Lao Cai Province in Northwest Vietnam supports a community of more than 20 ethnic minorities, located in villages amongst the hills and valleys around the Sapa – one of the Country’s premier destinations for international and domestic visitors.

In the face of the serious socio-economic and environmental impacts from unbridled tourism growth, the project establishes a framework for culturally, environmentally sensitive improvement of local places and livelihoods ‘within and outside’ of Sapa. The project promotes integrated landscape and site planning, community infrastructure investment and environmental enhancement within a ‘Community Based Tourism’ (CBT) framework that engages and empowers host communities.

The project was undertaken over a period of 9 months across 2019-2020 via a ‘step by step’ process of fieldwork, site analysis, framework planning, concept development, and design guidance, developed in conjunction with a team of Vietnamese professionals with backgrounds in architecture and urbanism with guidance on CBT from Dr. Paul Rogers.

The task was supported by cross-cultural knowledge exchange with ethnic minority groups from 5 different villages in the Sapa District. This exchange enabled a 2-way approach, which allowed a greater understanding of their ways of living and relation to the host community’s natural context, while also building trust for mutual collaboration.

The uniqueness of this project lies in its focus on a cross cultural immersive experience and the application of international best practice through close engagement with Vietnamese professionals and ethnic minority groups. This engagement was achievable due to the extensive work Hansen Partnership has been undertaking over decades working in the south-east Asian region and particularly Vietnam, allowing the development of close relationships with local stakeholders and understanding of the cultural context.