The semicentralized approach to integrated water supply and treatment of solid waste and wastewater—a flexible infrastructure strategy for rapidly growing urban regions: the case of Hanoi/Vietnam

The development of the world population is characterized by an absolute population growth and a rapid urbanization. This process, taking place in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, poses major pressure on the affected urban regions. In Asian countries, this development is combined with high economic growth rates. At the same time, the climate change is proceeding, and the energy supply is going to become an existential problem. The rapidly growing cities therefore face the issue that the supply of infrastructures and public services lag behind the rapid urbanization. The increasing energy costs and the imperative to reduce the CO₂ emissions aggravate the situation. The centralized systems which started to be implemented in the industrialized countries more than 100 years ago are no longer the appropriate way to solve these problems. The semicentralized integrated approach, recently developed for rapidly growing urban regions in China, in contrast, offers with its flexibility a sustainable solution to cope with these developments. This article presents objectives and first results of an interdisciplinary R&D project aiming at the adaptation of the semicentralized integrated approach to the case of Hanoi, the rapidly growing capital of Vietnam, to contribute to the solution of the sanitation problems of both the old City Center and the urban expansions in conjunction. This article focuses on the planning and institutional aspects. The technical questions will be presented later in separate articles. The ongoing project is conducted by the Technische Universität Darmstadt in cooperation with the National University of Civil Engineering Hanoi and an industrial partner.