Hanoi, 27 October 2015-- As part of celebrations to mark the Urban October Month, UN-Habitat together with the Academy of Managers for Construction and Cities and Portland State University organised an Urban Leadership and Innovation ‘Mini-Ba’ in Hanoi.

A “Ba” is a shared and safe learning space that accelerates the flowering of innovative thinking and practice. The Mini-Ba provided an opportunity to understand sustainable urban leadership and innovation challenges and responses in Vietnam and the US state of Oregon and discuss innovative urban breakthroughs of mutual interest to Vietnam and the US. It also helped to enhance cross-cultural relations between Vietnamese and US actors in the field.
The pace of change – whether technological and socio-economic or political - is rapidly outstripping the capacity of governments to respond. Therefore urban public leaders and officials confront an urgent “innovation imperative” to discover new and more cost-effective ways of organizing and delivering urban construction and technology services.

Speaking at the Mini-Ba, Academy of Managers for Construction and Cities Vice Director Pham Van Bo presented the urban challenges facing Vietnamese cities and the responses. UN-Habitat Programme Manager, Nguyen Quang introduced UN-Habitat’s leadership training model while Oregon Metropolitan Representative Tom Hughes presented the city’s METRO model which is widely recognised as innovative practice for urban governance and regional planning.

During the Mini-Ba, participants were divided into groups to discuss innovations learned from both sides and solutions that will provide solutions to urban development.