People who identify contemporary Vietnamese cities.

Báo Thanh niên•09/02/2025

As an urban planner, what are your observations on the current architecture of public buildings and urban housing in Vietnam? In your opinion, what are the shortcomings in our urban architecture?

After many years of economic hardship, when our country became more prosperous, people wanted to import anything new and interesting. During the opening-up period, many new things flooded into Vietnam, including crowded construction projects with a variety of colors, styles, and materials, creating a chaotic and mixed architectural trend, with the potential to negatively impact the unique urban identity of Vietnam.

Secondly, development is increasingly moving towards unsustainable trends. Everything is geared towards economic gain, readily encroaching on heritage sites and urban spaces to build high-rises and concrete over the scarce green spaces and waterways of the inner city, causing negative impacts on the environment, traffic congestion, pollution, smog, flooding, etc.

According to architect Ngo Viet Nam Son, a crucial strategy for urban renovation and expansion is that infrastructure must always be one step ahead.

He once stated: "Urban planning needs to meet the legitimate and unique needs and interests of all segments of the population, from rich to poor, from old to young, from investors and businesses to small traders, from locals to immigrants." Does urban planning in Ho Chi Minh City follow this proposal?

For a plan to be feasible, it must be based on research into the current land situation, economy, society, etc., in order to meet the diverse needs of all segments of the population.

Urban planning in Ho Chi Minh City in particular, and in Vietnam in general, has not yet been able to orient itself towards development trends. Instead, it is often heavily influenced by short-term visions based on political terms and real estate speculation, resulting in misalignment and failure to meet practical needs.

For example, while the supply of affordable housing for workers and immigrants is insufficient, there is an overemphasis on building luxury apartments beyond the reach of the majority. This leads to a situation where buyers primarily purchase for investment purposes rather than for personal use, yet find it difficult to find tenants who can afford the rent, thus creating "ghost towns" within major cities. On the other hand, many high-rise housing areas for resettlement, such as in Thu Thiem, also lack residents because the focus has only been on providing living space, without addressing the needs for on-site employment and amenities that are affordable for residents.

What are the main reasons why Ho Chi Minh City in particular, and many other cities in Vietnam in general, are becoming heavily urbanized, polluted, and experiencing severe flooding during rainfall? Is it due to urban planning or the lack of public awareness?

There are two main reasons: human error and poor management!

When investors are eager to maximize profits, and want to cut down trees, fill in lakes and canals, and pave parks with concrete to increase land for real estate projects, urban managers must monitor and strictly handle violations to protect the common interests of residents.

Currently, the inner city of Ho Chi Minh City has only about 0.5 m2 of green space per person, far too low compared to the level recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to ensure the health of residents, which is a minimum of 9 m2, and ideally over 50 m2 per person. Excessive concrete construction in Ho Chi Minh City, as well as on the highlands and islands, is causing increasing urban flooding.

He once warned that Thu Duc City could become a massive real estate project if sustainable development criteria were disregarded. According to him, is Thu Duc City truly a satellite city yet, and what needs to be done to change that?

Thu Duc City is the first city within a city in the country. The biggest challenge ahead is that Thu Duc City cannot simply be a summation of the achievements of the three previous districts; it needs to demonstrate the effectiveness of its groundbreaking thinking and achieve far greater accomplishments than before, not only in the scale of real estate projects but also in its contribution to overall socio-economic growth, in order to have a scientific basis for considering replicating this model in Ho Chi Minh City and nationwide.

Thu Duc City

Urban development cannot simply focus on the superficial appearance of highways and luxury shopping malls; it must also consider the environment, green spaces, and quality of life. According to him, investing in culture, parks, schools, hospitals, etc., is far more expensive than commercial investment, but that is truly a wise investment that improves the quality of life for urban residents. Could he elaborate on this?

In Vietnam, many new residential areas often experience poor road connectivity, traffic congestion, and flooding due to weak infrastructure and a lack of social amenities.

A crucial strategy for urban renovation and expansion is to ensure that infrastructure is always completed ahead of schedule, creating a foundation for sustainable development. This includes technical infrastructure (roads, water supply and drainage, electricity, etc.) and social infrastructure (accompanying amenities such as schools, hospitals, parks, commercial services, sports centers, etc.).

