HANOI: Less than a month after putting the plan up for public consultation, the local authorities have decided to go ahead with a massive redevelopment of the area around Hoan Kiem Lake in central Hanoi.
On Oct 27, the Hanoi People’s Committee submitted an investment proposal worth more than 22 trillion dong (US$859,788,050) to transform part of the city centre into a district that planners say would combine its cultural heritage with world-class modern features by 2029.
At 66ha, the redevelopment zone covers a substantial area of Hanoi’s historic core, evoking Singapore’s Chinatown, with its conserved shophouses and distinctive urban character.
The city’s legislative body, the People’s Council, approved the proposal the following day. The local government and Capital Sun Real Estate Joint Stock Company, a subsidiary of Vietnamese conglomerate Sun Group, were named as the project’s main investors. The redevelopment is now set to get under way soon.
The approval marks a major step towards reshaping Hanoi’s historic heart, but it does not settle the argument over what that redevelopment should look like.
As Vietnam’s capital city of nine million seeks to modernise, experts say the challenge will be to balance commercial development and new infrastructure with the lake area’s heritage, human scale and role in everyday life.
Some Hanoi residents were disappointed by the news.
“Beyond disappointed, really, though I can’t say I’m surprised,” said retired historian and Hanoi native Ngo Vuong Anh, 60.
The local government reportedly said that 92 per cent of those who took part in the September public consultation exercise supported the planning concept, but has not provided details of the survey methodology or the breakdown of responses.
Vietnamese President To Lam said at a meeting with Hanoi residents on Sept 27 that if the redevelopment “can’t speed up, we’ll be letting down the people’s trust”, according to local media.
Hoan Kiem Lake, or the Lake of the Returned Sword, takes its name from an ancient legend in which, in the 15th century, King Le Loi returned a borrowed sacred sword to the mythical Dragon King, who lived in the lake.
A major draw for tourists, Hoan Kiem Lake is one of Hanoi’s most recognisable landmarks, with its leafy banks, historic sights and Instagram-worthy views making it a favourite backdrop for photographs.
“This is the heart of Hanoi’s heart,” Anh claimed, referring to the popular lake area. “That’s why any plan to change it would attract immediate attention and possible opposition from the people of Hanoi.”
What’s at stake?
The redevelopment proposal, made public in September, sparked considerable debate.
The plan aims to reshape part of Hanoi’s historic core around a large public square connecting Hoan Kiem Lake with the adjacent August Revolution Square and the Hanoi Opera House. The transformed area would feature an underground complex, parks, arts and commercial spaces, an expanded pedestrian area and a 36m-high triumphal arch.
The redevelopment is part of a 100-year master plan, which sets out a long-term vision for the capital’s development while seeking to preserve the distinctive character of its historic inner city.
Several buildings dating from the 1970s and 1980s, examples of modern socialist architecture, have been proposed for demolition. They include the headquarters of the Hanoi People’s Council and Hanoi People’s Committee, part of the Hanoi Post Office and part of the Soviet-style Hanoi Children’s Palace, a centre for arts, cultural and extracurricular activities for young people.
A new, mixed-use building with nine floors above ground and four basement levels would be erected on the site which the three buildings are on, while several high-end retail and service outlets, as well as an international financial tower, are planned nearby.
The architecture firm behind the plan also proposed a so-called Times Square – a reference to the New York landmark – a multilevel, multifunctional green space designed to accommodate cultural, creative and recreational activities.
But the proposal has drawn criticism from some experts.
“The project falls short of quality in terms of both concept and planning. There are also numerous issues with its content and process,” said Pham Thuy Loan, former deputy director of the National Institute of Architecture at the Ministry of Construction.
“And there’s a potential conflict of interest when a private company invests in and develops a public-interest project using public land and public assets, which is the case here,” she added.
To Kien, an urban planning specialist and expert adviser to the Hanoi City People’s Council, said: “My greatest concern is the order of decision-making.”
Vietnam’s 2024 Law on Cultural Heritage sets out requirements for protecting cultural landscapes and heritage sites.
“Before the investment policy is decided, protection boundaries must be clearly mapped against each proposed component, including underground structures. Any procedures, written opinions or approvals required by law at this stage must also be identified early and completed as required,” Kien stressed.
For a heritage site as important as Hoan Kiem Lake, he said, planning “should come first, setting a clear long-term vision to guide investment decisions on individual projects, not the other way around”. Kien is a former senior researcher and teaching fellow at the Singapore University of Technology and Design.
Layers of memory
Loan found the large-scale structural changes in the redevelopment proposal that was made public “disturbing” – in particular, the demolition of landmark buildings to make way for bigger, taller structures.
The area around Hoan Kiem Lake is a place “where history has been written and rewritten over the years”, with each era leaving its mark.
“From the natural landscape and traditional culture to the French colonial period, the socialist era and today’s Hanoi, all these layers have helped shape the soul of Hoan Kiem Lake,” Loan said.
“There’s a delicate balance between nature and buildings, stillness and movement, the old and the new, and formal spaces and the everyday life of ordinary people. I’m afraid the planned changes could upset that balance,” the architect added.
For his part, Kien argued that in architectural planning, scale, or the proportion of spaces and structures in relation to human beings, is “a crucial factor”.
“Each historical core of any city in the world carries its own unique identity, and the unique character of Hoan Kiem Lake is that it is small, humble and unassuming but immensely charming,” he said, adding that the lake needs more open space, not more monumental structures.
“A long-term vision for the area should not aim to make it ‘larger’, but rather ensure that nothing grandiose is introduced that would diminish its stature.”
At the September meeting, Lam, who is also the Community Party general secretary, said people wanted to see a more beautiful and robustly developed Hanoi, where historical and cultural values and its unique identity are preserved. But “we must not sacrifice quality or social consensus for the sake of speed”, he was reported as saying.
Taken together, these views highlight the tension at the heart of the redevelopment: the drive to modernise Hanoi while preserving the qualities that make the Hoan Kiem Lake area distinctive. The question is how far that principle will shape the detailed plans, rather than remain an aspiration.
The debate is not over
The Hanoi authorities said that, based on the planning concept that had been subject to public consultation, the implementation of individual developments would involve architectural design competitions and open public feedback.
Yet Loan was concerned that the project was a done deal, leaving little room for meaningful amendments, as officials had not clarified how the public’s comments and contributions had been received and taken into account. - The Straits Times/ANN
