To make Hue cultural urban area in ASEAN

Huong (Perfume) river in Hue city

NDO – The central city of Hue in Thua Thien–Hue province, the land of culture and history, was honoured as a ‘Cultural City in ASEAN’ and ‘ASEAN’s Environmentally Sustainable City’, creating enormous challenges for preservation and promotion of environmental landscapes in the ancient city during the process of rapid urbanisation.

Hue is the first city in Vietnam and the third one in ASEAN recognised as a cultural city. With a long standing history and culture, Hue converges all factors to become a ‘heritage, cultural, ecological, landscape and environmentally-friendly city’, creating more opportunities to promote its image to international friends.

It is reasonable for Hue to develop its tourism towards green growth, making the city more beautiful and cleaner.

In addition to architectural and cultural heritages including Hue’s ancient imperial citadel complex and Nha Nhac (Hue royal court music) that were recognised by UNESCO as world cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritages of humanity, respectively, Hue is home to numerous attractive natural landscapes.

Hue has a total area of 750 hectares of green parks and streets with green trees, along with 750 garden houses, especially Huong (Perfume) river which is considered the cleanest in Vietnam.

In addition to Bach Ma national park and Tam Giang lagoon, Phong Dien Nature Reserve with original beauty has attracted a large number of tourists in the region to explore the city.

On the process of urbanisation and development, the preservation of natural landscapes of the historical and cultural land is one of the urgent problems.

The cultural city of ASEAN has a mission of promoting the image of a peaceful and civilised ASEAN community in which the people are happy and developed. Leaders of Thua Thien–Hue province have committed to build a specific plan to introduce the typical model of the community to Vietnamese people, particularly citizens in the province.

The Festival Hue, a biennial large cultural and tourism event, is a good opportunity for Hue to promote diverse cultural characteristics of not only the city but also the country as well as enhance co-operation and friendship with other countries in the ASEAN community.

According to cultural experts, Thua Thien–Hue needs to create new development goals and an overall building plan for modern works associated with a project of management, conservation and development of natural and cultural heritages, giving priority to protection of the environment and landscapes in Hue city.

Importantly, the city’s authorities should make reasonable plans that can not only raise the revenue for the locality but also protect its ecological environment; meanwhile its all citizens are responsible for preserving a cultural and civilised lifestyle.

Hue is determined to protect its relic and heritage sites as well as conserve urban natural landscapes and environment, towards becoming an urban area with fresh air, clean land and water in accordance with criteria set out for ‘ASEAN’s Environmentally Sustainable City’, said Chairman of Hue municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Van Thanh.

The city is implementing a water environment improvement project using Japanese ODA capital of VND3,170 billion. Since the wastewater treatment plant opened, under the first phase of the project, more than 70% of domestic wastewater has been treated, significantly contributing to overcoming environmental pollution.

The Vietnamese Government always encourages localities to develop their economy towards green growth; however Hue is a cultural heritage urban area and ancient capital that maintains this criterion. While building infrastructure facilities, the city has always focused on protecting the environment to ensure stable development.

In addition to conservation of the architectural and cultural spaces, Hue would restore facades and preserve natural spaces including the Huong river and garden houses. The city is expected to promote its advantages in natural resources as well as long-standing historical, cultural and human traditions to develop harmoniously and sustainably instead of becoming a city with high buildings, industrial parks and high population density, according to Chairman Cao.

In order to fulfill its role as a cultural ambassador of ASEAN and the region’s Environmentally Sustainable City’, Hue city, with two world cultural heritages, will surely develop reasonable models to protect landscapes sustainably as well as to promote its potentials and cultural values.

NGUYEN CONG HAU

To make Hue cultural urban area in ASEAN Related image(s)