Is Quang Trung Street suitable for Vinh city to choose as a walking street?

Mr. Pham Xuan Can has many research works about Vinh, has published books about Vinh such as: "Old Vinh", "Urban culture with Vinh city's reality" and a series of research articles about street names, culture, place names... of Vinh city. Photo: Thanh Phuc

In my opinion, walking streets have three main functions: They are a space to serve the entertainment and relaxation needs of urban residents; a space to serve economic activities (shopping, dining) and a place to express the cultural identity of the city, an environment for people to participate in creative cultural activities.

To perform these three functions, the walking street must meet the following criteria: The street must be wide enough, clear enough for both the road and sidewalk, and not obstruct traffic; The street must either already have or be convenient for commercial activities; The street has a "precedent", a premise for walking.

From there, the city should consider choosing the right street to organize a walking street. Currently, in the city, there are many routes that are convenient for walking but far from the city center, limiting the development of commercial activities: the new route of Bac Canal Bridge - Quan Bau; Le Mao route or Truong Thi, Phan Dang Luu, Phan Sy Thuc (along Goong Lake). There are routes that are suitable for commercial activities but have traffic problems, not suitable for implementing a walking street such as: Tran Phu, Phan Dinh Phung, Tran Hung Dao ...

Quang Trung Street is suitable for opening a walking street. Photo: Lam Tung and documents.

In my opinion, Quang Trung Street is quite suitable for building a walking street: It has wide sidewalks, enough to organize cultural and artistic activities; both ends of the street have other options for vehicles participating in traffic; when organizing the planning of a walking city at a specific time, Quang Trung Street can be turned into a one-way street. Especially on this route, there are attractive tourist attractions: Diec Pagoda, Citadel Gate Relic, cinema, supermarket... and auxiliary works such as: Hotels, motels, night markets serving tourists. Ho Tung Mau, Hong Bang, Nguyen Van Cu streets are also quite suitable but not really perfect because the sidewalks are a bit narrow, limiting the space for organizing walking street activities.

Some streets have large spaces but are limited in commercial activities and far from the city center. Photo: Thanh Phuc

On the other hand, when building a walking street, it is also necessary to pay attention to the issue of creating highlights to attract tourists, because up to now, tourists coming to Vinh city lack entertainment and recreation areas. Therefore, it is necessary to create a unique identity for Vinh walking street, not to be confused with any walking streets in other cities in the country.

On that street, folk singing, vi, giam, and antiphonal singing can be organized so that everyone can participate and become a creative subject; the sidewalk is decorated with unique and exclusive craft village products of Nghe An; there are booths selling Nghe An specialties; the food court has typical food and drinks: peanut candy, rice paper, and green tea; mussels with rice paper, rice cake, banana root salad;...

However, it is also necessary to pay attention to the complex issues that arise when organizing a walking street such as: security and order, environmental sanitation; impact on the lives of households on the street... to have the most reasonable and optimal plan.