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Making a sociable street in Vietnam – A vision and solutions

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APSA2017-14TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF ASIAN PLANNING SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION.

Making a sociable street in Vietnam – A vision and solutions

Thuy Van Thi Nguyen

Zhejiang University, College of Civil engineering and Architect, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, P.R.
China.
e-mail: arch.vaney@gmail.com

Hao Ying Han

Zhejiang University, College of Civil engineering and Architect, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, P.R.
China
e-mail: hanhaoying@zju.edu.cn

Abstract
Streets are the indispensable parts all over the world, whether it is an urban or rural area. There are hence
many researchers conducted on various characteristics of streets. As for social and cultural aspects, streets
take a role of offering a platform for a wide range of social interactions and experience. In the context of
urban areas, there is bound to have plenty of streets that foster diverse neighboring behaviors; and
neighborhood residents and visitors who are familiar with the streets often use streets for numerous purposes
of everyday socializing. This type of streets that is open to the public, where it is likely to have a frequent
appearance of people throughout the day is classified as sociable streets. This paper hence contributes an
initial venture into thinking about the uses of the term “sociable streets” in Vietnamese urban life, then
suggest the concrete solutions to make streets more sociable.

Keywords: public space, sociable street, street behavior, Vietnam

___________________________________________________________________________
Introduction
Urban life has in many ways been a research object from different scientific perspectives. The cities
nowadays are facing many challenges, which many of them are caused by the never-before speed of
urbanization, like traffic jam, social inequity, environmental degradation, etc. However, along with the
trending globalization, cities are also equipped unprecedented tools and opportunities to deal with these
problems as cities continue to be a promise land for any thriving economy and to be the powerful engines
for innovative invention. Therefore, instead of being considered as a threat or a stumbling block,
urbanization should be approached as a stepping stone or a solution for modern cities. To have a different
approach on how people perceive, create, utilize and experience urban life, authorities at all levels ought
to realize the essence of the formation of public spaces and places as the fundamental process of planning
city. In this sense, a method of making “place” serve as a focal point of policy and planning frameworks,
or the place-led government, is a core component in this approach of urban planning.
As of urban public spaces, streets obviously take an important part since we can examine diverse facets
of social, economic and cultural states, or even urban politics of the city. The urban energetic vigor
observed on the ground and the all-around lively vitality of the urban system are mirrored in everyday
street life. In the other words, daily life of the cities can be observed when looking at various facets of
the street life, including its impulsiveness or disorder. Indeed, streets are one of the most substantial
parts of public open space in the city. Social commentators and scholars suggest that the very impression
about the city of a person is the image of the streets: Think of a city and what comes to mind? Its streets.
If a city’s streets look interesting, the city looks interesting; if they look dull, the city looks dull (Jacobs,
J. 1961). Citizens rely on streets for many activities: social, cultural, and commercial purpose. People
come and go, people assemble around to interact with other people, or simply to enjoy themselves.
Streets that properly satisfy the needs of people have been likely to be related to a positively growing
economy, physical health, and a strong sense of ethnic communities. More than that, researchers claim

