The planned innovation district, located in the eastern part of Ho Chi Minh City, is envisioned by enCity and Sasaki as a significant future economic driver for the city and region – connecting research, entrepreneurship, academia, industry, and the local community to create a diverse innovation eco-system. The plan highlights new innovative hotspots linked by a comprehensive transportation system that strengthens the district’s regional connectivity and creates environments that attract talents and foster cross-pollination of ideas.
The Ho Chi Minh City Innovation District won many prestigious planning awards, such as the international planning competition held by Ho Chi Minh City’s City Government (2019), Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards 2020 and Silver Prize at the SIP Planning Awards 2021.
Vision
Our vision for Thu Duc City is to create an innovative and highly interactive urban area on the basis of three eastern districts, to become a core nucleus of the industrial revolution 4.0 in the region and to be a leading foundation for implementation of the smart city project.
Innovation and Production
enCity’s proposal was to focus resources on two development belts for Innovation and Production, linked by 3transportation axes and an on-demand transit system connected to Metro No. 1, thereby increasing regional connectivity and addressing the issue of fragmentation.
Truong Tho Future Hub (Rendering by Sasaki)
Strengthening the regional connectivity is enCity’s proposed transport route along the East-West axis passing through potential innovation hotspots, which would also link the innovation district with Pham Van Dong Street and Tan Son Nhat Airport in the West and the expressway to Long Thanh Airport in the East.
6 innovation hotspots would be linked to 3 innovative clusters, located on the intersections of the two development belts and three transportation axes, forming an integrated creative ecosystem.
enCity proposed four guiding principles and an implementation toolkit with several policy solutions revolving around the flexible application of governance and financial policies to utilize and centralize available resources, attract new resources and smartly distribute resources in line with development needs.
Thu Thiem Fintech Hub (Rendering by Sasaki)
In order to improve the living quality, open spaces are integrated into creative hubs to foster innovation exchange and connect urban residents. Meanwhile, the green corridors along the two production belts will return the river back to its natural role as a waterway transport, regulating the environment, stabilizing ecosystems to adapt with climate change, instead of being the cause of subsidence and pollution.
Tam Da Eco Hub (Rendering by Sasaki)
