The construction of smart cities must be conducted in a structured manner in accordance with the planning, Kinh te & Do thi quoted Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tuong Van as saying.

“The successful experience of many countries shows that building tools to manage urban development on the basis of planning and integrating these contents into the urbanization strategy should be seen as a focal issue,” Mr. Van said.

Smart urban development management needs to follow a roadmap to gradually optimize urban development management, improve life quality of urban residents, and create opportunities for human development, the deputy minister emphasized.

Hanoi is developing day by day. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn

According to Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Planning and Architecture Nguyen Trong Ky Anh, over the past time, huge works on urban planning appraisal have been fulfilled, but still failed to meet the progress.

Mr. Ky Anh said that the above-mentioned limitation is due to insufficient application of information technology which has only helped the city monitor the quantity, status and administrative procedures of the planning projects.

Given these shortcomings, more than ever, accelerating the development of smart cities and the application of new technologies in Industrial Revolution 4.0 to urban planning and management is imperative for Hanoi today.

Five core solutions

For setting the strategic orientations and planning vision to connect new urban areas with metropolitan areas in the context of Industry 4.0, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Doan Toan said that the city has identified five groups of issues to be dealt with. Among them, the top priority is to promote the application of smart technology in urban development planning and management.

Accordingly, the city will develop smart applications to support decision making in the appraisal and release of urban planning.

Besides, the city will develop a system to provide planning information and receive suggestions and feedback from the community to monitor the implementation of urban planning.

The vice chairman stressed that Hanoi will focus on researching, applying, and developing sustainable smart urban planning; attracting investment resources to build, manage and develop smart urban infrastructure.

Moreover, the city will implement pilot programs and projects for sustainable smart urban development and promoting e-Government.

Hanoi also promotes the training and retraining to improve the capacity and professional level of people in the leadership positions to meet the demand of developing and operating smart cities in each phase.