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that the street is actually a social space, not just a passage of movement (Appleyard 1981; Vernez-
Moudon 1991; Gehl 1987; Brower 1988; Jacobs, A. 1993; Loukaitou-Sederis and Banerjee 1998; Hass-
Klau et al. 1999). Some even believe that the satisfaction of people on the social aspects of streets even
outweigh the physical satisfaction which the environment gives out (Gibson 1979; Knowles and Smith
1982; Hester 1993; Stokols 1995). In particular, a mixed-use of sidewalk is also worth taking into
consideration which the public spaces serve different purpose in separate timing in order to enhance the
flexibility and multi-purpose function of the side-walk (Annette M. Kim 2012). Consequently, to have
a deep research on sociability of the street is necessary to reveal how streets are utilized by people on
daily life basis and how vital a role of streets is in the urban life.
In contemporary urban Vietnam, streets have been operated, albeit limitedly, as an instrument for the
negotiation between authority and people over the public spaces and the related practices. Streets in
Vietnam from the outside-in direction would be much alike to other Asian cities, due to the law
enforcement and mainly because of the overload and impulsive use of motorbike in Vietnam. Meanwhile,
looking at the inside-out direction, there is a strong interference of private use on public spaces,
especially on the sidewalk’s space. The transition of urban street life and street-use by pedestrians, biker,
and residents has become more and more complicated as they often occupy public spaces for extending
the domestic spaces or an annexation of commercial spaces. Nevertheless, a literature review appears to
fall shortage of empirical papers on sociability in the urban streets. More noticeable is the fact that most
studies in the past have either studied the physical features of the environment or the land uses and the
businesses or the places that hold special meanings for the community (Joardar and Neill 1978; Hass-
Klau et al. 1999). Therefore, this paper will examine the research conducted on the term “sociable streets”
and review to what extent the streets in urban Vietnam are sociable. In addition, a solution guideline is
as well suggested to make the street a sociable place.
Sociable streets in the city
From the perspective of sociability, a sociable street is defined as a street that is open to the public,
where it is likely to have a frequent appearance of people throughout the day (Mehta V, 2014). People
can use sociable streets for purpose relating to individual or group; or containing active or passive social
behaviors. Specifically, a sociable street offers place for neighborhood residents, visitors, workers and
people who call the street their home to use the street for multiple purpose, such as socializing,
interacting with the others, buying and purchasing, etc. In many urban areas, after decades of regarding
vehicle movement as the most important role of the street, governments have started to rediscover the
broad road that streets can and should pay in public arenas such as commerce, socialization, community
celebration and recreation. Although the definition very well capture the essence of qualities that we are
concerned with in defining sociable streets, some other factors need to be considered. Street come in all
shapes and sizes. They also vary in activities and behaviors they support. As Vikas Mehta (2013) argued
that sociable street may be summarized as the places that have special meanings for the community, the
elements of behavioral environment (land uses), and the elements of the physical setting (form and space
characteristics) (Figure 1).

Social  
Aspects

Physical   Behavioral  
Aspects Aspects

Figure 1. Three aspects of Sociable street

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The functions of sociable streets in the city

Ever from the turn of the 21st century, people have been living in the dynamic times when streets and
their associated characteristics are reassessed from various perspectives. Accordingly, the role of the
streets as public open space is now rethought as one of the most important components in urban spatial
design. Despite this conceptual transition, the role of streets remains highly distinctive in Asian cities as
the urban realm takes place not in the city squares like European cities, but mainly in the streets and
alleys. Nevertheless, it even takes more conditions for streets to be sociable. Thus, Jacobs (1993) pointed
out certain criteria that define the competently sociable streets as follow (Figure2):

-­‐   The street should enhance the community by accommodating people with social interaction and
accessibility, hence serving as a place where people can see or be seen.
-­‐   The street must be physically comfortable and safe.
-­‐   The street fosters partaking, where people are discouraged to be passive participants.
-­‐   The best street leaves strong and positive impression on people.
-­‐   The great street contains representativeness, thus can represent other streets.

The economic role of the street sidewalk has merged ever since cities first appeared (Marcuse,
1996). It is common that sidewalks are the extension of the store front or a place for an exchange of
goods and services. This extending area can be done regularly, or be done occasionally during special
time, regardless of being legal or illegal. In some cases, the bustling atmosphere is even expected to
trigger positive vibes of people coming whether entering the selling environment. However, a
prerequisite condition is a moderate street density, which allows people to stroll or to linger pleasantly
and freely without any restraints. Only for this condition, sociable streets can be properly designed.

Contributes
to community

Representative
of a
Comfortable
community and safe

STREETS

Encourages
Remembered participation

Figure 2. The functions of sociable street

In the context of Vietnam, the everyday life from early morning until midnight happens at the busy
streets and many social interactions are carried out on street side. As a result, it builds up an intimate
relationship between streets and the street sides in Vietnam urban cities. Comparing with the above
criteria, streets in urban Vietnam even take up more multiple roles on daily life basis, among which the
most vivid function is communication, meaning to offer a channel for people and commodity to travel
from one places to places. More than that, street in Vietnam urban life also provoke social exchange,

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since it offers places for walking and interactive chatting. It is as well worth noting that the young
generation likes showing off their new styling on the street. Indeed, truly sociable streets in urban
Vietnam should be places for people to see and to be seen. Therefore, it can be concluded that streets in
Vietnam have well fulfilled the social functions.

