In Vietnamese culture, the đình làng (communal house) is a place where people gather for shared activities from everyday conversations to Tet celebrations and village festivals. Anyone in the village can come to the communal house, take part in collective activities, and it is also the villagers themselves who care for and preserve this sacred, shared space.
Today, in modern urban life, we have parks, beaches, forests—spaces that are open to everyone for movement, relaxation, enjoying the scenery, and reconnecting with nature. However, these shared spaces are gradually being overused: many people use them, but very few pay attention to caring for and conserving them. Or the other trend is space is becoming increasingly scarce, or inaccessible without financial resources.
Đà Nẵng – The Learning City aspires to build a community that open up joyful and regenerative spaces in Đà Nẵng. In particular, the festival seeks to foster connections between people, between participants and local communities, and to collectively explore new spaces within the city.
Strangely, in the consumerist society we live in today, even though there always seems to be more, we often feel that life is still not enough. Consumerism gradually instills in us a mindset of scarcity: we must do more, buy now before it runs out, fear not having enough, fear missing out and therefore accumulate more and more for the future.
We tend to hold on to what we care about and consider it our own. Yet there are things we do not need to own in order to feel wealthy. A sense of abundance sometimes does not come from having a lot, but from how we share what we have with one another. Small contributions, when brought together, can become a collective treasure. This shared realm that a community uses together is called “The Commons.”
Indeed, though still young, the Đà Nẵng – The Learning City Festival, in three months, has taken shape and spread to several other places in Vietnam—thanks to trust, a spirit of engaged learning, and the generosity of the community. Many meaningful lessons have been brought home, many new stories have been told, and many human connections have emerged. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the spaces, as well as to the individuals and organizations, who have generously and kindly accompanied Đà Nẵng – The Learning City.
When we share resources together, we learn how to care for them and use them with kindness and awareness. We come to understand that these spaces may come at no financial cost, yet they are truly priceless. We learn to be mindful of our presence in spaces that others have offered to us: how to cherish them as if they were our own, how to protect them and take responsibility for them. This is closely connected to the concept of “Commoning”—the way communities collectively steward and regenerate shared assets.
Đà Nẵng – The Learning City hopes to nurture a sense of responsibility toward the commons. This may not be merely a way of doing things, but a way of living, a collective consciousness that contributes to shaping community-oriented lifestyles and social culture. Therefore, we extend an invitation to individuals and organizations who have spaces for play, learning, and connection to walk alongside Đà Nẵng – The Learning City. Step by step, together, we can co-create a rich and abundant community of treasures that do not burden us with financial costs, but leaves us feeling fuller in love, generosity, and giving.
This event will use the diversity and wealth of the community to transform the city into a Festival of Learning