This document provides a comparative analysis of two Asian streets - Pham Ngu Lao in Vietnam and Jalan Besar in Malaysia - based on Jan Gehl's theories of architecture and urbanism. It identifies and analyzes key contact points on each street, including sidewalks/walkways, food establishments, and waiting areas. While the streets share similarities as urban contexts in Southeast Asia, differences in activities, social patterns, and physical environments lead to varying degrees of contact intensity between people. The analysis provides insights into how the built environment influences public life and social interaction.

1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONS) IN ARCHITECTURE
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC 61303)
Project 2: Comparative Analysis Essay
Pham Ngu Lao, Vietnam
Jalan Besar, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
Name: Mohd Hafiz bin Masri Onn
Student ID: 0334944
Tutor: Dr. Filzani Illia Ibrahim
Word count: 2671

2. CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Street Background
2.1 Asian Street Case Study: Pham Ngu Lao, Vietnam
2.2 Local Street Site Analysis: Jalan Besar, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
3.0 Contact Points
3.1 Contact points of Pham Ngu Lao, Vietnam
3.2 Contact points of Jalan Besar, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
4.0 Comparative Analysis
4.1 Contact point 1
4.2 Contact point 2
4.3 Contact point 3
4.4 Contact point 4
5.0 Conclusion
6.0 References
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3. 1.0 INTRODUCTION
As an extension from the case study of part 1, this part 2 project calls for a thorough
comparative analysis between the findings from the case study on Pham Ngu Lao, Vietnam and
the local site research on Jalan Besar, Kajang, Selangor. The key analysis factor lies in
determining similarities and differences with regards to social pattern, type of outdoor activities,
as well as the identification of the contact points and contact intensity between the two cities of
similar urban context in Asia.
The Danish architect and urbanist, Jan Gehl, stated in his influential book - Life Between
Buildings whereby “the extent and character of outdoor activities are greatly influenced by
physical planning” (Gehl, 2011 p.31). In other words, human behaviours or quality of life are
very much influenced by the built environment. To what extend this is exhibited in Pham Ngu
Lao and Jalan Besar, Kajang? In the following essay, a comparison will be drawn between the
two sites with regards to the mentioned examination perspectives. They are then studied and
analyzed accordingly in reference to Gehl’s urban theories.
Similarly, both sites share contemporary urban landscapes which are dominated by cultural
aspects throughout the years, from the age of colonization to independence, as a result of
adapting to modernize with changing times yet maintain their rich cultural heritage. However,
they differ in terms of physical environment - a factor that influences the activities to a varying
degree and in many different ways (Gehl, 2011, p.9). This analysis will look into the activities
and contact in the outdoors as well as the physical conditions that influence them. These
activities then spark life between buildings, which Gehl suggests “the concept of varying
degrees of contact intensity as the basis or outline of various contact forms” (Gehl,2011,p.15).
In closing, it should be noted that the similarities and differences between the two streets shed
light on the patterns of social activity, contact points and degree of contact intensity.
Consequently, it allows a better contextual and physical understanding of shared public space
as setting for public life in allowing people to congregate and interact.
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4. 2.0 STREET BACKGROUND
2.1 ​PHAM NGU LAO
FIGURE 1: Crowded street and motorcycle as a main vehicle for Vietnam people
Vietnam is the easternmost country on the ​Indochina Peninsula​. With an estimated 94.6 million
inhabitants as of 2016, it is the ​15th most populous country in the world​. Vietnam shares its land
borders with ​China to the north, and ​Laos and ​Cambodia to the west. It shares its maritime
borders with ​Thailand through the ​Gulf of Thailand​, and the ​Philippines​, ​Indonesia and ​Malaysia
through the ​South China Sea​. Its ​capital city is ​Hanoi​, while its most populous city is ​Ho Chi
Minh City​.
FIGURE 2: Map of Pham Ngu Lao showing boundary of case study area
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5. Pham Ngu Lao Street ,the First District of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, popular
among backpackers, hence it is known as Backpackers’ Street. The street offers countless
options of hotels, restaurants, cafes, pubs, bars, tour services and other services sought after
by backpackers along the main street and within its alleyways.
FIGURE 3: Morphology of Vietnam
Pham Ngu Lao was first designed and divided into plots during the colonial period. The area is
the first globalization of Vietnam through colonial trading posts and transnational city
connections and with it prefigured the current globalization of the neighbourhood.
Pham Ngu Lao start to multiply with vast urban blocks and narrow alleyways, which tube houses
are aligned. This urban morphology allows very high-density rates, which started the
accommodation industry which help bloomed the tourism of the city.
