Da Nang City Department of Construction has document No. 2938/SXD-QHKT&PHĐT sent to the Department of Culture - Sports and Tourism, investment and construction project management boards, and investors of projects regarding the construction of fences surrounding cultural and sports works in the city.
Accordingly, the Da Nang City Department of Construction said that Decision 07/2026/QD-UBND dated January 15, 2026 of the Da Nang City People's Committee (amending and supplementing Decision 63/2023/QD-UBND dated December 28, 2023 of the Da Nang City People's Committee) stipulated: "Cultural and sports facilities must not build solid fences but must be designed to be open, connected to the surrounding space, creating favorable conditions for people to access and use the project".
This is a change in thinking about how public space is managed and operated in modern urban areas, a shift from "management by fences" to "management by design and trust" of Da Nang city.
For many years, many cultural centers, community houses, and sports fields at the ward and commune levels have been built according to a model similar to a miniature administrative agency: with high walls, gates opened and closed by the hour, and internal space separated from the surrounding life. This inadvertently reduces the community nature of the works created to serve the community.
The nature of a cultural and sports institution is a place for meeting, exchanging, and living together. If surrounded by solid walls, that building may be more physically safe, but it loses its spiritual openness.
Open design not only helps people easily step into a sports field or a cultural house, but also sends a message: this space belongs to the community, and the community is trusted to use and preserve it.
A civilized city cannot develop based on a defensive mentality. If public property is only protected by high walls and iron gates, then it is a manifestation of lack of trust in community awareness.
Conversely, when the project is designed to be open, people are given access, then they themselves are also placed in the position of co-subjects of that space.
However, this policy is also a test. Open design requires people to be aware of preserving public property, not infringing, not occupying space for private purposes. If community awareness does not keep up, the open model will face difficulties in operation.
Therefore, in addition to removing physical barriers, it is necessary to improve public behavior culture and strengthen communication about the rights and responsibilities of users.
A sports field that is open all day but is encroached upon and damaged will no longer be a livable space. Conversely, a spacious project, respected and used properly by the people, will become a fulcrum for the spiritual life of the residential area.
The story of not building solid fences is therefore not limited to architecture. That is a shift in urban development thinking: taking people's accessibility as the center, considering public space as common property that needs to be shared instead of being separated.
Removing concrete walls may only take a few days of construction. But removing walls in management thinking and in the way of dealing with common space is more important and also a greater challenge for a city moving towards modernity, civilization and rich community.
