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Since the 1990s, Hanoi has embarked upon a process of '˜urban catch-up' enabling the city to attain the status of an attractive international metropolis and also to control a territory in keeping with its urban ambitions. Its extension is accelerating over densely populated spaces, and in particular over an area where more than 500 villages have specialized in craft activities. Against a background of soaring land prices, we will consider the ability of inhabitants of these densely populated craft villages to gain access to land and develop their activities, which are necessary conditions for inducing them to stay put, avoiding an exodus towards the city centre.