On January 27, at its 31st session, the Hanoi People's Council approved a resolution on the core contents of the capital's master plan with a 100-year vision.

Toward a "cultural – identity – creative" capital

Presenting the Hanoi People's Committee's report, Standing Vice Chairman Duong Duc Tuan said that during the 2020–2025 term, the city prepared two major plans: the Hanoi Capital Plan for 2021–2030 with a vision to 2050 and the adjusted Hanoi Master Plan to 2045 with a vision to 2065.

The Prime Minister approved these plans under Decision No. 1569/QD-TTg dated December 12, 2024 and Decision No. 1668/QD-TTg dated December 27, 2024.

Because approval came before organizational restructuring, administrative boundary adjustments and implementation of the two-tier local government model, many contents such as the city-within-a-city model and district structures, no longer align with current realities and require adjustment to ensure consistency with the national master plan, the Red River Delta regional plan and sectoral plans.

Despite having eight specialized technical infrastructure plans, the city still faces persistent problems, including flooding, environmental pollution, traffic congestion, lack of green space, population concentration in the inner city, weak urban order and slow smart city development.

Against this backdrop on December 11, 2025, the National Assembly issued Resolution No. 258/2025/QH15, allowing the capital to prepare a single integrated master plan that combines the Hanoi Capital Plan and the Hanoi Master Plan to eliminate overlap and improve coherence.

The new plan aims to position Hanoi, the national political and administrative center, as a central growth pole that creates development space and momentum, targets double-digit growth and advances a 100-year vision and beyond, consistent with its role as the capital of a high-income, socialist-oriented country.

The plan will also drive development in the Red River Delta, the Capital Region, the Northern Key Economic Region and the country as a whole.

The adjustments will align with organizational restructuring, administrative boundary changes, the two-tier local government model and consistency with national and regional plans and sectoral strategies, while strengthening connectivity with neighboring provinces.

Strategically, the plan shifts from a 2065 horizon to long-term research toward 2100, building development scenarios for milestones in 2030, 2035, 2045, 2050, 2065, 2085 and 2100, aiming for a "cultural – identity – creative" capital.

This approach seeks to unlock existing strengths and potential, connect globally and ensure competitiveness on par with leading regional and global capitals through clear development directions.

Hanoi's entire administrative area includes 126 commune-level units, comprising 51 wards and 75 communes, with a total land area of about 3,359.84 square kilometers.

Under an open population scenario that does not cap mechanical population growth but manages it based on infrastructure capacity, the population is projected at 15–16 million by 2045 and 17–19 million by 2065.

By 2100, the city aims to stabilize land use for no more than 20 million people, ensure population density standards, avoid urban pressure and promote population growth alongside workforce rejuvenation and modernization.

To shape a "cultural – identity – creative" capital, the city will restructure under a multi-polar, multi-center, multi-layer urban model, building a "cultured, civilized and modern" city that grows green, clean, beautiful and climate-resilient.

The goal is to make Hanoi a place that concentrates, preserves and promotes tangible and intangible cultural values and a deeply integrated capital of global scale with a distinct historical and cultural identity.

The city also seeks to maintain a key role in the national urban development strategy, serving as a major economic, trade, tourism, cultural, sports and commercial center in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific, as well as the core of the Capital Region and the Red River Delta, leading innovation and regional and interregional connectivity.

Driving force for regional development

The national master plan positions Hanoi not only as responsible for development within its boundaries but also as a driving nucleus for the Red River Delta and broader socioeconomic regions, closely linked with neighboring provinces including Thai Nguyen, Bac Ninh, Hung Yen and Ninh Binh, according to the Hanoi People’s Committee.

Hanoi will act as the central coordinator and main engine of development in road, rail, inland waterway and air transport and as a regional and international hub for finance, banking, trade and logistics services.

The Hanoi metropolitan region will follow a "concentric urban cluster" model, planning nine growth poles and nine major centers and establishing nine spatial axes and economic and urban corridors aligned with key transport routes.

A defining feature of the plan places residents' quality of life at the center, using satisfaction, happiness and living standards as the ultimate benchmarks for all development decisions.

The plan prioritizes water security, clean air, high-quality social housing and public and cultural spaces to ensure fair access to development benefits for all residents.

Alongside this, the city will pursue a green and sustainable development strategy with green corridors and belts, expanded park systems, preserved river and lake networks and the "village in the city – city in the village" model.

The master plan aims to resolve long-standing challenges through revolutions in urban landscape architecture, housing and heritage preservation, shifting from a "preserve and renovate" mindset to one of "value reconstruction."

These efforts will create a new planning structure, unlock land resources, generate new value, remove infrastructure bottlenecks and move toward a green, smart and sustainable city.

Restructuring will focus on areas inside Ring Road 3, with priority given to zones within Ring Roads 1 and 2.

This process will closely link to the preservation and restoration of areas and structures with historical, cultural and architectural value, such as the Ba Dinh political-administrative center, Hoan Kiem Lake and its surroundings, the Old Quarter, the French Quarter, West Lake and adjacent areas and the Red River riverside landscape axis.

In parallel, the city proposes residential restructuring through inner-city population decongestion.

Residents subject to relocation will receive flexible resettlement options, partly on site and partly in new urban areas at growth poles such as Dong Anh, Gia Lam and Hoa Lac. These areas will receive synchronized and modern investment with full social infrastructure to ensure higher living standards.

The city will also focus on addressing traffic congestion, urban flooding, environmental pollution and food safety through fundamental solutions.

Interregional road and rail connections, river-crossing bridges, radial routes and ring roads will undergo expansion and integration within the overall plan to ensure spatial coherence and development efficiency.

In terms of resources, total capital demand for 2026–2045 is estimated at about VND64.84 quadrillion (US$2.5 trillion).

Of this amount, the 2026–2035 period will require about VND14.5 quadrillion ($556.4 billion), while 2036–2045 will require about VND50.34 quadrillion ($1.9 trillion), with private sector and social resources playing a leading role alongside public investment in essential infrastructure and social welfare.