CONVERGENCE OF CUSTOMS:

ADAPTATION OF CULTURE

IN PETALING STREET

In ter ms of the s tandards of l iv ing ,

publ ic safety cu l ture and community

hea l th s tandards.

RE-PRESENTING PLACE CLS60103

Project 1B: Research Str ucture

submit ted by

Team 3Taylor ’s Univers i ty

Lecturer : Haf iz Amir ro l

Research Str ucture

CONVERGENCE OF CUSTOMS: Adaptat ion of cu l ture in Peta l -ing Street

TABLE OF CONTENTS

i ) Reseach Backg round

i i ) Main Research Quest ions

i i i ) Object ives

iv) S igni f icance of Study

v) Methods and Expected Outcomes

vi ) References and Ci ta t ions

Research Str ucture

CONVERGENCE OF CUSTOMS: Adaptat ion of cu l ture in Peta l -ing Street

RESEARCH BACKGROUND

The adaptat ion of cu l ture i s the process of change and t rans i t ion of the ar ts and t rad i t ion of a spec i f ic community wi th regards to the environmenta l changes of which the community i s s i tuated in over t ime. This condi t ion i s apparent in our chosen s i te , Peta l ing

Street , i t s r ich h is tor y shaping the geog raphica l , demog raphica l and archi tectura l aspect of the p lace, a l lowing i t s cu l ture to confor m to

i t s advancements g radua l ly.

As a resu l t , the convergence of customs create a new way of l iv ing. A bust l ing p lace where hawkers and vendors dominate the s t reets,

where temples rose and house prayers, where tour is ts g ather and barga ins are made, and above a l l , where cu l ture and c iv i l iza t ion

cont inue to adapt .

This t rans i t ion in cu l ture g ives b i r th to numerous i ssues on s i te , inc luding compl icat ions regard ing the s tandard of l iv ing of the

cur rent community, i t s publ ic safety as wel l as i t s hea l th s tandards. Our s i te turns into a demographica l focus. Congest ion of vehicu-lar t raf f ic and people i s inev i tab le, subsequent ly for ming a r i se in

cr ime rate and pol lut ion. Other than that , i t cha l lenges the authen-t ic i ty and qua l i ty of the goods, ser v ices and fac i l i t ies provided,

whi le g reat ly decreas ing the hyg iene leve ls of the s i te.

Nonethe less, Peta l ing Street i s a p la t for m for change as i t s cu l tura l aspect cont inues to g row and evolve. As the s t r ug gle to so lve the i ssues s ta ted cont inues, we s t r ive to understand the people ’s per-spect ive on the matter wi th hopes to shed some l ight on whether

th is course of adaptat ion i s moving towards a pos i t ive or negat ive note.

Research Str ucture

CONVERGENCE OF CUSTOMS: Adaptat ion of cu l ture in Peta l -ing Street

MAIN RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.Standard of Liv ing

How does the increas ing number of fore ign workers and fore ign tour is ts in Peta l ing Street af fect the l iv ing s tandards of the loca l

community?

2 . Publ ic Safety Cul ture

How does the negat ive behaviour of unl icensed hawkers and se l l -ers, low- income fore igners, tax i dr ivers in Peta l ing Street af fect the

leve l of publ ic safety of the loca l community?

3 . Community Heal th Standards

What are some environmenta l factors that constant ly ex is t in Peta l -ing Street that would threaten the hea l th s tandards of the commu-

ni ty?

Research Str ucture

CONVERGENCE OF CUSTOMS: Adaptat ion of cu l ture in Peta l -ing Street

OBJECTIVES

The object ives of the research are to examine, f rom the perspec-t ive of tour is ts, loca l hawkers, vendors and occupiers :

• To increase access ib i l i ty to infor mat ion about the adaptat ion of cu l ture in Peta l ing Street .

• To invest ig ate var ious community backg rounds and est imate the s tandard of l iv ing f rom the invest ig at ion.

• To ana lyse the s ta t i s t ica l assoc ia t ion between the publ ic safety l eve l and publ ic safety s ta tus in Peta l ing Street .

• To col lect the opin ions about hea l th s tandards among the com -muni ty of Peta l ing Street .

Research Str ucture

CONVERGENCE OF CUSTOMS: Adaptat ion of cu l ture in Peta l -ing Street

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

Introduct ion

Cul ture i s the way of l i fe shared by people who l ive in the same place. Cul tura l adaptat ion i s when a person adjusts to the new

countr y in a pos i t ive or negat ive way. Each person adapts to new cul ture in a unique way. The theor y of cu l tura l adaptat ion refers

to the process and t ime i t takes a person to ass imi la te to a new cul ture.

Standard of Liv ing

In today ’s connected wor ld , the need to communicate effect ive ly wi th people f rom diverse cu l tures, races, fa i ths and nat iona l i t ies has increased exponent ia l ly. Cul tura l d i f ferences usua l ly inc lude

language, re l ig ion, pol i t ica l organizat ion, customs and more.

Standard of l iv ing that ut i l i ses the cu l tura l knowledge and expe-r ience of members of d i f ferent subcul tura l g roups to inf luence a cu l tura l constr uct that could operate as a mediator of change

e.g. , enhancing cu l tura l ident i ty.

