UNESCO Studio Hanoi

The UNESCO Hanoi Studio is a research-creation workshop held from May 8 to 19, 2023 in Vietnam. Inscribed within the framework of the Hanoi UNESCO Creative City planning, the studio initiated a reflection on the relationship between the city’s inhabitants and the Red River, which has shaped Hanoi for more than a thousand years. The name “Hanoi”, meaning “inside the rivers”, speaks to this foundational bond — yet today, few of the rivers and lakes that once defined the city remain. Many have been buried, canalized, or sealed behind embankments. The studio asked a simple question: how might a new generation of designers and planners help Hanoi find its way back to the water?

The project created international training opportunities and intercultural collaboration for over 40 students from Canada, Vietnam, and Singapore. It fostered cooperation among researchers from four universities: the Hanoi University of Civil Engineering, the Hanoi Architecture University, the National University of Singapore, and the University of Montréal. Over two weeks, teams undertook field studies in the Phúc Tân neighborhood along the Red River — one of Hanoi’s most distinctive riverside communities — and developed spatial planning and design strategies grounded in the realities of the site. A series of lectures brought together local researchers, urban planners, heritage specialists, and institutional representatives, connecting participants to the broader challenges of sustainable urban development in Hanoi.

Numbers

1 neighborhood

The UNESCO Studio Hanoi concentrates its design research on Phúc Tân, a riverfront neighborhood in Hanoi’s Hoàn Kiếm district. Pressed between the Red River embankment and the historic city fabric, Phúc Tân embodies the tensions and opportunities at the heart of the studio: informal urban life, cultural resilience, and the question of what it means to live alongside a great river.

3 countries’ expertise

The UNESCO Studio Hanoi brings together student-researchers, academics, and professionals from three countries: Vietnam, Canada, and Singapore. The studio draws on each country’s distinct perspective on urban waterways, planning cultures, and design approaches.

4 universities

The studio gathers students and faculty from four universities: the Hanoi University of Civil Engineering, the Hanoi Architecture University, the National University of Singapore, and the University of Montréal. Together, they form an interdisciplinary teaching collective spanning architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, and urban design.

Over 40 trained young professionals

From May 8 to 19, 2023, the UNESCO Studio Hanoi trains over 40 young professionals in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, and design. Organized in international, interdisciplinary teams, participants engage in site investigations, analytical mapping, design charettes, and public presentations — completing their graduate training with a unique experience of intercultural collaboration in a rapidly transforming Asian city.

Impacts

Research-based design for a riverfront neighborhood

The UNESCO Studio Hanoi focuses its design inquiry on Phúc Tân and the surrounding waterfront zones along the Red River. Teams conduct in-depth field research — sketching, mapping, walking, and meeting residents — before developing urban design strategies that address the specific social, ecological, and cultural conditions of the site. Participants produce analytical documents, spatial strategies, and design proposals that reflect both rigorous research and creative thinking.

Interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaboration

The studio brings together students from multiple disciplines alongside faculty, architects, urban planners, policy experts, and representatives from international and local organizations. This breadth of participation builds a richer understanding of urban challenges and models the kind of cross-sector collaboration that sustainable urban development requires.

International partnership

The studio establishes lasting institutional ties between the University of Montréal, two Vietnamese universities, and the National University of Singapore, while deepening engagement with UNESCO and partner organizations active in Hanoi. These relationships extend beyond the two-week workshop and contribute to an ongoing network of researchers and practitioners working on large river urbanism as part of the Fluvialities research project.

Training

The UNESCO Studio Hanoi trains graduate students from four universities across three countries: the Hanoi University of Civil Engineering, the Hanoi Architecture University, the National University of Singapore, and the University of Montréal. Participants engage in hands-on studio work — including fieldwork, data collection, mapping, design development, and final presentations — and attend lectures featuring local and international experts on topics ranging from the planning history of Hanoi to the governance of the Red River.

Outreach

The studio concludes with a public presentation of participants’ design projects in Hanoi on May 19, 2023. Teams present their work to local stakeholders, academic partners, and institutional representatives, opening a conversation about the future of the Red River waterfront with the professionals and policymakers who shape it. The UNESCO Chair in Urban Landscape shares the studio’s outcomes through its social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn), broadening the project’s reach beyond its immediate participants.

People

Lãnh Nguyễn Cao

Lãnh Nguyễn Cao is a professor of urban planning and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at the Hanoi University of Civil Engineering. His research focuses on eco-industrial parks, business parks, social housing, sustainable neighbourhoods, and architectural technology. He holds a PhD from the National University of Civil Engineering. As one of the principal academic hosts of the studio, Professor Lãnh Nguyễn Cao oversees HUCE’s partnership and provides students with grounded insight into Vietnam’s evolving urban planning frameworks.

Ta Quynh Hoa

Ta Quynh Hoa is Dean of the Faculty of International Education and Director of the International Center for Construction Education and Cooperation at the Hanoi University of Civil Engineering. She coordinates HUCE’s participation in the studio, facilitating student recruitment, site access, and engagement with local authorities. Her leadership ensures that the studio is well connected to Hanoi’s planning institutions and sensitive to the realities of Vietnamese urban governance.

