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Flexibility and Resilience in Asian New Towns
Wouter D. F. van Faassen MSc Urbanism graduate elft 2014
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The case of Nam An Khanh
Imagine. Large areas of vacant land, a couple of old villages and a big highway. This outskirt of the city is ready for construction of the new, modern Hanoi. Designs for high-end housing in Californian and Spanish style. Investors already bought large portfolios of houses and offices. This will become the place for the future of Hanoi! ..... At least, this is how they imagined the future. A severe bubble in the housing market deflated, prices went down, and all development came to a halt. New town ‘Nam An Khanh’ became obsolete. No investers, no users, half finished buildings with no purpose.
Many new towns have proved to be the opposite of ‘Resilient Urbanism’, the broad concept for responsive urbanisation, including infrastructure, social equity and inclusiveness. Flexibility in urban planning and design can be coined as the capacity of the built environment to adapt to new conditions in society and economy, or as the capacity for ready physical or functional alteration and the adaptation of new uses. John Abbott (2005) showed that,flexibility is especially important in urban planning and design when circumstances are uncertain. The rapidly changing socio-economical and cultural environment in Hanoi creates huge uncertainty for its inhabitants, therefore giving ‘flexibility’ a different significance compared to developed countries. Flexibility in urban planning and design in new South
East Asian urban developments, obviously has an important function, but seems to be lacking in so many large urban projects and new towns. • Nam An Khanh new town
The case of Nam An Khanh is a typical example of a purely profit-driven New Town development, that illustrates the fragility of generic new town development, now rapidly becoming the standard of urban development in Vietnam. Like other Asian cities, Hanoi implemented a scheme of new town development in a ring around the city as a response to its growth. This scheme fostered the purely profit driven developers to build large blue-print extensions, that are mostly monotonous, mono-functional
and speculative in nature. The result is that the new urban expansions in Hanoi do not respond to the needs of real users. Overproduction of high end housing led to vacancy. Ghost towns have become a serious social, financial and ethical problem in the urban extensions of Hanoi. In order to gain greater resilience in new town planning and design, it is crucial to stretch the importance of a changed balance between the main stakeholders: government, investors, project developers, adjacent inhabitants and local entrepreneurs. This involves a strategy that fosters socio-spatial integration and local economic growth and enables real users to be active stakeholders in this process, engaging them more deeply in decision making and co-development of their city. It involves
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a different kind of Urban Design, and a different kind of Urban Planning, which is less about designing or planning the product, and more about designing the most resilient process possible in order to create more sustainable and resilient urban extensions. In this way it tries to find answers to the question how flexibility, understood as the ability for modification and adaptation in plan and process, can be incorporated in the contemporary urban planning model and the urban design of new urban areas in Hanoi. A future-proof city is flexible; it keeps a balance between structure (like regulations and plans) and freedom or manoeuvrability within it (Reuser 2012). The hypothesis of my thesis is that a more incremental and more flexible planning strategy is necessary as an alternative system for urban development, in order to deal with the volatile nature of the economic and social resurrection of Vietnam. My thesis was an endeavour to seek for an alternative; a more flexible and resilient type of urban planning and design based on a incremental approach is necessary according to Lindblom, since “in a rapidly changing environment [...] uncertainty is so great that the only sensible approach for an organization is one of adjustment in incremental steps as the environment changes” (Abbott, 2005).
• Framework with concrete steps
The current half finished situation of Nam An Khanh is taken as the basis for a re-design, in this way testing the flexibility of the old plan. In this context, adjustments are made in the water structure to give it better climate resiliency and in the street network to get better connectivity to the surrounding areas. New routes connect the villages to create the critical mass for a functional local economy and are the start of (re-)development. Along the new routes special points (catalysts) are placed as the development start of 3 neighbourhoods; Yen Lung new village with a fresh food market hall, An Khanh crafts village with a regional arts and crafts centre, and Ngu Cau station as the local transit hub with TOD. Quality of public space, adaptability, the interest of the people from the surrounding villages, and the integrity of the city as a whole are values that need to get more importance in the process of planning and design. Therefore, a new model of cooporation between Sudico (the developer) and collectives is proposed, in which home owners and entrepreneurs have a larger responsibility for the outcome of the design of property and public space. Sudico gets a position as the site manager for the long 27
term; land lease contracts (nl.: erfpacht) will eventually give them their return on investment when property values increase, providing them with an incentive for long term policy aimed at spatial and living quality. These steps seem obvious, and are in line with the holistic ‘Dutch approach’ towards urbanism, but are no common practice in Vietnam. Considering the size of Nam An Khan (250 ha.), it would be impossible to develop a project at once with the proposed strategy. Therefore, large parts of the terrain need temporary use. Gardens could give citizens a outdoor weekend retreat for the next 10-20 years. A fruit orchard is an inexpensive way of making a beautiful spring park, while providing some jobs to the villagers. The remaining terrain can be used for events and festivals, or even as research grounds for innovative agriculture. These temporary uses help to build a good image of the location and attract people, and therefore improve the conditions for new initiatives. The design of the neighbourhoods is based on the concept of a strong structure of main roads, water, parks and transit and a flexible infill of blocks for development. The infill is regulated with a zoning that
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Original SUDICO master plan 2010-2014
Structural improvements PHASE 1: 2015
Status: Small number of villas under construction, but unfinished. Road infrastructure is half finished, often dirt tracks without asphalt. Large ponds have been dug.
