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| The changing of the guard ceremony at the Imperial Citadel always excites visitors before they enter to tour the heritage site |
An initial answer has already taken fairly clear shape. It is a development model that combines Hue’s culture, heritage and people with science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, green transformation and new development spaces. By 2035, Hue aims for a “green - smart - identity - rich” model. By 2045, it aims to be a creative and innovative city, characterized by culture, heritage, greenness, Hue identity, smartness, a sea-oriented outlook, adaptability and sustainability.
More importantly, behind these concepts lies a shift in development thinking: from heritage preservation to development driven by heritage resources; from science and technology as a support function to science and technology as a growth driver; from the sea as a natural advantage to the sea as a strategic economic space; and from administrative management to development governance. These are the most notable shifts that Plan 101 opens up for Hue.
From heritage preservation to development driven by heritage resources
For many years, culture and heritage have been identified as Hue’s foundation and special advantage. What is notably new in Plan 101 is that heritage is no longer seen only as something to be preserved and promoted. It is placed directly within the structure of the development model.
The Plan sets the goal of Hue becoming a ‘heritage-based creative centre’ and strongly developing the ‘heritage economy and cultural industries’. It also aims to ‘transform heritage spaces into a new resource and driver of growth’, making the heritage economy an important economic sector.
This is a very significant shift in thinking.
Hue has an exceptionally rich system of cultural heritage, but the greatest value of that heritage does not lie only in relics, artefacts, or official titles. Heritage is also present in the landscape, urban space, way of life, cuisine, handicrafts, traditional arts, festivals, the ao-dai, indigenous knowledge, and the cultural values accumulated over many generations. When these resources are connected with creativity, technology and markets, they can generate new products and services, create new jobs, and add value to the economy.
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| Heritage values must be used sensibly and creatively to generate new resources |
For this reason, developing the heritage economy does not mean ‘commercialising heritage’, and it certainly cannot mean trading heritage for growth. Its essence must be the sensible and creative use of heritage values to generate new resources, and then reinvest those resources in conservation and sustainable development.
Alongside the heritage economy, cultural industries should become one of Hue’s most promising growth areas. The Plan calls for balancing conservation and development, strongly developing the cultural industries, and promoting digital transformation and innovation in culture and tourism. The next step is to turn this into concrete sectors where Hue has a genuine advantage, such as cultural tourism, performing arts and festivals, fine handicrafts, design, the ao-dai, cuisine, film and television, publishing, and digital content.
In other words, the question for this new phase is not only how to preserve heritage well. It is also how to enable heritage to take an active part in shaping Hue’s future.
Technology provides the drive, the sea opens a new development space
Another important shift in Plan 101 is the broadening of Hue’s economic structure.
Hue cannot rely solely on traditional growth drivers. The Plan sets out a new growth model based on science and technology, innovation and digital transformation, with higher labour productivity as the main driver. It also expands into the marine economy, the digital economy, digital technology industries, semiconductors and chips, clean energy, mechanical engineering and manufacturing, automobiles, green steel, logistics and other high value-added sectors. The city also plans to establish a center for research, training and technology transfer in semiconductor chips, artificial intelligence and clean energy.
This direction is necessary. However, the issue is not how many new technology sectors Hue will enter. What matters more is identifying where its advantages lie in the value chain.
Hue can create its own way by combining technology with its existing strengths: AI and data for specialized healthcare; digital technology for conservation, tourism and cultural industries; environmental technology for a green city; human resource training and semiconductor design; big data for smart urban governance and so on. When technology is ‘rooted’ in its distinctive advantages, Hue will have the chance to set itself apart rather than chase the same fields many other localities are pursuing.
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| A cargo ship docking at Chan May Port |
Notably, Plan 101 gives the sea and the lagoons a more prominent place in the development structure. The goal of gradually building Hue into a strong national marine economic center is linked to the Chan May deep-water port, the Chan May–Lang Co Economic Zone, a chain of industrial parks, and a system of coastal and lagoon towns along the Tam Giang–Cau Hai lagoon. This shows that Hue’s development space is opening strongly toward the east.
If Hue’s image was once tied mainly to the Citadel, the Perfume River and its heritage complex, the Hue of the future must be seen within a much broader structure: a heritage city, a knowledge city and a coastal city, linked by integrated infrastructure and a unified governance model.
