SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN CENTRE FOR MODERN ARCHITECTURE STUDIES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE

THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM [ARC224/ARC61303]

NAME: FARAH AKMAL BT MOHD ZAMZURI

STUDENT ID: 0315884

TUTOR: MR. LAM SHEN FEI

CONTENT

1. SITE INTRODUCTION/ CASE STUDY

1.1. H.S Lee Street, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 1

1.2. West Monroe Street, Chicago, IL. 2

2. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ESSAY 3

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY 9

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1. SITE INTRODUCTION

1.1. Tun H.S Lee Street, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Figure 1

Tun H.S. Lee Street is a long street that starts from Gereja Street, near Telekom Museum, all the way to

Syed Putra near Wisma Tun Sambanthan in Brickfields. It has seven main intersections, running across

Jalan Tun Perak, Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin, Jalan Hang Lekiu, Leboh Pudu, Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock,

Jalan Hang Lekir and Jalan Sultan. The street was originally called High Street, and was later known as

Jalan Bandar and eventually change its name to Tun H S Lee Street named after the country’s first

Finance Minister (1957-1959) Colonel Tun Sir Henry Lee Hau Shik. The community and tourist often visit

the place for affordable bouquets as it has been the hub of traditional florists for decades. Many shops

are still running old trades such as textile, sundry and Chinese medicine. A stroll along this street proves

to be pleasant, allowing one to imagine how the area might look have looked during its heyday.

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1.2. West Monroe Street, Chicago, IL

Figure 2

Chicago have lots of skyscrapers that attract people from freeways, tall concrete buildings, gridded

streets accompanied by pockets of greeneries, practically sums up Chicago on the outside. This city

manages to attract its residences outside of their homes and interact with one another with a proper

thought and justification put into the planning of Chicago. Chicago isn’t just about the weather being all

fine and sunny, the streets being spic and span, whereas colours and materiality compliment those whom

bear the finest tastes in lifestyle choices. With a carefully planned communal space, attracts the

community to partake in enjoying the outdoors and interacting with one another.

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2. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ESSAY

In Jahn Gehl’s Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space, he discussed on a fascinating range of

human activities in the cities and how to activate the public spaces. According to Gehl, design always

begins with an analysis or data of the spaces between the buildings. Like one of his quotes “First life,

then spaces, then buildings – the other way around never works.”. Then he distinguishes the outdoor

activities into three categories; necessary, optional, and social activity in public spaces. Necessary

activities include such activities as taking a walk, sitting or standing around enjoying life. In addition, these

activities take place regardless of the qualities of the environment. On the other hand, optional activities

depend on what the place offer and how it attracts and invite people to stop-by, sit, eat, play and so on.

Lastly, social activities are all activities that depend on the presence of others as it occurs spontaneously

when people meet in a certain place. The communal spaces and residential areas become meaningful

and attractive when all activities of all types occur in combination and feed off each other.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between East Monroe Street in Chicago and Tun

H.S. Lee Street in Kuala Lumpur based on the social activities, contact point and the degree of contact

intensity. As such, the key substantive issue discussed here is the difference in sidewalk and space

planning and the similarities in using public spaces.

East Monroe Street has a wide sidewalk compared to the sidewalk in Tun H.S. Lee Street. It is a busy

downtown that has lots of people, destinations and potential conflicts with vehicles so the sidewalks need

to be wide enough to handle foot traffic and community features such as cafe seating, benches and other

spots for socialising. On the contrary, Tun H. S Lee street have narrower sidewalk compared to East

Monroe street’s sidewalk. The existing sidewalk is narrower because of physical constraint to historical

context. Narrow sidewalk prevents pedestrian from moving safely and comfortably but it suits the site

because the street is not a busy downtown that has lots of people. Thus, the street life catered for vehicle

only. The environment of Tun H.S. Lee Street is different from East Monroe Street that required wider

sidewalk.

