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Sustainable Cities and Society xxx (xxxx) xxx
Please cite this article as: Wenze Yue, Sustainable Cities and Society, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2020.102609
Available online 16 November 2020
2210-6707/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Identifying urban vitality in metropolitan areas of developing countries
from a comparative perspective: Ho Chi Minh City versus Shanghai
Wenze Yue
a
, Yang Chen
a
, Pham Thi Mai Thy
b
, Peilei Fan
c
, Yong Liu
d
,
*, Wei Zhang
e
a
Department of Land Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, PR China
b
Vietnam National Space Center (VNSC), Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST), Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
c
School of Planning, Design, and Construction & Center for Global Change and Earth Observation, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
d
School of Management Science and Real Estate, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, PR China
e
Shanghai Institute of Geological Survey, Shanghai, 200072, PR China
ARTICLE INFO
Keywords:
Urban vitality
Comparative measurement
Urban planning
Developing countries
ABSTRACT
Urban vitality is widely recognized as an authentic philosophy that reects chaotic urbanization and orthodox
planning in the developed world. However, comparative studies on the urban vitality of developing countries are
scarce. This study developed a framework for analyzing urban vitality in developing countries. Using Ho Chi
Minh City and Shanghai as cases, we measured urban vitality and analyzed its spatial pattern by using the
projection pursuit model based on three dimensions of human activity, built environment, and their linkage.
Both cities show a declining gradient of urban vitality from the urban cores to suburbs. Shanghai also fosters
several peaks of urban vitality in its subcenters. The different spatial patterns of urban vitality are largely
determined by the monocentric or polycentric urban form. A similar pattern of high urban vitality in both urban
cores may be associated with the European-style block planning in the former concession areas. Recently, these
two cities launched large-scale transport projects and replicated the modern style of broad and grid roads from
the US, thereby reducing their urban vitality. This comparative study can improve our understanding of urban
vitality patterns in developing countries and provide planning implications that can help nurture urban vitality.
1. Introduction
Urban vitality is set forth by Jacobs as “the production of diverse city
life which is constituted by human activity and life place” (Jacobs,
1961). This concept has been welcomed by Western scholars and reso-
nates in plenty of planning theories, including transit-oriented devel-
opment (Cervero & Kockelman, 1997; Ewing & Cervero, 2010), new
urbanism, and smart growth (Grant, 2002; Calthrope, 1993; Sternberg,
2000). Enthusiastic planners and decision makers from Western coun-
tries have adopted the urban vitality framework since the 1960s.
Exemplar projects have also sprung up from this concept, including the
Atlantic Yards Project in Brooklyn and the St. Lawrence neighborhood in
Toronto. While these theories and practices have underscored urban
vitality as a panacea to chaotic urbanization and orthodox urban plan-
ning, this concept has become an authentic philosophy as cities continue
to undergo a rapid urbanization.
With the increasing prevalence of urban sprawl, residential vacancy,
and urban decline in megacities (Barrington-Leigh & Millard-Ball, 2015;
Deng & Ma, 2015; Ewing et al., 2017), scholars, planners, and author-
ities have prescribed sets of urban planning principles to boost urban
vitality for coping with such challenges. These principles can be cate-
gorized into two streams. The rst stream explores the diverse planning
principles that stimulate urban vitality based on Jacobs’s interpretive
framework. In this claim, urban vitality is dened as the continuous
presence of pedestrian ows in streets over a 24 -h period (Jacobs,
1961). According to the relevant studies (Jacobs, 1961; Laurence, 2006;
Montgomery, 1998), urban development with high density, small-scale
blocks, and mixed uses is more likely to breed urban vitality than that
with low intensity, large-scale blocks, and mono-function. Many studies
have conrmed that urban vitality can be cultivated as long as Jacobs’s
diverse planning principles (i.e., mixed land use, small block, aged
building, high development intensity) are satised (De Nadai et al.,
2016; Huang et al., 2019; Jacobs-Crisioni, Rietveld, Koomen, & Tranos,
2014; Li, Wang, Wang, & Wu, 2016; Long & Huang, 2017; Sung & Lee,
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: wzyue@zju.edu.cn (W. Yue), herochen945@163.com (Y. Chen), ptmthy@vnsc.org.vn (P.T.M. Thy), fanpeile@msu.edu (P. Fan), liuyong80@
cqu.edu.cn (Y. Liu), zwcarlos06@126.com (W. Zhang).
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Sustainable Cities and Society
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scs
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2020.102609
Received 1 July 2020; Received in revised form 11 November 2020; Accepted 12 November 2020
Sustainable Cities and Society xxx (xxxx) xxx
2
2015; Sung, Go, & Choi, 2013; Wu, Ye, Ren, & Du, 2018; Ye, Li, & Liu,
2018; Yue et al., 2017). The second stream investigates urban vitality
from the perspective of urban form. In this regard, urban vitality is
dened as the degree to which urban form supports the vital functions
and the biological requirements and capabilities of humans (Lynch,
1984). Previous studies have highlighted the impacts of urban form on
urban vitality. A set of urban form indicators, including public realm,
trafc system, and commerce density, have also been dened to measure
urban vitality or reveal their correlations (Jin et al., 2017; Montgomery,
1998; Ravenscroft, 2000; Tang et al., 2018; Wu, Ta, Song, Lin, & Chai,
2018; Zarin, Niroomand, & Heidari, 2015). Although existing studies
have been conducted from different perspectives and by using various
methodologies, they reach the consensus that urban vitality can be
achieved when a place meets specic planning principles.
