Ho Chi Minh City has begun to identify more than 7,000 hectares of land to form TOD areas; Hanoi has included TOD in metro lines 2 and 5. This shows that the mindset of urban management has changed.
Instead of just building metro and waiting for changes in people's travel habits, these two cities have proactively used metro as the main axis to orient the development of urban space, economy and population to towards comprehensive urban restructuring.
However, to turn the vision into reality, large cities must face a truth: TOD cannot be implemented quickly if the legality and planning are still overlapping. And right at this point, instead of considering it a barrier, we can consider it a driving force to rebuild the urban institutional apparatus.
In fact, bottlenecks such as old planning, dispersed land mechanisms, PPP models lacking a unified legal framework... are the problems that TOD forces cities to solve. TOD not only develops space around metro, but also requires adjusting zoning plans, updating land use plans, renewing compensation mechanisms, sharing additional land values and especially unifying resources between the State - businesses - communities.
In other words, TOD requires reform, but at the same time creates positive pressure for that reform to take place more strongly and synchronously.
Another bright spot is TOD, allowing urban areas to effectively exploit land resources, which have long only been viewed from the perspective of budget collection from auctions or leases.
With TOD, the land value around the metro has not only increased, but also created conditions for the development of compact urban areas, green urban areas, and smart urban areas. This creates opportunities for cities to attract investors, create new civilized living models, reduce traffic congestion, reduce social costs and improve the quality of life of people.
Both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are entering the stage of accelerating the development of TOD urban areas, with determination to demonstrate through the establishment of a separate Steering Committee, reviewing planning, preparing land funds and piloting in areas with great potential.
In the future, TOD is not only a turning point for the future of Vietnam's urban areas, but also opens up opportunities for cities to renew themselves, through restructuring living spaces, improving urban quality, and laying the foundation for a more sustainable development future.
