Urban Green Areas – their functions under a changing lifestyle of ...

and quantity of the available trees. In bigger areas and when trees are in parks then they
become the responsibility of park-level administration. (see picture).
According to the Greenery Planning for Public Utilities in Urban Areas Design standards
(TCXDVN 2005), gardens are simply small parks which are limited in terms of area and
infrastructural elements. They are one to six hectares in size. There are three types of
gardens recognized:
Type I: Gardens intended primarily for relaxation and recreation.
Type II. Gardens which in addition are also used for cultural activities such as public
art shows, exhibitions or for sports activities.
Type III. Small gardens which serve primarily to decorate streets and squares. These
are restricted to no more than 2 ha.
LAN (2009: 31) adapts the government law, and describes it in clearer terms
A Garden is a small area in an urban zone, in which many flowers are planted. It can
stand alone or be associated to architectural constructions. It serves to improve the the
urban landscape.
A Park is a green area including a body of water. Parks have functions as places for
sport, culture and entertainment. Parks are constructed inside and outside urban areas
for purposes of relaxation and for entertainment of the local residents.
A Park is also a large garden (often large than 10 ha), is constructed in the inner city
and sub-urban city, for purposes of recreation, entertainment of urban residents, as
well as serving to improve the urban environment.
The disadvantages of these definitions are that they are wordy and include parks outside
cities which, as rural green areas are not part of this study. Nevertheless, the advantage of
these definitions is that they provide clear descriptions of UGAs as they exist in Vietnam.
Moreover, the Greenery Planning for Public Utilities in Urban Areas Design standards
(2005) and LAN’s definitions are post-date the establishment of UGAs in the Hanoi inner
city. Because of this the distinction between parks and gardens is not always clear. Two
examples are Bach Thao park and Lenin park. The former used to be a botanic garden but is
now officially named Bach Thao park. The latter is smaller than 2ha, and hence according
to the standard (TCXDVN 2005) should be termed a type III garden; but nevertheless its
official name is Lenin park. In short, though these new categories are not always strictly
applied to established inner city parks, they may well be applied in new urban area.
2.4 Benefits of UGA i
Since the world summit at Rio in 1992 nearly all land-use plans have followed the concept
of sustainability. Urban planning is also usually based on this concept (BRANDAO 2006:
42