A large body of literature has detected differences in the features of
urban vitality across developed countries. For instance, in North
America, the urban core (e.g. Manhattan, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati)
serves as a fertile ground for urban vitality at daytime due to the
increased human ow; however, this urban core is susceptible to inferior
urban vitality at night given that its onefold business function, monot-
onous environment, and orthonormal skyscrapers fail to promote lively
social activities (Jacobs, 1961). As a city develops a multi-nuclear
structure, urban vitality tends to be distributed in a dispersed pattern,
such as in the case of Chicago (Zeng, Song, He, & Shen, 2018). However,
in European countries, superior urban vitality is by and large concen-
trated at the urban core and exhibits a monocentric pattern, such as in
the cases of Milan (De Nadai et al., 2016) and Amsterdam (Jacob-
s-Crisioni et al., 2014). In developing countries such as China, many
cities are affected by both long-term planning wisdom (such as the
authoritative wisdom of a “walled city” and the ecological wisdom of a
“mountainous and water-rich city”) and the newly incorporated
Western-style planning (such as a European-style block planning in the
early stage and US-style zoning planning in the recent stage). The dif-
ferences in cultural background and the complexity of planning style
across different countries may signicantly affect urban vitality pat-
terns. For example, the old urban cores in China’s cities generally have
high housing and workspace density patterns under the inuence of
traditional planning, which may promote sufciently diverse conditions
for urban vitality. However, with the rapid development of new sub-
centers or towns, the urban density in newly urbanized areas within the
periphery rapidly declines, which may spread urban vitality outward
and create a dispersed vitality pattern similar to that in North America.
These diverse features have raised concerns regarding the features of
urban vitality across different megacities of developing countries. When
the history, urban planning, and socioeconomic context of cities in
developing countries are considered, the differences in the urban vitality
of different cities need to be investigated, especially from a comparative
perspective.
To bridge such gap, this work presents a comparative analysis of
urban vitality by using two rapidly urbanized cities as cases, namely, Ho
Chi Minh City in Vietnam and Shanghai in China. As reported by Bea-
verstock, Smith, and Taylor (1999), Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City
have been listed as alpha plus and beta plus world cities, respectively,
which are widely acknowledged as economic frontrunners in their
respective countries. Over the past decades, these cities have experi-
enced a similar trajectory of urban development under proactive urban
planning. Since the opening up in the 19th century, their urban planning
has been replicated from European-style by colonists, which makes them
possess similar features with thriving European cities, such as straight
street layouts (Gaubatz, 1999; Nguyen, Samsura, van der Krabben, & Le,
2016). After entering the socialist era, these two cities have witnessed a
long-term de-urbanization, which resulted in only few developments
that are concentrated in the city center and limited improvements in
urban infrastructure (Huynh, 2015; Nguyen et al., 2016; Wu, 1999). The
successive launch of economic reforms has also simulated an unprece-
dented degree of urbanization that resulted in rapid urban growth,
polycentric development, and industrial zone fever. In this sense,
investigating both Ho Chi Minh City and Shanghai can provide valuable
insights into urban vitality given that these cities have similar planning
legacies (i.e., colonial past, development stagnation during the socialist
period, and rapid urbanization in the post-socialist era). Although few
scholars have explored urban vitality in China (Tang et al., 2018; Yue,
Chen, Zhang, & Liu, 2019), a comparison between Chinese and Viet-
namese cities is yet to be conducted. To address such gap, this paper
conducts a comparative study by adopting uniform scales, indicators,
and models of vitality. Our work also provides valuable insights into
urban planning in two cities that may also be applicable to other
developing cities.
This paper aims to answer two questions. First, what are the simi-
larities and differences in the urban vitality of Ho Chi Minh City and
Shanghai? Second, how can we understand these similarities and dif-
ferences across various development periods and approaches? To
answer these questions, we initially claried the concept, dimensions,
and indicators of urban vitality by drawing insights from the literature.
We then measured urban vitality by using the projection pursuit model
and compared the features of these two cities. We eventually discussed
the dynamics that may affect urban vitality.
2. Analytical framework of urban vitality
Numerous scholars have given different denitions of urban vitality.
For instance, Jacobs (1961) dened urban vitality as a dense concen-
tration of people induced by well-organized urban spaces that promote
social activities. Maas (1984) decomposed urban vitality into three
components, namely, the continuous presence of people in streets and
public spaces, their activities and opportunities, and the environment in
which these activities are conducted. Montgomery (1998) dened urban
vitality based on the number of people in and around the streets across
different times of day and night, the uptake of facilities, the number of
cultural events and celebrations over a year, the presence of active street
life, and the extent to which a place feels alive or lively.
The above denitions emphasized the substantial presence of human
ow in urban areas with specic urban fabrics that can be decomposed
into two essential dimensions, namely, human activity and built envi-
ronment. However, these denitions and dimensions should consider
the specic context of developing countries. Given that numerous
metropolitan areas in developing countries are witnessing large-scale
urban reconstruction accompanied by a rapid population growth, the
linkage between built environment and human activity is unprece-
dentedly prominent. This linkage may have double-edge effects on the
urban fabric and human activities and should therefore be considered
when evaluating urban vitality. In our conceptual framework, we
dened urban vitality as the capacity of a built environment to promote
lively social activities. Our framework has three dimensions, namely,
human activity, built environment, and human–environment linkage
(Yue, Chen et al., 2019) (Fig. 1). Urban vitality has a social dimension
that reects the interaction between different social groups and built
environments. However, integrating people and social behaviors into
our investigation of urban vitality in both Ho Chi Minh City and
Shanghai is too difcult as doing so requires a large-sample investigation
of different social classes and their interactions. Therefore, the inclusion
of the social dimension goes beyond the scope of this study. Instead, we
focused on the capacity of built and human environments to promote
lively social activities. Instead of directly measuring urban vitality based
on the social activities and interactions of urban dwellers, we used
alternative methods to reect the urban vitality from the perspective of
built and human environments that have a potential capacity to promote
urban vitality.
