A lab to research into urban development opened in HCM City last week. – Photo sggp.org.vn

HCM CITY — Southeast Asia’s first laboratory to research into urban development opened in HCM City last week.

City Science Lab @ HCM City will gather data to analyse, simulate and forecast urban development using modern technologies, and offer advice on urban planning to the city Department of Planning and Architecture based on this.

It has been set up by the HCM City Architectural Research Centre and the US’s world-famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Lê Hòa Bình, deputy chairman of the city People’s Committee, said there is growing pressure on the city to achieve urban development but the tools available for analysing and managing its planning and development fall short of its rapid growth and a several complex factors affect urban planning.

Vũ Chí Kiên, director of the new research centre, said it is adopting MIT’s CityScope platform to simulate and research urban plans under different growth scenarios and would study principles related to urban planning and management globally.

HCM City has been running various urban development programmes, including to develop into a smart city and setting up the eastern innovative urban area. — VNS