The sustainable urban planning strategy of Van Phu – Invest places people at the centre while nature is the foundation

With its internal strengths, Van Phu – Invest has devoted all its passion over the years to researching the best urban design and planning solutions, creating quality and sustainable real estate products following international trends.

Van Phu – Invest has been dedicated to planning sustainable urban areas for the past 20 years (Illustration: Van Phu New Urban Area project, Ha Dong district).

The prerequisites

In recent years, the rapid urbanisation process and the increasingly complex effects of climate change and diseases have made sustainable urban development a central task in the modernisation strategy of Vietnam. This strategy identifies planning as a prerequisite factor in sustainable urban development (According to Resolution No. 136/NQ-CP on sustainable development).

Regarding this issue, Mr Tran Ngoc Chinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Urban Development Planning Association, commented that changes should be made to build green, smart cities with sustainable development, adapting to climate change and diseases. Vietnam needs to renew its approach and implementation method right from planning.

Not only is it a problem for management agencies, but urban planning has also become a long-term strategy for many businesses operating in the real estate field. Instead of developing small projects locally, professional real estate developers are increasingly focusing on planning on a large scale, forming integrated, multi-functional urban areas as a “miniature city” suitable for local planning orientation.

Van Phu – Invest is an enterprise that has implemented many projects towards green ecological urban areas. The enterprise’s leaders share the philosophy in project development is to take sustainability as a yardstick to measure the success of each project. The goal is to develop green buildings, green infrastructure with smart connections and diverse vegetation so that the project area will stay in harmony with the environment to create a self-sustaining and developing inhabitant with interactions that support human life.

As an enterprise with strengths and a long-term experience in urban planning, Van Phu – Invest identifies the prerequisites for designing sustainable urban planning. They consist of sustainable locations, efficient water resources’ usage and preservation, energy saving capacity, optimal natural energy sources usage, ecological diversity conservation, environmentally friendly, local materials application and optimal indigenous culture preservation.

Four criteria for sustainable urban planning

According to the representative of Van Phu – Invest, the enterprise has realised sustainable urban development strategies following a disciplined roadmap with a deep focus on the research and evaluation stage. The evaluations include:

• assessment of natural conditions;
• analysis of socio-economic forecasts;
• assessment of urban public transport development;
• feasibility of providing the technical infrastructure;
• assessment of current environmental sanitation;
• evaluation of planning solutions’ impacts on the environment, etc.,
• the alignment with the general planning of the locality where the project is implemented.

This initial thorough research will be the basis for Van Phu – Invest to develop an appropriate method to ensure a sustainable planning product.

The first criterion is socially sustainable design: urban construction planning and design must uphold all cultural and religious values and ensure adequate social factors so that urban residents and local people can participate in urban life.

The Vlasta – Sam Son (Thanh Hoa province) is a typical project of Van Phu – Invest in respecting cultural factors and the regional identity, reflected in the unique architecture and landscape of each item. It is the exploration and application of whale images artistically and uniquely in the design of the central hotel, resonating with the restoration of Ca Ong Temple here in harmonious and rich traditional features associated with the familiar sea element for the locals.

The second criterion is natural sustainability, or in other words, urban planning must be in harmony with the surrounding environment and adapt to climate change. Nature should be a fundamental factor for businesses in building specific images for the project.

Observers state that Van Phu – Invest pays special attention to drainage system planning by retaining natural topographical conditions in water treatment and drainage while choosing modern wastewater treatment technology and protecting the environment, reducing clean water leakage, etc. At the same time, the company focuses on environmental impact assessment, planning a suitable and safe waste collection area and applying advanced waste treatment technology.

Typically, in Con Khuong New Urban Area (Can Tho City), Van Phu – Invest adopts creatively natural sustainable solutions to cope with the complicated situation of rising and falling water levels affecting the stability of the ground and the daily living environment. The urban landscape lake system is designed and planned to follow the water level of the Khai Luong River, combining a diverse flora ecosystem with many native plants, such as jaggery, nipa, etc. The design creates a unique yet familiar seasonally changing landscape embankment system. This proves that the enterprise always respects and retains maximum natural elements in the project development process.

The third is the technical sustainability criteria integrated into the project reflected in the technical infrastructure associated with urban landscape design. Detailed planning utilises nature factors while applying green technologies in urban infrastructure and waste treatment. The Terra – An Hung, Oakwood Residence Hanoi, and the Vlasta – Sam Son are known as Van Phu – Invest’s projects that achieved the EDGE. The international green building certification – EDGE – has many rigorous evaluation criteria related to design and construction, materials used, energy saving and resource saving.

Last but not least is financial sustainability. Van Phu – Invest’s socioeconomic and financial analysis is strictly conducted at all project stages to calculate all costs necessary for investment, operation, maintenance, and management during the project’s lifecycle.

“With the passion imbued in every stage, from research and planning design to project implementation, the architects and engineers of Van Phu – Invest have specific processes for applying sustainable solutions to planning design. We ensure all products meet the necessary criteria beneficial to customers and the community. At the same time, each project has a different signature that is rich in identity and sustainable over time”, a representative of Van Phu – Invest shared.