Fieldwork on the booming Hanoi-Hai Phong Development Corridor
The MIT Center for Real Estate’s (MIT/CRE) Asia Real Estate Initiative (AREI) toured Southeast Asia in July 2024, led by Prof. Siqi Zheng, MIT/CRE Faculty Director. The team of MIT/CRE researchers including Wen-Chi Liao, Li Hou, and Xueli Liu visited the booming Hong River region of northern Vietnam from July 14th to 19th, 2024. Under the US-China trade war, Vietnam is one of the most prominent countries benefiting from the global supply-chain reallocations. According to US Census data, Vietnam’s share of US imports more than doubled from 2017 to 2022. Great growth opportunities exist for Vietnam and have led to the dramatic rise of the real estate market and fast urbanization. However, the surging demand for energy and infrastructures challenges the supply, causing a question of whether Vietnam can fulfill sustainable development goals. Delicate geo-political situations may further compromise these goals.
Fieldwork conducted in Hanoi and Hai Phong this July aimed to deepen understanding of urban planning, regional economics, and spatial science, bolstering MIT’s leading research on the US-China trade dynamics and sustainable urbanization. The team visited EcoPark, a new township on Hanoi’s outskirts; Wistron Vietnam, a high-tech electronics factory in the Dong Van III Industrial Zone; VinUniversity, a private institution established by Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate; and VinFast, a multinational automotive company also founded by Vingroup. Both Wistron Vietnam and VinFast, launched and operational during the pandemic, have thrived due to new highway and port infrastructure and local labor availability, focusing on talent training and supply chain localization. Additionally, the researchers had a productive discussion with US Ambassador Marc Knapper in Vietnam.
During a four-day fieldwork mission in Vietnam, the group established new collaborations between MIT and Vietnamese academic institutions, real estate developers, industrialists, and public sector officials. This study was funded by AREI and was significantly supported by partnerships with Vietnam National University International School, VinUniversity in Hanoi, National University of Singapore, and alumni from MIT and Harvard.
