The liveliness of sidewalks in Ho Chi Minh City and its impact on property values in mixeduse neighborhoods.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
--------------------

NGUYEN THI HONG THU

THE LIVELINESS OF SIDEWALKS IN HO CHI
MINH CITY AND ITS IMPACT ON PROPERTY
VALUES IN MIXED-USE NEIGHBORHOODS.

DOCTORAL THESIS IN ECONOMICS

Ho Chi Minh – 2021


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
--------------------

NGUYEN THI HONG THU

THE LIVELINESS OF SIDEWALKS IN HO CHI
MINH CITY AND ITS IMPACT ON PROPERTY
VALUES IN MIXED-USE NEIGHBORHOODS.

Major: Development Economic
Major ID: 93.10.105

DOCTORAL THESIS IN ECONOMICS
Supervisors: Dr. Nguyen Luu Bao Doan
Dr. Truong Dang Thuy

Ho Chi Minh – 2021


3

ACKNOWLEDGES
My name is Nguyen Thi Hong Thu, PhD student in the major of Development
Economics at University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City. I would like to confirm
that the research results in this thesis is from my own works and has not been
published.
The thesis does not contain documents extracted in whole or in part from a thesis
presented to another qualification at University of Economics HCMC or in any
other educational institution.

Nguyen Thi Hong Thu


TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGE
ABBREVITATIONS
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
ABSTRACT
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................1
1.1 Problem statement.......................................................................................................1
1.2 Research objectives.....................................................................................................6
1.3 Research questions......................................................................................................6
1.4 Research methodology and scope...............................................................................7
1.5 Research contributions................................................................................................8

1.6 Thesis structure...........................................................................................................9
CHAPTER 2. THE RESEARCH DESIGN.......................................................................12
2.1 Research process.......................................................................................................12
2.2 Definition of key terms.............................................................................................13
2.3 Construction of theoretical framework.....................................................................19
2.4 Overview of sidewalk in HCMC..............................................................................22
2.5 The housing market in HCMC..................................................................................29
2.6 Data samples and data collections............................................................................32
2.7 Methodology.............................................................................................................36
2.8 Conceptual framework..............................................................................................38
2.9 Summary...................................................................................................................40
CHAPTER 3...........................................................................................................................41
ESSAY 1 – THE LIVELINESS OF SIDEWALKS IN HO CHI MINH CITY.............41
3.1

Introduction........................................................................................................................41

3.2

Literature review................................................................................................................44

3.2.1 The theoritical reviews...................................................................................................44
3.2.2 The role of sidewalk as public space..............................................................................46
3.2.3 Dimensions of public space...........................................................................................49
3.2.4 Empirical reviews of public space and sidewalk in HCMC...........................................53
3.3

Methodology......................................................................................................................60

3.3.1 Mixed-method research design......................................................................................60

3.3.2 The study areas and data collection...............................................................................63


3.3.3 Data analysis methods...................................................................................................65
3.3.4 Calculating liveliness index...........................................................................................67
3.4

Findings and discussions...................................................................................................73

3.4.1 Descriptive statistics of physical characteristics of sidewalk.........................................74
3.4.2 Behavioral mapping of people and activities.................................................................76
3.4.3 Calculating of liveliness index.......................................................................................82
3.4.4 Relationship between the physical characteristics of the sidewalk and liveliness index 85
3.5

Conclusions........................................................................................................................89

CHAPTER 4...........................................................................................................................90
ESSAY 2 - THE IMPACT OF SIDEWALKS ON PROPERTY VALUES IN MIXEDUSE NEIGHBORHOOD IN HO CHI MINH CITY
...................................................................................................................................................
90
4.1

Introduction........................................................................................................................90

4.2

Literature reviews..............................................................................................................92

4.2.1 Theoretical reviews........................................................................................................92

4.2.2 Empirical reviews..........................................................................................................98
4.3

Methodology....................................................................................................................104

4.3.1 Data.............................................................................................................................104
4.3.2 Variables and definitions..............................................................................................105
4.3.3 Model construction......................................................................................................107
4.4

Results..............................................................................................................................111

4.4.1 Data descriptive analysis.............................................................................................112
4.4.2 Regression results........................................................................................................116
4.4.3 The discussion of results..............................................................................................119
4.5

