Hanoi Creative Design Festival 2026 to spread creativity across five distinct spaces

On December 10, the Department of Culture and Sports, in collaboration with Architecture Magazine, held the Announcement Ceremony for the Hanoi Creative Design Festival 2026 Activity Framework.

The 'Flow' exhibition at the outdoor space of Tonkin Palace during Hanoi Festival of Creative Design 2024. Photo: Ngoc Tu/ The Hanoi Times

Under the theme “Creative Economy, ” the festival will unfold as a series of dynamic events from January to November, hosted across multiple locations in Hanoi, with the heart of the festival centered in Hanoi Old Quarter Area's Dong Xuan Market.

This year, the festival introduces a novel approach by spreading the spirit of creativity throughout the city, dividing it into five distinct spaces:

1. Heritage Space (Dong Xuan Market – Bac Qua area): The festival's centerpiece, where creators and designers will weave heritage with innovation. This space will pilot a commercial-cultural development model, connecting artisans, designers, and small traders to form a heritage-creativity-commerce experience route.
2. Market Space (Hanoi Old Quarter with 36 Hang Streets): A revival of the traditional “Market – Street – Craft” culture. Creative Hang Streets will emerge, highlighting fields of cultural industries through exhibitions, performances, and interactive experiences, linking the life of craft streets with Hanoi's elite craft villages.
3. Future Space (City-wide park network): Public design areas featuring international pavilions, competitions, outdoor playgrounds/Fablabs, workshops, creative camps for youth experimentation, and community activities, nurturing Hanoi's next generation of innovators.
4. Ecological Space (Red River sandbank): A platform for bold experimentation in landscape art, using local materials, circular design principles, and seasonal experiences. Plans include a waterway experience route along the Red River.
5. Community Space (Citywide): Encouraging embassies, international organizations, cultural centers, and local historical sites to participate. This space fosters community-driven projects, supporting artists with venues and co-organizing events.

Vice Chairwoman of Hanoi People's Committee, Vu Thu Ha, highlighted that the Hanoi Creative Design Festival has received high recognition from UNESCO. With a vision to establish Hanoi as a creative capital, the festival is expanding its scope to engage international participants, experts, and the global creative community, evolving from a single festival into a comprehensive urban creative ecosystem.

Vice Chairwoman emphasized: “Hanoi envisions projects and initiatives that leverage cultural values-tangible and intangible heritage, traditional craft villages, transforming them into creative ventures with commercial potential and long-term impact. The goal is to harmoniously connect cultural preservation, innovative thinking, and economic development.”

By Jenna Duong

Source: http://sodulich.hanoi.gov.vn/hanoi-creative-design-festival-2026-to-spread-creativity-across-five-distinct-spaces.html