Hanoi – UNESCO’s Creative City in Design category

The Network covers seven creative fields: Crafts and Folk Arts, Media Arts, Film, Design, Gastronomy, Literature, and Music. Hanoi got the UNESCO honour in the ‘Design’ category, an opportunity for Hanoi to create its trademark and promote its cultural creativity to the world.

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) was created in 2004 to promote cooperation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable development in economics, society, culture, and environment. The newest additions bring the network to a total of 246 Creative Cities.

There are 140 creative spaces in Vietnam, 60 of them in Hanoi, which offer diversified art genres: fine arts, fashion, architecture, cinematography, and street festivals.

Bui Hoai Son, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Culture and Arts Studies (VICAS), said “The number of 60 creative spaces in Hanoi, as reported by the British Council, is quite big. Hanoi has a potential for developing creative spaces thanks to its rich history and culture. The creative spaces are important in making up a creative nation. They make a city worth living in for its art experience and sharing of community values.”

Hanoi has a developed design industry with influences from other cultures. The Thang Long Imperial Citadel, for instance, which was recognized as a world cultural heritage, is an old architectural complex with typical historical, archeological, and cultural values of Hanoi.

Hanoi has many buildings that combine Western and Oriental architectural styles, indigenous and foreign styles, or classical and contemporary styles, such as the Hanoi Opera House, Long Bien bridge, and Nhat Tan bridge.

To Van Dong, Director of the Hanoi municipal Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, said “Hanoi, Vietnam’s cultural center, is the venue for numerous world events. The Department organized 160 international cultural events last year and even more this year in Hanoi, as well as across Vietnam and abroad. We are working to preserve Hanoi’s tangible and intangible culture.”

Phung Hung mural street (Photo: Ngoc Anh/VOV)

A number of creative design projects have been launched recently in Hanoi, including the pedestrian zone around Sword Lake; Heritage Space, which is dedicated to contemporary arts and creativity; and Phung Hung mural street. Projects have been created to inventory and preserve Hanoi’s intangible cultural heritage.

Notably, a project called “Quintessence of the Vietnamese craft village” has encouraged the combining of contemporary creative design with traditional crafts.

Ha Thi Vinh, Deputy Chairwoman of the Vietnam Craft Village Association, said “The project ‘Quintessence of the Vietnamese craft village’ is conducted in Bat Trang pottery village. It provides a place for artisans, artists, and students to meet and make their products. The project features a house exhibiting typical handicraft products of other villages in Hanoi. This model will be replicated in traditional craft villages across Vietnam.”

Hanoi’s admission to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network helps promotes its cultural creativity and strengthen connectivity with member cities.