Conclusions......................................................................................................................125

CHAPTER 5.........................................................................................................................128
CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND LIMITATIONS.........................................128
5.1

Conclusions......................................................................................................................128

5.2

Implication.......................................................................................................................131

5.3

Limitations.......................................................................................................................134

LIST OF AUTHOR’S PUBLISHED PAPERS................................................................136
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................137
APPENDIX.......................................................................................................................150


ABBREVITATIONS
1Q19: The first quarter 2019
CBD: Central Business District
HCMC: Ho Chi Minh City
HLM: Hierarchical Linear Modeling
HN: Hanoi
No.: Number
TOD: Transit Oriented Development
VIF: Variance Inflation Factors
VN: Vietnam


LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1 Data requirement and methods...............................................................61
Table 3.2 Calculating of temporal diversity of use................................................71
Table 3.3 Calculating of diversity of activities......................................................71
Table 3.4 Selected physical characteristics of the sidewalk environment..............73
Table 3.5 Sidewalk width......................................................................................74
Table 3.6 Sidewalk surface quality........................................................................75
Table 3.7 Sidewalk material..................................................................................75
Table 3.8 Sidewalk furniture..................................................................................76
Table 3.9 Number of people daytime and night-time.............................................79

Table 3.10 Liveliness index for each of 270 sidewalk-segment.............................84
Table 3.11 Liveliness index for district level.........................................................85
Table 3.12 Correlation matrix of variables............................................................85
Table 3.13 Descriptive statistics of variables in regression model.........................86
Table 3.14 Regression result of the relationship between physical characteristics of
the sidewalk and Liveliness index.........................................................................88
Table 4.1 The twenty characteristics appearing most often in previous hedonic
pricing model studies...........................................................................................103
Table 4.2 Variables and their definitions..............................................................105
Table 4.3 Functional forms for the hedonic price function..................................108
Table 4.4 Correlation between dependent variable and independent variables....113
Table 4.5 Descriptive statistics............................................................................113
Table 4.6 Percent of observations for each district in HCMC..............................115
Table 4.7 Regression results................................................................................116


LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1 Research process diagram........................................................................13
Figure 2.2 Study area and data used..........................................................................34
Figure 2.3 The exploratory research design...............................................................37
Figure 2.4 Conceptual framework.............................................................................38
Figure 3.1 Sense of place model (Canter, 1977)........................................................45
Figure 3.2 The coding process in inductive analysis..................................................67
Figure 3.3 Categories of activities on sidewalk in HCMC.........................................77
Figure 3.4 Day-time activities with sidewalk width...................................................78
Figure 3.5 Night-time activities with sidewalk width................................................79
Figure 3.6 Number of people engaged in some type of activities on day-time and
night- time on 270 sidewalk-segments in 13 districts in HCMC...............................79
Figure 3.7 Day-time activities...................................................................................81
Figure 3.8 Night-time activities.................................................................................81

Figure 3.9 Number of activity on day-time and night-time on 270 sidewalk-segments
in 13 districts in HCMC.............................................................................................82
Figure 3.10 Visual analysis........................................................................................83
Figure 3.11 Scatter plot between liveliness index and sidewalk width......................86
Figure 4.1 Scatter plot between price and lot size, CBD, sidewalk width, liveliness
index........................................................................................................................112
Figure 4.2 The eight-house group in mixed-use neighborhood................................121


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.

Keywords: Hedonic pricing model, Liveliness index, mixed-use neighborhoods,
sidewalks, property value.

TÓM TẮT
Ở hầu hết các nước trên thế giới, vỉa hè thường là nơi dành cho đi bộ. Tuy nhiên,
một số học giả cho rằng vỉa hè của TP. HCM không trộn lẫn với vỉa hè của bất kỳ
thành phố nào trên thế giới. Các vỉa hè của TP. HCM có thể tạo ra sự sống động hơn
thơng qua các chương trình sự kiện, các hoạt động thương mại và hoạt động xã hội
diễn ra ở vỉa hè trước các nhà mặt tiền vào ban ngày và ban đêm. Bài luận thứ nhất
tiếp cận