Today, Pham Ngu Lao is used internationally by backpackers to explore the rest of the city and
the country, as its strategic location, close distance to historical city, and most importantly being
in the heart of the transport network contributes to it.
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6. 2.2 ​JALAN BESAR, KAJANG, SELANGOR
FIGURE 4: Kajang from bird’s eye view
The name of Kajang has multiple possible origins. The area is believed to have been explored
by the Temuan people since 1580. This tribe named Kajang based on an abundant type of
screw pine that is used to make roofs. A member of Ujong River named Batin Berenggai Besi,
built huts on the river bank in the area by using a type of screw pine for building the cascading
(Kajang) nailed roof. This convinced him that the place is suitable for settlement.
The meaning of the word 'Kajang' in Mendailingese is 'housed/sheltered'. Meanwhile, in
Buginese, it is 'battle or quarrel'. These factions once clashed in one of the hilly areas facing the
current railway station, because of the misunderstanding of the word 'Kajang'. The incident
occurred when both groups fled to the Langat River from the civil war in Klang, between 1867
and 1873. After the incident, the place was named Kajang.
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7. FIGURE 5: Map of Kajang showing Jalan Besar and boundary
Jalan Besar, Kajang is the main road for the old town in Kajang. This street has a diversity
pattern of population and intensity of people and also the movement people going whether by
walking or vehicular. Jalan Besar, Kajang also lead people to the new town across the bridge
and also become an edge which we can see the differences of old town Kajang development by
phases.
FIGURE 6: Morphology of Kajang
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8. Based on our group research, Kajang have been populated by immigrants where they come to
Kajang to pursue their life to make it better for their own. So we can see in Jalan Besar, Kajang
where many immigrants working in this area and it become as their second home because they
also make their places here which they set up a business like food stalls, textile store, and many
more. Local people usually we can find in the new town but it doesn’t mean in the old town they
disappear. They still there but only we can see the elderly who running an old family business
around the old town in Kajang. The young people usually stay around the new town or they
make a living outside the Kajang. This happened because Kajang is a mundane city for the
locals which they couldn’t find any entertainment resources or good profession or jobs that
makes them stay in Kajang.
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9. 3.0 CONTACT POINTS
In Jan Gehl’s “Life between Buildings”, his focus is studied upon the public life and spaces in
which they take place as he explores the kinds of activities happening in the urban context, how
they contribute to the quality of life in cities, the factors that hinder or enhance this life as well as
the measures which can be taken to improve life between buildings and the city life experience.
In view of Gehl’ framework, we can categories outdoor life in three different moments and
activities: necessary activities, optional activities and social activities. Necessary activities are
everyday actions - it mainly covers functional aspects - which are independent from the physical
environment. However, optional activities are voluntary based and highly dependent on physical
conditions - usually recreational activities. This interrelates to the conditions of the public space
where Gehl explains the better quality the place has, the more optional activities occur and the
longer the necessary activities last. As a result, it formulates a variety of spontaneous social
activities at the public space. These outdoor activity patterns later emerge towards the formation
of a positive public life.
FIGURE 7: Graphic representation of the relationship between outdoor activities and quality of environment
Progressively, Gehl draws attention to the need for contact, which is identified through levels of
contact intensity, outlining varying forms of interaction as the epitome of life between buildings.
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10. These generate an in-depth understanding on user patterns which profile a place later,
meanwhile aligns with the five elements in recognizing and annotating the urban form and
characters as proposed by Kevin Lynch’s “The Image of the City”.
FIGURE 8: Simplified outline of various contact forms
Looking into the shaping of Pham Ngu Lao street and Jalan Besar, Kajang - both streets have
similar street elements whereby basic sidewalks, shophouses and roads are present, making up
the street’s basic linear streetscape. However, as Gehl’s theories emphasize that activity as a
means for contact, both streets have different activity patterns due to its cultural difference thus
creating different interaction dynamics to formulate as a contact point. Hence, people in both
streets responds to social engagement with other people in different patterns, resulting in
varying degrees of intensity.
