Marie Gibert, is the international Principal Investigator of Case study 4: Wards 13 and 14, Phú Nhuận, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Dr Gibert received her Ph.D in urban geography from the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France, in June 2014. Her research deals with the dynamics of public and private spaces in the development of Asian cities today, as well as with vernacular architecture and the practices of city dwellers in postcolonial cities. Her Ph.D. proposed a trandisciplinary and in-depth ethnographic study of the alleyways network (hẻm) in the urban districts of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Considering the figure of the alleyway both as an urban form and a vibrant public space, her work is at the crossroad between urban planning, architecture and social issues. She has been conducting fieldwork in Ho Chi Minh City for more than six years, during which time she regularly taught urban planning at the University of Architecture and Urban Planning. Email: marie.gibert@univ-paris-diderot.fr