Asian Program

Japanese

Data

Former Fellows

Dissertation Abstracts

Malaysia

INTRODUCTION

  Urban conservation has always been regarded to have certain ramification to development.There is a strong animosity to the process because conservation is seen to be deterrent to progress and development, particularly in many parts of the developing world.To make the matter even worst, the term "conservation" is used interchangeably with the term "preservation" to mean the same thing.The term "preservation" inevitably suggests stagnation that invariably shows efforts by the authorities to control and limit owners of buildings from developing further their properties.
  Most parts of active conservation program in Malaysia are based on the current legislation - the Antiquity Act 198 (1976).The nature of the act prescribes the safeguarding (control and preservation) of antiquities (ancient and historical monuments, archaeological sites and historical objects), that allows conservation to be done on monuments or buildings that the Department of Museum and Antiquity deemed worthy of conservation and these are normally restricted only to buildings/monuments of normally more than 100 years old.The limitation of the Act 198 have somehow restricted the selection of buildings only to include those that are highly significant in context of its historical and aesthetic value, avoiding those that are privately owned, even if they have the equivalent merits as those other public owned buildings.The reasons for this is simple, there was an inadequate measure to substantially cover the conservation of these buildings because the provisions in the Act 198 limits the processes of interventions by the authority on private properties and also the unwillingness of property owners to play any role in conserving their properties as part of country's rich cultural legacy.
  There is the lack of emphasis on 'area conservation' and the focus of conservation is merely centred on building in the context of "a single piece of monument".The emphasis by the relevant authorities on conservation lacks dealing on matters of communal interests and with the "place making' precept to conserve elements (tangible and intangible forms) that constitute significant "places".In this context, conservation generally was not seen as a planning and management process that have the objective to ensure optimum benefits to be gained in replenishing cultural assets and for the enhancement of "places" for the benefits of the current and future generations.
  Therefore it is essential to propagate that in the approach to urban conservation, the objectives must be, first to elude destruction and dilapidation of cultural resources that are physical or that are relate to human activities.Secondly, to ensure that the settings, scale or size and design of new developments blend harmoniously with the existing urban fabrics and the implementation of actions to protect significant characteristics through stringent urban planning process of development control.In other word, if the main objective of conservation is understood as to ameliorate places or buildings that are significant in the effort to improve the quality and efficiency of the urban system, only then, the present resentment can somehow be abated.What is most important is to bring the authorities to realise that conservation does not only restrict to deal with single building but in fact the entire " image of a place".

CONSERVATION APPROACH AND THE PLANNING PERSPECTIVE

  The main drawback of urban conservation in Malaysia is hypothesised by the conflicting ways in which various stakeholders perceive the role of urban conservation.They failed to see that conservation is directed among other things to; maintaining places of cultural significance i.e., a whole neighbourhood, part or even the entire town, and It focuses on ensuring a harmonious relationship of old and new. The key to a common goal in achieving successful urban conservation is in the understanding of the appropriate approaches towards tackling the complexity of issues in a "living city" as in the case of many Malaysian old towns.The principles for the development of practical conservation guideline is lacking especially in the aspect of enhancing the "liveliness" in a semi run-down urban areas that was once the hub of a particular town.Public awareness must be an integral part in the process of conservation.Public must first of all be made to understand what conservation is all about and what role they can play in ensuring that development made are carried to their interests.Rapid changes in the urban environment have so far affected the character of urban areas with the public remaining apathetic towards it.

MELAKA AS A CASE STUDY

  The rationale for choosing Melaka as a case study is because of it's long unique history of urban activities in Malaysia, it signifies the context of urban conservation approach as the complexities of urban issues, practises and current debates are in abundance to be discussed.Since Melaka is also vying to be listed in the World Heritage List under the same category as "living heritage city", there are more reasons for the authority to expedite actions so as to show some conscientious efforts are being done by the authority to save the heritage.
  The 'Urban Conservation Guidelines' for the "Conservation Zone" of Melaka was drawn in December 2002 and it covers a magnitude of issues on urban conservation and revitalisation.This dissertation is directed explicitly to illustrate the rationales in these guidelines and to demonstrate the features used to direct a dynamic approach in conserving part of a " living city" and it's tangible and intangible entities.The study area in Melaka comprises of the old administrative, commercial and residential quarters of the city developed from the 15^th Century Sultanate through the subsequent colonial interventions by the Portuguese (1511 to 1640), Dutch (1641 to 1824) and the British (1825 to 1942 through to 1945 to 1957).The multifarious influences between these colonial interventions brought about a unique juxtaposition of physical and social attributes to the place.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

  Consensus in the approach of urban conservation is difficult to obtain as each party involved has a unique way in interpreting the heritage context and means to achieve the apparently diverse objectives.What made it more difficult is that the inability of authorities to ascertain the latent issues that encompass the complexity of activities (formal and informal), behaviour (lifestyles), preferences (choice) and aspirations of those people living in the "Conservation Zone" and to draw the connections between these factors with the specific concern on conserving the " architectural heritage".

