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