Built environment is a commonly accepted dimension of urban vi-
tality that attaches importance to man-made urban environment plan-
ning, including urban fabric, road network layout, and land use. From
the dimension of built environment, urban vitality can be dened as the
W. Yue et al.
Sustainable Cities and Society xxx (xxxx) xxx
3
presence of intricate, close-grained, and diverse land uses and buildings
(Jacobs, 1961). Built environment is measured as urban vitality from
multiple scales and includes, but is not limited to, aged buildings, small
blocks, and mixed land uses (De Nadai et al., 2016; Sung et al., 2013).
Human activity reects the degree to which humans participate in
urban life. According to Jacobs (1961), large cities must have a suf-
ciently dense concentration of people to achieve urban vitality. Popu-
lation concentration includes the total amount of population and the
density of employees and residents (Gowharji, 2016; Jacobs, 1961). The
agglomeration of the urban population leads to intensive land use and
high-density buildings. Urban vitality with high development intensity
is therefore assumed to be associated with high-density dwellings,
ofces, and daily-use buildings (Sung & Lee, 2015; Sung et al., 2013;
Sung, Lee, & Cheon, 2015).
The human–environment linkage can be regarded as an urban
developmental strategy or governance policy dedicated to optimizing
the urban fabric to provide better services for humans. The urban
developmental strategy and governance policy, which can either pro-
vide daily conveniences or impose burdens on social activity, can be
viewed as forms of human–environment linkage. Based on previous
studies, road connectivity, amenity, and physical segregation to urban
barriers can be summarized as three critical components of the dimen-
sion reected in urban life (Yue, Chen et al., 2019; Zeng et al., 2018).
Fig. 1. Analytical framework for urban vitality.
Fig. 2. The locations of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Shanghai, China.
Note: the two cities are depicted with different scales for presentation.
W. Yue et al.
Sustainable Cities and Society xxx (xxxx) xxx
4
3. Study area and methods
3.1. Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City
Shanghai is the largest city in China located on its southeast coast
with a population of 24.15 million and an area of 6340.5 km
2
(Fig. 2). As
a global economic center, Shanghai accounted for 3.69 %, 14.65 %,
11.42 %, and 1.76 % of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), foreign in-
vestment, foreign trade volume, and population of China in 2015,
respectively. The GDP and GDP per capita (GDPpc) of the city amounted
to $390 billion and $16,665 in the same year, respectively. Meanwhile,
the urbanized population ratio of Shanghai increased from 59.0 % in
1978 to 89.3 % in 2011, which resulted in an unprecedented rapid urban
expansion (Yue, Zhang, & Liu, 2016). The core metropolitan area of
Shanghai is located within the outer ring road whose construction land
accounts for 92.53 % of the city (Yue, Chen et al., 2019). The main areas
of Shanghai include the districts of Huangpu, Xuhui, Changning,
Yangpu, Hongkou, Jingan, and Putuo. The urban planning characteris-
tics of Shanghai can be summarized in three aspects. First, Shanghai has
published ve rounds of historic building and aged block protective or
renewal regulations and criteria that preserve the inherited street layout
and architectures in the concession area (located in the conuence of
Huangpu River and Suzhou River). Second, Shanghai plans to utilize the
Pudong New Area as an economic engine for the Yangtze River Delta.
This new area serves multiple functional specializations, including
export goods processing, nancial services, and bonded storage (Gau-
batz, 1999; V. Wu, 1998). Third, Shanghai has evolved into a polycentric
urban form (Cai, Huang, & Song, 2017; Liu & Wang, 2016). The
Shanghai Master Plan (2017–2035) released in 2018 described its future
urban spatial structure as “one central city, four downtown areas
(Baoshan, Chuansha, Hongqiao, and Minhang), and ve satellite cities
(Jiading, Songjiang, Qingpu, Fengxian, and Nanhui).”
Ho Chi Minh City is located on the southeast coast of Vietnam and
serves as a trade center in the Indo-China Peninsula (Fig. 2). Although
the GDP ($45.4 billion) and GDPpc ($5428) of the city are lower than
those of Shanghai, its growth rates (9.80 % and 7.72 %, respectively, in
2015) are higher than those of Shanghai (6.90 % and 6.60 %, respec-
tively, in the same year). As the economic center of Vietnam, Ho Chi
Minh City accounted for only 0.63 % of the country area yet contributed
to more than 20 % and 15 % of its GDP and foreign direct investment,
respectively. Beneting from its coastal location, tropical climate, and
fertile soil, Ho Chi Minh City plays an indispensable role in promoting
agriculture/shery activities and increasing the country’s rice exporta-
tion in the Mekong Delta. At its core, Ho Chi Minh City has 13 districts
with a total area of 494.58 km
2
and approximately 4.14 million in-
habitants as of 2015. The Metropolitan Area of Ho Chi Minh City, which
includes the other 5 districts, has 8.24 million inhabitants, thereby
making the city one of the largest and most populated metropolitan
areas in Southeast Asia. Since the implementation of Doimoi, Ho Chi
Minh City has traveled the road of rapid urbanization and industriali-
zation. The urban development of this city focuses on 1) revitalizing the
old urban area by using a piecemeal developmental model of block-by-
block instead of adopting a zoning system; 2) launching large-scale
development zone and transport projects in areas surrounding the
urban core, such as the Phu My Hung Development Zone and the Na-
tional Highway No. 1; and 3) maintaining a certain amount of cultivated
land and mangrove forests in the outer suburbs to produce grain and
reduce ood risks in coastal areas.
3.2. Methods
3.2.1. Selected indicators and measurement methods
The indicators for measuring urban vitality were taken from the di-
mensions of built environment, human activity, and human–environ-
ment interaction (Table 1).
(1) The dimension of built environment includes mixed land use,
road junction density, and aged building.