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11. 3.1 ​CONTACT POINTS OF PHAM NGU LAO STREET
Contact Points:
1. Sidewalk along Pham Ngu Lao street
2. Highlands Coffee shop
3. Saigon Central Park
FIGURE 9: Contact points in Pham Ngu Lao street
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12. 3.2 ​CONTACT POINTS OF JALAN BESAR, KAJANG, SELANGOR
Contact Points:
1. Five-foot walkway along Jalan Besar, Kajang
2. Medan Sate
3. Bus stops along Jalan Besar, Kajang
FIGURE 10: Contact points in Jalan Besar, Kajang
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13. 4.0 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
4.1 ​CONTACT POINT 1 - SIDEWALKS & FIVE-FOOT WALKWAYS
The sidewalks of Pham Ngu Lao street and the five-foot walkway along Jalan Besar, Kajang
are first compared - both contact points are meant to be primary forms of circulatory routes
which poses a clear boundary that isolates the open public space and the privately-owned
shophouses. These both streets have similarities where there used by pedestrians to walk by
and have some shading provided by the building itself. However, along these walkways, both
circulation spaces are improvised into functional spaces, merging the spatial perception of
private and public. The shop owners also utilised the walkway by bringing out their goods and
selling items or dining table for eatery shops to catch attention by pedestrians that walk by in
front of their shop. With these path-space relationships established on both streets, it allows
more stopping opportunities along the path as it evokes curiosity of the pedestrians especially
amongst the locals and visitors visiting both streets. To enhance the quality of physical
environment, these two streets have its own way by making a boundary between vehicles and
pedestrian pathway and also gives some shades for pedestrians that use the walkway. For
example in Pham Ngu Lao street, greeneries are provided along the sidewalk while Jalan
Besar, Kajang the shop owner provide a bamboo rolling blind to give shades to the pedestrians.
Next, the differences between both streets is where we can see Pham Ngu Lao street has a
wider walkway which combined with the roadside compare to Jalan Besar, Kajang that only
have a five-foot walkway along the building blocks and nearly next to the parking lot or road.
Walkway along Pham Ngu Lao street can fully utilised by shop owners to expand their business
by using walkway to put dining tables or goods without obstacles people walking pattern. Plus,
Pham Ngu Lao street have open park across the shophouses where pedestrians have seating
opportunities for resting convenience that been provided accidentally from the planter box.
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14. FIGURE 11 & 12: Showing sidewalk in Pham Ngu Lao street is wide and shop owners can maximise the space to
put their dining table or selling item in front of their shops
FIGURE 13 & 14: Showing shophouses in Kajang have a five-foot walkway and been utilised by the shop owner to
put their selling items.
Although both streets draw similarities in the geographical context of South East Asia, however
both are affected by its different types of climatic conditions. Weather, as an external factor then
results a notable dissimilarity between the two cities in terms of intensity of contact at street
level. Crowds have a higher likelihood to gather under the five-foot walkway of Jalan Besar,
Kajang rather than having half covered along the sidewalks in Pham Ngu Lao street.
To add, not only favorable physical conditions encourage contacts, its close relations to human
scale in terms of built form of five-foot walkways along Jalan Besar, Kajang shophouses also
established it importance in the role it plays in influencing the lives amongst people as Jan Gehl
suggests the sympathy to human scale and scope of senses. As compared to the sidewalk in
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15. Pham Ngu Lao street, the intimate scale of five-foot walkways is shown by the close proximity of
an individual personalized passable space whereby the distance between one person to
another is within ‘arms-reach’. This strengthens the formation of contact point in which the
relationship between built form and human scale encourages passive contact among one
another whilst journeying throughout - where people just seeing and hearing other people.
FIGURE 15: Section of shophouses in Pham Ngu Lao street that shop owner use the five-foot walkway but still have
space for pedestrians to walk by the shop
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16. 4.2 ​CONTACT POINT 2 - EATERY / FOOD CULTURE
Food can be the symbol or identity to the places. For the second contact point to known eatery
nodes of each respective area - Highlands Coffee along Pham Ngu Lao street and Medan Sate
in Jalan Tun Abdul Aziz that connected with Jalan Besar, Kajang and its walkable distance. It is
interesting to note the similarities in these two contact points among the two streets, as they are
established from the food culture of both cities. Local food culture personified and inherited
through aging of time - as a representation of sense of place - results in the influx of locals and
visitors, thus creating ‘name’ for these two places. The constant involvement of customers
gentrifying these places thus formulates high intensity of contact points as close relationship of
people gather and meet here - locals and visitors alike. Pedestrians seem to be inspired and
drawn into spaces with established activity and people as “being able to see other people in
action, constituted the area’s main attraction” (Gehl, 2011, p.29).
In both eateries, the existence of a setback in built form to allow extension of dining spaces to
outdoor sufficiently proves that it has a significant impact in terms of pedestrian engagement
which will highly affect social pattern of the city but these both shops seem to never use the
setback or five-foot walkway. This happened because Highlands Coffee tend to be more
commercial and close space while Medan Sate is already an open concept shops. In Medan
Sate, during the period of crowdedness, the place allows close interactions to occur among
customers as they would be encouraged to share tables - creating opportunities for close
contact. This suggests apparent, intimate social dimension with frequent interactions during
daytime. However, the space changes to a low intensity contact area as night falls when the
shop closes.
