1. Elevate the urban development research in Viet Nam

Sustainable urban development and transportation are one of VGU’s key research directions in recent years, with several projects focus on finding new methods to improve life in the cities. The project B2018-VGU-08 was finished in December 2019 and liquidated in March 2020, one of four projects funded by the Ministry of Education and Training in the period of 2018-2019.

General information:

Project Title: Developing and assessing traffic management measures under flooding conditions caused by heavy rains and high tide surge in Ho Chi Minh City
Project code: B2018-VGU-08
Principal investigator: Dr. Vu Anh Tuan
Research institution: Vietnamese-German University
Project direction: Sustainable urban development and transportation
Duration: 18 months (June 2018 – December 2019)

2. Managing flooding in urban development

The ultimate objective of the research is to formulate a set of weather-responsive traffic management measures to minimize the traffic impacts of heavy rains and urban floods. The study has three specific objectives for urban development as follows:

1) Collecting data (including surveys) and analyzing the levels of road flooding in HCMC due to heavy rains and high tidal rises.

2) Conducting travel behavior surveys and analyzing the patterns of travel behavior changes due to adverse weather conditions (before, during, and after the adverse weather), and its impacts on traffic and mobility.

3) Formulating traffic management strategies to mitigate the negative traffic impacts of heavy rains and urban floods.

3. Creativity and innovation

This research has contributed to the literature on the patterns of travel behavior changes under adverse weather conditions and urban flooding; the impacts of adverse weather and urban flooding on traffic and mobility in urban development sustainability, transport network capacity; the weather-responsive traffic management measures to minimize traffic impacts of heavy rains and urban floods.

This research has applied various techniques of analysis, for instances descriptive analysis, independence tests, binary logit models, and VISUM-based traffic simulation model, to (1) capture possible changes of people’s travel behavior under the adverse weather conditions; (2) quantify the impacts of adverse weather conditions, urban flooding and weather-responsive traffic management measures on traffic and mobility.

The value of research contribution is expressed by a methodology developed for assessing possible impacts of adverse weather and urban flooding and weather-responsive traffic management measures. The method could be used for designing traffic management solutions and further improved in future urban development researches.

4. Research results – Creating an impact on urban development

The research has been completed concerning the goal of formulating a set of weather-responsive traffic management measures to minimize traffic impacts of heavy rains and floods in urban development. Specifically, three objectives have been achieved, including:

1) Collecting data of traffic volumes and flow speeds on 15 roads that floods have often occurred (i.e., surveys on regular and rainy days) and analyzing the levels of road flooding in HCMC due to heavy rains and/or high tidal rises and its impacts on traffic.

2) Conducting travel behavior surveys with 500 respondents and analyzing the patterns of travel behavior changes due to adverse weather conditions (before, during, and after the adverse weather), and its impacts on traffic and mobility in urban development.

3) Formulating traffic management strategies to mitigate the negative traffic impacts of heavy rains and urban floods.

A transport model has been built on VISUM and used for traffic impact assessment of proposed measures. The results of this research shall be a scientific base for practical design of traffic management measures to efficiently respond to heavy rains and urban floods in the urban development of HCMC, with a focus on potentially effective measures and specific road user groups (e.g., students, workers, and public transport users).

5. Transfer method, beneficiary, and impacts of the research results:

The research results will be transferred to the Ministry of Education and Training for the purpose of education and research reference.

The research results will also be transferred to HCMC’s Department of Transport, Management Center of Saigon Tunnel (MCST), Center for Urban Road Infrastructure Management, Traffic Police, and District People’s Committees to refer to and may conduct further studies in urban development to bring the proposals into practice.
If you are interested in the project, please feel free to contact the PI – Dr. Vu Anh Tuan at drtuan.va@vgtrc.vgu.edu.vn for further details.

Sustainable Urban Development (SUD) is a full-time two-year (4-Semester) joint-degree Master Program offered by Vietnamese-German University (VGU) and Technical University of Darmstadt. Basics of urban planning and understanding of general urban structures are necessary to get an idea of sustainable urban development. Graduates from this course will be able to analyze and assess growing problems in urban areas critically and to develop appropriate solutions from different aspects (architectural, social, economic, ecological and institutional, etc.)