Social life and cultural behavior in Vietnam streets

In urban life of big cities in Vietnam, communal living and shared space are still common and continue
a remarkable part of neighborhood life. In Vietnam, especially in cramped accommodations, to spend
leisure time outside the house in full view of neighbors and pavement passengers is a typical
neighborhood lifestyle (Figure 4,5). It is essential to note that street frontage is a very valued commodity
in Vietnamese property considerations, as people could have more spaces for domestic activities or for
small business operations. Restricted private spaces are generally seen, especially in crowded housings,
where residents always tend to pour out into street sidewalks as an occupation of public spaces, such as
for commercial purpose like food stalls or goods exhibition, etc. Unlike exclusive spaces, these occupied
spaces, although illegal by law, are mutually consented if the neighborhood does not disapprove.
However, according to the research of Annette M.Kim (2014), there is temporal subdivision of spaces
usage where different activities are held at different times throughout the day (Figure 3). Informal
economic activities only retain informal public spaces at certain time periods of the day. These informal
activities are not random, but very dynamic and usually welcome by the citizens. This is because of the
local street culture strongly support a flourishing group of small businesses who serve a wide range of
goods.

Figure 3. Percentage of Total Sidewalk Space Used

Source: Annette M. Kim (2014)
In conclusion, streets in Vietnam big cities have a distinctive characteristic of private space occupying
public space for personal purposes, while shared space has remains its unsaid rules due to Vietnamese
street cultural behaviors.

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Figure 4. Shop workers taking a break on the sidewalk of one of the most prestigious streets of the city
as a police officer looks on.
Source: Annette M. Kim (2014)

Figure 5. Ho Chi Minh City’s sidewalk system includes eating, leisure, vendors, and motorbike parking.
Source: Annette M.Kim (2014)

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The vision of sociable streets in Vietnam

Streets in big cities are divided into many types with diverse contributions to the urban life. There are
also many studies on physical characteristics of the street, such as landscaping, street furniture and so
on. However, to promote sociability as one of the main role of streets has not been properly rethought
by urban planners. That is, for this reason, a vision of sociable streets need to be thoroughly revised and
developed to catch up with streets reality and newly-emerged demands for streets in big cities. In line
with this perspective, this paper suggests the visions that make streets become more sociable. In Vietnam,
despite many guidelines on design urban streets which often discuss physical elements of streets, the
design or the management of the streets, research on enhancing sociability on the streets still has been
an ignorant subject. There are, though, periodic crackdowns try to clear the pavements, the effect is not
much long lasting if not momentary. Therefore, this paper attempts to address the following visions
which support implementation of sociable streets in a specific context of Vietnam big cities. Taking into
consideration of socio-economical features of Vietnam urban life, there are 4 visions suggested as follow:
to strengthen neighborhood interaction; to encourage independent businesses to contribute to street life;
to promote street vendors; and to foster human and ecological health (Figure 6).

Strengthen neiborhood interaction

Encourage independent businesses to contribute to

street life
SOCIABLE STREET

Promote street vendors

Foster human and ecological health

Figure 6. The vision of sociable streets

To strengthen neighborhood interaction

As a conventional image in urban space, streets fundamentally serve the needs of a channel for
movement, whereas the assembling activities have been related to the plaza or the park. It is still
commonly thought that streets function mainly for mobility, not invitations for people to hang around
and have a talk with the others. Therefore, sociable streets must be able to change this conventional
perspective. Sociable streets aim to provide environment for fostering neighborhood interactions. This
change, hence, can make an economic and social return on investment to both local businesses and
residents.

To encourage independent businesses to contribute to street life

Small and individual-owned businesses often run well because people welcome them for their
uniqueness of goods and services style. For this reason, these local businesses are key components to
sociability on the street as they also contain characteristics that enhance sociability, such as being a place
for social conversations and networking. Furthermore, independent businesses much usually have more
personalized and distinctive street frontage with shop sign decoration and ornamentation and so on; and
they can further attention by permeating the shops’ atmosphere to the street as activities insides can be
seen on the street outside. Consequently, physical characteristics provided by street sides’ businesses
visually contribute on multi-level to sociability.

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To promote street vending

Street businessmen of course have a strong influence on the pedestrian’s experience: they provide goods
and services, they talk to the customers, they offer visual diversity, they make opportunities for people
to gather and interact and so on. More than anyone else, to make sociable streets, street vendors should
be allowed in business areas where sidewalks are wide enough to accommodate their displays safely and
still have space for freely walking pedestrians.

