Suet Leng Khoo

Factors Determining George Town as a City of Gastronomy

Abstract In line with UNESCOs Creative Cities flagship, cities around the world are strategising to be branded as creative locations to regenerate their urban places and spaces. Under this flagship, cities are branded according to the niche activities and attractions that best exemplify their locale to the world. Innovative and creative place-brand labels have emerged such as City of Fashion, City of Literature, City of Design and, as in the present case, City of Gastronomy. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that determine and shape George Town, Penang as a creative “City of Gastronomy”. More specifically, the study explored the role of Nasi Kandar—a local George Town heritage gastronomic dish—in contributing to the citys successful branding. A standard survey questionnaire was distributed to 412 respondents in George Town to gather the perceptions of local and foreign tourists alike towards branding and harnessing the citys gastronomic competence. The findings from this study provide empirical evidence by ascertaining the perceived image and satisfaction levels of local and foreign tourists alike towards Nasi Kandar. The way George Town has acknowledged and leveraged Nasi Kandar as urban gastronomy can be emulated by other key cities in Malaysia (i.e. Ipoh, Bandar Melaka) or further afield.

Civic engagement among the youth: empirical evidence from Kashmir, Pakistan

Purpose This paper aims to examines the level of civic engagement among the youth of Kashmir, Pakistan. The research examined three different aspects of civic engagement (i.e. civic sensitivity, civic responsibility and level of collectivism (common-good) using 26 indicators. The study has applied a mixed-method approach to inspect the relationship of variables with level of civic engagement. Design/methodology/approach A survey was designed and administered in all three districts of Muzaffarabad division of Kashmir, Pakistan. Regression analysis, analysis of variance and correlation were conducted to explore the level of civic engagement among youth. Findings The result indicates that the level of civic engagement among the youth of Kashmir has a great potential for the enhancement of social capital, a pre-requisite for social, economic and democratic development. Originality/value The work is 100 per cent original based on primary data.

Role of community-based organizations (CBOs) in promoting citizen participation: A survey study of local government institutions of Punjab, Pakistan

Purpose The current paper is an attempt to evaluate the role of CBOs in promoting citizen participation in the decision-making process of local government institutions of Gujranwala, Punjab, Pakistan. Among the most used evaluation techniques of participatory citizenship, the researchers have used an outcome driven approach based on “social goals.” Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which CBOs have been effectual for the promotion of participatory citizenship in decision making of local government institutions in Punjab, Pakistan. In addition, the paper also explores the influence and success level of CBOs in incorporating the preferences and needs of public in decision-making of local government services. Design/methodology/approach For this purpose, data have been collected through a self-administered survey questionnaire including both open and close-ended questions. A total of 424 questionnaires were collected from citizens, local government officials and CBO members. Standard survey techniques such as frequency distribution and comparative analyses were used for data analysis. Findings In assessing the role of CBOs in educating all the stakeholders and the general public as well as to ascertain the incorporation of public needs and values into local government decision making, the paper finds that the effectiveness of CBOs is very low to fulfill its objectives. The study suggests the need to have more programs to educate CBOs, enhance public awareness campaigns and also to put into place proper mechanisms to incorporate and evaluate the public needs. Originality/value This paper fulfills the much-needed research gap by the exploring the unknown contribution of CBOs in Pakistan. The paper has added value to the current literature by highlighting that unless there is strong political will and eagerness of local bureaucracy to give up their powers, the inclusion of citizen participation through CBOs in decision making of local government would just be a futile exercise.

Preference information and experimental heritage conservation auctions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the cost effectiveness of the existing conservation grant disbursement mechanism in George Town, Penang. It reports the effect of disclosure of conservation preferences by the conservation agency on the conservation cost.Design/methodology/approach – A test bed laboratory experiment is reported on, in which house owners competed in a sealed bid auction to obtain conservation subsidies/grants. In one treatment, owners knew the preference of, or priority given by, the regulator to certain types of conservation efforts, whereas in the second treatment, the regulator concealed this priority.Findings – The results showed that owners tailored their applications to the given priority rather than to the true conservation costs in the preference‐known treatment group. Although the selected conservation works did not differ significantly between the two treatments, owners misrepresented their true conservation costs.Research limitations/implications – Given the ...

How possible is a creative city in Penang? An analysis of architects’ perceptions about creativity and quality of place

ABSTRACT The emergence of the creative cities/creative economies notion has re-visited the role of place and given this concept a new lease of life. Widely contested though, urban policy-makers in both developed and developing countries alike are planning and transforming their cities to become a Creative City. A Creative City harnesses on both its culture and economic prowess found in its urban locale as well as the creativity of the people who choose to live in them. This paper examines the possibility of the island-state of Penang to be a Creative City by looking specifically at the architecture industry, which is a sub-sector within the creative industry realm. The paper discusses the findings based on a survey and several interviews of 35 architectural firms in Penang. As suggested in the findings, Penang is still not ready in terms of talent, amenities and leadership to steer the city on its path to be a Creative City. More pertinently, this paper highlights the need to push and uplift the citys creativity level from currently ‘medium’ to a higher level to withstand global competition for talent and capital.

MARKET MECHANISMS TO ALLOCATE HERITAGE CONSERVATION FUND: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

The under-provision of efforts in built heritage conservation was due to market failure to allocate cost and benefit efficiently. Conservation agency could facilitate conservation effort, which was considered not beneficial from the point of view of the private owners of the heritage houses, by providing conservation subsidy. In this paper, we conducted three different experimental auctions, namely, (i) discriminative price auction, (ii) uniform price auction, and (iii) random nth price auction to investigate bidding behaviors and efficiency levels in allocating conservation subsidies. Both uniform and random nth price auctions were able to encourage cost revealing bids. Random nth price auction was able to engage the off-margin bidders. However, discriminative price auction was more cost efficient compared to the other two auctions.