Hanoi plans to build two cities in the North and West with the expectation of creating new growth poles, however this model will face many challenges, according to planning experts.
After 15 years of expansion and 12 years of implementing the master plan for the capital, Hanoi still has not achieved the goal of population dispersion and reducing pressure on inner-city infrastructure. While the five satellite cities of Hoa Lac, Son Tay, Xuan Mai, Phu Xuyen and Soc Son are in a state of "suspended" planning, the city's population has exceeded the forecast threshold by nearly one million, about 8.5 million, causing urban infrastructure to become increasingly overloaded.
Two cities under the capital
In the submission sent to the City People's Council in early July on adjusting the general planning of the Capital until 2045, with a vision to 2065, the city government still maintains the orientation of forming satellite cities, but proposes a "city within a city" model, with the northern and western cities directly under the Capital.
The city north of the Red River is 633 km2 wide, including three districts of Dong Anh, Soc Son and Me Linh, with a population of about 3.25 million by 2045. In the general planning for the construction of the capital Hanoi to 2030 and a vision to 2050 in 2011 (plan 1259), Soc Son is one of five satellite cities, but now the northern city will cover it. The city will exploit the advantages of Noi Bai airport, industrial parks, creating a new modern urban image associated with regional services.
The Western City is 251 km2 wide, covering two satellite cities Hoa Lac and Xuan Mai, expanding to the Tich River and Bui River, with a population of about 1.2 million by 2045. The city develops science, technology and education in a modern, ecological direction.
The two satellite towns of Son Tay and Phu Xuyen and the ecological towns and townships still follow the previous structure.
According to the explanation of Hanoi leaders, the above model will attract investment resources to focus on two large urban areas instead of 5 satellite cities as in the 1259 planning. At the same time, the city directly under the capital is a solution to create a mechanism for the urban government to be dynamic and flexible in calling for investment thanks to its independence.
A representative of the Hanoi Institute of Urban Planning - the research organization, explained that the reason for choosing the northern city was to take advantage of the potential of Noi Bai airport and the advantages of the Nhat Tan - Noi Bai economic axis. This is the gateway city of Hanoi in the Kunming - Lao Cai - Hai Phong - Quang Ninh economic corridor. The area has a large enough land fund and is close to major traffic routes.
For the western city, Hoa Lac satellite city has been planned to become a high-tech science and technology center, a high-quality training and education center. The new city will focus on research centers, universities, laboratories, digital technology, artificial intelligence, technology application and transfer centers. Xuan Mai is identified as a center for education, research and educational support services.
Both urban areas have land funds, development potential and convenient traffic connections with the central urban area and neighboring provinces. The western area has available national infrastructure such as Hanoi National University, Hoa Lac High-Tech Park and Hoa Lac military airport, Mieu Mon can supplement civil functions.
Research area of two cities north and west of Hanoi. Graphics: Do Nam
Agreeing with the study of a city within the capital, Dr. Architect Ngo Trung Hai, Vice President of the Vietnam Urban Planning and Development Association, commented that Hanoi is more than 3,000 km2 wide and with the current population growth, it is very favorable to establish a city within.
The world trend is that the number of people living in urban areas is greater than in rural areas, urban areas are gradually getting bigger, and there is a need to establish separate administrative units. This is an inevitable development need, creating a model of a city within a city, reducing the burden on the central urban area. That city needs a new administrative apparatus to manage and develop in the right direction.
Experiences of other countries show that when urbanization reaches 60-80%, development is good, self-governing, and tax sharing with the government is higher. The nature of the region is to have many satellite cities so as not to be pressured by traffic, environmental pollution, education, and healthcare.
The Challenge of Building a City Within a City
According to regulations, an urban area is a city belonging to a central city and must have a population of 500,000 or more, and an inner city area of 200,000 or more. The rate of non-agricultural labor in the entire urban area must be 65% or more; the inner city area must be 85% or more.
According to Architect Dao Ngoc Nghiem, Vice President of the Vietnam Urban Planning and Development Association, the proportion of agricultural land in Me Linh and Soc Son districts is still quite large. Soc Son district has agricultural land accounting for 60% of the total natural land area, including protective forest land, so the non-agricultural labor force only accounts for about 40%, which cannot meet the urban standards.
