Ngo Viet Nam Son, an architect with 30 years’ experience in designing and architectural planning, was commenting on a master plan for developing Da Nang until 2045, which suggests turning the Da Nang International Airport into a metropolitan subregion whose infrastructure, land use and economy are centered on the airport.

"This is the right strategy," he told a meeting on Friday.

From his experience of working and traveling to many airport cities around the world, he said Da Nang, a city of 1.2 million, "completely has the potential for such a project."

It is now necessary to change the mindset of separating airports from urban areas, he said.

Many places in the world, including Orly Airport in Paris, France, and Logan Airport in Boston, the U.S., have successfully developed the airport city model, he said.

"Airport city will contribute to the city's economic development."

Hoang Su, a former chairman of the architecture association of Quang Nam Province near Da Nang, said if the aerotropolis is developed from the current airport, it would continue to be overloaded.

Da Nang airport received 13.3 million passengers last year, surpassing the target of 13 million set for 2020.

He said it should be relocated first before making plans for the aerotropolis.

In April Da Nang said it would invest VND2 trillion ($86 million) in becoming a smart city by 2030, and city leaders said it would become smart in administration, economy, traffic, environment, and life-quality.

It would also have smart systems for education, healthcare, food safety, tourism, agriculture, trading, drainage, waste management, traffic, and security.

The city has hired Singaporean consultants to amend its urban plans to include solutions to tackle key problems like infrastructure overload, climate change and environmental degradation.