ViengXay Town Masterplan 2026 Lao PDR by Hansen Partnership
Client: United Nations World Tourism Organisation / Netherlands Development Agency
Jury comment
The planning and design process and resulting strategy developed in the course of this international project was considered by the jury to be an exemplar of working in-country in a culturally sensitive and respectful manner. Working side by side with Lao colleagues in a capacity building process, the consultants helped identify community challenges and articulate concerns about retaining the essence of local heritage while recognizing the need to plan for future development. The resulting masterplan respects the sociopolitical history of the town of ViengXay along with its remarkable landscape context and, while at first glance appearing to be somewhat “basic,” was considered to be appropriate to provide a feasible outcome for this local council to adopt and work with.
The jury was impressed with the project scope, which assisted in knowledge transfer between client and consultant around the issues of sustainable practice and cultural heritage management. As always in these projects, there is much to be learned on both sides of the table and the Hansen Partnership has been successful in facilitating this two-way of learning.
