Hanoi, the captivating capital of Vietnam, is a city steeped in history and culture. Its name, meaning “River’s Embrace,” reflects its intimate relationship with the Red River and the numerous lakes that grace its landscape. These waterways have shaped Hanoi’s identity, providing sustenance, enabling transportation, and serving as a precious natural landscape amidst the bustling urban life.
The devastating impact of Super Typhoon Yagi in September 2024, causing immense loss and hardship for the people, serves as a stark reminder for us to reconsider our relationship with rivers and cities.
I. HANOI
Hanoi is the apex of Red River’s delta, located within the floodplain of the Red River, a historical corridor of intensive rice agricultural fields. Hanoi has shown traces of early settlements dating back to around 5,000 years ago. The origin of Hanoi as an administrative center can be traced back to the seventh century. In its early stages, the city consisted of a small trading area situated next to the Citadel. For many centuries, trade control and a succession of dynastic conflicts determined its development. When the French settled in Hanoi in the late nineteenth century, the city had roughly 100,000 people, and urban growth remained slow under the new administration that nevertheless transformed its appearance and functions through the construction of the new “modern” urban neighborhoods, infrastructure, and modernized transport corridors such as railway. Later, during the early post-independence period and the resistance wars against the French 1946–1954) and the USA (1954–1975), further limited the development of the city. Nevertheless, by 1980, Hanoi’s total population had reached 1 million and the city was not to exceed this figure for almost three decades due both to the control of rural migration and the late economic crisis of the 1980s. From the 1990s onward, and after the economic liberalization reforms (Doi Moi), the population started to increase considerably.
The surface and administrative boundaries of Hanoi have changed several times throughout the twentieth century and in this process, especially after 2008, Hanoi’s land area triplicated from 921 to 3.328,9 square kilometers, integrating extensive agricultural zones that now constitute two-thirds of its territory. Hanoi’s old city core, once defined by the Citadel and Old Quarter, corresponds to 1 square kilometers.
The modernization and expansion of Hanoi since the end of the twentieth century gradually resulted in the loss of its historical value as a riverine city by neglecting the role of the river as a fundamental artery and heritage component, a heart of social, cultural, and patrimonial life.
EN