dựa trên quan điểm xã hội. Nghiên cứu này áp dụng phương pháp nghiên cứu hỗn
hợp, kết hợp giữa phương pháp định tính và định lượng trong việc thu thập dữ liệu
và tính tốn chỉ số sống động. Tác giả sử dụng phương pháp người tham gia quan
sát (observation participant method) kết hợp với phương pháp trực quan (visual
method) để thu thập dữ liệu của 270 phân đoạn vỉa hè, dữ liệu thu thập được về năm
danh mục các hoạt động diễn ra trên vỉa hè bao gồm bán hàng rong, sử dụng trong
hoạt động gia đình, sinh hoạt cộng đồng, hoạt động kinh doanh, giao thơng chính
diễn ra trên vỉa hè. Kết quả nghiên cứu trình bày giá trị ước tính của chỉ số
liveliness index của 270 phân đoạn vỉa hè được xem như là một tiêu chuẩn chất
lượng để xem xét vỉa hè là một không gian công cộng tại TP. HCM. Hầu hết các
phân đoạn vỉa hè tại Quận 5 đều có mức sống động cao hơn các phân đoạn vỉa hè tại
các Quận còn lại. Bài luận thứ hai tiếp cận dựa trên quan điểm của chủ sở hữu nhà
để xem xét tác động của vỉa hè đến giá nhà trong các khu phố hỗn hợp. Độ rộng của
vỉa hè có tác động làm gia tăng giá trị nhà khoảng 5 phần trăm. Đối với nhà mặt
tiền, nhà có thể cho thuê hay nhà nằm trong khu có thể tác động lan toả kinh doanh
cũng có tác động dương đến giá nhà. Đây là điểm khám phá mới trong nghiên cứu
này đối với nhà ở riêng lẻ tại TP. HCM. Do đó, chính quyền có thể thực hiện mở
rộng vỉa hè hay ít nhất duy trì được độ rộng vỉa hè ổn định, tạo không gian tốt cho

những người tham gia vào các hoạt động trên vỉa hè, đặc biệt nhấn mạnh đến các
hoạt động của hộ gia đình. Thêm nữa, chính quyền thành phố có thể thu thuế đối với
những người mua nhà mặt tiền khi họ tham gia các hoạt động kinh doanh trên vỉa hè
trước nhà.
Từ khoá: Chỉ số sống động, Giá nhà, Khu phố hỗn hợp, Mơ hình định giá Hedonic,
Vỉa hè.


11

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, the author introduces the thesis overview, derived from research
problems and research gaps to give research objectives and research questions.
Next, the author presents the methodology and scope of the study. At the same time,
this chapter also summarizes the main theoretical and practical contributions of the
thesis. Finally, the author presents the structure of the thesis that described in the
following chapters.
1.1

Problem statement

The sidewalk management effectively is a matter of concern for the authorities and
the researchers on over the world and in Vietnam. The point of view around the
world shows that sidewalks are usually for transportation for a long time (Gehl,
1987; Amin, 2008; Dempsey, 2009). Governments in North America and Europe
consider the planning and design of sidewalks to serve pedestrians as essential and
effective (Loukaitou-Sederis and Ehrenfeucht, 2009). Municipal governments in
Vietnam, like in HCMC, also pursues the planning and cleaning of the sidewalks so
that it becomes a space serve pedestrians. However, in recent years, some cities in
the United States have tended to motivate people who using the sidewalk in mixeduse such as commercial, decoration, and public space. This trend is called Do-ityourself urbanism (Douglas, 2019; Talen, 2015). The reality of managing sidewalks

in some cities in Vietnam shows that sidewalks are being used for mixed purposes
from traffic, commercial, shophouse, social interaction, to the household activities.
Therefore, the conflicts of planning of using sidewalks need to be addressed so that
cities can manage sidewalks effectively.
Sidewalk can be considered as a public space in some economic contexts. However,
in most urban studies, the sidewalk is occupied by the means of transportation such
as pedestrians, motorbike, or parking lot (Gehl, 1987; Mitchell, 1995; Tiesdell and
Oc, 1998; Amin, 2008; David et al., 2002; Dempsey, 2009). In the last few decades,


