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The walkable beach neighbourhood in Da Nang

The walkable beach neighbourhood in Da Nang

News #227: Cambodia canal updates, making Kota Kinabalu a 'mini Dubai' for transit flights, new dual-track railway opens in southern Thailand, Hanoi’s 2nd metro line opens

August 14, 2024

The Future Southeast Asia Newsletter features transport and urban development news in Southeast Asia, edited by James Clark.

Hello from Ho Chi Minh City! Last week I stayed by the beach in Da Nang. The neighbourhood I was in is turning into a vibrant beach neighbourhood, which got me wondering why there aren’t similar beach neighbourhoods in Southeast Asia.

Part of its success is due to its preplanned street layout. I used Google Earth to find what the area used to look like, and I found this image from 2002.

The week’s feature article is about how these streets helped build a vibrant beach neighbourhood.

Latest posts at Future Southeast Asia

• An Thuong Streets: how Da Nang inadvertently built a vibrant beach neighbourhood

An Thuong Tourist Streets is a neighbourhood on My Khe Beach in Da Nang. Despite the cringe name, this area is a model for how to build a walkable and vibrant beach neighbourhood. Other cities in Southeast Asia should take note.

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News Extra

News Extra for paid subscribers, which expands on news stories and some insights into what I am working on.

• News Extra: August 2024

Delayed projects of the Thu Thiem New Urban Area in HCMC, short flights that shouldn’t exist, Da Nang - Hoi An Tram, riding the Rapid KL in Tioman Island (sort of).

News

• How Asia's 5,000-year-old rice terraces are inspiring modern flood control

• China builds with manufactured sand, easing worry about overmining and environmental cost

“Artificial sand is produced by crushing and sieving rock or mine tailings, a process that offers an alternative for the construction industry.”

🇰🇭 Cambodia

• From karst to cement: Cambodia’s infrastructure boom puts ecosystems at risk

• Controversial new canal in Cambodia may threaten wildlife and livelihoods

“Country breaks ground on shipping waterway that could dry out important wetlands and hinder rice farming.”

• Vietnam wants to coordinate with Cambodia to study impacts of Funan Techo project

• Nine train incidents this year: Cambodia’s railway woes

• Phnom Penh enhances traffic management with new installations

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• Indonesia’s ‘perfect storm’ of debt

“A decade of headlong development comes home to roost.”

• Indonesia’s president-elect Prabowo commits to continue building new capital

• Hyundai tests flying taxi near Indonesia's new capital Nusantara

• LRT Jabodebek logs 15.2 million passengers ahead of one-year operation

• Widodo asks regional govts to start developing public transport

• BP Batam ensures that the rights of residents affected by the Rempang Eco-City project are realized

"Ramon Ang’s food and beverage conglomerate San Miguel has loaded up on debt and is remaking itself into an infrastructure giant."•

• Luzon economic corridor eyed for P2 trillion worth of projects

• PhilHealth ‘idle funds’ to support infra — DoF

• Manila Bay coastal residents grapple with sea level rise

• After China exit, other countries, multilaterals eye funding Bicol Express

🇸🇬 Singapore

• Another 87km of new cycling paths to be built in Singapore’s east, north-east by 2030

• EMA to study laws, policies for S’pore to adopt low-carbon hydrogen when it becomes viable

🇹🇭 Thailand

• MRTA seeks approval for new Orange Line route

• New dual-track railway opens on southern line

“The Southern dual-track route from Nakhon Pathom to Chumphon covering 421 kilometres was opened to passengers on Monday, the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) said.”

• Office of Transport to invest almost B9bn to expand water transport

• ITD wins bid for U-Tapao airport’s runway 2

• Locals want 10% of land in Bangkok's Makkasan

"Residents living near a railway in the Phaya Thai area of Bangkok are urging the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) to allocate 10% of its 500-rai Makkasan land to them before it starts a high-speed rail project linking three airports."

• Monorails to get new guidewheels

“The operators of the Yellow and Pink monorail systems will reinforce the guidewheels on every train to improve the systems' safety, according to their director.”