For example, Peta l ing Street ’s l iv ing s tandard i s s tudied by types of communit ies, authent ic i ty of or ig ina l community, and main-

tenance of fac i l i t ies. Peta l ing Street ’s community cons is ts of se l ler, hawker s ta l l operators, tour is ts, and homeless people. The

h igh intake of fore ign workers as product se l lers, hawkers and cooks has indirect ly d iminished the authent ic i ty of or ig ina l com-

munity in ter ms of loca l food, products, and cul ture.

Publ ic Safety Cul ture

Publ ic Safety Cul ture he lps def ine the recogni t ion of the safety cu l ture a t ta ined from the people in Peta l ing Street in ter ms of

the be l iefs and pract ices that they apply. The concept of cu l tura l adaptat ion i s d i rect ly appl ied to any organisat ion or agency that af fects or interacts wi th publ ic safety i ssues to ensure h igh lev-

e ls of safety perfor mance too.

Research Str ucture

CONVERGENCE OF CUSTOMS: Adaptat ion of cu l ture in Peta l -ing Street

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY(cont.)

To i l lus t ra te th is point , Peta l ing Street ’s publ ic safety i s har med by i t s s t reet and road cul ture, unl icensed hawkers and product

se l lers, and publ ic t ranspor tat ion cu l ture. Loca ls and tour is ts have to be war y of p ickpockets and snatch motorcyc l i s ts. Be-

s ides, unl icensed hawkers and product se l lers who may se l l un-safe products are a l so a threat to publ ic safety. Last ly, the publ ic

regard tax is as an unsafe mode of t ranspor t due to i t s over-ly-charged fare and poor a t t i tude of most tax i dr ivers.

Community Heal th Standards

Community Heal th Standards that show references such as g reen space data l inked in a Geog raphic Infor mat ion Systems (GIS) or

exper iences f rom indiv idua ls wi th d i f ferent backg rounds to in-crease the perce ived re levance of infor mat ion in hea l th commu-

nicat ion and hea l th educat ion inter vent ions in Peta l ing Street .

For instance, Peta l ing Street ’s community Heal th Standards are examined by area of g reen spaces, noise leve l , and s t reet hy-

g iene. Green spaces such as parks fac i l i ta te phys ica l act iv i ty and re laxat ion, and for m a refuge f rom noise. On the other hand,

s t reet hyg iene should be proper ly mainta ined in Peta l ing Street , as i t i s a cu is ine paradise wi th a wide choice of s t reet vendor

food,

Research Str ucture

CONVERGENCE OF CUSTOMS: Adaptat ion of cu l ture in Peta l -ing Street

METHODS AND EXPECTED OUTCOMES

Methods

The infor mat ion we need or ig inates f rom a wide range of sourc-es, thus there should be a var ie ty of techniques used when gath-

er ing data f rom communit ies a t Peta l ing Street .Severa l methods for co l lect ing infor mat ion and quant i ta t ive data for th is research wi l l be done are inter v iews, quest ionnaires and

d i rect obser vat ion at s i te.

• Inter v iews - conducted by d i rect approach ( inter v iewee and inter v iewer) wi th quest ions that are focused and c lear which

encourage open-ended responses.t

• Quest ionnaires – shor t quest ions wi th answers presented as mult ip le-choice and numer ica l bar to g ather concise data and to

ease ana lys i s af terwards

• Direct obser vat ion – carefu l invest ig at ion a l lows data to be col lected qua l i ta t ive ly and quant i ta t ive ly, a l lowing the s tudy of a wide range of a s i tuat ions, bes ides provid ing addi t iona l infor ma-

t ion.

Expected Outcome

Through the quest ionnaire sur vey and inter v iew, the expected resu l t i s that the s tandard of l iv ing in Peta l ing Street wi l l be low.

This i s due to h igh number of fore ign workers h i red by loca ls to work as food hawkers and product se l lers a t s i te. The ra te

of publ ic safety cu l ture a t the s i te wi l l be threatened due to the h igh cases of negat ive behaviour happening on the s t reet , such as bad road cul ture, unl icensed s ta l l s and a lso publ ic t ranspor-ta t ion. Last ly, l ack of g reener y, h igh noise leve l and low street

hyg iene wi l l indicate a poor s tandard of community hea l th .

Research Str ucture

CONVERGENCE OF CUSTOMS: Adaptat ion of cu l ture in Peta l -ing Street

REFERENCES ANDCITATION

AECOM. (2010). Asia Beyond Growth. ORO Editions: Singapore.

Barley, N. (2000). Breathing Cities. Birkhauser: London.

Lim, W. (1990) Cities for People – Reflections of a Southeast Asian Architect. Singapore: Select Publishing.

“Petaling Street in Chinatown - Bargain Hunter’s Paradise.” Kuala-lumpur.ws. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2016.

Kong, Sai Mat. “Top 10 Must-Have Foods in Petaling Street (Chinatown) - I’m Saimatkong.” Im Saimatkong. N.p., 2015. Web. 04 Oct. 2016.

Clarke, P. (2008) Metricity: Exploring New Measures of Urban Density. London: Royal

College of Art.

Teasley, D. (c2016). Study. Retrieved 3 October, 2016, from http://study.com/academy/lesson/cultural-adaptation-definition-theory-stag-

es-examples.html

Mishra, S. (c2016). Businesstopia. Retrieved 3 October, 2016, from https://www.businesstopia.net/communication/cultural-barriers-communication

Research Str ucture

CONVERGENCE OF CUSTOMS: Adaptat ion of cu l ture in Peta l -ing Street

IS THIS ADAPTATION FOR THE BETTER?

End of paper.