It is a spectacular mix of old and new buildings and bright colors reflecting the 6:30 a.m. sun.

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It was an odd combination of elegant old wooden buildings and new three-story reinforced-concrete buildings.

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Most new buildings, for example, are required to have roofs covered with plants and vegetation, and most old buildings have been retrofitted to meet these standards.

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The same is true in Hanoi, where the city authorities are battling to stop new housing and retail developments encroaching on historic buildings in the old quarter.

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The trend toward New York-style loft living is transforming many old warehouses and office buildings in what was once a desolate area, and as NPR's Luke Burbank reports, the city's newest urban pioneers are bumping against the ones who were there first, the homeless.

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Old buildings are restored, upgraded and converted to new uses.

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"It always surprises me how often old buildings get knocked down in this country and a new structure goes up, " Nivola says.

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Since June 2009, the ambulances have pulled up in front of a new hospital that's been tacked on the back, and the majestic old buildings are slowly being transformed into a museum and cultural centre.

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The 117-year-old family business said it hoped to complete two new main buildings by the end of June and a third before the start of 2014.

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