DEVELOPING AN URBAN ECONOMIC ACCESSMENT FRAMEWORK: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE THROUGH THE CASE STUDY OF HANOI

Abstract

Forty years after the Doi Moi reform in 1986, urban areas have established themselves as the core growth engine of the Vietnamese economy, a role reaffirmed in Resolution No.06-NQ/TW (2022) of the Vietnamese Politburo. However, current management practices face a shortage of specialized analytical tools for managing and evaluating the effectiveness of urban economics. This article systematically clarifies some theoretical and practical issues in urban economics and urban economic evaluation through a case study of Hanoi. The analysis shows that urban economic assessment has been primarily based on traditional macroeconomic indicators, often collected at the city-wide level, whereas at the ward/commune administrative level, where urban affairs are directly managed, there is no separate mechanism for assessing urban economics. The paper proposes some suggestions and recommendations for building a framework for evaluating urban economics, aiming to maximize the role of cities as the "leading engines" in the national development process in the new context.