During the visit and working program in China, on February 1–4, 2026, the Hanoi delegation travelled to Shanghai, one of China's largest centrally administered cities and a leading global economic and financial hub.

The visit aimed at studying and exchanging views with partners on Shanghai's urban planning and development experience and proposing ideas for Hanoi's capital master plan with a long-term vision.

The delegation was led by Duong Duc Tuan, Standing Member of the Hanoi Party Committee and Standing Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee.

In Shanghai, the delegation held in-depth working sessions with the Tongji Urban Planning and Design Institute (TJUPDI) under Tongji University and visited and worked with the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources and the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall.

They also conducted field surveys of several models in Shanghai's urban planning and development and met with the Danish Hydraulic Institute (DHI, Denmark) at its China office.

Proposal for a 100-year vision capital master plan

At the working session with TJUPDI of Tongji University, one of China's leading institutions in urban planning and design research and training, TJUPDI experts presented a preliminary proposal titled "Hanoi Capital Master Plan with a 100-year Vision."

Based on comparative analysis between present-day Hanoi and Shanghai during its rapid development phase, the experts proposed breakthrough directions to establish a new vision, positioning Hanoi as a "global innovation and ecological city."

This vision rests on three pillars: ecological civilization, which places the environment and quality of life first, innovation, which shifts from an outsourcing-based economy to a knowledge-based economy and cultural identity, which embraces modernity while preserving East Asian cultural essence.

To realize this vision, the experts proposed five breakthrough strategies.

First, spatial structure: strongly shifting from a "centripetal" model to a "river-oriented" model, identifying the Red River axis as the backbone of development, similar to the role of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, to expand the city northward and eastward toward the sea.

Second, build "innovation valleys" and innovation clusters to replace traditional industrial zones, with a focus on research and development and high technology.

Third, environment: establish a system of "green belts" and "green wedges" to prevent spontaneous urban sprawl and apply the "sponge city" model to comprehensively address flooding.

Fourth, transportation: give absolute priority to the TOD model, developing compact urban areas around public transport hubs to free land for green space and public areas.

Fifth, urban regeneration: apply "adaptive conservation" to historic inner-city areas and convert former industrial heritage sites into cultural and artistic spaces.

At the meeting, representatives of the Hanoi delegation acknowledged the experts' recommendations and asked TJUPDI to provide not only urban spatial planning consultancy but also research and technical standards and criteria tailored to Hanoi.

These include Shanghai and Beijing standards on complex underground space planning and management, technical standards for TOD models, including density and land-use coefficients, drainage and flood control standards under the sponge city approach and environmental control and green building indicators.

These inputs will help Hanoi develop a distinctive set of "Capital Standards and Codes" that go beyond national standards to meet the needs of a modern megacity.

At the same meeting, to formalize long-term cooperation, under the witness of Hanoi city leaders and Tongji University leaders, the director of the Hanoi Institute of Urban Planning (HUPI) and leaders of TJUPDI officially signed a memorandum of understanding.

The memorandum focuses on establishing a strategic cooperation framework for expert exchanges, sharing planning data, co-organizing scientific workshops and jointly researching in-depth themes to serve the capital master plan.

Insights from the "Shanghai 2035" vision

At the working session with the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources and the Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, the two sides discussed in depth the "Shanghai 2035" plan, which aims to build an outstanding global city. The Shanghai side shared three "critical" principles that Hanoi can consider.

First, ceiling controls: Shanghai applies extremely strict dual controls, keeping the population cap stable at 25 million people and limiting urban construction land to no more than 50% of total area, or about 3,200 square kilometers out of 6,300 square kilometers.

Second, the "15-minute living circle" model: urban spatial planning ensures residents can access essential services such as healthcare, education, parks and sports facilities within a 15-minute walk.

Third, underground space strategy: Shanghai plans underground space in sync with the metro system, creating interconnected "underground cities" in central areas such as Hongqiao and Lujiazui to address land scarcity.

The delegation visited the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center, the world's largest planning museum, which uses massive physical models and virtual reality technology to make planning information transparent.

This serves as a practical reference for Hanoi to study the early development of a National or Capital Planning Center, with both physical and digital planning models, to publicize planning, attract investment and build public consensus.

To gain further practical references for Hanoi's capital master plan, the delegation also surveyed several flagship urban planning and development models in Shanghai.

The Xintiandi area stands out as a typical example of urban regeneration combined with heritage conservation. Originally a severely degraded, high-density residential area featuring 19th-century Shanghai architecture, the city did not demolish it entirely for high-rise development.

Instead, Shanghai applied adaptive conservation, preserving the external architectural shell, including tiled roofs, brick walls and narrow alleys, to retain the city's "soul," while completely renewing interior functions into high-end commercial, service, entertainment, restaurant and bar spaces.

This approach generated significant value, transforming a former slum into a top tourist destination while preserving historical memory and increasing property value.

Another notable model is the development of the "Riverside Cultural and Economic Axis: The Bund–Pudong."

Treating the Huangpu River as the central axis, planners applied a spatial layout approach that preserved colonial architectural clusters and created a riverside pedestrian city on the west bank, built a modern financial center with iconic skyscrapers in Lujiazui on the east bank and connected the two sides with tunnels and tourist ferries to create a striking contrast between past and future.

Shanghai also cleared all old ports and warehouses along the river to develop continuous riverside promenades and a 45-kilometer-long public park corridor for residents.

In Shanghai, the delegation also worked with the Danish Hydraulic Institute at its China office.

As a leading international water environment consultancy with more than 50 years of experience and operations in over 30 countries, DHI owns core technologies and develops the MIKE software suite, a global standard tool for river and urban flood modeling.

DHI also brings strong regional experience, having implemented major projects in Vietnam and the Mekong River Basin, including flood forecasting and decision-support systems for the Mekong River Commission and projects in Thailand and Myanmar.

DHI has extensive experience in building integrated decision-support systems that combine meteorological, hydrological and planning data. It has served as a specialized technical consultant responsible for irrigation planning, disaster prevention and climate change adaptation components to ensure sustainable urban development.

At the meeting, both sides shared practical experience and cooperation needs, assessed DHI's models and technologies as suitable for addressing Hanoi's challenges and agreed to enhance exchanges, consider providing climate and hydrological input data and conduct risk assessment modeling based on proposed planning scenarios.

These exchanges, surveys and research activities in Shanghai successfully concluded the Hanoi delegation's working program in China, yielding valuable experience and effective practices from Chinese megacities.

These lessons will serve as important references for building Hanoi's 100-year capital master plan, especially in developing local standards and codes, riverfront planning, urban regeneration, land management and the planning exhibition center project, contributing significantly to defining and realizing the capital's long-term development vision.