The rst criterion for capturing a diverse built environment is mixed
land use, which can motivate people to go out on the streets. For
instance, pedestrian activity increases along with the intensity of mixed
land use (Cervero & Duncan, 2003). The Entropy index based on land
use structure was used to measure the land use mixture (Maleki, Zain, &
Ismail, 2012). Given the differences in the land use classications of
Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City, we categorized land use into 12 types,
namely, farmland, ofce land, commercial land, industrial land,
communal facilities, educational land, recreational land, medical facil-
ities, residence, transport land, specially designated land, and unused
land. The indicator was calculated by given formula:
MLU = − ∑n
i=1piln(pi)
ln(n)(1)
where MLU denotes mixed land use, p
i
denotes the percentage of land
use type i, and n denotes the number of land use types.
Road junction is a widely used indicator for measuring block size and
urban morphology (Jin et al., 2017; Long & Huang, 2017; Yue, Chen
et al., 2019). Denser road junctions correspond to smaller blocks with
higher pedestrian activity (Moudon et al., 2006). These junctions reduce
road lengths, thereby encouraging social contact among people. Given
that superblocks and boulevards are increasingly displacing small blocks
and alleys in Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City, using road junction
density to characterize the built environment is deemed appropriate
(Maleki et al., 2012; Zhang et al., 2019).
The retention of aged buildings is an indispensable condition for
ensuring vital urban life (Cho & Kim, 2017; Powe, Mabry, Talen, &
Mahmoudi, 2016). Aged buildings provide cheap spaces for low- and
high-income residents and small enterprises and thereby contribute to
the proliferation of economic activities (Sung et al., 2013). Compared
with standardized new buildings, aged buildings have a greater ability of
reinvention and aesthetics, which reect the heterogeneity of an urban
built environment. This criterion was computed by determining the
number of aged buildings in each sub-district.
Table 1
Indicators and data sources.
Dimensions Metrics Impact on
vitality
Data
sources
Built environment
Mixed land use Entropy index of twelve
categories for mixed land use
Positive (a)
Road junction
density
Number of road junctions per
sub-district
Positive (b), (g)
Aged building Number of aged buildings per
sub-district
Positive (c), (d)
Human activity
Population density Population amount per sub-
district in people/km
2
Positive (e), (g)
POI density Number of POIs per sub-district in
POIs/km
2
Positive (d), (g)
Dwelling density Ratio of total residential area of a
sub-district
Positive (a), (g)
Human-environment interaction
Road connectivity Total length of roads per sub-
district in km/km
2
Positive (b), (g)
Physical
segregation to
urban barriers
Buffer area ratio of national
highways, expressways, railways,
and rivers of a sub-district
Negative (b), (f),
(g)
Amenity
availability
Density of public transport stops,
stations, squares, and parks in a
sub-district
Positive (a), (d)
Notes: (a) Land use map; (b) Road network; (c): Conservation list of historic
building; (d) POI data; (e) Population census data; (f) River maps, extracted from
land use maps; (g) Sub-district map.
W. Yue et al.
Sustainable Cities and Society xxx (xxxx) xxx
5
(2) The dimension of human activity includes population density,
point of interest (POI) density, and dwelling density.
From the urban vitality perspective, human activity is characterized
by population concentration and development intensity (Montgomery,
1998; Tang et al., 2018). A city with a sufcient population concentra-
tion and high-intensity development tends to be more vibrant. There-
fore, we used three human activity metrics. First, we measured
population density by dividing the population by the area of each
sub-district. Second, we measured POI density by dividing the number of
POIs by the area of each sub-district (Zeng et al., 2019). Compared with
land-based indicators that have been used in previous studies, POI can
serve as a more accurate proxy for exploring development activities
(Jiang, Alves, Rodrigues, Ferreira, & Pereira, 2015). Third, we measured
dwelling density by dividing residential land area by the area of each
sub-district (Azhdari, Soltani, & Alidadi, 2018).
(3) The dimension of human–environment linkage includes road
connectivity, physical segregation to urban barriers, and amenity
availability.
Road connectivity is closely connected to built environment and
human ows. Stations and roads are perceived as linkages between
urban cores and peripheries that provide conducive conditions to human
ows (Calthrope, 1993). Dense road networks can shorten the
commuting time of residents in urban areas, thereby encouraging these
people to engage in more social activities. We computed for road con-
nectivity by dividing total road length by the area of each sub-district.
Physical segregation to urban barriers refers to specic facilities that
discourage human activities and act as “dead zones” for citizens (Sung
et al., 2015). Physical segregation is particularly severe in enclosed
large-scale landscapes and trafc facilities, which may be segregated by
articial fences or natural barriers. In this work, the 30 m buffer area of
major rivers, national highways, and expressways and the 50 m buffer
area of railways were dened as physical segregations.
Amenity availability refers to the possibility for humans to reach
public facilities and reects the livability of a place (Lopes & Camanho,
2012; Zeng et al., 2018). Public facilities are dedicated to fullling the
living needs of citizens through man-made planning, which in turn af-
fects the built environment. We measured amenity availability by
dividing the number of public transport stops, stations, squares, and
parks by the area of each sub-district.
3.2.2. Data source and processing
Multi-source data were collected to measure the urban vitality in
Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City, including land use maps, population
censuses, POI data, online road networks, historic building conservation
lists, and administrative maps (Table 1). Most of these data were
collected in or around 2016 given the availability of data during this
period. Land use maps of Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City for 2016 were
obtained from the Shanghai Institute of Geological Survey and the
Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, respectively. The popu-
lation data for these two cities were collected from the Shanghai’s
Population Census (2015) and the Ho Chi Minh City Population Census
(2015), respectively. The POI and road networks of Shanghai and Ho Chi
Minh City were downloaded from Open Street Map (https://www.ope
nstreetmap.org/) in 2016. A conservation list of historic buildings in
Shanghai was collected from ve batches of historic buildings published
by the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban–Rural
Development up to 2016. Given the unavailability of a conservation list
for Ho Chi Minh City, we used historical conservation land data
extracted from land use maps and determined the historic buildings by
transforming land patches into points. Administrative maps, including
the districts and sub-districts of Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City, were
obtained from the Shanghai Institute of Geological Survey and the
Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, respectively.
