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Jul 17, 2019 / 17:25

Hanoi headed for a creative city

Despite the challenges that the urbanization process has brought about, Hanoi prioritizesthe improvement of its residents` lives with a series of constructions, urban areas, parks, flower gardens and artificial lakes, among others.

Over the past two decades since the UNESCO honored Hanoi as a “City for Peace”, Vietnam’s capital city has been relentlessly making efforts to deserve the title and advancing to become a creative city.
 
Illustrative photo.
People march in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the recognition of "City for Peace".
Great strides

Hanoi has always maintained its role as the leading economic hub of Vietnam’s northern region with its economy growing 7.41% annually on average.

The total social investment of the city climbed from VND13.326 trillion (US$574 million) in 1999 to VND337.4 trillion (US$24.5 billion) in 2018. Foreign direct investment reached US$7.5 billion last year and the figure for the first six months of 2019 is estimated at US$5 billion, leading localities in the country.

Hanoi, home to some 1,600 foreign representative offices, 14 industrial parks, and 16,000 industrial facilities, also has the highest rate of urbanization in the country.

Vietnam’s capital city has established friendly cooperative relations with over 100 capitals, cities, and territories worldwide, become an active and responsible member of a number of significant international forums and a venue where many international conferences took place.

Despite the challenges that the urbanization process has brought about, Hanoi still prioritized the improvement of the lives of residents with a series of constructions, urban areas, parks, flower gardens and artificial lakes, among others.

The city is projected to plant more 600,000 green trees in the period of two years between 2019 and 2020 after the program of planting one million ones had completed two years before the plan.

Establishing a “creative city” platform

According to UNESCO experts, the international community was impressed by the transformation of Hanoi over the years, making the city a spotlight among Asian and regional cities.

Besides being granted the “City for Peace” title, Hanoi is striving to become the first creative city in Southeast Asia, joining in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, which is considered a strategic progress to improve its cultural industry development as well as highlight its name in the world.

The experts also said that Hanoi has a solid foundation to become a creative city thanks to its long-standing cultural tradition with many historical and cultural relics; 1,350 traditional and handicraft villages, among others.

Joining the network will help Vietnam facilitate its development and integration and become an exemplary city in Vietnam and the region.

However, there are still some limitations that Hanoi has to deal with such as small-scale creative spaces,  talents’ indifference to bring their cultural creation to the world via modern technologies.

Therefore, Hanoi is focusing on improving its potential and advantages, perfecting its mechanism and policies basing on three main pillars including urban regeneration, comprehensive education and event hosting to become a creative city.