Project R-11250

Ho Chi Minh City branding towards walkability and children-friendly mobility: A comparative study between on-site survey and virtual reality on how the walkability affects city branding and traffic safety (Research)

An improved walkability within the urban landscape can support both tourists and the inhabitants of this region, especially the vulnerable population groups like children. In Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), there are several typical problems of walkability and urban mobility, which negatively impacts the comfortable and safe experience of pedestrians, consisting of tourists and inhabitants, especially school children who typically walk to school. Furthermore, under limited resources in the urban improvement process, it is necessary for HCMC's authorities to determine walkability and children-friendly mobility as a city identity of branding strategy in order to attract more residents, investors, and tourists, and to improve the tourist experience; as well as the urban living quality of inhabitants, especially children. The objectives of this study are to identify and improve the walkability in HCMC, in order to build a city brand identity and to improve the traffic safety in HCMC, focusing both on tourists and school children. A mixed research methodology is used in this study which is divided into three phases; literature review, on-site surveys, and field observation are chosen first, to identify the pedestrian problems and to evaluate the contemporary level of walkability in HCMC; literature review, case studies, on-site surveys are applied in the second phase to develop this city brand and to improve traffic safety; then finally the VR simulation model and using the before and after Route2School to analyze the impact of improved walkability both on the city branding and on traffic safety.

01 May 2021 - 31 December 2024