From allocating resources to creating resources
One of the most notable elements of Plan 101 is its requirement for a fundamental overhaul of how resources are mobilized, allocated, and used. It calls for ‘shifting from an allocation mindset to one of creating and effectively harnessing resources’, with efficiency and development impact as the yardstick. Public investment leads and catalyzes private investment, and ‘unlocks and converts idle resources into drivers of development’.
This is a real change in thinking.
Hue’s resources are not only its budget, land, and public assets. They also include its heritage, landscape, sea and lagoons, data, knowledge, human resources, urban brand, the creativity of its communities, and spaces that are not yet being used effectively.
The task of development governance is not simply to divide up existing resources. It is to create mechanisms through which resources are generated, circulated, and grow in value.
The same spirit is reflected in the requirement to shift state management from ‘ex-ante inspection’ to ‘ex-post inspection’, step up administrative reform, simplify procedures, reduce compliance costs, promote digital transformation, and use the satisfaction of citizens and businesses as the measure of success.
However, the biggest challenge remains the gap between orientation and implementation.
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| Production activity at the HERA biopharmaceutical plant |
The Plan sets out 21 specific targets, but many major goals, such as the heritage economy, cultural industries, smart city, marine economy and creative center, still need to be quantified with measurable indicators.
In the next stage of implementation, each task needs a truly clear structure: what is to be done, who is responsible, what the output is, when it will be completed, where the resources will come from, and which indicators will measure it. Only then can there be a decisive shift from a mindset of ‘completing tasks’ to one of ‘delivering development results’.
Press and media must become part of the capacity to drive development
Plan 101 assigns the Commission for Publicity of the Municipal Party Committee to coordinate guidance on studying and disseminating the resolution, and to direct press, information and media agencies to step up communication about its implementation and results. This is a necessary task, but in the context of renewing the development model, the role of the press and media should be viewed more broadly.
The press should not appear only at the end of the policy implementation process to report on what has been done. Communication needs to be involved from the very start of turning policy into practice.
Even a sound policy will have limited effect if people do not understand it, businesses are unaware of it, and the officials implementing it do not share a common understanding. Conversely, good policy communication can turn big concepts like “heritage economy,” “green transformation,” “circular economy,” “smart city,” “carbon market,” or “cultural industries” into relatable issues. It helps communities understand how they will benefit, how they can take part, and what each stakeholder is responsible for.
The press must also serve as a channel for policy feedback. Reality is always richer than what is on paper. Bottlenecks in procedures, land, investment, the business environment, the difficulties businesses may face, and the shortcomings that arise in daily life need to be identified and reported promptly. When it performs this function well, the press creates a two-way flow of information between policymakers and society, helping policies to be adjusted more closely to reality.
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| A news programme updating developments across various fields on Hue Newspaper and Radio-Television |
More importantly, media today is also part of a city’s soft power and competitiveness. A city with outstanding heritage that fails to tell a compelling story about itself will struggle to fully convert that heritage into a brand and a resource. A locality with good policies that investors do not know about will struggle to turn opportunities into capital flows. A destination with good products but weak communication capacity will find it hard to raise its standing in international markets.
For Hue, the press and media need to help build the image of a city that is rich in heritage but not old-fashioned, traditional yet always creative, culturally profound yet economically dynamic, and green, smart, friendly and sea-oriented.
This also requires press agencies to transform. Hue’s press needs to move decisively into the digital environment, master data, and develop multi-platform journalism, multimedia, long-form, podcasts, vodcasts, data graphics and other new forms of communication. At the same time, it needs to strengthen its capacity for external communication, local brand communication and policy communication.
Plan 101 requires all levels and sectors to complete their specific programs and plans in October 2026, with regular inspection, monitoring, and evaluation of implementation results. This is also the moment for the press to walk alongside the process, not only reporting achievements but also tracking the commitments, targets and real changes in each sector and locality.
In the end, renewing the development model is not about changing a few economic targets. It is about changing how we create value and how we organize development.
For Hue, that path is becoming clearer. Heritage and people are the foundation. Science, technology, and innovation are the driving force. The green economy, digital economy, heritage economy, and marine economy are the new growth spaces. Modern governance is the precondition. Social consensus and creativity are the decisive resources.
In this process, the press and media do not stand on the sidelines to observe and report. They must truly become a policy bridge, a social forum, a channel for feedback from the ground, a means of promoting the city’s image, and an integral part of the capacity to drive development.
That is also how the major goals of Plan 101 can move beyond the page and gradually become the new face, vitality, and driving force of Hue’s development.