Community participation in housing improvement in the Old Quarter of Hanoi - Toward the preservation of values of the whole Quarter

Ref.: 328
Key theme: 01 Physical integrity of historic urban landscapes
Date of reception: 05/12/2008

AUTHORS (*Main author)

PHUONG NGA, Nguyen * (Viet Nam) - Faculty of Architecture and Urban planning, University of Civil Engineering

ABSTRACT

Hanoi old quarter is today known not only as a historic monument of a great value but also as an area with exciting and powerful economic activities, attract densely population. The first impression of old quarter is the image of specialized trading streets with exciting producing and trading activities, colorful light designed shops, gentle and elegant people... But that is only a very small part outside, mysteries in the old, long and dark houses are lives of the old quarter: many people, destinies, circumstances... and staying in the badly old and small living space with very poor living condition.
According to statistic 1995, the average of living area in the old quarter is 4.5m2/person. Although the average of living area in the old quarter increases in the past years, it is still very low compare with other areas in Hanoi. Many families live together in a very small area, using the same bathroom and other living comfort. Besides, these houses have been badly downgraded. Perhaps, downgraded houses and bad living conditions are urgent matters of old quarter. Due to these objective existences, preserving the architectural value of houses in old quarter becomes more difficult because the people there think that it is not their most important problem.
In such situation, this paper introduces the pilot house-repaired activity in Hang Buom street in the Hanoi old quarter, applied community involvement method, a activity of pilot project " Stable development the old quarter"-general development program of Hanoi capital; together with investigating the effectiveness of mobilizing the community involvement in urban preserving, improving and developing programs; what we learn from these experiences is that to apply this method in the similar activities in the zone as well as improving community involvement in urban activities in Vietnam.

REFERENCES

- Restoration measures with community participation to give rise urban living conditions ­ Study case : The Hanoi old quarters, Research collection of University of Civil Engineering.
- Urbanization of Hanoi, National-level research project KX.09.05
- Evaluation of living conditions in the Hanoi old quarters ­ towards restoration and improvement, University of Civil Engineering, 2006.