The liveliness of sidewalks in Ho Chi Minh city and its impact on property values in mixed-use neighborhoods

Abstract

In most countries around the world, sidewalks are usually for pedestrians for a long time. However, it was said that HCMC’s sidewalks were not mingled with any urban cities in the world. The HCMC’s sidewalks are possible to generate more liveliness, by commercial activities and social activities to occur in the sidewalks frontage of the house during day-time and night-time. The first essay based on social perspectives. This research applied the mixed-method research that is a combination to qualitative and quantitative methods to calculate the liveliness index. The author uses the observation participant method blended with the visual method to collect data to the five activity categories including sidewalk vending, domestic use, communal, store spillover, transportation. The results of the first essay show the estimated value of the liveliness index of 270 sidewalk-segment as a quality standard to consider sidewalk as public space in HCMC. Most of the sidewalk-segments in District 5 have a higher level of liveliness than others. The second essay based on the home-owners to investigate the impact of sidewalks on property values in mixed-use neighborhoods. The sidewalk width could premium property approximately 5 percent based on the primary data of 283 sidewalk segments and house prices in HCMC. Besides, the rental property and the spill-over of neighboring houses also have a positive impact on property value. Therefore, the government can perform sidewalk expansion or at least maintain a stable sidewalk width, creating a good space for those participating in activities on the sidewalk.