Reza Ambardi Pradana
Urbanism
Cities for People -of Tomorrow: Promoting urban vitality in the masterplanning process of Ecopark New Town Hanoi, Vietnam
In this graduation project, two opposing ideas are being juxtaposed: Gehlâs (2013) âcities for peopleâ and Le Corbusierâs (1947) âthe city of tomorrowâ. Simply put, the intriguing question is, âhow to create cities for people (as Gehl proposed) from scratch (in new town form as Le Corbusier proposed), in the context of Hanoi?â Reacting to the status quo of many Hanoi new towns that are currently failing and on the brink of becoming ghost towns, the main principles are to first understand how the local urban areas performed with spatial analysis i.e., Space Syntax analysis (Depthmap) to then confirm it through on-site observation i.e., Public Life Studies (Gehl Institute). These understanding and observations ârarely being performed in new town masterplanning projects â are then being interpreted and simulated to the design of the new town. The design is then being self-evaluated through the urban vitality factors and masterplanning processes.â