The urban vitality data were processed as follows. Mixed land use
and dwelling density were calculated by using the land use and
administrative maps. The population density of Shanghai and Ho Chi
Minh City at the sub-district level was calculated based on the popula-
tion data and administrative maps, respectively. The population density
data in statistical yearbooks or population censuses were computed
based on the home addresses of urban residents. However, we found no
signicant spatial differences among different types of data collected
from Shanghai when we compared the patterns of census population
density, cell phone call density (recorded by the frequency of calls by
cell phone base stations), and population heat index (recorded by the
check-in frequency of active Internet users in a social platform). We
inferred that the aggregation of data at the sub-district level would
reduce bias. POI density and amenity availability were estimated by
using POI data and administrative maps. We only used specic POIs
closely tied to human activities, such as buildings and urban facilities,
and excluded irrelevant POIs. The aged buildings in Shanghai were
geocoded by referring to historic building conservation lists. Road
junction density was derived from road networks via topology analysis
integrated with administrative maps. Physical segregation data were
obtained from river, road network, and administrative maps.
3.2.3. Urban vitality calculation
We calculated urban vitality at the sub-district level (called town/
Jiedao in China and ward/commune in Vietnam) based on the following
considerations. First, urban vitality at the district level cannot reect
ne-scale spatial differences. Second, the results of the sub-district
analysis would be meaningful for urban decision makers and planners
given that this level is treated as a basic unit in routine urban manage-
ment. Third, the sub-districts in the two case cities are comparable in
terms of their area and distribution (small at the urban core and large in
the periphery). We did not use blocks as our unit of analysis because of
limited data. Considering the modiable areal unit problem (MAUP)
(Fotheringh & Wong, 1991), we compared the differences of measuring
indicators between the district and sub-district spatial scales. Given that
the area of the peripheral district is too large, aggregating data in dis-
tricts may fail to reect spatial heterogeneity. Sub-district is an appro-
priate unit that can reect the physical features of small communities
and the aggregated urban fabric at a ne scale (Zeng et al., 2018; Zhang
& Li, 2016). To mitigate the inuence of MAUP, most of the selected
indicators were measured by dividing their numbers by the sub-district
area.
We used the projection pursuit model (PPM) to condense multiple
indicators into three single-dimension values and urban vitality at the
sub-district level. PPM is a statistical approach that projects the multi-
dimensional data of indicators on a single dimension in data mining
(Friedman & Stützle, 1981). It It has been widely used in
multi-disciplinary studies owing to its superiority in reducing the
dimensionality of large multivariate datasets (Friedman & Turkey,
1974; Wang & Yang, 2020; Wei et al., 2019; Yu & Lu, 2018). This
data-driven method measures the signicance of each indicator by using
a single projection and eliminates those interferences unrelated to the
characteristics of data for indicators.
Before the computation, we applied the min–max normalization
method to transform the original values into standardized ones. The
standardized scores of each indicator range from 0 to 1, with each score
indicating the signicance of these indicators in measuring urban vi-
tality. The quantile method was then applied to categorize urban vitality
into very low, low, moderate, high, and very high classes.
4. Findings
4.1. Results of single-dimension measurements
Fig. 3 presents the built environment, human activity, and human-
–environment linkage in both cities at the sub-district level. In Ho Chi
W. Yue et al.
Sustainable Cities and Society xxx (xxxx) xxx
6
Minh City, the spatial distributions of three single-dimension results
share a common feature, that is, the capacities to improve urban vitality
rapidly decline from the urban core to the inner suburb and then to the
outer suburb, showing a distinct monocentric structure. The high vital
values of three dimensions are clustered at the urban core, distributing
in districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 10 and parts of districts 6, 11, Tan Phu, Tan Binh,
Go Vap, and Phu Nhuan. Meanwhile, moderate and low values are
mainly distributed in the inner suburban sub-districts. The outer sub-
urban sub-districts fall far behind the urban core and inner suburban
sub-districts as indicated by their low scores (>0.3).
In the case of Shanghai, the spatial distributions of the three single-
dimension scores exhibit a relatively dispersed pattern. Similar to Ho
Chi Minh City, the highest capacity to facilitate urban vitality in
Shanghai is observed in the central city, and such capacity declines from
the central city to the periphery. However, several sub-districts in the
satellite cities of Shanghai, such as Jiadingzhen, Youyilu, and Yueyang,
also have a fair capacity to facilitate urban vitality. This phenomenon is
particularly evident in the built environment dimension, where ve
high-ranking clusters are scattered across Shanghai, of which 2 clusters
are located within the urban core and 3 are located in the suburb. Two of
these clusters are planned subcenters in Shanghai, namely, Baoshan in
the north and Chuansha in the east, which have obtained mean scores of
0.92 and 0.95, respectively, and another cluster is located at the center
of Jiading with a mean score of 0.94.
4.2. Results of urban vitality
Table 2 and Fig. 4 present the results for urban vitality in Ho Chi
Minh City and Shanghai. The urban vitality in Ho Chi Minh City follows
a monocentric spatial structure similar to that shown in the single-
dimension results. As shown in Fig. 4, a high urban vitality cluster can
be found at the urban core, which comprises districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, and
Phu Nhuan. However, nearly one-third (60) of the sub-districts within
the urban core have moderate and low/very low urban vitality. The
valley values are observed near the Tan Son Nhat International Airport.
The inner and outer suburban sub-districts mostly have low urban vi-
tality, and only 10 sub-districts have moderate urban vitality.
By contrast, Shanghai has more sub-districts with high urban vitality
compared with Ho Chi Minh City. All the sub-districts in the urban core
have a high urban vitality. In the inner suburbs, 16 and 22 sub-districts
Fig. 3. Distribution of single-dimension values of urban vitality. Note: four types of urban vitality are categorized by the quantile method.
Table 2
Total number of sub-districts categorized by urban vitality in Shanghai.
