Identifying and Assessing the Attractiveness of Public Spaces for the Youth as a Key Factor to Help Establish Social Sustainability – Case Studies from Hanoi

Social contact, communication and interaction often take place in public spaces. Thus, if well-planned and designed, they will help connect people, establish social sustainability and make a city friendlier as well as more liveable. Hanoi is developing quickly and modernising vigorously its spatial structure. As a consequence, the city is becoming more densely constructed, public spaces are largely occupied and social relations have been immensely influenced. Over the past ten years, there have been numerous problems with public spaces for Hanoi city authority to deal with in terms of both quantity and quality. Therefore, the authors have chosen to explore (and evaluate) the attractiveness of urban spaces for the youth based on a number of properties, such as diversity, accessibility, flexibility, frequency and quality of activities organised) with 94 sites systematically surveyed in five wards: Phuc Tan, Truong Dinh, My Dinh 1, Thuy Phuong and Sai Dong, which are quite different, not only in levels of urbanisation but also in patterns of (and design concepts for) public places. The initial findings should then be discussed and targeted at a more socially sustainable city.