Between Kindness

Where does the “kindness” that makes this city so attractive come from? It is, of course, the flat and comfortable distance between the people who live here, and also between people —like us — from outside. Let’s reconsider the elements of the city as inherently being a source and an echo chamber for the city’s kindness.

Women’s Experience Matters

A female perspective and experience is often neglected in our everyday lives in cities, due to the male-centered process of planning. What can we learn about Saigon though women’s experiences? Through this lens, we posit the opportunity for a more just city, inclusive of those who have been excluded from their own urban spaces.

Circular Roofs

​​Thatched roofs are both traditional and modern. This traditional technique emerged in response to nature, but because Vietnamese thatch is thinner than that of Japan, it needs to be replaced more frequently depending on the weather. How can today’s thatched roofs maintain their natural and economic two-fold sustainability?

How We Live With Trees

​​Saigonians seemingly add tools to indigenous objects, especially trees, and live with them. The objects’ users are not always the owners of the indigenous objects. In this work, visitors will experience, actively or passively, how people live with trees in Saigon.

Evening Society

​​The city is constantly crowded, day and night. At different hours it shows differing landscapes of crowdedness. How do the inhabitants of this young city engage with the city at night, when the sun hides away and the breeze blows pleasantly?

Live performance

The increase of electric bikes in Vietnam seems to have had an impact on the resilience of this city, due to air pollution and health risks. The advent of shared mobility may also have caused changes in labor. What are the socioeconomic realities of the shared mobility which is unique to this region? How will Saigon’s urban mobility future look like in the context of Mobility Justice?

How to Stay Cool

Hard, dry surfaces in urban areas — such as roofs, sidewalks, roads, buildings, and parking lots — provide less shade and moisture than natural landscapes and thus contribute to higher temperatures. Living on our warming planet, How can we stay cool during the hottest seasons in a city? How can we strategically create refuge from the high temperatures that are increasingly becoming an issue in many urban areas of the world?

City Is Our Dance Floor

The city is full of fun things, especially in the evening — the bars, clubs, music events, and cinemas, just to name a few. Saigon’s night time economy also has a lot to offer! The industries associated with nightlife, including pubs, bars and theaters are a great way to not only have fun in the city, but also unpack its soul, culture and people.

Grow City

In Vietnam, the average age is about 30 years old. The average age in Japan today is about 50.

Saigon is young, energetic, and has a sense that something is about to begin. In this expanding city, what do the young people, mainly under the age of 30, do? Who will pioneer the set of values driving the country’s future, and what will they “grow”? In this research, I explore what will be passed on to the future city from the current environs.

Space of Street Art

Street art has been prevalent in Vietnam for a decade now, but due to the pandemic, it has gone downhill in recent years. Both early pioneers and younger generations of artists seem to feel that the current level of street art is “not enough”. With people from all over the world beginning to visit the area again, how can we connect local artists and strangers? Can the “Open Art Room” project expand the art scene’s dreams for the future?

Color Space

Saigon has a different palette of colors compared to the cities I know. The colors of buildings, signs, goods, food on the streets, clothes that people wear, even the trees and flowers have their own unique colors. We can begin to grasp the visual and physical rhythm of the city from these colors.