Urban vitality Very high High Moderate Low Very low
Ho Chi Minh City
City proper 63 65 51 8 1
Inner suburb 0 0 10 47 9
Outer Suburb 0 0 0 9 54
Shanghai
City proper 42 27 7 0 0
Inner suburb 3 16 22 12 0
Outer Suburb 0 3 18 34 45
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have high and moderate urban vitality, respectively. Only 12 sub-
districts have low urban vitality. Meanwhile, 3 and 18 sub-districts in
the outer suburb have high and moderate vitality, respectively, although
the majority of the area is characterized by low vitality.
Unlike Ho Chi Minh City, Shanghai shows a polycentric pattern of
urban vitality. In the metropolitan scale, urban vitality declines from the
central city to the suburban sub-districts, thereby showing a centralized
structure. However, in the sub-district scale, urban vitality presents a
polycentric pattern with a high urban vitality in the subcenters. Superior
urban vitality can be observed along the Huangpu River and Suzhou
River, which are concentrated within the urban core. These results are
roughly consistent with those for the old city proper. Moreover, four
sub-districts with high urban vitality are scattered at the core sub-
districts of satellite cities, including Youyilu in Baoshan, Jiadingzhen
in Jiading, and Fangsong and Yueyang in Songjiang. Those sub-districts
with moderate and low urban vitality are located in the inner suburb and
to the east and north of the outer suburb. The lowest urban vitality
cluster is distributed in Chongming Island and southwest of the outer
suburb.
5. Discussion
This section explains the urban vitality patterns in both cities based
on three specic drivers, namely, urban form, European-style block
planning, and separation by highways.
5.1. Impact of urban form on urban vitality
Shanghai shows a more distinct polycentric trend in its distribution
of urban vitality compared with Ho Chi Minh City. Such difference may
be ascribed to the urban development strategy. Specically, the highest
urban vitality in Ho Chi Minh City is observed in the downtown possibly
due to its monocentric urban development mode (Fig. 5), which em-
phasizes land development at the urban core and mostly ignores land
development in the periphery, hence neither breeding a mixture of land
use in the suburbs nor promoting urban vitality outward. Ho Chi Minh
City is planned as a monocentric structure by master plans (Huynh,
2015; Nguyen, 2015). As the directions of its primary urban expansion
change several times (as can be seen from its 1993, 1998, and 2010
master plans), the city has paid less attention to the development of
subcenters or satellite towns outside the urban core. The suburban
sub-districts of Ho Chi Minh City are mainly devoted to agricultural
production and remain undeveloped. As shown in Fig. 5, the construc-
tion land within the inner suburb has more than doubled in size from
1990 to 2010 (Fan et al., 2018), and nearly half of the newly urbanized
area is located at the urban core and its edge. Meanwhile, the area
outside the urban core is mostly classied as peri-urban areas dominated
by cultivated, forestry, and piecemeal built-up lands (Saksena et al.,
2014). Therefore, a monocentric urban form largely shapes the spatial
pattern of urban vitality in Ho Chi Minh City.
However, in Shanghai, superior urban vitality is observed not only at
the urban core but also in several subcenters, which is consistent with
the ndings of previous studies (Huang et al., 2019). This result can be
ascribed to the polycentric development of the city (Fig. 5). Specically,
the establishment of new industrial satellite towns and development
zones has created growth poles and facilitated a trend of polycentric
urban development (F. Wu, 1998). Shanghai initiated a process of
polycentric development in the 1950s during which the city relocated its
heavy industries to suburban satellite towns that are considered far from
the city core at the time due to the limited transport choices (Lehmann,
2012). As a result, Songjiang and Minhang, as satellite towns, witnessed
a leap-forward development in 1959. In 1978, the giant Iron & Steel
Complex of Shanghai was relocated to an industrial satellite town in
Baoshan (Wu, 2008). The municipal government then attempted to
develop these satellite towns in their planning efforts. For instance, the
11th Five-Year Master Plan (2006–2010) proposed a polycentric
development pattern in 9 satellite cities, including Jiading, Baoshan,
and Songjiang (Yue, Fan, Wei, & Qi, 2014; Yue, Wang, Liu, Zhang, & Ye,
2019). In the Shanghai Master Plan (2017–2035), Jiading and Songjiang
were renamed as satellite cities, and Baoshan was planned as a subcenter
Fig. 4. Results of urban vitality in Ho Chi Minh City and Shanghai.
Note: ve types of urban vitality were categorized by the quantile method.
W. Yue et al.
Sustainable Cities and Society xxx (xxxx) xxx
8
of the central city.
A polycentric development may contribute to mixed land use and
high urban vitality in the peripheral centers. Given that Jiading,
Baoshan, and Songjiang are planned as industrial bases (Wu, 2008), a
large scale of land in these areas was rapidly converted for industrial
use. After the land reform in 1987, land commodication and property
development played a dominant role in urban development (F. Wu,
1998). Both residential and commercial land experienced prominent
growth in three satellite cities, whereas industrial land experienced a
slow growth (Yue et al., 2014). To develop a high-quality urban envi-
ronment, Shanghai embraced the concept of “ecological city” in 2009.
Satellite cities also provided additional open spaces and urban in-
frastructures and limited the entrance of low-end industrial enterprises.
In the Shanghai Master Plan (2017–2035), a network of green wedges
and belts were designed in Baoshan. Given that these satellite cities have
a mixed land use, they naturally demonstrate improvements in their
performance as indicated by their high average vitality score (0.75).
5.2. Impact of block planning on urban vitality
Our ndings on the distribution of urban vitality are consistent with
previous studies thaturban vitality tends to be concentrated in old urban
centers with high road junction density (Jin et al., 2017; Yue, Chen et al.,
2019; Zhang et al., 2019). The distribution of high-vitality areas co-
incides with that of former foreign settlements, implying the crucial role
of European-style block planning in achieving urban vitality. By
comparing the urban block layouts of the old city proper and develop-
ment zones in both cities, we nd that small blocks help increase urban
vitality (Fig. 6). While development zones are often planned with su-
perblocks and big road networks, the old city proper tends to have
ne-grain blocks.
