From community gardens in Indonesia, housing cooling solutions in Malaysia to natural ventilation architecture in Hanoi, the report "How Southeast Asia Is Fighting The Urban Heat Trap" by CNA Insider (Singapore) offers a multi-dimensional perspective on how Southeast Asian cities are adapting to heat. In the report, Dr. Bui Thi Thanh Huong, a lecturer at the Vietnam Japan University and the Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU), participated in an interview regarding temperatures and heat in Hanoi.
When heat becomes a shared challenge for Southeast Asian cities
On October 26, 2026, CNA Insider, the in-depth reporting channel of Singapore's CNA media outlet, released the first episode of the series Beating The Heat, titled How Southeast Asia Is Fighting The Urban Heat Trap (How Southeast Asia is responding to the "urban heat trap").
The report takes viewers to four countries including Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam, exploring different approaches to mitigate the impact of high temperatures on the living spaces and daily lives of communities.
In Indonesia, unused land plots are converted into community gardens and food-growing areas, serving daily living needs while contributing to improving surrounding environmental conditions.
In Bangkok (Thailand), students participate in simulating hot housing spaces to better understand the risks of high temperatures. Alongside this, volunteers participate in identifying households at high risk of being impacted by heat.
In Kuala Lumpur and Melaka (Malaysia), residents, researchers, and local authorities are testing cooling measures in residential areas, from converting shared living spaces into heat-avoidance shelters to using heat-reflective paint and monitoring indoor temperatures.
Despite having different urban conditions and implementation methods, the stories in the report point to a common issue: How can residents live safer and more comfortably in conditions where heat increasingly becomes a challenge for cities?
Hanoi and the challenge of cooling living spaces
From minute 34:38, the report shifts to Hanoi, focusing on exploring the reasons why urban housing maintains high temperatures after sunset, while introducing architectural solutions to help reduce heat accumulation and improve airflow.
In this section, Dr. Bui Thi Thanh Huong, a lecturer at the Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU), appears in an interview about temperatures and the heatwave situation in the Capital.
The participation of the VNU expert adds a scientific perspective to the story of urban thermal conditions, in the context of heat issues receiving increasing attention from international media.
Alongside the interview content, CNA Insider introduces two architectural approaches in Hanoi: a shophouse featuring traditional architecture and a modern five-story house designed with an emphasis on ventilation capacity.
Through these structures, the report raises questions about the role of shade, airflow, and spatial design in improving indoor thermal conditions in housing.
These are noteworthy factors in high-density urban areas, where concrete, asphalt, and artificial surfaces absorb heat during the day and continue to release heat when the surrounding environment has cooled down.
Under these conditions, organizing wind-catching spaces, creating shade, and limiting direct solar radiation can contribute to reducing the demand for cooling equipment, depending on the climate characteristics and design of each building.
From traditional architecture to passive cooling solutions
One of the notable contents of the Vietnam reporting section is the passive cooling approach (passive cooling).
Unlike using air conditioning to actively lower indoor temperatures, passive cooling takes advantage of architectural design elements and natural conditions to limit heat entry, reduce heat accumulation, and enhance ventilation.
These solutions may include arranging wind-catching windows, creating atriums, using shading roofs, positioning greenery, and selecting materials suited to climatic conditions.
Through introducing traditional and modern residential architecture in Hanoi, CNA Insider suggests the possibility of combining indigenous building experience with new design methods to improve thermal comfort in living spaces.
However, the effectiveness of each solution depends on many factors such as house orientation, surrounding building density, humidity, wind speed, and the usage characteristics of residents. Therefore, passive cooling measures need to be researched and selected in alignment with practical conditions.
Besides the benefits for users, reducing electricity demand for air conditioning also holds significance for efficient energy use and GHG emission control, especially in areas with high cooling demands.
Adapting to heatwaves must start from the community
A notable point in the report Beating The Heat is that the introduced solutions are not limited to technology or cooling equipment.
In Indonesia, community gardens have become part of the solution to improve the living environment. In Thailand, education and the identification of vulnerable households help communities raise awareness of heat risks. In Malaysia, residents directly participate in measuring and testing heat-reduction measures within their housing blocks.
Meanwhile, in Hanoi, the architectural works introduced show that adapting to heatwaves can start right from the organization of living spaces.
These stories reflect an important approach in climate change adaptation: solutions must be tied to local characteristics, socio-economic conditions, and the practical needs of the people.
For rapidly developing cities, responding to heatwaves is not only an issue for individual households but also relates to planning, green spaces, infrastructure design, energy use, and the protection of vulnerable population groups.
Bringing scientific knowledge into relatable environmental stories
The participation of Dr. Bui Thi Thanh Huong in the CNA Insider report is an opportunity for climate and urban environmental issues in Vietnam to be addressed within an international media program.
From the perspective of VNNETZERO, contents such as the urban heat island effect, efficient energy use, or climate-adaptive housing design not only hold research significance but also connect directly to the quality of life and daily choices of the community.
The report How Southeast Asia Is Fighting The Urban Heat Trap shows that adaptation solutions do not necessarily have to start from large-scale changes. A restored garden, a renovated living space, or a more ventilated house can all contribute to improving living conditions when appropriately implemented and evaluated.
In the context of climate change posing increasingly clear challenges to cities, connecting scientific knowledge with the practical experience of the community is a necessary direction to build safer, energy-efficient, and more resilient cities.
We invite readers to watch the CNA Insider report and the interview with Dr. Bui Thi Thanh Huong in Hanoi starting from minute 34:44.