FIGURE 16: Highlands Coffee where locals and tourists get a freshly brewed vietnam coffee
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17. FIGURE 17 & 18: Shows Medan Sate in Kajang have an open concept to allow the pedestrians that walk by the
shops will spontaneously stop and having the best satay in town
On the contrary, Highland Coffee restaurant being an elegant concept of shop where the shops
is close spaces to give a high comfort level to the people while enjoying every sip of coffee. The
atmosphere which invites people to mingle, socialize, relax and drink.
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18. 4.3 ​CONTACT POINT 3 - WAITING / GATHER POINT
Following that, contact points in reference to waiting point - Saigon Central Park along Pham
Ngu Lao street and bus stops along Jalan Besar, Kajang - are compared. Both points draw
inference in forming a node in meeting intersecting paths - implying varying levels of social
interaction to occur as they receive a constant flow of people.
Saigon Central Park creates a prominent identity by the street as a form of notable void across
the shophouses and acts as a green lung of the city. The spaces invites shoppers and tourists
to informally gather and loiter here as it is parallel to the street whereby it becomes an informal
pickup point simultaneously. The spaces has naturally shaded by tall and bushy trees gives
comfortability to the pedestrians who walk by and rest on planter box spontaneously. However,
Saigon Central Park is also been a recreational area for people that makes it more formal space
to become a gathering point.
FIGURE 19: Saigon Central Park entrance
FIGURE 20: Section of Saigon Central Park
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19. Inversely, the bus stops at Jalan Besar, Kajang has become informal gathering space as we
know bus stop is supposed to be space for people waiting for the bus. But here in Jalan Besar,
Kajang, people likely to be gathering here as they can get a shade and some other point to
interact with friends while waiting for the bus. Hence, it results the bus stop can be a contact
point whether they have interaction or not, it works as a passive contact point where it involves
the contact of “see and hear each other”.
FIGURE 21: Shows people of Kajang are waiting for the bus and informally gather and loiter around bus stop area
Both sites experience a high density of people, however, the bus stop in Jalan Besar, Kajang
usually adheres to the culture of ‘wait and go’ - waiting and to be picked up. Unlike in Saigon
Central Park along Pham Ngu Lao street is favorable as a positive outdoor space to meet up or
gather within the leisure atmosphere of the street.
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20. 5.0 CONCLUSION
Undoubtedly, both streets - Pham Ngu Lao, Vietnam and Jalan Besar, Kajang - reinforces the
idea that human behavior is shaped by the built environment, as social patterns and street
cultures are results of the way public spaces are designed as were discussed and elaborated.
Through the study, both sites frame similar characteristics whereby both streetscapes adapt to
ever-changing aspect of human life - the call of modernization hence foregoing interactions to
occur in between buildings. This signifies that both streets are susceptible to change in
accordance to the differences in the vitality of their spaces, affirming their roles in the success of
the public spaces in the urban context which leads to the accumulation of necessary, optional
and social activities along the streets, forming various contact points with varying degree of
intensity.
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21. 6.0 REFERENCES
PRINTED
● Gehl, J. (2011). Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space. Washington, DC: Island
Press.
● Lynch, K. (1960). The Image of the City. London: MIT Press.
ONLINE
● Rick. (2018, July 27). Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam. Retrieved from
https://baderjournal.com/2018/07/27/ho-chi-minh-city-saigon-vietnam/
● Pike, M. (2018, January 03). Top Things To See and Do in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City.
Retrieved from
https://theculturetrip.com/asia/vietnam/articles/top-things-to-see-and-do-in-district-3-ho-c
hi-minh-city/
● Mat Hayin, N. A. (2017, September 1). 'Peneroka' sejarah Kajang. Retrieved from
https://www.hmetro.com.my/nuansa/2017/09/259547/peneroka-sejarah-kajang
● Jeehan. (n.d.). Sejarah Kajang, Selangor. Retrieved from
http://jeehan75.blogspot.com/2010/12/sejarah-kajang-selangor.html
● VietFunTravel. (n.d.). Pham Ngu Lao neighborhood - Backpacker area in Saigon.
Retrieved from https://vietfuntravel.com/blog/pham-ngu-lao-neighborhood.html
● Svietnam. (2018, July 12). Bui Vien, Pham Ngu Lao Walking Street (Ho Chi Minh city,
Vietnam). Retrieved from
https://www.svietnamtravel.com/travel-guides/vietnam-travel-guide/bui-vien-pham-ngu-l
ao-walking-street-ho-chi-minh-city-vietnam
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