Since the French occupation in the mid-19th century, straight-style
urban block planning with wide avenues was introduced in Ho Chi
Minh City through three rounds of master plans (Nguyen et al., 2016),
all of which had a profound effect on the city layout. In 1862, the French
ofcial Coffyn designed a completely new city that introduced the use of
European-style blocks in Vietnam. The new city planning drew an
outline of grid road networks and delineated urban blocks with a rect-
angular or squared perimeter in districts 1 and 3, which led to the
construction of crisscross roads and a subsequent increase in the number
of road junctions. After Ho Chi Minh City evolved into an administrative
and commercial hub of the Indo-China Peninsula at the end of the 19th
century, Ernest H´
ebrard and Cerutti proposed two subsequent master
plans in 1923 and 1942, respectively (Nguyen et al., 2016). These plans
recommended a shift from “grid road network planning” to “inserting
alleys in blocks,” which resulted in the design of massively detailed
roads in block interiors. This shift toward ne-scale road network
planning has increased the number of alleys and road junctions in the
city. Therefore, the urban form tends to segment super rectangular or
squared blocks into smaller blocks. Moreover, in response to urban
Fig. 5. Urban development in Ho Chi Minh City and Shanghai.
Note: the construction land in Ho Chi Minh City was interpreted from Landsat 4, Landsat 5, and Ho Chi Minh City land use planning; the construction land in Shanghai was
obtained from Shanghai land use planning.
W. Yue et al.
Sustainable Cities and Society xxx (xxxx) xxx
9
Fig. 6. A comparison of urban block layout between old city proper and development zones of Ho Chi Minh City and Shanghai.
Note: urban blocks of Ho Chi Minh City were interpreted from Google Map; urban blocks of Shanghai were extracted from Baidu Map.
W. Yue et al.
Sustainable Cities and Society xxx (xxxx) xxx
10
booming, these plans proposed the construction of outstretched net-like
roads to connect districts 1, 3, 5, and 6. After the implementation of
these plans, the expanded urban area in districts witnessed a rapid
growth in terms of road length along with small blocks and dense road
junctions.
Shanghai experienced a similar European-style block planning.
When the former concession areas were established in 1842, the
European-style block known for its checkerboard-style road network
with dense small roads and road junctions (Panerai, Castex, Depaule, &
Samuels., 2004; Wang, Li, & Li, 2014) was introduced to the central city
of Shanghai. In 1845, the Shanghai Land Regulations proposed a pro-
totypical road grid and prohibited the elimination of alleys along the
west bank of the Huangpu River. In the late 19th century, the Shanghai
Municipal Council designed a block with a scale of below 100 m and
specied lengths of below 50 m in certain areas. In the same era, the
Municipal Council of the French concession area reduced the length
between two road junctions from 145 m to 90 m, thereby accelerating
the development of ne-grain street networks in the form of small
blocks. At the beginning of the 20th century, the galloping advancement
of tramcars and automobiles urged the concession areas to focus on the
division between pedestrians and vehicles. In response, the Shanghai
Municipal Council published the Trafc Regulation in 1921 to subdivide
main roads into motorways and footways, which facilitated the con-
struction of additional road junctions by designing a large number of
pedestrian alleys in block interiors. Under such circumstances, small
blocks, crisscross alleys, and frequent road junctions have turned the
former concession area into a paradise with a diverse built environment.
5.3. Impact of segregation by highways on urban vitality
The separation by highways has exerted negative effects on urban
vitality (Jacobs, 1961; Sung et al., 2013). Our ndings show that the
inner and outer suburban sub-districts of both Shanghai and Ho Chi
Minh City are vulnerable to physical segregation and have low magni-
tudes of urban vitality (Fig. 3). Transport infrastructure, especially
expressways and railways that link suburbs with the urban core, has
been widely built in these cities. Since the Doimoi reform, Ho Chi Minh
City has launched many national highway projects to link the city with
its neighboring provinces, such as National Highway No. 1 (1A); these
national highways intersect with suburban districts (Fig. 7). In the
2000s, the Vietnamese government built the third ring expressway (83
km) and planned the construction of the fourth ring expressway that
encircles Ho Chi Minh City. In 2015, the construction of the Ho Chi Minh
City–Long Th`
anh–Du Giay expressway, which is the most advanced
expressway in Vietnam that cuts across districts 2 and 9, was completed.
Such increasing focus on transport planning turns the suburb into a
conuence for transport infrastructures. Meanwhile, the
peri-urbanization in Vietnam has aggravated the negative effect of
trafc physical segregation on urban vitality in the suburb. Given that
highways can help inhabitants and small enterprises save up on
commuting costs, peri-urban areas tend to be formed along national or
provincial highways (Saksena et al., 2014). The case of Phu My Hung
New Urban (PMH) echoes the above viewpoint. Specically, PMH was
built along a 10-lane-wide urban expressway that is connected to Na-
tional Highway No. 1 (Huynh, 2015b). Nevertheless, 18.56 % of the
urbanized area of PMH is suffering from trafc physical segregation,
which degree far surpasses that experienced in the other sub-districts.
After local governments in China have acknowledged the proactive
effects of transport infrastructure development on economic growth
(Hong, Chu, & Wang, 2011), Shanghai has placed transport infrastruc-
ture planning as a priority in its urbanization strategy. With the accel-
eration of economic reforms, transport infrastructure development took
off in Mainland China after the rst modern expressway in the country,
the Hujia expressway (15.9 km), was opened to trafc in 1988. Since
then, Shanghai focused on launching large-scale transport projects to
link suburban districts with the urban core, which mainly passed
through suburban sub-districts. These projects include the transport
projects of Pudong (V. Wu, 1998) and the second phase of the subway
system (Wu, 1999). In 2007, the expressways in Shanghai accounted for
634.6 km of the city transport network, which comprised the outer ring
Fig. 7. Existing expressways in Ho Chi Minh City and Shanghai.
