Building green, livable cities

Building green cities is an inevitable trend in the development process to create space, landscape architecture and an optimal living environment for people. Grasping that trend, Vinh Phuc is synchronously implementing solutions to aim at becoming a centrally-governed city, a green, civilized, modern and livable urban area in the near future.

The planning of Vinh Phuc province for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050, approved by the Prime Minister , sets the goal that by 2030, the whole province will have 2 type II urban areas, Vinh Yen city and Phuc Yen city; 5 type IV urban areas including Vinh Tuong, Yen Lac, Binh Xuyen, Tam Duong and Tam Dao districts, of which Vinh Tuong, Binh Xuyen and Tam Dao districts will be built to become towns.

Along with that are 19 type V urban areas in Lap Thach and Song Lo districts. The urbanization rate is about 65% and Vinh Phuc basically meets the criteria of a type I urban area, creating a premise for the establishment of a centrally-run city and after 2030, Vinh Phuc will become a centrally-run city.

Dam Vac - The highlight of Vinh Yen urban area. Photo: Khanh Phuong

According to experts, the urbanization process is taking place rapidly on a global scale and Vietnam in general and Vinh Phuc in particular are no exception to this process.

Urbanization causes population growth, increasing pressure on housing and services to serve people's needs, leading to the risk of green spaces being narrowed or even eliminated, replaced by concretization and high-rise buildings.

Urban space becomes stuffy, cramped, the quality of people's living environment is declining. Therefore, the need to harmoniously solve the problem between economic , cultural, social development environment and natural living environment is an urgent requirement. In which, green urban development is the optimal model chosen.

Recognizing this problem, many years ago, Vinh Phuc paid attention to preserving and investing in developing urban green spaces with many practical and effective solutions.

In particular, priority is given to planning areas to develop flower gardens and green parks; promulgating regulations on urban tree management and a list of tree types planted on streets; propagating and mobilizing people to raise awareness in preserving trees and environmental landscapes.

Assign annual tree planting targets to localities and units; closely monitor the use of land for trees and public spaces in housing projects, new urban projects, etc. Up to now, the land area and space for green tree development in urban construction planning is about 2,000 hectares.

Especially for Vinh Yen city - the central urban area of the province, the province has approved the Green Tree System Planning for the period 2010 - 2030. Based on the approved planning, Vinh Yen city has actively implemented urban renovation and beautification projects, and developed public green spaces.

These include the Temple of Literature Park (Lien Bao); December 29 Park (Ngo Quyen); Vinh Yen City's amusement and entertainment park (Lien Bao); Youth flower garden at the foot of the overpass (Khai Quang); Provincial Party Committee residential area flower garden (Dong Tam)...

During the period of 2018 - 2023, the city will implement more than 50 tree planting projects combined with investment in building technical infrastructure and social infrastructure.

To date, the city has more than 26,000 trees planted on streets and public areas; nearly 194 hectares of lawns, colored carpets, and flower carpets. The average green area per capita is nearly 16 square meters, higher than the national average.

Although many remarkable results have been achieved, however, looking at it realistically and objectively, the development of green spaces in particular and urban areas in general in the province still has many limitations and shortcomings.

The green tree system and urban space are developing in a small, patchy and uneven manner; many urban areas, especially towns and type V cities, have not yet built flower gardens and green parks; encroachment, land violations and misuse of land still occur, typically the encroachment and narrowing of ponds, lagoons, regulating lakes and green tree planting areas.

Compliance with regulations on construction order, construction density, and green space ratio in some new urban areas has not been strictly implemented... These are shortcomings and inadequacies that need to be promptly addressed and resolved by the authorities.

Speaking at a recent working session with Vinh Yen city, Provincial Party Secretary Duong Van An emphasized: The development space of Vinh Yen in particular and Vinh Phuc in general is not much left if there is no orientation and solution to transform in accordance with reality and future development trends.

Therefore, the province needs to urgently transform the new economic development structure towards developing digital economy, night-time economy, circular economy, green economy associated with the fields of financial services, banking, insurance, tourism, etc.

Prioritize land funds to develop public infrastructure, transportation, and greenery; effectively handle waste and domestic wastewater, and prevent pollution of lakes and lagoons.

Especially with Dam Vac Lake, there needs to be management and investment solutions to develop Dam Vac Lake so that it becomes the "lung", a unique feature of Vinh Yen city and a symbol, a typical landscape of the province, contributing to improving the quality of life for the people.

The guidance of the Provincial Party Secretary has opened up and provided important directions for the province's common development space in the future.

This is the basis and motivation for all levels, sectors, localities and units in the province to promote the spirit of solidarity, creativity, exploration, research and implementation of effective solutions to soon realize the goal of turning Vinh Phuc into a centrally-run city, a green, civilized, modern and livable urban area.

Nguyen Khanh

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