Design
The Paris-ification of Hanoi
The legacy of French imperialism can be seen in the Vietnamese city's vibrant street life.
When the French set out to redesign Hanoi, they weren't simply looking to imprint their urban vision on the Vietnamese. They were looking to create a city of the future.
From 1873 to 1940 and again from 1946 to 1954, Hanoi was under the colonial rule of France. These periods of colonial oversight left a permanent impact on the city's layout. "The French, more than other European countries with colonies at the time, were trying to figure out what their future cities would be like and determining exactly what was 'the gift' they were bringing to these colonies," says Gwendolyn Wright, architecture professor at Columbia University and author of The Politics of Design in French Colonial Urbanism.