Ahmad Bashri Sulaiman

The Vanishing Streets in the Malaysian Urbanscape

Until its recent financial crisis Malaysia had maintained high economic growth for two decades. However, the same period of prosperity also witnessed the erosion of public spaces, streets in particular, in modernized urban areas. The subject of streets has only recently caught planners’ and architects’ interest.1 How could this happen and what can one do about it? This chapter will review the practice of street design and the role of the street in the new urban Malaysia. It will analyze, reflect and question the prevailing trend in the design and planning of urban renewal projects in Malaysia. The discussion is divided into four sections. We will start with certain theoretical concepts of the street, which will serve as our premise. This is followed by the issue of the “vanishing streets” in newly developed or redeveloped towns and cities of Malaysia. The factors contributing to this phenomenon will be examined in the third section. A discussion on the future development and design of streets in Malaysia provides the conclusion (Figure 1).

Sustainable historic waterfront development: Approaches and dilemma of two UNESCO world heritage sites in Malaysia

Urban waterfronts are unique cultural resources which have great potential to improve economic development, public enjoyment and civic identity. This issue is more predominant in the historic areas where the once active waterfront ceases to function in its traditional capacity. George Town and Melaka were both jointly awarded the UNESCO world heritage site in 2008 because of the similarity in issues and the functions they served in the past. The waterfronts of the cities were included in the heritage sites’ boundaries and the approaches taken to the waterfront development have an important influence on their sustainability. This paper examines the approach to waterfront regeneration in the major cities of Malaysia including the two aforementioned historic cities. A mixed method approach has been adopted for the research using field observations, morphological study, in depth interview, questionnaire survey and content analysis of policies in government documents to collect data for the analysis. The research attempts to compare the differences in approaches between the two heritage cities and their implications in relation to their sustainability. The research discovers that the level of contextual integration is an important consideration for sustainable waterfront regeneration for the historic cities.

City architecture from traditional past – a Malaysian case

Traditional city-forms that still exist today reflect a civilization from which a designer for future sustainable settlements could learn - by looking at its strengths and weaknesses. The traditional form in Malaysia produces city architecture that is still vibrant today. It was formed by modifying and adapting existing situations to meet the needs, as well as the aspirations, of the people that have resulted in a unique and distinctive urban ensemble. Through time the city architecture represents the broader context of the society. This is in contrast to the modern building and urban architecture that lacks environmental, cultural, psychological and behavioural responses. The current practices (Malaysia) through simplistic application of planning, social, economic and environmental theories, produces towns and cities that lack identity. The human scale and sense of unity of the traditional settlements creates an urban composition that is unique and readily recognizable, and assist in creating a clear sense of place. There is a rich discourse between the public realm, with individual territorial needs in a complex and compact existence, which create a townscape character that displays a rich and harmonious ethnic composition that could inform designer in creating future places. The facilities they provide also shows their response to the individual and public needs of a sustainable and liveable city.

Waterfront regeneration as a sustainable approach to city development in Malaysia

The morphological development of the towns and cities in Malaysia was influenced by the river, where it functioned as the main transportation system. Many of these rivers flow right through the town centres and are influential in giving character to the townscapes of the cities through the quality of views. Nevertheless, many of these rivers are in a poor state of health in terms of the water quality and have not been fully exploited in terms of their recreational potential as well as their heritage value. Of the thirteen state capital cities studied, there are three cities that have already embarked on a regeneration program to revitalize their riverfronts. However, some of the recent developments on the riverfront are considered unsustainable and insensitive to the river as a valuable asset of the city, such as the covering of the river with an open plaza and changing the natural embankment of the river to concrete banks, hence turning its image into that of a large open culvert running across the city. Many of the buildings along the river are still backing the waterfront where access both visually and physically is rather limited. This paper is going to discuss the issue of rivers as one of the significant elements that contribute to the sense of place of the city and the plight of the rivers as the city progresses into the future. The discussion is based on an urban design study of all the state capital cities in Malaysia as well as a doctoral research that looks at the issue of waterfront regeneration in the Federal Capital City of Kuala Lumpur. The paper concludes by highlighting the impact of these rivers to the sense of place of Malaysian cities and their roles in creating sustainable cities in the future.

How a city lost its waterfront: tracing the effects of policies on the sustainability of the Kuala Lumpur waterfront as a public place

Kuala Lumpur owes its beginnings to the two rivers that transect its historic core but it lost its waterfront as a public place due to rapid urbanisation. The rivers were used as flood mitigation measures with limited visual and physical access to the public. This paper traces the effects of policies on the waterfront development of the city by focusing on the factors that contributed to its disappearance. It employs a qualitative approach by analysing the riverfront physical conditions based on old maps and photographs as well as government documents and in-depth interviews with local authority officials, architects and developers.