Thu Thiem area, Thu Duc City

Could you share some international experiences in heritage conservation that could be applied in Ho Chi Minh City?

The preservation of national heritage, managed by the Law on Cultural Heritage, still has many shortcomings because it focuses only on the preservation of historical sites, which account for a small percentage of all planned architectural heritage.

In reality, over 80% of urban architectural heritage structures are not historical monuments, so it may only be necessary to preserve a part of them in their original state, while the rest and surrounding areas can be renovated, upgraded, or expanded, integrating new functions, as long as they harmonize with the heritage space of the main structure.

That was also key to the success of our Xintiandi Old Town conservation and renovation project in Shanghai (China), demonstrating that conservation can be highly effective economically, as this area has now become one of the biggest contributors to the city's budget.

Public transport planning is also part of the overall master plan of modern urban planning. How will the operation of Ho Chi Minh City's Metro Line 1 affect modern urban life?

The development of a metro and bus system covering the inner city opens up new opportunities for people to change their way of life and work in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.

Public transportation integrated with urban development following the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) model is a cutting-edge urban development strategy. In this model, residents within the TOD's influence zone (areas where people can walk to a metro station or bus stop connecting to a metro station within approximately 10 minutes, or about 800 meters) can conveniently commute to work, public amenities, commercial services, and entertainment venues using public transportation.

Dr. Ngo Viet Nam Son, an architect and PhD holder, conducts a survey of the Saigon River in collaboration with Ho Chi Minh City leaders.

What is the role and necessity of the metro in the future development of Ho Chi Minh City?

No megacity in the world with a population of over 10 million can function effectively without a good public transportation system. Having a high-capacity public transportation system, such as a metro or rapid bus system, to reduce traffic congestion and maintain environmental quality is a vital, indispensable issue, not an option, for megacities.

A well-functioning metro and bus system will transform the urban landscape and address current urban traffic problems such as traffic congestion, street vending encroaching on sidewalks, and littering. Will the expansion of the metro system across the entire city change people's transportation culture and current lifestyles?

The metro will undoubtedly change people's commuting culture. Firstly, the public has long been accustomed to using motorbikes even for short distances, but now they will gradually use public transport more because it saves time and money.

Secondly, the whole family can walk instead of being driven to and from school as before. Children can walk to school, parents can walk to work or stop by the shopping mall on their way home, and the elderly can walk to the park or to the health care center.

Thirdly, the sidewalks in the metro area will have to be returned to pedestrians, becoming more spacious, clean, and beautiful, with shade trees or shelters to protect them from rain and sun.

Fourth, people's health is better because they walk more every day.

Ben Thanh Station

He once stated that the goal of building several hundred kilometers of urban railway in the next 10 years is not easy for Ho Chi Minh City. What must the city do to achieve this? What lessons can be learned from the construction of Metro Line 1 to implement subsequent lines more quickly and efficiently, avoiding the delays and difficulties of the past, in order to successfully build seven metro lines in the future?

Metro Line 1 took nearly 20 years to complete. We can shorten the time if we address the causes of the delays – legal, financial, managerial, human resources, budgetary… – and then apply a standardized process for all seven lines simultaneously, similar to how Shanghai and Beijing built dozens of metro lines in 10 years. A specialized metro and urban development (TOD) consortium should be established to streamline mechanisms, promote multi-sectoral cooperation, manage finances, link investments, attract private capital, and train human resources for the project.

How can Ho Chi Minh City continue to develop into a civilized and modern metropolis while still preserving the soul and essence of old Saigon?

Ho Chi Minh City, with over 300 years of history, can be envisioned as a multi-faceted urban landscape with many chapters, from the past to the present and the future, encompassing the old Saigon heritage center, the historical Cholon area, the Ben Binh Dong area, the Thu Thiem financial and economic center, the Thu Duc university and high-tech urban area, the Thanh Da ecological urban area, the Can Gio coastal ecological urban area, and new modern high-rise urban areas with a 21st-century identity… This identity will become the unique value of a prosperous Ho Chi Minh City in the future, on par with leading cities around the world!