Water structure: ponds are connected by canals to improve the water quality and retention to prevent flooding during heavy rainfall. Village routes: secondary streets between villages improve the connectivity and help to create a critical mass. Greenery structure: orchards and parks create employment for villagers and improve the image of the area: green & suburban Place making: festivals, events and temporary flower fields
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2014 post Housing crisis Development on hold
Goals: - improve urban structure - create villagers involvement - create a possitive image
Urban catalysts PHASE 2: 2015-2017
Down grading: Sudico will have to accept its short term loss before redevelopment can take place.
Market hall: fresh products from the farms in the region are sold and traded by the farmers and the villagers.
Life time finance: in search of return on investment after the whole development time of 40 years.
Arts and crafts center: the visitor center is built first. It serves as a exhibition space and information desk for visitors that want to explore the surrounding crafts villages. It is also the catalyst for innovative ideas and entrepreneurship.
Flexible zoning: acceptance of unknown needs and desires of the future. Facilitate a large number of possible outcomes. Down scaling: the large scale apartment complexes are replaced by smaller typologies. Goals: - new resilient action plan
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Each step uses methods and strategies that make the redevelopment strategy a little more flexible than the ‘standard’ approach. The methods are shown with little symbols on the map and are based on the evaluation method of Bergevoet and Van Tuijl (2013). Tools and methods that have been used in the European or Dutch context could prove useful for the re-design of Nam An Khanh, but need to be tested in Vietnam upon their applicability and effectiveness in the local context.
fosters a mix of uses and typologies. The scale of developments is deliberately kept small to prevent large accumulations of means. In this way the neighbourhood can, in time, easily be adapted to the changing needs. Each neighbourhood has its specific flexible strategy for development. The strategy does not only rely on prohibiting certain typologies and uses, but more on allowing and even showing potentials for certain other uses that are not directly in the plan. Sustainable development for the environment and the community can in this way be an incentive for developers that want to build more, or with special qualities. The
strategy does not only rely on prohibiting certain typologies and uses, but more on allowing and even showing potentials for certain other uses that are not directly in the plan. Sustainable development for the environment and the community can in this way be an incentive for developers that want to build more, or with special qualities. The alternative that I propose involves a strategy that fosters socio-spatial integration and local economic growth and enables real users to be active stakeholders in this process, engaging them more deeply in decision making and co-development of
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Garden plots: garden plots improve the spatial quality and attract people from the city to the area. Goals: - create a local economy - place making! - step by step development
Urban development PHASE 3: - 2017-2020 Center areas: the center areas around the main connective roads are developed first. Local economy: workshops, retail and small companies are clustered around the urban catalysts. Collective developments: cocreation stimulates the sense of community but also guarantees users for the first neighbourhoods.
Goals: - kick-start a local economy - showcase new lifestyle - (re-)start urban development
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Neighbourhoods PHASE 4: 2020-2025 Yen Lung new village: A mainly residential neighbourhood with the village main street as the focal point for the local economy. Fresh food market hall
Arts and crafts neighbourhood: strong focus on small scale production, tourism and a mix with small scale residential typologies.
community center
sales office
regional Arts and Crafts center
Garden conversions: more and more garden plots are converted into detached (walled) houses.
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- plan for distinct communities - kick start local economy
Part of the city PHASE 5: - 2025-2035 4th ring road: the construction of the 4th ring road brings a fast connection to the areas north of the river and the airport. Fresh food market hall
Fresh food market hall
Metro line: a journey to the city center will now take less than 15 minutes. The area around the metro station will be transit oriented development with a larger share of offices.
community center
community center
sales office
sales office
regional Arts and Crafts center
regional Arts and Crafts center
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- use potential of infrastructure - part of urban transit network
New clusters PHASE 6: 2035-2050 An Khanh An Thuong: the southern part of this development finishes the connection between the two villages. Clusters: can be developed on six more sites that were previously in use for agricultural research. For now only their location and outlines are given. The design will be made according to the needs at that moment.
Fresh food market hall
Fresh food market hall
community center
community center
sales office
sales office
regional Arts and Crafts center
regional Arts and Crafts center
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- densification of urban fringe - optimizing profitability Sudico
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4 Figures 1. Vacancy and unfinished buildings in Nam An Khanh © Marten Reijnen 2. One scenario of step by step redevelopment and integration with existing villages around a local food market hall. © Wouter van Faassen 3. © Wouter van Faassen 4-5 Two stages of development: the vernacular walled plots first serve as allotment gardens or as a retreat for more affluent citizens and later become the location for real estate development. © Wouter van Faassen
5 References
Abbott, J. (2005) Understanding and managing the unknown: the nature of uncertainty in planning. In Journal of planning education and research. Vol. 2005:24, p. 237-251. Bergevoet & Van Tuijl (2013) De flexibele stad, Oplossingen voor leegstand en krimp. Rotterdam, nai010 uitgevers. Reuser, B. (2012) Seoulutions. Bond van Nederlandse Architecten, Amsterdam. Van Faassen, W. (2014) Flexibility: an alternative development strategy in new urban areas in Hanoi. Full version available on: http:// repository.tudelft.nl.
their city. It involves a different kind of Urban Design, and a different kind of Urban Planning, which is less about designing or planning the product, and more about designing the most resilient possible process, a “design for self-organization” within an official planning framework. Many projects like Nam An Khanh are scattered around Hanoi, that face a similar fate. Therefore, the proposed strategy has a wider applicability, since the type of new town found in Hanoi is in fact a Asian (or even global) phenomenon. The full version of the thesis is downloadable for free from the TU Delft library website: http://repository.tudelft.nl/ More information is available on : www.woutervanfaassen.nl/nam-an-khanh.html 30