At the biennial Singapore Institute of Planners (SIP) Awards 2025, ENCITY was awarded the Excellence in Planning Award for our Regional Plan for the Northern Uplands of Vietnam. The SIP Awards recognise outstanding achievements in urban planning, judged on originality, methodology, values, implementability, and clarity of vision.
Our Regional Plan addresses one of Vietnam’s most complex planning challenges: bridging the differences across 14 provinces into a coherent and sustainable regional strategy. To do this, we developed a Collaborative Assessment Framework, a set of nine quantitative criteria that evaluate where provinces should collaborate and where they should specialise. This revealed natural partnerships, such as ecological corridors between Hà Giang and Cao Bằng, while reinforcing the advantages of hubs like Thái Nguyên in processing industries.
“We place the planning of this region within the broader context of other regional plans, particularly those with direct connections to consumer markets, airports, and seaports, to foster effective interregional linkages and align with national objectives. A truly integrated development strategy recognizes the distinctive contributions of each region and evaluates progress based on those unique identities.”
Trang Vuong, Project Principal
Building on these insights, we designed a sub-regionalization strategy that integrates production centers (e.g., Sơn La’s agriculture), processing hubs (such as Thái Nguyên), and logistics gateways into three cohesive economic units. The plan is anchored in four pillars: Connected, Resilient, Inclusive, and Distinctive.
Figure 3: Four pillars for the regional plan. Source: ENCITY
Equity and sustainability are at the heart of our approach. The Northern Uplands plan reframes cultural diversity as a strength, establishes regional social infrastructure supported by digital connectivity, and incorporates indigenous knowledge into education and healthcare. Beyond standard economic measures, we also proposed additional social development targets, from life expectancy to human development, to ensure more inclusive outcomes.
Environmental stewardship is positioned as an economic opportunity. We proposed ecological corridors that enhance biodiversity, safeguard water sources, and unlock eco-tourism potential, with measurable goals such as 55% forest coverage and 60 interconnected natural reserves by 2030.
“The planning team adopted a fresh approach to resolve issues of competition amongst socio-economic regions and ethnic groups using a Collaborative Assessment Framework. It recognizes minority population diversity, strengths and indigenous knowledge as competitive advantage. The team demonstrated a deep understanding of the challenges faced by the various communities in the wider region. The planning methodology was rigorous: covering over a hundred and fifty geo-database layers, with continuous field survey update, cross-sectoral integration, multi-scale analysis, and extensive stakeholder validation.” – Judges’ Citation.
By aligning fragmented planning systems, reframing diversity as an asset, and linking environmental protection with economic growth, our Northern Uplands Regional Plan offers a model for inclusive and resilient transformation. We are proud that this vision has been recognized internationally with the SIP 2025 Award, thus affirming our commitment to innovative, values-driven planning.
VI