The Aim of the Dissertation:

  To illustrate criteria that can be used urban conservation applicable to the context of "living cities" as a contribution to the development of a practical approach overcoming the shortcomings in the practise of urban conservation and making it relevant in applying to the case of other "living cities" cases in Malaysia.

• To discuss the main principles for heritage conservation and the current approach on urban conservation and their shortcomings in Malaysia as a general background to understand the context of urban conservation for a "living city".
• To illustrate the urban planning and design rationales used in the formulation of the guidelines for the Conservation Zone of the Historic City of Melaka Municipal Council - a "multi cultural historic living city".
• To indicate that in a system that lacks proper legislation on heritage conservation, the existing urban planning and design mechanism, especially in the context of development control, can be use adequately in the process of protecting and maintaining urban heritage.
• To demonstrate the appropriate context of urban conservation management approach for a "living city" that has been used in the guidelines for the Conservation Zone of the Historic City of Melaka Municipal Council, as design criteria for urban conservation for other "living heritage cities".

  The general scope of the dissertation encompassed rationalising the context of the Action Area Plan for Historic City of Melaka Municipal Council's Conservation Zone that was prepared in 2002.This was the landmark document on the guideline to conserve Melaka as a "historic city" taking into accounts the abundant tangible and intangible heritage resources of the city.It is apparent that without proper understanding about the rationales that was put in formulating the guidelines, implementation of which, would seem less convincing to all the stakeholders concern.The scope of the dissertation covered in eight separate chapters and can best be described in the following three parts:
Part One: Consists of the following discussions; statement of the problems and Issues underlining the topic of " urban conservation" in Malaysia and particularly, Melaka as the main emphasis.The literature review in this part highlighted the current thinking and emphasis on urban conservation particularly emphasising the context of conserving "living heritage cities".There was also a general review of Malaysian urban planning and conservation practises as well as the background to the Melaka "urban conservation" case. The local laws, guidelines and procedures pertaining urban conservation especially in the context of its relevancy to regards urban "living heritage" were also reviewed.
Part Two: Consist of the background information of the case study area, introducing it through the morphological growth from 1400s to the present day context. The later part introduces the strategies formulated in the Structural Plan and the rationales for the formulation of Melaka urban conservation guidelines. This section discussed the rationales behind each of the guidelines that were put in the Historic Melaka City council's Conservation Action Area Plan 2002.
Part Three: Contained the proposals that include; methods in achieving a coherent approach and common goals in urban conservation vis-a-vis the general stakeholders and the policy maker's objectives.It described the formula of approach towards achieving a better quality of urban environment through the urban design approach in achieving a greater "sense of belonging and local pride" amongst the local residents of the Conservation Zone.This part also stipulated the planning approaches and procedures as the best affective remedy towards safeguarding heritage interests in the area.
Part Four: A general conclusion was drawn up to sum up the dissertation.Several observations on the context of " living heritage" were done and analysed as key factors in the review.This helped to address and formulate a more conducive and cohesive system of intervention as regards to managing the heritage properties.

CONCLUSION

  The state of unawareness between the stakeholders in the appropriate exercise to safeguard the "living heritage" makes conservation work in Melaka and most other cities in Malaysia difficult to administer.Urban heritage is a composite set-up of profoundly complex network of interrelationship between tangible and intangible components of urban environment that have manifested over many years from gradual intercession of human activities through their endemic cultures and lifestyles.There is a strong symbiotic relationship between the tangible and the intangible component of heritage that made it inseparable and must be looked into as a whole entity.The approach towards conserving a " living heritage city" like Melaka must take into account this interrelationship because architectural or building conservation alone does not help in giving value to the preservation of "the spirit of the place" and would in fact detach the "living" component of the urban environment with the "physical" component of it, thus making the eventual decline of activities within the city itself.
  The main point demonstrates that even without proper heritage legislation, the use of proper planning control strategies in the existing provisions of the Town Country Planning Act can adequately being use to protect the urban heritage. The dissertation has shown that the appropriate context of a "living city" in the case study of Melaka city can be used as a means to identify the focus of formulating criteria for urban conservation. It can be a useful tool for planners, urban designers and architects to comprehend the nature of urban conservation practise in the planning process especially in the light of a " living historic cities".

Picturesque Sagano, Arashiyama. Clear water, beautiful river and forest view - imagine how the seasons can alter these views.