Mr. Nghiem believes that the Northern city, including the three districts of Soc Son, Dong Anh, and Me Linh with an area of 633 km2, is too large, with urbanization disparities, which will cause investment resources to be dispersed. He proposed that Dong Anh become the new central city of the North instead of Soc Son.
"Implementing the city model in the capital will be convenient and create momentum, but there needs to be an appropriate roadmap. We need to put the goal of completing urbanization targets above all else instead of focusing on the name and changing the seal of the administrative agency," said Mr. Nghiem.
Mr. Tran Ngoc Chinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Urban Planning and Development Association, also said that Dong Anh district meets the requirements to become a district, while Soc Son and Me Linh do not. Upgrading these three districts to cities will be very difficult, depending on the speed of urbanization. The time for a large district to become a city can be long and requires a roadmap.
Looking at the city's location, architect Ngo Trung Hai said that establishing a new city in the North has many disadvantages for Hanoi as a whole. Because the core area of the capital will lack a financial and exhibition center because it has been planned in Dong Anh district. Noi Bai Airport will no longer be managed by Hanoi but will be located in the new city, managed by another government.
Furthermore, if Hanoi plans the Red River to become a landscape axis in the middle of the city, it still needs a government to manage both the North and South areas of the Red River.
At the time the Prime Minister approved the Hanoi Capital Construction Master Plan in 2011, there was no model of a city within a city. By 2016, the National Assembly Standing Committee had a Resolution on urban classification and a Resolution on new administrative unit standards that determined and recognized that there was a city within a city directly under the Central Government. Up to now, only Thu Duc is a city within Ho Chi Minh City with the specific characteristics of an urban area that has undergone a development process.
Need investment attraction policy to create leverage
In order for the model of a city within the capital to be feasible, Mr. Nghiem said that Hanoi needs to learn from the experience of Thu Duc City, look at the development orientation of the two cities in the future more specifically to have policies to create resources. New cities need to have policies to develop the economy, create attraction from jobs, create new and better places to live for people to reduce the load on the inner city.
According to architect Ngo Trung Hai, Hanoi's new city needs a real government to support these areas. Hanoi's government needs to carefully study the options for a new city in the North or West, then build a process to establish a new city under the city. In addition, Hanoi needs policies to attract investment and mechanisms to create leverage, not resistance.
Le Van Luong Street with dense high-rise buildings. Photo: Ngoc Thanh
Participating in the development of the 1259 master plan, former Deputy Minister of Construction, Architect Tran Ngoc Chinh still assessed that this master plan "has a good vision", so it is necessary to inherit some orientations such as the central urban model and satellite cities. This is a model suitable for Hanoi's reality, based on development experience in cities such as Paris (France), Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (Korea)...
"New cities still have satellite towns inside with their own functions and all aim to disperse the population away from the central urban area," said Mr. Chinh.
To build satellite cities into ideal places to live, Mr. Tran Ngoc Chinh said that Hanoi needs to allocate resources to connect transport infrastructure, especially investing in urban railways and expressways between the central urban area and satellite cities. The city needs to soon have policies to attract capable investors to build new urban areas and functional urban areas according to planning that are competitive enough with the inner city. Satellite cities with good technical and social infrastructure will attract people to live there, reducing the load on the inner city.
Dr. Dao Ngoc Nghiem also suggested that Hanoi should firmly implement the urban cluster model, which is an effective model for a large-scale capital. The city needs to balance public investment resources for satellite urban infrastructure and have preferential policies for businesses and residents.
Citing Japanese experience, architect Trinh Viet A, an architectural planning expert, said that the Tokyo region, including the capital Tokyo and neighboring provinces, still has large satellite cities that help spread out the population and balance the population concentration in the capital.
Tokyo is planned based on urban train lines surrounding the central area, compact urban areas are arranged harmoniously next to train stations. The subway system and urban buses cover the entire city, making the need for personal vehicles of inner-city residents very low. In the compact urban areas in the center of Tokyo, although the population density is high and there are many high-rise buildings, traffic jams do not occur thanks to the convenient public transportation system.
Regarding Hanoi, architect Trinh Viet A said that the city government needs to urgently invest in the public transport network in the inner city and connect satellite cities, and control the population density in the inner city in accordance with the infrastructure. "The transport system, green infrastructure, and water surface need to meet the population growth to ensure social security for the people," said Mr. Viet A.
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