the public space in urban area in developed countries include parks, recreation,
sports facilities, squares, streets, and sidewalk is rarely the authors considered
sidewalk as public space (Whyte, 1980; Gehl, 1989; Carr et al., 1992; CooperMarcus & Francis, 1998; Banerjee, 2001). However, sidewalk as public space plays
a significant role in people’s everyday life in neighborhoods level (Chitraka, 2016;
Mehta, 2006; Loukaitou-Sideris & Ehrenfeucht, 2009; Andersson, 2016; Holland et
al., 2007; Sennett, 1992; Thomas 1991; Lofland, 2017). Some authors pointed out
have many roles of sidewalk as public spaces such as social and culture value,
economic value and environment settings value, making the urban area an attractive
place to live and work (Andersson, 2016; Loukaitou-Sideris & Ehrenfeucht, 2009;
Chitraka, 2016; Holland et al., 2007; Williams & Green, 2001).
Some scholars have noted that a unique aspect of Asian urbanism is public spaces as
streets and sidewalks rather than in open space and squares that often seen used in
the Western studies (Heng, 1999; Sassen, 2011; Eidse & Turner, 2014; Nguyen &
Han, 2017). The current research on sidewalks only focuses on the socio-cultural
aspect related to use and how the activities take place on the sidewalk. The
household activities on the sidewalk in Asian countries, when some activities that
are supposed to take place inside the home or domestic space, but the reversal is that
of eating, drinking, cooking, bathing, and washing activities take place outside the
house and in public space (Edensor, 1998; Yasmeen, 1996). Concerning commercial
activities, some studies added to the property value along the sidewalk (Deacon,

2013; Loukaitou-Sideris & Ehrenfeucht, 2009; Rupa, 2015). Meanwhile, in
Vietnam, public spaces are often used for domestic use activities while home spaces
are often used for commerce (Drummond, 2000). Furthermore, it is essential to note
that street frontage is a valued commodity in Vietnamese property considerations, as
people could have more spaces for domestic activities or for small business
operations (Garnett, 2008; Loukaitou-Sideris & Ehren-feucht, 2007). Therefore, it is
said that HCMC’s sidewalk was not mingled with any urban cities in the world
(Kim, 2012) and people in HCMC use sidewalk for daily life. The HCMC’s
sidewalk exhibits clearly the diverse urban


features with vibrant rhythm from early morning to late night (Kim 2012;
Drummond, 2000; Harms, 2009). Public spaces for leisure activities including
parks, museums, sports facilities (managed by different levels of the government),
and squares such as the area in front of Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, and sidewalks
also used for recreational activities, especially sports (Drummond, 2000).
Moreover, some authors mention whether the liveliness of sidewalks in cities
Vietnam and other countries like South America and parts of Southeast Asia has a
positive effect on social and economic (Drummond 2000; Harms 2009; Kim 2012;
Eidse 2011). However, a large of studies have organized research on public spaces
and sidewalks in Vietnam under socioculture aspects without considering the
economic aspects of the sidewalks. These studies have shown that when sidewalks
as a public space, where people have access and use in social and interaction
activities, that people take the benefits. There is still a research gap to be addressed
the economic impact of the sidewalk and its mechanism. Can sidewalks get the
same quality as a public space like a park or community playground? How to
measure this quality aspect of the sidewalk, and whether the quality of the sidewalk
as public space will affect the property value in the neighborhood? This study
investigates the impact of the sidewalk economy.
Liveliness is a special concept, it usually found in public space studies and plays a

key role in analyzing the use of the sidewalk and its impact on economic activity
(Drummond, 2000). The term liveliness may have different meanings, depending on
the perspective of the authors and research objective to define and measure the
quality of liveliness. Mehta (2014) and Kim (2012) have stated that liveliness as a
concept that is difficult to define and measure. Liveliness is classified into different
levels of activity, including the level of participation in activity through use; the
level of interaction, communication, trading, and mutual exchange; the level of
representation that is determined through the activities taking place outside of their
home. Therefore, analyzing and defining liveliness of public space, it is always
relevant to the people and activities that take place.