W. Yue et al.
Sustainable Cities and Society xxx (xxxx) xxx
11
road, Huqingping expressway, and Shenfeng expressway. This network
has 1 horizontal and longitudinal line, 2 rings, and 9 radial lines.
Although Shanghai has experienced a rapid extension of expressways,
the city authorities adopted the planning strategy of “keeping express-
ways away from the outer ring road (Shanghai’s proper realm in a broad
sense)” to prevent the fragmentation of the urban core as a result of
expressway segregation (Fig. 7). Shanghai then kept new expressways
out of its urban core, except for the Jinghu expressway that was built in
an earlier period. As a result, the expressway density beyond the outer
ring road of Shanghai tends to be signicantly higher than that within
the urban core, thereby reducing the urban vitality gradient from the
urban core sub-districts to the suburban ones.
5.4. Policy suggestions for urban planning
Our work provides some planning enlightenments for large cities in
developing countries. The city proper of the two cities show the highest
urban vitality owing to their European-style small-block planning and
the long-term accumulation and concentration of human activities in the
former concession areas. Shanghai has a polycentric structure with
several sub-peaks of vitality in its subcenters of Baoshan, Jiading, and
Songjiang. Therefore, the urban vitality in outlying areas may be
affected by different developmental paradigms. For example, Yueyang is
close to the historical center of Songjiang and has been administratively
incorporated into Shanghai during the Maoist era, hence displaying
urban vitality in a traditional sense. As a new urban cluster in Songjiang,
Fangsong is connected to the city proper through metro line no. 9 and
has attracted a large inux of population (and consequently increasing
its urban vitality) through its University Town and Thames projects.
These cases reect that the polycentric development strategy may
cultivate the necessary conditions for achieving urban vitality in sub-
centers or satellite cities and fostering dispersed patterns of urban
vitality.
However, the shift from monocentric to polycentric urban develop-
ment in Shanghai has high costs and cannot be simply extrapolated into
other cities. The satellite cities in Shanghai were primarily established
via a state-sponsored approach to accommodate heavy industries. The
socialist government invested much of its nancial resources in relo-
cating and upgrading industries. With a solid industrial base and a large
number of employees, Baoshan, Jiading, and Songjiang shifted from an
industrial- and property-led strategy to an ecology-oriented develop-
ment strategy. These subcenters eventually evolved into livable satellite
cities with a fertile ground for nurturing urban vitality. By contrast, large
cities in developing countries, such as Ho Chi Minh City, are suffering
from resource shortage and large-scale peri-urbanization. Given the lack
of clear polycentric policies, many suburban areas remain agricultural
areas with poor infrastructures that reduce the intensity of their social
activities.
Authorities and planners should then focus on the coordination be-
tween built environment planning and human activity. Many large cities
in developing countries have undergone a rapid urban expansion by
converting inner suburbs and rural areas into satellite cities or devel-
opment zones, such as Anting in Shanghai and Phu My Hung in Ho Chi
Minh City. These areas are usually planned for single residential/in-
dustrial land use. Under such circumstances, newly urbanized areas
usually have limited capacity to gather population given their limited
urban functions, which may result in the development of ghost towns
(Jin et al., 2017). Over the past decades, new urban areas with giant
road networks and infrequent road junctions have been developed,
thereby introducing challenges in maintaining human inter-touch op-
portunities. Authorities and planners should therefore consider the
human–environment mismatch and disordered urban growth because
good urban places must combine two elements, namely, physical space
and activity (Montgomery, 1998). Planning efforts may emphasize
mixed land use and ne-grain urban fabric to satisfy the living demands
of human beings. The same planning suggestions can be implemented in
other developing cities, such as Wuhan (Zeng et al., 2018) and Suzhou
(Jin et al., 2017), which are experiencing rapid urban development.
6. Conclusion
This work measured urban vitality and compared the characteristics
of Ho Chi Min City with those of Shanghai. Ho Chi Minh City shows a
monocentric pattern in terms of single- and multi-dimensional vitality.
High urban vitality areas are concentrated at the urban core, and urban
vitality declines from the central city to the suburbs. Similar to Ho Chi
Minh City, Shanghai shows a declining of urban vitality from urban
cores but also exhibits a polycentric vital pattern. Several sub-peaks of
urban vitality are reported in its subcenters of Baoshan, Jiading, and
Songjiang. In terms of the built environment dimension, two peaks of
urban vitality are distributed within the urban core and three sub-peaks
in the subcenters. The dispersion or concentration of urban vitality
patterns may be ascribed to the adoption of different urban planning
strategies, such as the selection of a monocentric/polycentric urban
form. However, the similar planning experiences of these two cities,
especially the European-style block planning in the former concession
areas, may lead to the concentration of superior urban vitality at the
urban core. Since the economic reform, these cities have witnessed
similar declines in their urban vitality in the suburbs. This trend can be
explained by the adverse impacts of large-scale transport infrastructures
(e.g., expressway and national highway projects) in suburban areas on
urban vitality. Policy suggestions for urban planning are also proposed
for large cities in developing countries: enhancing the development of
new subcenters and paying more attention to the coordination between
built environment planning and human activity.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that there is no conict of interests regarding the
publication of this article.
Acknowledgements
This work has been supported by the Strategic Priority Research
Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Pan-Third Pole Environment
Study for a Green Silk Road (Pan-TPE) (No: XDA20040400), National
Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41671533, 41871169,
41771534, and 71974022), the Fundamental Research Funds for the
Central Universities. We also thank the data support the project of
“Enhance the quality of remote-sensing-derived information with
crowd-sourced data” (No. 102.99-2018.16) from Vietnam National
Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED)”.
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