Planning the sustainable development of Cao Lanh

Sustainable City Workshop - International Advanced Master (EnvIM) - April 2010

What does the future hold for the city of Cao Lanh in 2020 and 2040 in relation to the other cities and towns
in the Mekong Delta, and in the context of climate change?

April 2010, Cao Lanh, a fast-growing Vietnamese city of 170,000 in the Mekong Delta. Specially invited by the International Workshops on Urban Planning and Development, Cergy-Pointoise, the students in the International Environmental Management (EnvIM) Advanced Master programme at ISIGE – MINES ParisTech are scouting for the organisation of the next urban planning workshop taking place in the region at the end of May. Their task: verify, analyse, and synthesise the data provided by the city, meet with local parties, visit sensitive sites (a nature reserve, a water pumping station, landfill, and so on), and talk with citizens about lifestyle habits. Their objective: draw up an environmental inventory of the region through practical records, bringing together key points to understand sustainable development in construction (water, waste, energy, transport, ecosystems, and biodiversity).
Pedagogically, the students were thereby able to discover and study in concrete terms all the issues tied to the growth of a city that is strategic to the food supply and located in a sensitive ecosystem.

The International Workshops on Urban Planning and Development, Cergy-Pontoise

This organisation is an international network of professionals, decision-makers, and universities united around themes connected to urban planning and metropolitan development. Since 1982, the network has organised international workshops upon the request of local authorities in France, Asia, South America, and Africa. Each workshop brings together professionals from different occupations and countries for two weeks, who work as teams and volunteer their time to offer local decision-makers territorial strategies and key projects for implementing them.
The organisation is financed by the Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and the Sea (MEEDM), through the Property and Technology Agency for the Paris Region (AFTRP), with support from the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the French Development Agency.
Four workshops have already been conducted in Vietnam - 2 in 1997 and 1998 in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, then 2 in 2005 and 2007 in Can Gio and An Giang. It was during the last one that Dong Thap Province appealed to the International Workshops to hold a session on strategies to implement for the economic and urban development of the province.

For more information: www.ateliers.org

Topic of the workshop

Dong Thap Province is now preparing a development project for 2020 for Cao Lanh to meet the criteria to allow it to move up to level 2* in the hierarchy of Vietnamese cities.
Dong Thap Province would like to be informed of planning orientations to implement for Cao Lanh, in response to:
- the city's demographic and urban growth
- the economic development to promote, in interaction with other urban centres and rural territories of the Mekong Delta
- risks resulting from climate change, a particularly sensitive issue in the Mekong Delta
The proposals are projected forward to 2040, with a first stage ending in 2020.

(*) Cities in Vietnam are classified by decreasing importance in 5 categories (the metropolitan centres of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are excluded from the categories).

Lecture by Professor Nguyen Ngoc Tran, University of Ho Chi Minh City

To begin their stay and to define the different issues of sustainable development in the Cao Lanh region, students attended an opening talk by Professor Nguyen Ngoc Tran from the University of Ho Chi Minh City. On the agenda: an overview of natural environments, an overview of socioeconomic life, the delta faced with climate change, and sustainable development of Dong Thap: data and problems.

Cao Lanh, a city governed by the rhythm of the Mekong

Cao Lanh is the capital of the large agricultural province of Dong Thap. This province is divided into twelve districts, including three that are urban: Cao Lanh, the recent provincial capital, Sadec, a city founded during the colonial era, and Hong Ngu, the port of entry to Cambodia by river and road (recently developed).

Historically, the river has played a dominant role, imposing its rhythm. The annual floodwaters govern residents' way of life, influence their housing, and facilitate or disrupt their movement.

The province's economy is dominated by agriculture: 2/3 of the labour force works in this sector. Forestry and fish farming are the two major activities.
However, the industrial and service sectors are expanding greatly. In terms of GDP, the economic growth of the province in 2010 should reach 14.52%, with the agricultural and fisheries sector growing by 6.84%, the building and industrial sector by 31.16%, and the finance, services and business sector by 15.30%.

Currently, Cao Lanh's territory is made up of three sharply contrasting districts:
- a compact downtown, clearly structured by the rectangular network of streets, set back from the Tiên river by approximately 3 km;
- a large rural area between the town centre and the river, crisscrossed by small canals;
- an industrial zone north of the city served by highways and the river.

Cao Lanh confronting its challenges

To reach level 2 in the hierarchy of Vietnamese cities, Cao Lanh must meet several obligations: raise its residents' standard of living, increase its rate of population growth to reach 300,000 inhabitants (currently 172,000), make its rural and urban zones denser, render its economy less dependent on agriculture and expand its industrial and service sectors, and develop its urban infrastructure (quality housing, water system, and electrical grid).

To respond to these issues sustainably, the city must take into account two major constraints:

Climatic and water threats

The delta has a rich ecosystem; however, it is threatened by the accumulated effects of global warming and an irresponsible use of the Mekong's resources upriver, provoking questions over the continuity of the delta's current physical geography.
The forecasts of climate change entail a rise in sea levels and a drop in the flow of the Mekong. The natural drop in the river's flow could be intensified by hydraulic works upstream: for instance, the building of dams to produce electricity or to retain water for irrigation or human use.

Upheaval caused by development

The modernisation of activities and ways of life will accelerate, for instance the change in modes of transport. In a region that until recently lived in relative self-sufficiency due to its almost exclusively river-bound means of transportation, the use of road transport will have a major impact.

This development poses a new challenge: not destroying the natural and agricultural environment of the delta, but rather mastering it. Preserving the "rice basket" and the vast reserve of fish in Vietnam is essential for its food security. In terms of GDP, this is great wealth because - beyond direct production - they have given rise to the agri-food industry.
The delta's biodiversity must also be taken into account.