When public space is highly liveliness, activities are diverse and interactive. Jane
Jacob (1961) discusses the liveliness and necessity of this dimension said that the
sidewalks can encompass both vitality and diversity. The best sidewalks are
including diversity of physical characteristics, economic and social activities, and
the duration of activities on them is longer, thus contributing to making them more
important and more safety. When the sidewalk acquires the dimensions of the public
space, it is associated with the existence of the liveliness sidewalk. In studies of
urban planning and design, the vitality of the street brings urban vitality and
prosperity.
If the liveliness of the sidewalks creates positive social and economic values, cities
must certainly consider the use and management of the sidewalk in cities.
According to a social perspective, this study focused only on the activities taking
place on the sidewalk in HCMC with the participation of anyone regardless of age,
gender, income, and occupation. Specifically, participants can come from other
places to use the sidewalk and can also be the home-owners that have the sidewalk
in front of houses. It should be noted that this study does not mention the aspect of
ownership and control of the HCMC sidewalk, which means that it does not identify
whose sidewalk is owned, who controls it, uses the sidewalk have to pay or not?

According to a social perspective, the first research objective determines the quality
of each sidewalk segment in various districts by estimating its liveliness index.
Based on the survey and observation participant of the main activities taking place
on the sidewalk, the variety of activities, and assess the level of people involved in
the above activities measure liveliness index. The HCMC sidewalks are possible to
generate more liveliness, by programming events, commercial activities, and social
activities to occur in the sidewalks frontage of the house during day-time and nighttime. In order to attract more users to the sidewalk frontage of the house, there is a
direct relationship between the property use, the activities, and the products
provided need to be emphasized (Shuhana et al., 2004).


According to the home-owners, the sidewalk in HCMC brings to the economic
value when sidewalk can become public space, however, economic literature
overlooks this value. Although there are studies on the use of sidewalks in Vietnam
by Vietnamese and foreigner scholars, no studies have evaluated directly estimates
the relationship between sidewalk and property value in a mixed-use neighborhood.
This gap in current research allows the author to propose a survey and evaluation of
this link.
Some studies examine the impacts of street infrastructure and design on property
value (Gonzalez-Navarro, 2010; Seo et al., 2018; Fullerton & Villalobos, 2011). The
street infrastructure and traffic noise are also considered in some studies about
house prices. Larsen (2014) compared two groups of houses located in arterial or
high traffic streets and collector streets and compared their prices. Furthermore,
street width is also one of the issues that need to be considered to influence the price
of houses (Fullerton & Villalobos, 2011). Xiao (2014) also mentions the dynamic
relationship between street layout, street width, and congestion problem and
housing prices from 2005 to 2010 in Nanjing, China. Some studies proxy sidewalks
with variables related to the location or geographic variation (Cho et al., 2008; Shin
et al., 2011; Li et al., 2015).
In addition, there are a number of studies related to this topic conducted in Asian

countries. Recently, Xu et al. (2016) considers the relationship between building
railway transit systems and commercial value properties in Wuhan, China as a basis
for planning Transit Oriented Development (TOD). The same results was found
when Deng et al. (2016) implemented for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Beijing.
Therefore, empirical studies do not investigate the direct impact of sidewalk quality
on property value. This is the research gap that this study need to conduct and this is
the main second research objective. A large business such as a retail business and a
restaurant may also use the sidewalk as a parking space, or store spillover activities,
or display area to introduce private enterprises. It is important to note that the house
adjacent to the sidewalk frontage is a valuable element in Vietnam’s assessments of
real estate values, as it provides an opportunity for expanding the scope of a
business, increase


awareness of business activities taking place inside the shophouse. In daily life in
the major cities, the large common use of sidewalks in urban areas is probably the
most commercially available (Kim 2012; Nguyen & Han 2017).
Research objectives

1.2

This study has two main research objectives, with specific research objectives as the
following:
Objective 1. To measure the quality of sidewalk in HCMC by capturing sidewalk
liveliness as a quality dimension.
•

Objective 1.1. To specify and construct a commonly used measure of quality
for sidewalks, the liveliness index.

•

Objective 1.2. To investigate the relationships between the conditions of
sidewalks and the liveliness index of sidewalks.

Objective 2. To examine the impact sidewalk quality on property values in mixeduse neighborhoods in HCMC.
•

Objective 2.1. To examine the impact of the liveliness index in each
sidewalk- segment on property values.

