The Son Tay Ancient Citadel Night Walking Street has become a unique and attractive tourism product for visitors. (Photo: QUYNH CHI)

However, in reality, many walking streets are deserted. This requires the city to review and adjust existing streets before organising new ones; it is even possible to apply new models to replace them.

Walking streets once brought a “new vitality” to tourism and the night economy of Ha Noi. However, when expanding the activities of walking streets, many shortcomings were revealed.

Uneven effectiveness

Around 9 p.m. on Saturday is the “golden” time for walking streets, but at Dao Ngoc Ngu Xa walking street (Ba Dinh ward, Ha Noi), many shops and households have closed their doors and turned off the lights. There are sections of the street with very few people passing by.

The walking space here was originally designed to include two main streets, Ngu Xa-Nguyen Khac Hieu, combined with streets such as Nam Trang, Lac Chinh, Tran Te Xuong... But even in the central area, Ngu Xa-Nguyen Khac Hieu, the business atmosphere is not very vibrant. Only two pho cuon restaurants, Huong Mai and Pho cuon 31, are relatively bustling. Other cafes and eateries are deserted. The street corner where the experience space is arranged, reminiscent of the subsidy period, is dark, with only a few pedestrians occasionally passing by.

The owner of Tuan Minh pho cuon restaurant (No.16A, Nguyen Khac Hieu street) said: “There are not many activities on the street, so it is quite deserted”. Some customers quickly leave the walking street after eating.

At first, Ngoc Island-Ngu Xa walking street was quite bustling, but now it has fallen into a desolate state. Compared to this street, the walking street around Ngoc Khanh Lake is even more deserted, even though it has only been in operation for less than a year. It is introduced as having its own unique features, bearing the mark of “Giang Vo Duong”, but in reality, a few decorative highlights depicting martial artists, and some decorative pillars depicting ancient architecture are lost in the walking street.

Since its inception, cultural, artistic, and sports activities to attract the public have been sparse. Previously, Ngoc Khanh Lake was known as “coffee lake” because of the many shops around the lake. But now, on the days when the walking city is organised, visitors are even fewer than usual.

The walking street model in Ha Noi was born quite early, more than 20 years ago, with the first street being in the Old Quarter, from the beginning of Hang Dao Street to Dong Xuan Market (Hoan Kiem Ward). Currently, the city has 9 walking streets, but the effectiveness is uneven. Spaces: Hoan Kiem Lake and vicinity; Hanoi Old Quarter (including Hang Dao - Dong Xuan Market route and the future expansion area), Son Tay Citadel (Son Tay Ward) ... are very crowded.

Tran Nhan Tong walking street and the surrounding area (Hai Ba Trung Ward) are crowded when there are cultural, sports and art events, but on weeks when there are no events, they are deserted and are mainly used as exercise places for people around the area. Nguyen Van Tuyet walking street also quickly fell into a state of silence despite being newly opened in October 2024. Trinh Cong Son walking street has stopped operating and converted into the Tay Ho Cultural and Creative Space model.

Creating characteristics, increasing experiences

Implementing walking spaces is the right policy to develop tourism and night-time economy. Many walking spaces have contributed positively to the socio-economic development of the locality, most notably the spaces in Hoan Kiem ward. However, in the case of Hoan Kiem ward, which has many advantages thanks to being the “centre of the centre”, the Son Tay Citadel walking street is evidence of creativity in activities. Located quite far from the city centre, but over the years, the walking space around Son Tay Citadel has never lost its appeal.

According to the Director of the Culture and Sports Centre of Son Tay ward, Nguyen Dang Thao, on average, each night the walking street around Son Tay Citadel attracts about 10,000 visitors, not only local visitors but also tourists from the inner city and other provinces. Meanwhile, for the pedestrian spaces that are deserted, the main reason is the lack of identity, entertainment, cultural and artistic activities to attract the public.

According to the Tourism Development Plan, in just the next 5 years, Ha Noi will double the number of pedestrian streets, up to 18. This September, the pedestrian street around Hoang Cau Lake is expected to be put into operation; following that, Nam Tu Liem district will deploy a pedestrian space on Tran Van Lai Street. This makes many people worry that the pedestrian space will be “inflated”. The pedestrian spaces themselves compete with each other.

Architect Tran Huy Anh, Standing Member of the Ha Noi Architects Association, said that the important thing for Ha Noi is not to rapidly increase the number of pedestrian streets, but the core factor is the quality of spatial connections and the creation of value for those streets.

According to architect Doan Ky Thanh, people come to walking streets not only to eat and sightsee, but also to communicate. To become a walking space, there must be space for people to stop, for example, the Hoan Kiem Lake area has the Ly Thai To monument and Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc square. These spaces create spaces for social communication. Successful walking spaces must also include commercial elements, when households in the area participate in commercial activities.

Director of Ha Noi Department of Tourism Dang Huong Giang said: “In the coming time, the Department of Tourism will coordinate with relevant agencies and localities to propose specific criteria for the city to develop the new walking street. It is necessary to focus on some important criteria such as: Location, infrastructure, tourism services of the walking street; the ability to connect the walking street with tourist destinations to create complete tours; the value of natural cultural resources of the walking street and assessment of the impact of the walking street on the community”.

In early July 2025, the Ha Noi People'’s Council passed a Resolution on the Commercial and Cultural Development Zone and the Cultural Industry Centre. In which, the Commercial and Cultural Development Zone is a model suitable for craft villages, craft streets, or streets with existing cultural potential, with a high density of establishments participating in cultural activities. From that foundation, the Resolution clearly states that, with the support of the State, the residential community, and the business community, it will build a Commercial and Cultural Development Zone.

Many experts believed that instead of developing many walking street models, the city as well as localities need to urgently research to make choices and apply new models, especially the Commercial and Cultural Development Zone model to avoid repeating the shortcomings of some walking streets as they are now.