s blog Dong Nam A or check out more of his photography.

Ho Chi Minh City – formerly known as Saigon – is Vietnam’s most populous city with an official 7 million inhabitants and part of the proposed greater Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan Area that is expected to have more the 20 million inhabitants by 2020.

While the city’s core still carries some colonial heritage, most parts of the city seem to be in a race to modernization. This incredibly fast urban development does not happen always without pain. This is what I tried to capture with these images.

A lone security guard irons a shirt. Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, 2010

A bridge crosses a canal on Nguyen Huu Canh street, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, 2010.

A woman on a bicycle on a new inner city highway, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, 2010.

The new luxury apartment building Saigon Pearl, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, 2010.

An apartment building appears behind lush tropical greenery, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, 2010.

A new highway development in District 4, Ho Chi Minh City, 2010.

Rush hour traffic in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

A tennis court on some of the cities most valuable land in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, 2010.

New Urban Development in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City, 2010.

An old catholic Church in District 2 is contrasted to District 1’s blooming skyline. Ho Chi Minh City 2011.

Ho Chi Minh City’s growing skyline seen from undeveloped land in District 2, 2011.

Read Christian’s blog Dong Nam A or check out more of his photography.