On December 10, at the Hanoi Children's Palace, the city announced the activity framework for the Hanoi Creative Design Festival 2026 and launched the Hanoi Creative Spaces Network.

The Hanoi People's Committee and the Vietnam Association of Architects directed the event. The Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports and Architecture Magazine organized it, with support from UNESCO, Sovico Group and other partners.

Attendees included Nguyen Van Phong, Standing Vice Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee; Vu Thu Ha, Vice Chairwoman of the Hanoi People's Committee; and representatives from central ministries and Hanoi departments.

Continuing the journey toward a creative city

In 2019, UNESCO recognized Hanoi as a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, making it the world's 246th Creative City and the 32nd capital recognized in the field of creative design. The network now includes 408 member cities.

Since then, Hanoi has implemented many innovation and integration plans based on the principle of placing creativity and the creative economy at the core of building a dynamic, inclusive and sustainable city.

The Hanoi Creative Design Festival has gradually shaped a distinct identity through contemporary cultural themes such as "Igniting creativity – 2021: New vitality for heritage"; "Design and technology – 2022: Creativity, dedication, for the community"; "Flow of connection and creative heritage – 2023: Design, community, creativity"; and "Creative crossroads – 2024: Dialogue between heritage architecture and contemporary art".

Building on community-driven creativity, the festival has not only revived forgotten heritage and connected young people with communities, but has also gathered resources, unlocked potential and promoted policies for the capital's creative economy.

Based on this foundation, Hanoi plans the Creative Design Festival 2026 as an urban creative institution that brings together, tests and spreads new ideas.

In 2026, the festival will shift from "organizing a festival" to "building an urban creative ecosystem", adopting an interdisciplinary approach that connects visual arts, design, technology, architecture, sound, data, crafts and performance to create multi-sensory experiences, new art forms and internationally oriented interactive spaces.

Speaking at the ceremony, Vice Chairwoman Vu Thu Ha said the Hanoi Creative Design Festival 2026 will take shape as a rich series of activities aimed at building a strong and sustainable creative ecosystem.

Hanoi seeks concrete projects, ideas and actions that tap and enhance cultural values, tangible and intangible heritage and traditional craft villages, transforming them into creative projects with commercial potential and long-term development, spreading creative spirit and improving residents' quality of life.

She noted that creative design activities extend beyond artworks and design products to include urban design, public space design, social welfare, community design and creative solutions to urban bottlenecks such as urban order, environmental pollution, flooding in urban and peri-urban areas, traffic congestion and food safety, with people at the center of development.

Many new creative spaces

According to organizers, the Hanoi Creative Design Festival will take place every two years, with main activities held each November. The 2026 edition will start in January and run through November.

Festival activities will follow a creative economy orientation, serving as a hub, forum and testing ground for creative economic models across areas such as creative exhibitions, creative fairs, creative forums, creative competitions, creative projects, creative design awards, a creative fund and creative infrastructure.

This year's festival stands out for spreading creative spirit across the entire city through dedicated zones:

The Heritage Space (Dong Xuan Market – Bac Qua area and Dong Xuan Cultural Industry Center) will serve as the festival's core zone, where creators design installations that combine heritage and creativity, pilot cultural and commercial development models, connect artisans, designers and traders and form heritage–creativity–commerce experience routes.

The Ke Cho Space (Market zone in the Hanoi Old Quarter with its 36 guild streets) will revive the "market–street–craft" environment and shape "creative guild streets" aligned with cultural industries, offering exhibition, performance and interactive spaces that link traditional streets with Hanoi's craft village network.

The Future Space (a network of city parks) will serve as a playground for students and pupils, featuring public design spaces, international pavilions, competitions, workshops, creative camps and community activities.

The Ecological Space (the Red River mid-channel islet) will pilot "urban–ecological symbiosis", test innovative ideas emphasizing landscape art, local materials and circular design and study waterway experience routes along the Red River.

The Community Space (across the city) will spread creative spirit, develop creative economy models and invite participation from embassies, international organizations, cultural centers, heritage sites, universities, creative spaces, exhibitions, museums, theaters, restaurants and cafés to organize activities or support artist communities.

At the ceremony, Jonathan Wallace Baker, Head Representative of the UNESCO Office in Vietnam, said that shifting from a festival to a creative ecosystem will create sustainable opportunities for designers, artists, creative businesses, students and communities, making creativity a shared practice embedded in daily life.

He added that UNESCO strongly supports Hanoi's creative journey and is pleased to accompany the city as it becomes a space of imagination, connection and innovation.

The Hanoi Creative Design Festival 2026 will open with the "Creative Gathering" event in early January 2026 at Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square and the Hoan Kiem area, featuring unique interdisciplinary artistic connections.

At the announcement ceremony, the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports also announced decisions and awarded Hanoi Creative Cultural Space certificates to 82 creative cultural spaces that meet all criteria under the classification and evaluation framework for the Hanoi Creative Cultural Spaces Network.

The event marks Hanoi's efforts to affirm the importance and role of the creative community in building a shared ecosystem, representing a new step in the city's journey toward a sustainable and inspiring Creative City.