Boasting its great development potential, Viet Nam’s third most important city after Ha Noi and HCMC, Da Nang could be the pioneering aerotropolis in Viet Nam. The most important thing now is to uphold determination and change the mindset to develop this ambitious project, rather than focusing on construction design, engineering, or feasibility.

The Nguyen Tri Phuong - Dien Bien Phu road tunnel is a key project to promote the development of Da Nang's traffic infrastructure

Ngo Viet Nam Son, an architect with over 30 years’ experience in designing and architectural planning, recently made this above-mentioned proposal whist commenting on a master plan for Da Nang’s major development to 2045, which suggests turning the Da Nang International Airport into a metropolitan sub-region whose infrastructure, land use and economy are centered on the airport.

Like the traditional metropolis made up of a central city core and its outlying commuter-linked suburbs, the aerotropolis consists of the airport's aeronautical, logistics, and commercial infrastructure forming a multimodal, multifunctional airport city at its core and outlying corridors and clusters of businesses and associated residential developments that feed off each other and their accessibility to the airport

In reality, many places in the world, including Orly Airport in Paris, France, and Logan Airport in Boston, the U.S., have successfully developed the airport city model.

Not only may the development of an aerotropolis in Da Nang be the first of its kind in Viet Nam, but it also contributes significantly to Da Nang’s socio-economic development in the coming time.

Beside, this aerotropolis model helps form an east-west urban centre, extending from the aerotropolis to the existing inner city and a new hub of high-rise buildings to the east, and then reaching out to the sea.

A modern aerotropolis will consist of airport planning in combination with the development of a neighbouring multi-function urban centre, and transport hubs which may include expressways, streets, a metro, high-speed train (TGV), bus rapid transit (BRT), pedestrian areas, and neighbourhoods surrounded as one entity complete uniformity. This is the most advanced model that has been developing very successfully in many developed countries all over the world.

The development of an aerotropolis will be the future development trend, thereby bringing positive economic, social, environmental benefits to Central Viet Nam, especially in this ongoing highly competitive context fiercely amongst airports around the world.

The Da Nang International Airport

Ha Noi and HCMC are planning to develop an aerotropolis at a very large scale, which can handle 100 million passengers or more every year. Meanwhile, Da Nang should choose its own development path to better suit the narrow and long land terrain of Central Viet Nam.

In order to enhance its position and increase the competitiveness of the central key economic region, Da Nang should only develop a future aerotropolis with a moderate annual handling capacity of about 40 million passengers.

Also, heed should be paid to promoting convenient traffic connection with airports in neighbouring localities such as Thua Thien-Hue Province-based Phu Bai Airport and Quang Nam Province-located Chu Lai Airport.

By Dr.Sc, Architect NGO VIET NAM SON- Translated by A.T