Giving space back to heritage
In 2019, Thua Thien Hue province launched the Project to relocate residents and clear the site of Area I of Hue Citadel relic site with a total investment of more than 4,000 billion VND, divided into 2 phases.
Phase 1, from 2019 - 2023, will relocate residents and clear the site of Hue Citadel relics, including 11 areas.
Phase 2, from 2023 to 2025, will relocate residents and clear land in 19 areas. A total of 4,915 households will be relocated to return the land, and the relocation is now almost complete.
Speaking with Lao Dong Newspaper, the leader of the Hue Monuments Conservation Center said that, as the core and foundation for building Hue into a centrally-governed city, the migration of people out of the Imperial City has many important meanings.
Firstly, helping Hue Citadel regain its original appearance after many years of serious encroachment. Helping the appearance of the entire relic system in Hue Citadel gradually regain its unique and symbolic values, contributing to improving the quality of the Heritage City's appearance. From there, helping people to appreciate and be more aware of preserving and protecting the unique cultural values of Hue.
Through that, it will spread so that the people currently living in the heritage area will be more aware and willing to accompany the authorities and localities in preserving and returning space to the heritage.
From the perspective of planning orientation, embellishment and development of heritage urban areas, the leader of the Hue Monuments Conservation Center said that Hue Citadel is a heritage located in the heart of Hue City, carrying many royal cultural values typical of the land of Hue. Therefore, the relic plays a very important role in planning orientation, embellishment and development of heritage urban areas.
“The relocation of residents in the Upper Citadel has helped to make the Heritage City look spacious, clean, and tidy, and from there, it will open up a more complete vision for the development of the heritage city; orienting more accurate and effective solutions,” said the leader of the Hue Monuments Conservation Center.
People benefit
From a people's perspective, moving to a new resettlement site helps people stabilize their lives after many years of living precariously in the Upper City, which is both dangerous, lacking living conditions and causing environmental pollution.
Currently, the lives of thousands of households in the Huong So resettlement area (Hue City) have been and are being improved rapidly. Compared to the old houses inside the relic, the resettlement area is very modern and airy; the infrastructure is built synchronously.
Having lived for decades in the Tay Thanh Thuy Quan area (the waterway gate to the Citadel), Ms. Nguyen Thi Giap (91 years old) said that she and her relatives used to live a miserable and difficult life in the relic area. Fortunately, thanks to the resettlement project, she had a new life beyond her expectations.
“My family has three grandchildren. It is more comfortable here (in the resettlement area), because in the other side (in the relic area) I live in a pond, it is dark and flooded, very miserable. Here, there is a market nearby, the roads are clean and beautiful, the houses are solid, so it is convenient and safe to live in,” said Mrs. Giap.
Migration helps to open up heritage spaces, making it suitable for implementing cultural experience services to help tourists have more new experiences when visiting heritage sites, increase budget revenue, and create more livelihoods for people.
