A group of Japanese university lecturers has researched the Hanoi Old Quarter for five years under a project to preserve and develop the Old Quarter in a sustainable manner.

Each year, they organize seminars about historic preservation and brought Japanese students to Hanoi to learn about the Old Quarter.

“We make research of Hanoi as a new subject of research and to learn valuable experience for preserving old streets in Japan,” said Prof. Fukukawa Yuchi from the Chiba University, who has been in Vietnam for 7-8 years.

The Hanoi Old Quarter is very similar to old streets in Japan in terms of architecture, population density, and problems in the preservation process; but Japanese experts were most surprised about the sense of community in residents of the Old Quarter.

Prof. Fukukawa was astonished because: “In such narrow and long areas, they can divide the space into many rooms to live in sympathy and share the common space cleverly”.

Additionally, after visits to ancient houses in the Old Quarter, Prof. Fukukawa realized that, though many houses have been refurbished, the antique characteristics inside the houses are still well preserved.

He said that compared to Vietnam, Japan has better preserved its old streets during the last two decades. But he admitted that the preservation has only successful at small cities, not big urban areas. Prof. Fukukawa said it is necessary to reduce the population density in the Old Quarter, but not by coercion.

However, another member of this project, Dr. Utsumi Sawako, said that it is unnecessary to move some people out of the Old Quarter. She suggested increasing sustainability by utilizing wind or solar energy and expanding the current living space by adding more stories above or making basements. Though she acknowledged that basements most suited for storage or commerce.

Utsumi, who has done research in Hoi An ancient town and Hanoi Old Quarter for many years, said that she has conducted a sociological survey and that many people have strong attachment to their houses and they don’t want to leave.

Utsumi’s thoughts have been praised by the Old Quarter management board, who said that this is a break-through idea. Architect Dao Ngoc Nghiem, former director of the Hanoi Planning and Architecture Department, said that some old houses in Hanoi have had basements. However, this idea needs further research and the advice of architects and engineers.