•

Objective 2.2. To investigate the impact of sidewalk characteristics on
property values.

•

Objective 2.3. To investigate the impact of use condition of houses adjacent
to sidewalks on property value.

1.3

Research questions

Belong to the two main research objectives, the specific research questions as the
following:
Research question 1 (RQ1). How to measure the quality of the sidewalk in HCMC
by capturing sidewalk liveliness as a quality dimension?

•

RQ1.1. How to specify and construct a commonly used measure of quality
for sidewalks, the liveliness index?

•

RQ1.2. What are the relationships between the conditions of sidewalks and
the liveliness index of sidewalks?

Research question 2 (RQ2). What is the impact sidewalk quality on property values
in mixed-use neighborhoods in HCMC?
•

RQ2.1. What is the impact of the liveliness index in each sidewalk-segment
on property values?

•

RQ2.2. What is the impact of sidewalk characteristics on property values?

•

RQ2.3. What is the impact of the use condition of houses adjacent to
sidewalks on property value?

1.4

Research methodology and scope

This section summarizes the data and methodology used to investigate the two
research objectives and the empirical findings of this thesis.
The primary data for the two research objectives were collected by walk-by
observations and direct observations of people engaged in activities on the
sidewalk- segments and surveying single-family house buyers to provide some
characteristics of a house and housing price. Before conducting official data
collection, the author collected pretest data by observing users’ behavior and
activities taking place on 20 sidewalk-segments in districts 1, Binh Thanh district,
District 10, and District 5, and Go Vap District (random sampling); and the author
surveyed 10 single-family house buyers to get the main house characteristics when
deciding to buy a house. Data for the official survey was collected from 283
sidewalk-segments and single-family houses in 13 districts is the data used for
analysis and reporting in this thesis.
The two objectives of the thesis use different analysis methods and models. The first
research objective uses the method of behavior mapping included walk-by
observations and direct observations to explain why sidewalk can become public


space by capturing liveliness as a quality dimension in HCMC. The second research
applies the Hedonic pricing model to examine value premiums that sidewalk has on
residential property values in mixed-use neighborhood in HCMC.
The scope of works in this research consider only the quality of the sidewalk
through the access and use aspects of the sidewalk. In this study, the author does not
mention the ownership and control aspects of sidewalks because of the complicated
problem that exists in reality on HCMC sidewalk. The entire study is based on two
perspectives including social perspective related to the research objective 1 and
home-owner perspective related to the research objective 2.
1.5

Research contributions

This research is expected to have some significant contributions the economic
literatures in the following:
The first contribution of the thesis clarifies the role of sidewalk in public space in
terms of access and use in HCMC. In most literature reviews, sidewalk has not been
mentioned or evaluated as public space in the world, especially in HCMC (Kim,
2012; Drummond, 2000). Moreover, it can be said that there are many studies on
public space but these studies often ignore the role of sidewalk, or not treat sidewalk
like other public spaces such as open space, recreational area, public square,
commercial center.
The second contribution is to build a formula to calculate the liveliness index on the
sidewalk, adding a way to identify and measure the quality of sidewalks anywhere
in the world. As a result, the author estimated the Liveliness index of each sidewalksegment as a standard measure of quality of sidewalk when considering sidewalk as
public space in HCMC.
The third contribution confirms that the important role of physical characteristics of
the sidewalk to determine the quality of the sidewalk through its liveliness. The
characteristics of the surrounding environment or physical characteristics of
sidewalk are places where users can come, use and interact with them.


The fourth contribution of the thesis is to analyze the direct impact of sidewalk on
property value based on Hedonic pricing model. There are many different studies to
measure the impact of public space on property value, however, there are very few
studies that directly analyze the effect of sidewalk on property value. Therefore, the
author uses some literature reviews of public space impact on property value.
The firth contribution of the thesis is to analyze the direct impact of property use
conditions on property value. This is also a new finding of the thesis when
analyzing the characteristics of using houses in HCMC, in particular, houses can be
used for rental properties, which can be used for both shelter and business (mixeduse property). The characteristics of frontal houses located the central districts in

