Historic Streetscape Characterization: Exploring the Evolution of Street in the Malay Royal Town
Wan Norisma Wan Ismail1, Nor Haslina Ja’afar2, Nor Zalina Harun3
1Wan Norisma Wan Ismail, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia Centre of Architecture and Built Environment Innovative (SeRAMBI), Programme Architecture, Secretariat of Identity of National Architecture, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
2Nor Haslina Ja’afar, Centre of Architecture and Built Environment Innovative (SeRAMBI), Programme Architecture, Secretariat of Identity of National Architecture, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
3Nor Zalina Harun, Institute of the Malay World and Civilization, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Manuscript received on 25 March 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 04 April 2019 | Manuscript Published on 27 April 2019 | PP: 425-431 | Volume-7 Issue-6S2 April 2019 | Retrieval Number: F10510476S219/2019©BEIESP
Open Access | Editorial and Publishing Policies | Cite | Mendeley | Indexing and Abstracting
© 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: Towns have historically been organized around their streets. Streets is the city’s major public forum and its pattern is a major element of urban design. Streets in royal town often radiated from the nucleus of the town, which was usually the seat of political power or places of worship such as mosque or some structure of commercial or cultural significance such as the royal palace. The aim of this paper is to study the past and the present urban environment through a review of its traditional street within a historic royal town of Kuala Kangsar, Perak. It highlights the role of streets from the pre-colonial era to the present state. It also traces the transformation of physical elements which was influenced by the street pattern during the period of rapid urbanization as well as during colonial times in this heritage district. The study concludes that the role of traditional street in the Malay royal town that is rich with an intriguing mix of architectural styles is likely to have a significant impact on the overall appeal of a town. The morphological study shows that the evolution within the urban frame is influenced by the functions of the town and the geographical setting such as rivers. While the physical transformation reveals that street pattern and movement, buildings and architectural features, landscape character and natural elements and activities around the streets of royal town are associated with the character of towns built by the colonial rulers which manifests historic streetscapes with distinctive identities and characters. The outcome of this paper could be innovatively applied to contemporary municipalities where present-day planners should learn from urban heritage which greatly emphasizes the street as a public space.
Keywords: Character, Royal, Street, Town.
Scope of the Article: Evolutionary Computing and Intelligent Systems