Nguyen Thai Huyen

Nguyen Thai Huyen is Vice Director of the Institute of International Trainings and Cooperations at the Hanoi Architecture University. She leads HAU’s engagement in the studio, coordinating the participation of students and faculty from HAU in the field research and design phases. Her institutional role bridges the studio’s international ambitions with the teaching practices and professional networks of Vietnamese architectural education.

Dorothy Tang

Dorothy Tang is an assistant professor of landscape architecture at the National University of Singapore Department of Architecture. Her research focuses on the intersections of infrastructure and everyday life, particularly in communities confronting large-scale environmental change. She examines the environmental impacts of development on landscape systems in Southeast Asia and Africa. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Venice Biennale and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture. At the UNESCO Hanoi Studio, she co-leads the teaching team and contributes a landscape infrastructure perspective on questions of water, risk, and urban transformation.

Tang, D. (2023, May). Large river urbanism and landscape infrastructure. UNESCO Studio Hanoi, Hanoi.

Victoria Jane Marshall

Victoria Jane Marshall is a researcher and educator at the National University of Singapore Department of Architecture, where she works at the intersection of architecture, urban design, and community engagement. She co-teaches the studio alongside Dorothy Tang and brings a practice-oriented approach to the workshop’s design and fieldwork sessions, supporting NUS students throughout their participation in the studio.

Emmanuel Cerise

Emmanuel Cerise is an urban planning expert from the Île-de-France region deployed to the City of Hanoi, where he supports the revision of the metropolitan master plan. His detailed knowledge of Hanoi’s planning governance — including the role of urban districts, land taxation, and sectoral planning — provides studio participants with a lucid and critical picture of how planning decisions are made in the Vietnamese capital. His lecture introduces participants to the complexity of planning the Red River corridor, including the jurisdictional challenges that have long constrained riverside development.

Cerise, E. (2023, May). Futures of Hanoi: Urban governance and the Red River corridor. UNESCO Studio Hanoi, Hanoi.

Francesco Montresor

Francesco Montresor is an architect and urban researcher who contributes to the studio as an expert collaborator. His involvement in the studio connects participants to the architectural and academic networks active in Hanoi, and enriches the studio’s approach to field research and design methodology.

Organization

• Shin Koseki (University of Montréal)
• Le Van, Chieu-Anh (University of Montréal)
• Montresor, Francesco (University of Montréal)
• Nguyễn, Cao Lãnh (Hanoi University of Civil Engineering)
• Tạ, Quỳnh Hoa (Hanoi University of Civil Engineering)
• Nguyễn, Thái Huyền (Hanoi Architecture University)
• Tang, Dorothy (National University of Singapore)

Teaching

• Shin Koseki (University of Montréal)
• Lê, Nam Phong (Hanoi University of Civil Engineering)
• Nguyễn, Tiến Tâm (Hanoi Architecture University)
• Marshall, Victoria Jane (National University of Singapore)

Pedagogical support

• Trương, Ngọc Lân (Hanoi University of Civil Engineering)
• Doãn, Thế Trung (Hanoi University of Civil Engineering)
• Doãn, Thanh Bình (Hanoi University of Civil Engineering)
• Phạm, Anh Tuấn (Hanoi University of Civil Engineering)
• Bùi, Thị Thuý Ngọc (Hanoi Architecture University)

Logistics

• Phan, Duy Tú (Hanoi University of Civil Engineering)
• Chu, Ngọc Huyền (Hanoi University of Civil Engineering)
• Phạm, Thị Ngoan (Hanoi University of Civil Engineering)
• Đỗ, Thành Công (Hanoi University of Civil Engineering)
• Hoàng, Thị Lê (Hanoi University of Civil Engineering)

List of participants

Hanoi University of Civil Engineering

• Đặng, Thanh Thủy
• Đinh, Thế Dũng
• Hoàng, Quốc Bảo
• Lương, Trần Hưng
• Nguyễn, Anh Minh
• Nguyễn, Minh Hiền
• Nguyễn, Thu Trang
• Nguyễn, Thị Mỹ Hạnh
• Nguyễn, Văn An
• Phạm, Lương Thịnh
• Phạm, Thị Khánh Vy
• Phạm, Việt Bách
• Trần, Hữu Trí
• Trần, Thị Ngọc Hà

Hanoi University of Civil Engineering — Volunteers

• Lê, Châu Hà Vi
• Lê, Thị Huyền
• Nguyễn, Quang Anh

Hanoi Architecture University

• Bùi, Dương Hùng
• Đinh, Văn Phú
• Lê, Phương Nguyên
• Lê, Thị Thanh Thuỷ
• Lê, Thuỳ Linh
• Nguyễn, Nhật Huy
• Nguyễn, Phú Ngọc Nam
• Nguyễn, Thi Nhung
• Phạm, Tuấn Anh
• Trần, Xuân Đức
• Trịnh, Gia Phú
• Vũ, Chúc Linh

National University of Singapore

• Chow, Qi Fang

University of Montréal

• Circé Kerry, Charles
• Cohen, My Linh
• Gillespie-Cloutier, Leila
• Lecomte, Fanny
• Ligot, Maïté
• Madore, Benoit
• Nguyen, Christine
• Painson-Ehler, Isabel
• Pesce, Angelo
• Poulin, Julie-Anne
• Roy, Marianne
• Thibault-Malo, Victoria
• Vasile, Alexandrea-Ioana
• Vincent, Ithia