HCMC are often used for both business and shelter purposes. At the same time,
these houses will establish mixed-use neighborhood, and they will spillover
business activities each other.
The sixth contribution of the thesis is that the spill-over impact of business activities
of neighboring houses will also have a positive impact on house prices. The
shophouse has some features that make it special in HCMC. The structure has a
height of two to three or more stories, with a narrow faces and a long length. The
bottom floor is designed to accommodate a commercial enterprise such as a shop,
restaurant, while the upper or upper floor is for residential purposes and some areas
are completely commercial.
Finally, this pioneering study is expected to provide deep and broad knowledge of
the role of consideration of future consequences in the sidewalk effects on economic
value as the comprising dependent variable.
1.6

Thesis structure

This thesis is article-based, consisting of two separate publications submitted to
scientific journals that address different aspects of urban planning and property
value. The thesis text serves the purpose of integrating the two essays into a
collective work,


addressing the research objectives. The two research objectives are used to structure
the essays and are answered collectively in the conclusions chapter.
This thesis is divided into five main chapters:
Chapter 1. Introduction
The first chapter presents the research problem and research gap, and then gives the
research objectives and research questions. Next, the author outlines the research
methodology and gives new contributions of the thesis.

Chapter 2. The thesis research design
Chapter 2 details the research design applied throughout the two essays that
comprise the thesis. Before presenting the research process, the author will present
some key terms used in this study. Next, the author shows the research data
including the survey area, methods and process to data collection. Next, this chapter
presents the research methodology in the two research objectives. The conceptual
framework is presented at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 3. Essay 1- The liveliness of sidewalks in HCMC
Chapter 3 addresses research objective 1 regarding to measure the quality of
sidewalk in HCMC by capturing sidewalk liveliness as a quality dimension. A
summary of Essay 1 on the calculating of liveliness index of sidewalks and the
examining the impacts of the physical characteristics of sidewalks on the liveliness
index is provided in this chapter.
Chapter 4. Essay 2 – The impacts of sidewalks on property value in mixed-use
neighborhood in HCMC
Chapter 4 attempts to present research objective 2 concerning property value. Essay
2 are summarized in Chapter 4. Applying hedonic pricing model, essay 2
investigates the impacts of sidewalks on property value in mixed-use neighborhood
in HCMC.
Chapter 5. Conclusions, implications and limitations


The final chapter provides the conclusions to address all research objectives with a
summary of the results and conclusions from each. Also, this chapter postulates
some significant theoretical and practical implications for both scholars, urban
planners and managers, and home-owners who have motivations to promote the
liveliness of sidewalks and usings of sidewalks. Finally, in this chapter, some
limitations for future studies are presented.

CHAPTER 2. THE RESEARCH DESIGN
The thesis is an interdisciplinary study, and it applies mixed-method techniques.
This chapter explains why the author attempts to depict the overall process and
methodology of the relationship between sidewalk and property values. The
research design is necessary because it can implement different research processes.
This is a brief presentation of the previous plan of the collection data methods and
the data analysis methods by research objectives. Therefore, an appropriate research
design must be prepared before the start of the research process. The research
design helps to organize the author’s ideas, which will help the author find errors
and gaps.
In this chapter, the author presents the research design. Before presenting some key
terms used in this study, the author mentions the research process. Next, the author
shows the research data include the survey area, methods, and process of data
collection. Next, this chapter presents the research methodology in the two research
objectives. The conceptual framework is presented at the end of the chapter.
2.1 Research process
The research process consists of three steps as shown in Figure 2.1. The research
overview presented in step 1 includes identification of research gaps and research
problems. Based on the stated research problem, the thesis outlines the research
objectives and research questions, and the research methodology. Finally, in this
step, data collection and research methodology, variables, and these measures, the
model were developed to use in the pilot study.
In the second step, which is the pilot study, the author chooses some main streets in
districts according to groups such as groups 1 – district 1, 3, 10; group 2 – district 5,
11; group 3 – Phu Nhuan, Go Vap and Tan Binh district. The selection of streets
based on a convenient sample and does not mention any specific house. The author
observes the sidewalk of each street, recording the activities, the different
happening, the characteristics of those sidewalk users. The author observes by
walk-by

observation method and records by photos and videos. During this survey period,
the author also cultivated photography experience. Based on the testing results help
the author better identify the sidewalk physical characteristics, sidewalk activities,
current sidewalk management. The author takes field notes and was slightly
modified data collection methods and used in the main study.
The third step or main study aims data analysis, conclusions, and implications. The
theoretical contributions of this thesis aim to emphasize the quality of the sidewalk
and its impact on property value. Also, this study has some practical contributions to
provide urban planners and house buyers base on the quality of the sidewalk. Figure
2.1 presents the overview of the research process at the below.

