The Department of Technical Infrastructure (Ministry of Construction) in collaboration with HealthBridge (Canada) organized the Workshop “Designing safe, inclusive and resilient parks in Vietnam” on November 29th.
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Deputy Minister Nguyen Tuong Van spoke at the workshop.
Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Mr. Ta Quang Vinh, Director of the Department of Technical Infrastructure, said: Parks and trees are considered as the lungs of the city, playing a very important role in human life and the urban environment. Parks and trees improve the living environment, protect the environment, adapt to climate change and create public spaces for connecting the community.
In recent times, in the policies and guidelines related to urban development, environmental protection and climate change adaptation, the Party and the State have always focused on and paid attention to the development of urban parks and trees. In particular, in Resolution No. 06-NQ/TW dated January 24th, 2022 on planning, construction, management and sustainable development of Vietnamese urban areas to 2030, with a vision to 2045, the Politburo once again affirmed the role of trees and set a target that by 2025, the average green area per urban resident will reach about 6-8 m2/person; by 2030, it will reach about 8-10 m2/person.
Currently, in the national technical standards and regulations system, there are 02 standards and regulations directly related to the planning and design of urban trees and parks, including: QCVN 01:2021/BXD - National technical regulations on construction planning and TCVN 9257:2012 - National standards on planning of public green trees in urban areas. However, the content of these standards and regulations do not meet specific requirements for public green trees in urban areas and urban park projects, so they are not guaranteed to serve for consulting and appraising the planning and design of urban green trees and public parks.
In response to that request, the Ministry of Construction has assigned the Department of Technical Infrastructure to preside over and organize the development of a draft National Technical Regulation on urban public trees and parks. This regulation is built on the basis of ensuring synchronization and consistency with Regulation 01:2021/BXD, current land laws and inheriting technical requirements for parks and trees in Circular 20 and Standard 9257:2012. Thereby, it will create a synchronous legal corridor for the development of the urban park and tree system in Vietnam.
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Overview the workshop.
Mr. Dinh Dang Hai, representative of HealthBridge, said that the role of the community and the parties involved in the designing parks should be considered to ensure appropriateness, fairness, ownership and responsibility. In addition, connecting local intelligence to the planning for easy access created continuous feedback from the community. Designing parks also relied on nature and multifunctional design.
Speaking at the Workshop, Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tuong Van highly appreciated the preparation of the Workshop's content. Those are urgent and practical issues in urban life.
According to Deputy Minister Nguyen Tuong Van, the standards must establish specific requirements for selecting, caring for and preserving trees to suit each street or urban area. Specifically, requirements are suggested as tree planting and caring techniques, requirements in attaching to natural conditions, ensure the environment, economic aspects, traffic safety, construction, social culture such as attaching city symbols, urban aesthetics, etc.
Deputy Minister Van also expressed that, space for parks development is increasingly difficult, therefore socialization in developing parks is necessary.
It is necessary to set criteria for public spaces in urban areas to become parks, so that those areas meet the criteria for serving public purposes. Turning those public areas into parks will increase the area of green landscape parks in urban areas.
“National technical standards on urban trees and public parks must breathe life and encourage development. Standards must be more open, based on practical and international experience,” Deputy Minister Nguyen Tuong Van emphasized.