Hanoi, with a thousand-year cultural history, has a rich heritage and strong creative potential. Today, technology and new ideas are helping the city use these resources, create added value and support the capital’s development.
Assoc. Prof. Dr Pham Duy Duc, former Director of the Institute of Culture and Development under the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, said communities formed in ancient regions had left Thang Long-Hanoi a diverse heritage system suited to the status of a historic city.
Hanoi began developing cultural industries in 2007–2008 and has since made them a development priority. The city’s Resolution No. 09-NQ/TU, issued in 2022, stressed the link between heritage preservation and development, as well as the promotion of Thang Long-Hanoi’s cultural values to build a creative city.
In 2026, the city’s approach continued to change, with culture viewed as an endogenous resource and source of growth. Politburo Resolution No. 80-NQ/TW on Vietnamese cultural development and the Hanoi Party Committee’s Programme No. 08-CTr/TU call for changes in cultural development methods and thinking, linking heritage preservation with creativity, digital transformation and cultural industries.
Nguyen Doan Van, Director of the Hanoi Monuments and Landscapes Management Board, called the approach a breakthrough. He said it could stimulate economic growth, create jobs, raise incomes and improve living standards.
Bringing heritage into contemporary culture
The second Thang Long-Hanoi Festival 2026, themed “Heritage Flow”, showed how cultural assets can become contemporary creative products. More than 250,000 people, including young people and international tourists, visited the festival over 10 days.
The “Sound of Ceramics” programme combined pottery stories with sound, lighting, movement, dance, circus and contemporary performance. Musical instruments made from traditional ceramics were presented to the public for the first time. The programme brought an old craft into the performing arts and created opportunities for experiential tourism.
Another programme, “Connecting Heritage, Creating the Future”, revisited history through a musical journey across time and space. Precious musical artefacts from the Hanoi Museum’s collections were also shown in an interactive setting.
The “Colours of Hanoi” fashion show presented heritage-inspired designs. Designer Cao Minh Tien’s collection used materials from Phu Vinh village, where bamboo and rattan weaving has been practised for nearly 400 years.
Tien said young designers’ interest in bringing traditional culture into contemporary fashion helps preserve heritage while creating cultural and economic value.
Digital technology and young people
The Temple of Literature is one of Hanoi’s leading examples of using digital technology to preserve and promote heritage.
Dr Duong Ngoc Ha, Deputy Director of the centre for cultural and scientific activities at the site, said nearly a decade of digitalisation had changed technology from a preservation tool into a way to interpret heritage and help visitors explore cultural values.
Interactive screens showing designs and inscriptions on the steles of 82 doctoral laureates, heritage education software and the 3D mapping film “Cultivating Talents”, launched on September 18, 2026, have made the historic site more accessible to visitors.
Young entrepreneurs are also seeking new approaches. Zero Gallery, for example, offers multisensory cultural experiences focused on Vietnamese spices and pho. Its installations combine storytelling, projection technology and sensors that release the aromas of traditional ingredients such as cinnamon, black cardamom and coriander.
Foreigners make up 25–30% of the gallery’s visitors, showing the potential of interactive cultural spaces. The team plans to develop the model into cultural day tours in Hanoi and other localities before introducing it to international audiences.
These initiatives show how creativity can bring heritage closer to contemporary life. When innovation helps people understand traditional values rather than replacing them, heritage becomes a resource for sustainable tourism, economic development and strengthening Hanoi’s position as a UNESCO Creative City.
Sources: VietnamPlus / Vietnam News Agency
