Man-Environment Relationship of Public Square Case study in Dutch Square Melaka
Tan Kean Jie1, Nor Haslina Ja’afar2
1Tan Kean Jie, Program of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
2Nor Haslina Ja’afar, Program of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Manuscript received on 25 March 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 04 April 2019 | Manuscript Published on 27 April 2019 | PP: 291-294 | Volume-7 Issue-6S2 April 2019 | Retrieval Number: F10450476S219/2019©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: The square is one of the major constituent element of open public space in urban design. It is seen as the core of a city which functions as a focal point in the public space network, providing a space for the community social interaction. However, many of the new public spaces in the 20th century has been a void setting and unsuccessful to create a public open space for social interaction that is vibrant with life. The notion of square was adopted from the European culture as far back as 17th century and has been adapted in Malaysia. This could be seen in today’s square design in Malaysia. However, the behaviour pattern indicate otherwise as the present day square design does not respond to the local climatic context with lack of shaded areas. Hence, people tend to avoid social interactions in public square during daytime due to undesirable weather condition. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine the positive aspects of traditional square that has been successful in supporting the community social interaction, and establishing a general guide for the design of new square as a public open space in Malaysian context. Amongst the consideration to be derived from this adaption is the Malaysian local context in terms of historical significance, culture and climate. Dutch Square in Melaka Historical Town was chosen as the case study, because it represents a model of traditional square as a public open space that still functions in term of attracting people to this day. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches were used in this study. Behavioral mapping allowed for statistical analysis where as observation and still photography as the descriptive to support the outcome of behavioural mapping. Therefore, the data collected are more reliable and able to be cross checked for further examinations of the findings. Findings showed that the relationship of the urban context and social behaviour are associative with one another. The square plays an important role to provide a setting in the built environment and the behaviour pattern and activities to determine the success of the square as an open public space. The aim is to provide an appropriate public open space in the built environment that is robust and meaningful to the community.
Keywords: Public Square, Landscape, Man-environment, Behaviour.
Scope of the Article: Environmental Engineering