Due to urban expansion of Hanoi, Vietnam, peripheral hamlets (urban villages) have been integrated into the city area, changing the lifestyle and built environment there. In urban villages, people used to take water from wells for drinking/eating purpose and from ponds for other purposes in their daily lives. Recently, such traditional water use have been disappeared, while public water supply have been installed in some urban villages, which is said to have some troubles in terms of service. To solve this problem with public water supply in urban villages, where urban and rural characteristics are mingled, it seems important to have local residents involved in watering planning. This study aims to reveal how local people have been associated with wells and ponds, called 'common watering sites'. In this study, it is assumed that each common watering site has three perspectives; 'water surface', 'space' and 'place'.
Based on interview surveys with community leaders and residents of selected urban villages, it is found that management activities of some common watering sites have resumed, or is going to be resumed, after suspension. Originally, water from common watering sites was used for daily lives and fish-raising. It is revealed that, while such usage has been declined, residents have come to attribute the value of common watering sites to their public, spiritual, Fengshui and historic functions, and that they have been involved in renovation projects of common watering sites, using a fund from national New Rural Program. This also means that the point which local residents put value on has been shifted from 'water surface' to 'space' and 'place'. As the recognized functions of common watering sites change, the management system has also shifted from voluntary one to the way in which the responsibility for management is clearly assigned.
In conclusion, three elements to revive management activities of common watering sites are demonstrated as below:
1. Recognized multifunctionality of common watering sites;
2. Improvement of common watering sites by the will of local people, with a governmental help in terms of finance; and
3. Introduction of a new, more sustainable way to manage common watering sites.
