This project examined the role of civic participation in Vietnamese cities, and how governance can promote consensus building, taking as points of reference cases of urban planning in South Korea and Japan. In the first year of the project, a workshop entitled "Effective Policy Making for Urban and Regional Planning" was held in Hanoi, and a study tour to examine relevant fields was organized in South Korea. In the second year, a workshop entitled "Urban and Regional Planning Problems: Collaborative Policy Making in Harmony" was held. After the workshop, participants joined a study tour in South Korea, following the same type of program schedule as that of the previous year.
In fiscal 2008, the last year of the project, a workshop entitled "City Planning for Social Harmony" was held on May 16, 2008 in Ho Chi Minh City to examine approaches to consensus building, taking as points of reference cases of urban planning and regional development in South Korea. Forty-six people, most of them from the Vietnam Institute of Architecture, Urban and Rural Planning (VIAP), participated in the workshop and attended a talk by a lecturer invited from the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at Kyung Hee University. The lecture focused on South Korea's balanced approach to regional development planning, collaborative governance methods that promote the development of consensus on environmental issues, and urban planning that takes into account the needs of the socially disadvantaged. The Vietnamese participants made a presentation entitled "Toward City Planning for a Social Harmony in Vietnam," pointing out potential improvements to systems and policy-making mechanisms that affect urban planning in Vietnam.
In addition, 13 individuals from the Vietnamese government and VIAP participated in a study tour in South Korea held October 17-24, 2008. Selection criteria placed priority on (1) foreign language ability, (2) a strong interest in urban planning and civic participation, and (3) relation to professional duties. Study tour participants attended a lecture at Kyung Hee University on regional development strategies and the resolution of conflicts related to large development projects in South Korea. A specialist in urban planning came from Japan to participate in the program, and gave a lecture on local government and civic participation. Participants also examined improvements to a riverine environment and a walkway that were part of an urban planning development project in Seoul, and visited recent urban developments in Bundang and Ansan.
The achievements of this three-year project, which began in fiscal 2006, and summaries of the lectures, have been compiled into a casebook printed in English and Vietnamese. The casebook is meant for use as reference material when policies on civic participation and/or urban planning are considered and formulated in Vietnam.