[peacock]

hi there,
I live and work in HK at the moment as a urban designer (28y.o. male/single). I moved here a year ago from Europe and am currently on a local contract.

The company I work for will be opening a new office in Hanoi shortly, and I've been asked if I'ld like to move there and be involved in operation and startup of the office, as well as professional work obviously. An opportunity not to be missed I feel.

Job function still has to be agreed upon, but looks similar as I am doing now in HK, only more responsabilities and more management activities (leading a team of 5 now here in HK).
Does anybody have any suggestions/ideas on salary negotiations? things I must take into account when moving from HK to Hanoi?
any responses/suggestions are highly appreciated.
Thanks

[PDLM]

There are people doing urban design in Hong Kong? You could have fooled me - I thought it was all simpy about maximising the cartels' profits...

Frankly, I think it would be a disaster to let anyone responsible for what passes for urban design here loose on Hanoi which still actually has some character and soul.

Why would the Vietnamese want you (and give you a work permit)?

[peacock]

Originally Posted by PDLM

There are people doing urban design in Hong Kong? You could have fooled me - I thought it was all simpy about maximising the cartels' profits...

Frankly, I think it would be a disaster to let anyone responsible for what passes for urban design here loose on Hanoi which still actually has some character and soul.

Why would the Vietnamese want you (and give you a work permit)?

Thnx for the friendly note :S. let me explain a bit more then. I agree with you, urban design in HK is dreadful.
I work in Hong Kong, but the projects I, and others in the office, are working on are either in the Mainland, or lately, in Vietnam. Combination of Landscape Architecture and Urban Design. Talking about big scale Master Planning here, 200-2000 ha developments. (although we do work on one particular project in HK - the Greening Master Plan - maybe you've heard of it? Basically planting as many trees and shrubs in the Urban areas as possible, and advising the government on how to control developments so more trees can be planted in future - check CEDD website for more details if you're interested - so trying to make something of the mess others have made of HK)

why the vietnamese would want me, or better said - us? because there is quite some work to be done - look at all the billboards when travelling from Hanoi to the city, and, from experience, there are too few vietnamese with the skills (as you can see, as all major developments under construction are being designed by foreign companies)

[PDLM]

Originally Posted by peacock

(although we do work on one particular project in HK - the Greening Master Plan - maybe you've heard of it? Basically planting as many trees and shrubs in the Urban areas as possible, and advising the government on how to control developments so more trees can be planted in future - check CEDD website for more details if you're interested - so trying to make something of the mess others have made of HK)

Indeed - and I have noticed that in the last few years there has been a concerted effort to get more green stuff within the urban areas, so if you're responsible then thanks very much for that. But it is, as you say, just a band-aid on the mess that went before.

To me the key is population stabilisation. If the number of people doesn't increase then, prima facie, you don't need more buildings. (yes you need replacements from time to time, but that is simply an opportunity to make the most of technological advances.)

[cocorosie]

i love Hanoi. it is a nice city which is not yet commercialized.
I hope you can keep its originality instead of turning it to another hong kong....