Le4000 1st Draft

Merdeka Square: Relationship Between The Elements Of Public Spaces And The Successful
Urban Design
Public spaces can be described as open space, meaning the streets, parks and recreation
areas, plazas or squares, and other publicly owned and managed outdoor spaces that can be
accessed by all citizens (Tonnelat, 2010; Wikipedia, n.d.). In other words, it is a stage where the
aspects of people and environment intersect, a place where anyone can come, and further, where
most events are spontaneous, where poeple mix with others or simply move about.
Today, public spaces has become an indispensable element of urban cities as it offers the
urban residents a place to escape from the hectic city's life. It enriches the space of the city and
encourages establishment of activities, and in turn flourishes the everyday lives of the residents.
According to Saifulhazly (2011), good public spaces can create a sense of belonging as well as helping
people to stay healthy. Furthermore, access to good-quality, well-maintained public spaces can help
to improve poor physical and mental health caused by sedentary lifestyles by encouraging people to
do outdoor activities (Rose & Woolley, 2004).
Public space has become a neccessity in urban cities because of its importance and values in
urban life even in the local context of Kuala Lumpur. Merdeka Square in the center of urban Kuala
Lumpur, is an attractive public place and characterised by its vitality of architecture, people and
activities. It is a starting point of the Kuala Lumpur city center, a major attraction of commercial
activities and heritage buildings, a significant role for public space which attract many people to
come to the area. It is no doubt an attractive public place, however, there are some underlying
issues still occur in this place despite its reputation. Apart from being undeveloped and underused,
urban public spaces in Malaysia have some social and security issues and it is becoming more
apparent these days. (Mariapan & Nurhayati, 2009; Saifulhazly, 2011).
Nevertheless, this place possess several issues such as design and social problems such as
poor condition of the field and littering. It is reported that the last turfing of the field was done in
1989 (Daniele, 2013) . Kuala Lumpur City Hall said that the field was open for events but not to the
public, however, many tourists and locals taking pictures on the field. Children were spotted running
on the field especially at night while vendors traded freely on the pavements despite the presence of
City Hall officers. These behaviours contribute to the poor condition of the grass. Moreover, Daniele
(2013) mentioned that the micronutrients in the soil had reached an unhealthy level, with pH level
that was not conducive for the grass, which was a mix of wild grass.
Many studies have mentioned on Merdeka Square existing elements as a public space and
its underlying issues especially on the physical and social elements at this site. However, there was
limited study on the relationship of these existing elements of the public space and the successful
characteristics of urban design. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship
between the elements of public spaces and the successful urban design specifically on Merdeka
Square.
Research Objectives
i.
To determine the design and social factors of Merdeka Square that leads to
architectural and social problems of the place.
ii.
To compare and assess the characteristics of Merdeka Square with established

successful characteristics of urban spaces.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The literature review addresses what defines an urban public space as successful and provides a
theoretical base and guidelines for assessing the success of an urban public space.
There are four key qualities most commonly found amongst successful urban public spaces
and these qualities are accessibility and linkages, uses and activities, comfortability and images, and
sociability. For each qualities, their significance to the succes of urban public spaces will be discussed
as well as the design elements and characteristics that help achieving these qualities will be
identified.
a. Accessibility and linkages
When a space is accessible, it is designed so that it is easy to get to and move through while
available to as many people as possible. The accessibility can be judged by several criterias. Firstly, it
should be accessible to all individuals of different ages, ethnics and abilities. Based on a study in
Cypress, Doratli and Pasaogullari (2004) found that poor accessibility was a main factor influencing
the levels of everyday usage. Both believed that the lack of people within the spaces discouraged
others from visiting for a period of time (Anonymous, 2013). Secondly, public space should have
connections to its surroundings, both visual and physical. For instance, the continuity of building
frontages and the visibility of the place both from a distance and up close should be promoted
(Project for Public Spaces, n.d.; Green & Williams, 2001).
b. Uses and activities

Activities are the basic building blocks of a place. Having something to do gives people a reason to
come to a place. Places should have their own physical and functional qualities and that is by
providing a a set of physical conditions, which can encourage participation, people use and public life
3
such as physical amenities. According to Ryan (2006), quality public spaces are "flexible spaces than
can accommodate different activities, whether programmed or spontaneous and have the capacity
to transform over time to encourage new uses, energizing the site at all times" (Efroymson, Pham &
Tran, 2009).
c. Comfortability and images
Comfort includes perceptions about safety, cleanliness, and the availability of places to sit while
images is about the characteristic of the place. Several international studies suggests that users of
public spaces frequently stated that the quality and avaibility of infrastructure and amenities
encourage use, whereas the presence of litter, vandalism and unclean restrooms hinder recreational
activities (Bagwell, Evans, Witting & Worpole, 2012). Besides, places should have their own identitiy,
responding to and reinforcing distinctive patterns of development and culture (Green & Williams,
2001).
d. Sociability
When people see friends, meet and greet their neighbors, and feel comfortable interacting with
strangers, they tend to feel a stronger sense of place or attachment to their community and to the
place that fosters these types of social activities. Levels of sociability within a space characterized by
how well the design fosters social interactions, community cohesion and social integration according
to Cattell et al. (Anonymous, 2013). Designs that cater to accommodate a multitude of activities
provide an opportunity for different types of users to socialize with one another within a shared
space. Some design elements seem to hold broad social and cultural appeal. Charles Alexander,
architectural and environmental theorist commended that park design should be incorporated with
certain design elements that promotes sociability, that is the concept of a circular 'loop' and
proximity to water, two popular universal design aspects (Lanfer and Taylor, 2005).
In conclusion, the literature identified four key qualities of successful urban public spaces that are
accessibility and linkages, uses and activities, comfortability and images, and sociability. There is also
a general agreement that these qualities proved to be highly influential in attracting a variety of
users throughout every single day. By determining these qualities, it can be used as a guide on
evaluating a public space whether it is successful or not plus identifying the weakness of the place
so that future improvement can be made for it to be successful.

Le4000 1st Draft

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Le4000 1st Draft

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Le4000 1st Draft

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Merdeka Square: Relationship Between The Elements Of Public Spaces And The Successful

To compare and assess the characteristics of Merdeka Square with established

b. Uses and activities

You might also like