Ho Chi Minh City re-establishes the Department of Planning and Architecture: Creating a strategic hub for the new megacity

Ho Chi Minh City's consideration of re-establishing the Department of Planning and Architecture is considered a necessary step in the context of urban expansion in scale and administrative boundaries.

Ho Chi Minh City will exploit its strengths when planning work is one step ahead - Photo: QUANG DINH

Tuoi Tre continues to record experts' opinions on this policy. Most opinions believe that the city needs a specialized agency strong enough to play the role of coordinating urban space development strategies, ensuring that planning is one step ahead, feasible, synchronous and sustainable in the new period.

As the pressure on urban planning and development management increases, the city needs a truly strong specialized agency with clear functions and systematic organizational capacity to effectively address the requirements.

Mr. VU CHI KIEN

Mr. Vu Chi Kien (Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies):

Ho Chi Minh City needs a truly strong planning agency.

Ho Chi Minh City's decision to re-establish the Department of Planning and Architecture is a correct, timely and completely appropriate step in the context of the city expanding its administrative boundaries, becoming a "super city" with the largest scale in the country.

After the merger, Ho Chi Minh City increased in area, population and scale of economic -urban infrastructure. This led to profound changes in planning management.

Organizing the apparatus is no longer just about maintaining operations but requires raising it to a new level, capable of handling complex and multi-level problems.

The policy of re-establishing the Department of Planning and Architecture also helps to create a specialized, unified focal point, eliminating the fragmentation of tasks among many units. This not only improves the efficiency of state management but also contributes to limiting overlap, increasing transparency and accountability.

This decision demonstrates the proactive spirit and strategic orientation of the city's leaders in taking a step ahead, creating a solid planning foundation to meet the development requirements in the new period. This Department is not simply an agency for planning design or architectural appraisal, but must become a center for coordinating the vision of urban space development of the entire city.

Ho Chi Minh City is aiming for a sustainable construction plan, preserving architectural identity, developing public spaces and harmonious landscapes, while protecting urban heritage values. This is not only a technical problem but also a cultural, social and sustainable development problem.

More importantly, planning work must be synchronized with the city's socio-economic development strategy. Planning cannot be separated from growth orientation, industrial development space, services, logistics, housing, and social welfare.

The connection between construction planning and master planning will help Ho Chi Minh City optimize the use of land and infrastructure resources and ensure equitable development among regions.

Monitoring the planning implementation process and flexibly adjusting the planning according to practice must also be given top priority to ensure that the planning orientation does not just remain on paper but is effectively realized.

However, good planning alone is not enough. Implementing the planning in a feasible, effective and timely manner is an equally big challenge. To overcome the situation of unfeasible planning or spontaneous development, it is necessary to implement synchronous planning.

The policy mechanism system must be completed in a transparent and easy-to-apply manner; resources - including human resources, finance, and technology - must be invested appropriately; new technology, digital data, and modern planning tools need to be promoted in all stages. There needs to be a monitoring, evaluation, and appropriate adjustment mechanism for each implementation stage.

Dr. Pham Viet Thuan (Director of the Institute of Natural Resources and Environment Economics, Ho Chi Minh City):

Need a specialized agency with sufficient authority and capacity

For the new Ho Chi Minh City with its current two-level government, it is necessary to unify regional planning within the old and new administrative boundaries. Therefore, the role of planning management and implementation of urban land use planning is very important.

In the past time, although planning work has been implemented, to create a breakthrough, synchronous development, towards a modern, smart city, we need a specialized agency with enough authority and capacity to coordinate and plan a planning strategy for the entire new city.

Especially when the planning of the three areas is merged, redesigning a unified architecture, infrastructure and land use is even more important. If there is an independent Department of Planning and Architecture, Ho Chi Minh City can re-establish the entire planning and zoning map on the basis of the annual approved land use plan.

One of the current bottlenecks is the fragmentation and lack of connection in land use planning among sectors: resources, agriculture , construction, and architecture.

Urban planning cannot be separated from the overall land use plan of the city. Therefore, there needs to be unity, synchronization and consistency between urban planning and other plans, ensuring compatibility with existing infrastructure, following nature and high feasibility.

Large cities like Ho Chi Minh City need to maintain stability in water security, environmental security, social security and infrastructure - all of which are closely related to planning work.

Choosing the right person with capacity and responsibility to advise and plan planning strategies is the decisive factor for the success or failure of a modern, sustainable city with long-term strategic vision.

TIEN LONG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tp-hcm-tai-lap-so-quy-hoach-kien-truc-tao-dau-moi-chien-luoc-cho-sieu-do-thi-moi-20250918082238626.htm