To foster human and ecological health

In many contexts, economic benefits are put on top where human health is taken for granted. In the case
of Vietnam, shades on the street with trees or canopies and hygiene issues on the sidewalks are not given
enough attention by both the authorities and residents, despite the unfavorable weather and changing
seasons. That is why, sociable streets in line with high demands on human health and ecological systems
would first prolong the length of an outdoor stay and then provoke activities conducted on the sidewalks.
Therefore, the vision of making sociable streets ought to meet up the expectation of fostering human
and ecological health.

Suggested solutions of sociable streets design in Vietnam

Adapting mixed-use street

The adaptation of mixed-used streets can be flexibly applied according to the actual conditions of the
streets. However, regardless of how different of streets are, a mixed-use street would be a desirable
solution for making a street more sociable by remixing streets’ physical arrangement at different scales
which provides new kinds of spatial flexibilities and usages in sharing space, particularly in crowded
areas.

Sidewalk extension

It is out of the question that to make a street become a more spacious place, a width of the street is the
most indispensable physical characteristic. Sidewalks offer places for social interaction; especially in
commercial areas, the wider sidewalks allow more spacious accommodation for trees or street furniture,
etc. Besides, sidewalk extension can also help to take higher volumes of people waiting at the bus stop
or car stop. Therefore, to extend the sidewalk is to make a clearer and safer walkway for pedestrians and
street users. As illustrated below, a pilot project can be implemented in any big cities and when it has
proven its efficiency, the sidewalk extensions can be equipped more extra long-term amenities (Figure
7).

Figure 7. Sidewalk extension

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Temporary street transformation

Temporary street transformation is frequently seen in occasion of festivals or street events. By making
a street only for pedestrians and controlling vehicles, the street becomes a place for more physical
activities, hence supporting community and sociability. In the context of Vietnam, a high volume of
motorbikes turns into great hindrance in street design and management. Therefore, temporary street
transformation deems successful in areas where vehicles hamper social activities of people. In
implementation, streets are initially close to automobile traffic, so that space is now used for people to
walking, bicycling, entertaining and so on. After the specific time when events come to an end, streets
can turn back to its original state (Figure 8).

Figure 8. Temporary street transformation

Shared street
Shared streets are best implemented on streets with low volumes of vehicles and higher volumes of
walking people. The underlying concept of shared street system is the focal point put on the community
and the residential user. That is, streets are fundamentally combinations of physical and social elements
in the living environment, consequently can be used for vehicles movement, social interactions and civil
activities at the same time (Figure 9)

Figure 9. Shared street

Shared street on commercial street vision

The pilot project below illustrates how an arterial road in a commercial or mixed-use areas can be shifted
to a shared street. When vehicle is allowed for entrance, basically the street still provides space for
pedestrians. It is necessary for the visual and tactile curbs on the streets to be removed and a uniform
surface is made available; by that time, walking people no longer feel restrained to using the sidewalks.

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As shown below, the lighter color pavement in the middle indicates the surface where vehicles are
permitted at very low speeds. In some contexts, this type of shared streets is also appropriate for weekend
street events (Figure 10).

Figure 10. Shared street on commercial street example

Conclusion

Streets are fundamental parts where people live. In urban areas, streets are often associated with
permanent reflection of city life, so that people can tell the dynamics of the cities from their streets. On
the other hand, the streets and their features can change in time as the city are always evolving and
reinventing itself. In the past, street design much often privileged the automobile without attention to
pedestrian sidewalks, or sidewalks with no shade shelter and so on. Cities across the globe hence now
are seeking for a new approach to their public streets so that streets are much more friendly to all citizens
than before. By means of planning tool, it is suggested that streets nowadays should become more
sociable. In line with this opinion, the norm of “sociable streets” is rethought and developed to catch up
with modern urban street practice. In the context of Vietnam, the vigor of urban life is highly mirrored
on the ground and in the street. However, streets are still disorderly designed, in spite of the dynamics
of street life. Therefore, Vietnam big cities are in need of supporting the sociability of the streets. For
this reason, this paper has suggested a concrete guideline for street implementation to make it more
sociable. This paper has pointed out five basic functions of sociable streets, which could be criteria for
any models that aim at making sociable streets. However, this research is subject to personal opinion
based on observation; moreover, there are still many aspects that have not covered in this paper.
Consequently, it is necessary to conduct more empirical research which may require a more practical
approach to the issue. With public space being one of the most important parts in urban planning, this
paper hopes to have contributed to a better understand on streets design to make streets more sociable.

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