Towards a socially sustainable city concept in Vietnam - international experience, local policy making and preparatory steps

Sustainability is a holistic concept in development studies, including urban studies, encompassing natural, technical and social aspects, and has been regarded as an ultimate goal for every nation to strive for as well as for every community to achieve in the context of global climate change, environmental crisis and social instability caused by various socio-economic factors. In addition to theoretical investigation, going for social sustainability in practice requires a well prepared action programme which should begin with learning from international experience (especially when it comes to such a new and superior development concept as social sustainability), understanding both the strengths and the weaknesses, and finding new driving forces. Given that a neighbourhood is a miniature (and a complete unit) of a city, social sustainability may be considered and experimented at the local level first. This proves to be a simpler task to fulfil, a more practical approach to a rather complex issue and a wise option to make. The author aims to analyse some of the world’s best examples before reviewing the current potentials and then comes up with a number of suggestions for the first cornerstones of the future society that will be mainly established on the basis of humanity with core social values and good individual opportunities offered to all citizens. Keywords: social sustainability; sustainable city; neighbourhood.