Figure 2.1. Research process diagram
(Source: author’s proposal)
2.2

Definition of key terms

2.2.1

Public space

Public spaces have significant importance in the people’s everyday life (Chitraka,
2016; Mehta, 2006; Loukaitou-Sideris & Ehrenfeucht, 2009; Andersson, 2016;


Holland et al., 2007; Sennett, 1992; Thomas 1991; Lofland, 2017). There exist
different definitions of public space that could be caused by the authors’
approaches, academic disciplines (Gehl & Matan, 2009). Therefore, it is challenging
have a concise the meaning of a public space in one definition. Those different

definitions of public space can be grouped in terms of issues of ownership, control,
access, and use (Mehta, 2014; Mitchell, 1995; Carr et al., 1992; Mandanipour,
1996). There are two group of definition, firstly, a definition of public space in
terms of issues of ownership and control that defines the absolute limits of the
subject area, and secondly, the definition is based on issues of access and use.
The definition of public space can be bases on access and use such as defined by
Carr et al. (1992) as “publicly accessible places where people go for group or
individual activities”. In addition, the authors also state that public space is “the
stage upon which the drama of communal life unfolds”. Specifically, a public space
acts as a stage where people occupying that space at that moment have a dual role to
play including the actor and the spectator. Public space can be characterized as
space for common use, with no restriction to access at least during daylight hours
(Brandão, 2017). Furthermore, Hajer and Reijndorp (2001) explain that citizens
create meaningful public space by expressing their attitudes, asserting their claims
and using it for their own purposes. In recent study by Mehta (2014), the author
defined public space is an open space for the general public, all people use for
active and passive social and community activities, and where everyone must follow
the general regulations for use of space. Public space can also be the place where
one likes to spend more time not doing anything special and enjoy surroundings
(Loukaitou & Banerjee, 1998).
The definition brings about everyday public space. Public space is the space that is
open to the general public where activities in people’ daily life take place in it, and
different groups of people, regardless of their gender, age, social class. The
definition concentrates primarily on the every use of the public space and how the
perception of the space might impact its use. Specifically, activities in people's
daily lives


includes social and economic activities occurring on public space and these
activities also contribute to development economic and especially property value

near public space.
2.2.2

Sidewalk

According to the Degree No. 171/2013/ND-CP, November 13 2013 on penalties for
road administrative traffic offences and rial transport offences, streets are streets
within the inner city, which are delimited by red line boundaries under plannings
already approved by competent authorities; and sidewalks are part of the urban
streets, mainly serving pedestrians and combined with the arrangement of urban
street infrastructure along the route.
According to theoretical reviews, the definition of sidewalk depends on the purpose
of conceptualization. For various purposes, it can be defined by socio-political
characteristics. However, the term of sidewalk can be judged from two basic
perspectives. One is to focus on the physical perspectives and design considerations
related to this important pedestrian space, to create a safe, comfortable and
functional sidewalk; and the other is a social perspective that interprets urban space
as a social product and seeks the formation behind the first perspective.
2.2.3

Liveliness of sidewalk

The term liveliness may have different meanings, depending on persperctive of the
authors and research objective to define and measure quality of liveliness. Mehta
(2014) and Kim (2012) have stated that liveliness as a concept that is difficult to
define and measure. Liveliness is classified into different levels of activity,
including the level of participation in activity through use; level of interaction,
communication, trading and mutual exchange; level of representation that is
determined through the activities taking place outside of their home. Therefore,
analyzing and definiting liveliness of public space, it is always relevant to the

people and activities that take place. At the same time, the liveliness is measured
through the flow and movement of pedestrians, and the number of people engaged
in various activities, and the