1. Introduction
Vietnam’s urban planning regime was originally based
on the doctrines and practices of the former Soviet
Union; thus, it followed the basic structure of the
Russian model that was designed for application under
a centrally based economic framework (JBIC, 1999).
As Vietnam’s economy rapidly transitions from a
socialist to an open market economy, urban development
activities have diversified from being state-run initiatives
to private enterprises, activities bankrolled with foreign
capital or other nongovernmental initiatives. This
transformation paved the way for the obsolescence of the
then urban planning regime and its inappropriateness to
Vietnam’s economic realities (GTZ, 2003).
The Vietnamese government has constantly
readjusted to these realities as seen by the constant
issuances of relevant laws and regulations highlighted by
the promulgation of the Law on Urban Planning in 2009.
The Law on Urban Planning, which contains several
institutional improvements, was made distinct with the
introduction of zoning plans as intermediate spatial
plans between general plans and detailed plans. To
avoid misunderstanding, it should be noted that ‘zoning’ does not mean division into zones, but the middle of the
hierarchical urban planning area. From hereon, that law
has institutionalized the precept that zoning plans play
a critical role in urban land management to supplement
general plans and detailed plans so far.
For the first time in Vietnam a definitive zoning plan
was strictly applied in the expanded central business
district (CBD) (930 ha) in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC),
the largest city in Vietnam. However, the seeming
incompleteness and underdevelopment of many aspects
of the new planning regime have forced competent
municipal authorities in HCMC to carry out zoning
planning in their own way through exceptional means.
On the other hand, China, which is also transitioning
into a market economy like Vietnam, has a similar urban
planning regime. In China, the basic framework of urban
planning was formed by enacting its City Planning Act
in 1989, which was followed by a series of legislation
and institution for urban planning, including the Town
and Country Planning Law issued in 2007 to replace the
City Planning Act and bring about marked improvements
in spatial planning. Although the urban planning system
in China has not always been applied effectively due to similar reasons observed in Vietnam, it is noteworthy
that in some major cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai,
municipal authorities have adopted the planning
regime flexibly to suit their individual socio-economic
situations. In addition, this approach to planning has
been shared with experts belonging to local planning
institutes and universities for their information.
In this article, the urban planning regime formulated
in Vietnam is summarized by analyzing the zoning plan
initiated in HCMC juxtaposed with the urban planning
regime implemented in major cities in China to get
helpful and instructive methods that would improve the
present urban planning regime in Vietnam