Building a smart city is not just about investing in more technological platforms or digitizing management operations. For Hanoi, this process is being placed under higher demands: forming a data-driven, technology-based, and connectivity-based urban governance model to address practical life issues and ultimately improve the quality of life for its citizens. Creating a data platform for urban governance.
During its development, Hanoi is facing the challenge of managing a large-scale urban area with a dense population, ever-expanding development space, and increasingly complex infrastructure. In this context, management methods based primarily on distributed information and manual processing struggle to meet the demands for fast, accurate, and flexible operation. Therefore, building digital infrastructure, shared data, and platforms to support governance is becoming one of the crucial foundations for the capital city to move towards a smart city model.
According to the Hanoi Capital City Master Plan with a 100-year vision, the goal by 2035 is to build Hanoi into a green, smart, and modern city; simultaneously forming innovation, research, and development centers, strengthening the role of the capital in regional linkages, the plan also sets out a direction for operating a smart city based on real-time data and artificial intelligence.
To realize that direction, Hanoi is gradually building a unified data system. Notably, in July 2026, the City People's Committee issued a list of original and master data, which serves as the basis for unified management, connection, sharing, and exploitation of data among agencies in the political system, serving guidance, administration, public service provision, and socio-economic development.
Along with data, connectivity infrastructure is also receiving significant investment. The city aims to ensure a modern and secure telecommunications network infrastructure, ready to integrate digital services such as data, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, and surveillance cameras; while also expanding mobile coverage and deploying 5G networks in priority areas. Notably, the direct application of digital data to infrastructure management, including the deployment of a digital map-based traffic infrastructure management system, is creating a foundation for transitioning to data-driven governance.
This shows that digital infrastructure is no longer viewed simply as a system of servers, transmission lines, or software. More importantly, it is the foundation upon which various sectors of the city can connect. When data on traffic, land, construction, population, environment, health, education , etc., are standardized and shared according to regulations, management agencies can view the city as a whole rather than each sector separately.
In particular, Hanoi has issued regulations on data-driven governance, the application of digital technology , artificial intelligence, and a mechanism for sharing public-private data through data exploitation contracts. The city also stipulates measures to ensure safety, manage risks, and apply AI in state management. This represents a significant shift in management thinking: from "digitizing" processes to leveraging data to support decision-making.
In August 2026, Hanoi officially launched a shared electronic document exchange system between organizations, businesses, and government agencies. This system allows for the sending, receiving, tracking, managing, storing, and accessing electronic documents, connecting with the city's digital platforms, thereby gradually improving the efficiency of services for citizens and businesses. Such changes are very practical; citizens not only benefit from a modern technological system but also experience reduced travel time, less paperwork, easier tracking of application progress, and more convenient access to public services.
Technology must create tangible value for the people.
According to Dr. Dang Viet Dung, President of the Vietnam Construction Association, numerous digital platforms do not automatically equate to a smart city; what is important is that technology must create practical changes in daily life. In transportation, data helps track vehicles, identify congestion, organize traffic flow, and connect public transport, thereby supporting people to travel more conveniently.
In the environmental field, technology is needed to monitor air quality, water sources, noise levels, waste collection and treatment, and to detect problems early for timely intervention. For urban management, data on infrastructure, land, buildings, green spaces, lighting, water supply and drainage, etc., helps authorities understand the current situation, identify shortcomings, determine investment needs, and allocate resources appropriately. Through this, a smart city is demonstrated through effective governance and the quality of life for its citizens.
“The benefits of digital transformation need to be clearly demonstrated in the relationship between the government and the people and businesses. Hanoi is aiming to reduce the time and cost of complying with administrative procedures; process work documents electronically and enhance monitoring and supervision of tasks in the digital environment,” emphasized Dr. Dang Viet Dung.
Dr. Nguyen Viet Huy (Hanoi University of Civil Engineering) argues that the higher goal of a smart city is to create a safer, more convenient, greener, and more adaptable living environment. Technology must help the government make better predictions, react faster, and use resources more efficiently; while also helping citizens access services more easily and participate in governance and monitoring service quality.
To achieve that goal, Hanoi needs to continue placing its citizens at the center of the digital transformation process. Along with infrastructure investment, emphasis should be placed on data standardization, increasing interoperability between systems, ensuring information security, and enhancing the digital capabilities of its staff. The application of AI and other new technologies must also be linked to risk control mechanisms, data protection, and accountability.
When a data system helps to expedite a procedure, a transportation platform reduces travel time, environmental technology contributes to creating a healthier living environment, or urban data helps the government make more informed decisions, then technology truly creates value.
“Hanoi has a great opportunity to build a smart city, where data becomes a new resource, technology becomes a governance tool, and citizens are the direct beneficiaries. This is also the direction to ensure that the goal of a smart city is not only present on digital platforms but is also concretized through changes in every street, neighborhood, and daily service of the people of the capital,” Dr. Architect Nguyen Viet Huy observed.
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Dieser Artikel ist neu veröffentlicht von / This article is republished from: vietnamVvn, 18.10.2026
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