Vietnam

Urbanisation and population growth in Vietnam

Ngyen Trun

I used to have to ride my tricycle to school about three to four kilometers everyday. Being in a wheelchair nowadays is more difficult than in the past because the roads are so much busier than before. More traffic on the road means more danger, as in the past if a bicycle crashed into me it wouldn’t cause me serious harm. Today, an accident with a motorbike would cause me a lot more harm.

The city is changing very rapidly. The biggest changes have happened since the beginning of the economic opening of Vietnam. Sometimes when I don’t go to an area of Hanoi for a few months it looks completely different when I see it again. New buildings and roads go up very quickly.

There have been some improvements for disabled people in the city. For example, there are now legal policies that architects and planners have to follow to improve access for the disabled, but they are not enforced. In some cases things have actually gotten worse because gutters have been built with no ramps so it is impossible for us to cross streets. Before the roads may have been made from dirt, but at least I could cross the street on my tricycle.

The city has changed very much and continues to change at a rapid pace. But, do you know the thing I miss most from when I was a young boy in growing up in Hanoi? It is the clear night skies. I used to be able to see the Milky Way and name all of the constellations, now I can’t because all of the pollution and all of the night lights.