Sustainable settlement, continuing the craft village

The Zara weaving village community (Nam Giang) has maintained stable production in recent times thanks to support for products to reach the tourism market. Photo: QT

"Resistance" of craft villages

Sustainable settlement, simply understood, is the story of ensuring the long-term existence of original values ​​on the basis of maintaining traditional values ​​but still not hindering the need to improve the quality of human life.

The vital factor that challenges the existence of craft villages is the lack of interest of young people in continuing the craft. The most important reason is that the income from traditional crafts is not equal to or at least at a relative level compared to the income of popular labor occupations today.

According to experts, traditional craft villages have a unique history of existence and development, but in general, their potential for preservation and development can be assessed through the following criteria: facilities, natural resources, historical relics, raw materials, human resources, technical infrastructure, management policies, cooperation connections and community participation.

The more criteria a craft village meets, the higher its "resistance" to adapt to the development requirements of the times.

Of course, craft villages near major tourist centers like Hoi An will have many advantages if the above criteria are compared. However, according to the Quang Nam Tourism Association, not only craft villages in Hoi An, the advantage of many craft villages in Quang Nam is that they meet a number of important criteria that can promote tourism development.

The most common is the possession of historical relics associated with unique natural landscapes. To promote this, it is necessary to have a thorough planning as well as appropriate management policies, promoting connections with partners and customer markets to increase the vitality of craft villages.

There needs to be a reasonable solution for young people to access and continue to enhance the value of craft villages. Photo: QT

Find ways to tie in with economic stimulus

Architect Nguyen Van Nguyen - founder of Thanh Ha Terracotta Park project believes that in order for craft villages to develop sustainably, in addition to the three pillars of the current popular view: social sustainability, economic sustainability, environmental sustainability, a fourth pillar needs to be added: sustainability in human resources.

Specifically in the case of Hoi An, sustainable development requires organizing and supplementing functional spaces; organizing points according to residential clusters and service centers; renovating and linking cultural, community, religious and tourist attractions; improving the landscape system, maintaining the traditional structure of the village as well as connecting with the city's tourist routes.

Along with architectural space planning, Mr. Nguyen also proposed digitizing data on traditional craft villages. From this digital data, it can be exploited and used to serve the management, research and exchange of experiences in preserving and promoting the value of traditional craft village heritage.

Architect Ngo Viet Nam Son - Chairman of NgoViet Architects & Planners believes that to sustainably preserve the craft village communities as well as their cultural identity, it must be associated with economic promotion.

“Each region has different communities that build different craft villages. In the past, our ancestors developed craft villages to make a living at that time, but in the current context, there needs to be a reasonable solution for young people to access and continue to enhance the value of these craft villages.

The value of craft villages is no longer simply a product serving daily life as before. It is necessary to increase the value of craft villages through tourism or further, we must think of a development strategy so that craft village products are oriented towards industrial production, small-scale industry with high standards that can be exported to bring sustainable income, only then can we attract the next generation to continue the career of their predecessors," Mr. Ngo Viet Nam Son shared.

In fact, thanks to good management policies, effective external connections and active community participation, many traditional craft villages that were once at risk of extinction have turned around to create new vitality right at home.

The cassava noodle village (Que Son) or the Zara brocade weaving village (Nam Giang), through commercialization and industrial production of cassava noodles or becoming souvenirs serving tourists from near and far with Zara brocade... are typical examples of the above transformation.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/dinh-cu-ben-vung-tiep-noi-lang-nghe-3140972.html