Seminar on "Urban planning towards sustainable urban development"

The Ministry of Construction organized a seminar on "Urban planning towards sustainable urban development" on November 8th in attendance of domestic and international managers, experts, and business representatives. Director of the Department of Planning and Architecture Tran Thu Hang chaired the workshop. This is an event within the framework of the Vietnam Urban Sustainable Development Summit 2023.

Director of the Department of Planning and Architecture Tran Thu Hang spoke at the seminar

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Director of Department Tran Thu Hang said that implementing the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, implementing the 10-years socio-economic development strategy 2021-2030, Resolution 06-NQ/TW dated November 24, 2022 of the Politburo on planning, construction, management and sustainable development of Vietnamese urban areas to 2030, vision to 2045 and Resolution No. 148/NQ-CP dated November 11/2022 of the Government on the Government's Action Program to implement Resolution No. 06-NQ/TW. Recently, localities across the country have actively deployed and implemented goals and tasks in the field of urban planning aiming for harmonious and sustainable development.

As of September 2023, there are 902 urban areas nationwide, including 2 special type urban areas, 22 type I urban areas, 35 type II urban areas, 46 type III urban areas, 94 type IV urban areas. The country's urbanization rate is estimated at over 42.6%. Planning and implementation of planning are increasingly improved. The urban system is increasingly becoming an important driving force in promoting socio-economic development, contributing over 70% of the country's GDP.

However, planning also has exposed any shortcomings such as be unable to keep up with current practical urban development requirements; some regulations and standards related to planning have not kept up with trends, needs and new development models; planning is not closely linked to urban development management, issues of climate change, poverty reduction, housing for low-income people… These shortcomings posed a need to soon complete the legal system and state policy mechanisms in the field of planning. The semiar is focused on exchanging and discussing solutions to improve urban planning’s quality, meet the requirements of construction and manage and develop sustainable urban, said Director Tran Thu Hang.

At the seminar, experts and delegates actively exchanged  the vital contents and proposed solutions for sustainable urban development planning. Referring to the integrated planning method to increase planning efficiency, Mr. Nguyen Do Dung - General Director of EnCity Company affirmed that the nature of construction planning is integrated planning. Accordingly, each project always has many functions, no boundaries in term of nature and people, and limitation of land and resources. Therefore, method of integrated planning needs to follow three steps:  decision-making process and priority target determination; analytical framework unification to create a basis for multidisciplinary integration; technology application to create objective results.

Mr. Alexander Nash - urban development expert of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that currently, ADB is supporting many cities in Vietnam to build urban areas to cope with climate change and prevent flood risk. In addition, to limit greenhouse gas emissions and protect the environment, necessary solutions are also to reduce the use of personal vehicles, increase the use of public transport (in traffic planning), and save energy for buildings...

Overview the seminar

Concluding the seminar, Director General Tran Thu Hang thanked the delegates for attending and contributing many valuable comments at the seminar. The Organizing Committee acknowledged all comments to continue researching and perfecting policies towards sustainable urban planning.

Director Tran Thu Hang said that the Ministry of Construction pays special attention to  building and perfecting institutions and policies in the field of urban planning and development. The development of a policy framework on urban planning has been revising, updating, and supplementing in a way that encourages the development of a toolkit for thorough, subtantive and effective planning with participation of related parties.