Integrated planning is one of the key elements of resilience and sustainable development. Yet, it has been highlighted consistently as one of the weaknesses in the governance system of Vietnam, especially over the last few decades with regards to city planning and development in the context of climate change. Vietnam has been urbanizing and developing rapidly, but unfortunately is not yet able to realize its full potentials due to economic and social setbacks caused by the damages of flooding, erosion, storms and other ‘natural’ hazards. One of the main reasons is that the urban planning and development process did not give proper consideration to the current and potential impacts of climate change and the critical role of specific areas and their physical features in alleviating them. During the last decade of working in Vietnam, ISET has come across recurrent examples, including those in Da Nang, Quy Nhon, Can Tho, Lao Cai, Hue, and many other cities, that resonate this reality.
Under the Vietnam National Engagement and Extension of Resilience Practice Project funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, ISET worked with the Vietnam Urban Planning and Development Association (VUPDA) in an effort to highlight and address this issue. This joint effort focuses on accelerating and sustaining the development of knowledge and capacity of urban professionals in urban climate change resilience through developing and delivering training courses focusing on the integration climate change adaptation into their professional work.
Part of this collaborative work include the development of case studies that highlight this gap and describe how it plays out in specific cities in different regions of Vietnam. Two of these case studies (the ones for Lao Cai and Can Tho cities) are presented in the documents below. The case studies were used as reading materials, and as the basis for in-depth exercises and discussion’s in the training courses, which were organized by a team of ISET and VUPDA in six cities in Vietnam (Lao Cai, Hanoi, Da Nang, Da Lat, Ho Chi Minh, and Can Tho) from 2014 to 2015.
