>> Hanoi\'s Old Quarter to undergo trial pedestrianisation
The proposal to pedestrianise large parts of the Old Quarter has been welcomed by many, with the Hanoi People’s Committee hailing it as an ideal way of attracting tourists and promoting the image of the city.
 |
| Some streets in Hanoi\'s Old Quarter have been pedestrianised for some years for Night Market |
I’m however in two minds. Pedestrianisation of shopping districts is a thorny topic anywhere in the world and I’m rather of the opinion that Hanoi\'s Old Quarter isn’t necessarily that well suited to it.
The other consideration is what are local residents and retailers going to do without having motorised access to their businesses and homes? Pedestrianisation often works best where you can access a range of different retail outlets and services within a tight geographical area, but Hanoi retailers don’t operate this way – instead there are whole streets devoted to one particular item. There are few general department stores or shopping centres, so if you’re trying to do a bit browsing for clothes for instance, you’re currently hopping off your bike on Dinh Liet to visit Boo, then driving down to Hang Dau to look at knock-off trainers which failed to get shipped in the last dispatch to Adidas in Europe, or perhaps wanting to get your suit tailored at a place on Hang Bong. If you add up the distances involved you’re hitting close to three or four kilometres, and in the middle of summer I’m not sure any of us really would really enjoy such a sweaty trek.
Old Quarter – Gone but not forgotten
The argument that pedestrianisation would help in saving the Old Quarter is a bit weak too. The Old Quarter depicted in songs, poems and films such as The Vertical Ray of the Sun (Mua he chieu thang dung) by director Anh Hung Tran, has long since been demolished; with centuries old houses replaced by ‘French-style’ retail-housing blocks. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against progress, but in the case of the Old Quarter, there isn’t much left from a hundred, let alone a thousand years ago, other than the street layouts and their names.
Lieutenant-General Nguyen Duc Nhanh, Director of Hanoi Police Department may extol the virtues of walking being good for the health (I look forward to him taking a stroll with me, if he gets time), but I’m sceptical about the proposal that these newly pedestrianised streets offers the perfect opportunity to promote the sale of ‘traditional Vietnamese craft items’. Speaking as a foreigner I’m already utterly overwhelmed by the huge amounts of authentic (and identical) craft items I can buy already, and quite frankly I’ve got no interest in having any more, thank you very much. Instead why doesn’t the city designate a couple of streets in the Old Quarter as Heritage Streets, put some real effort in trying to recreate the architecture (what little that survives), add some good outlets selling Vietnamese foods and drinks, organise outdoor cultural events and music performances and really promote the spirit of the Old Quarter through engagement with the local community. Retail outlets alone don’t offer anything without a cultural impetus.
Food for thought
Too often, Hanoi’s great and good look at transplanting ideas into Vietnam without looking at the specific situation on the ground. I don’t want Hanoi to become a second-rate Singapore – all soulless streets and international brand-names combined with a nightlife that shuts down at midnight. Instead I want a city that organically links with its past, through a modern dynamic present. Pedestrianisation will just mean more cheap Chinese rubbish being sold like the night market on Hang Ngang if the modern culture of the city isn’t represented through this proposal.
Letting loose and zoning in
Hanoi claims to be an international class capital city, but if it wants tourist numbers to grow and rival its regional competitors, it has to begin letting loose. It isn’t the sign of a confident modern city of a dynamically developing country that shuts down life at 10pm ‘just because’. One of the biggest complaints about the city from foreign visitors is that there isn’t an awful lot to do at night. Once you’ve exhausted the recommended tourist attractions of the museums, the pagodas and the joys of the Old Quarter what else can you spend your money on? Restaurants regularly take last orders at 10pm, bars are restricted to midnight closing and there is no definable area of the city suited to those who want to relax and take in few drinks or a meal with their friends without being confined to a shady karaoke. Failing that, at least ban cars and motorbikes from Bao Khanh Lane, designate it an entertainment street and let its flourishing coffee house and bar scene grow, or better still designate a whole part of the Old Quarter a 24-hour tourist zone and tap those unspent tourist dollars.