Vietnam

Urbanisation and population growth in Vietnam

Mrs Vu Thi Hong Hangh

Mr Nguyen Van Lam

We work in the old quarter of Hanoi selling traditional clothing for special events. There are many people living in Hanoi today, which is good as that means there are more customers for our shop.

In the old time there were only about 300,000 people living in the citv and very few people in the streets, so the streets were clean and quiet. . The Old Quarter of Hanoi hasn’t really changed that much, there are still some old colonial buildings and some trees. However, outside the Old Quarter there used to be more trees, parks and gardens. The large ponds that surrounded Hanoi are now being filled so that buildings can be constructed. This has destroyed the land and caused some flooding problems in the city, as well destroying a very important part of Hanoi. Today it is very different as we now use every single square metre for buildings.

In the 1980’s many motorbikes arrived in Hanoi from China and in the 1990s many cars. There are too many motorbikes in Hanoi and I think it will get worse, as people will switch to cars. Today the pollution is much worse, there is more smoke, noise and dust in the city. We don’t live in the old part anymore, we have moved to the west of the city. The air quality is different and the climate seems different. Before it was easier to breathe in the streets and it was most definitely safer to drive and walk.