According to Kayla Lowber’ Outdoor Cafes/ Widened Sidewalks, by having a bigger sidewalk can

promote walkability as well as encourage and inviting more pedestrian to use the sidewalk along with

improving the safety and calm traffic. It depends on a certain place. For example, by having a wide

sidewalk in Tun H.S Lee Street, it would only invite people to do double parking as there’s not enough

parking space in the area. Having a sidewalk is indeed better than not having a sidewalk. This is because

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some sidewalk is in good shape while some are not, resulting in a better sidewalk compared to another

sidewalk.

Figure 3: East Monroe Street

An ordinary day on an ordinary street in East Monroe Street and Tun H.S. Lee Street where pedestrian

pass on the sidewalks, people sits on the outdoor sitting area and plaza, people sitting enjoying their

lunch outside the shops and groups of workers engage in conversations. This mix of outdoor activities is

influenced by several conditions. Physical environment, one of the factors that influences the outdoor

activities to a varying degree.

Types of activities in East Monroe Street has been identified; Cafes or restaurants, Theatre, Bank, public

space and so on. These activities are then divided into three categories; necessary, optional, and social

activity for outdoor activities, and the contact point and contact intensity of the street were identified. The

same goes to Tun H. S. Lee Street. Besides that, the sidewalk in East Monroe Street is wide enough to

have an outdoor sitting area and doesn’t bother other pedestrian paths. Optional and social activities may

occur in the place.

East Monroe Street’s sidewalk encourages a different type of interaction as they provide an outdoor sitting

area with a relatively good view of the city. According to architect John Lyle, most of the benches that

provide a good view of surrounding activities are used more than benches with less or no view of others.

Seating is easily overlooked aspect of the urban environment but Gehl regards seating as one of the

most important requirements in public spaces because ‘only when opportunities for setting exist can there

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be stays of duration. If these opportunities are few or bad, people just walk on by’. Seating gives us a

reason to pause and rest, especially in a public space where people are walking around. Lack of seats

means a lack of opportunities for staying.

Figure 4: Tun H.S.Lee Street

On the other hand, Tun H.S. Lee Street’s outdoor sitting area is in a five-foot way and fully occupied the

sidewalk, it may encourage optional and social activities between the community. But, at the same time,

it’ll obstruct the pedestrian from walking on the sidewalk causing them to walk on the road as there’s no

more space for them to walk on the sidewalk, causing harm and safety problems to the passerby.

Pedestrian pass-by on the sidewalk or the side of the road, people sitting and enjoying their lunch, groups

of elderly are watching television together, and groups of friends are engaging in conversation while

waiting for their other friend.

One of the similarities between East Monroe Street and Tun H.S. Lee is the way the public space is used

to promote social life between the community. Although both are using a different method but it is still to

achieve the same result, which is to promote the social life and interaction between the occupants. Public

space plays an important role in bridging the community together; people meets people. Interaction

occurs when people meet with friends, spending time with their families or even relax on their own. Thus,

diversity of cultures and different identities can be seen. To make a successful public space, the public

spaces should be welcoming and offer a place to rest for all ages. Seating place gives people a reason

to stop-by or act as a stopping point, for whatever reason it is, whether it be for lunch, rest, waiting for

place or simply a place or simply a place to sit and enjoy the scenery.

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Figure 5: Exelon Plaza Fountain

Exelon Plaza Fountain in East Monroe Street and Petaling Street in Tun H.S. Lee Street both provide

seating areas and eating place for people to stop-by; eating and socialising. Both spaces are successful

in a way they are accessible to the public. Moreover, people are engaged in the activities provided in the

space. Both spaces are sociable, comfortable and have a good image, where people meet with other

people and interaction occurs. The accessibility of Exelon Plaza Fountain in East Monroe Street can be

seen by its connections to its surroundings, both visual and physical. Similarly, Petaling Street is easy to

get to and it is visible from a distance. These public spaces allow people to meet in any condition, whether

it’s in a planned way or unplanned way, to allow interaction to occur within the context of whole

community. Both Exelon Plaza Fountain and Petaling Street has many designated seating areas for

eating and socialising for the community including family relationships, culture groupings, local social

connections and group meeting through a common interest.

Pedestrian pass-by on the sidewalk or the side of the road, people sitting and enjoying their lunch, groups

of friends are engaging in conversation while waiting for their other friend. People and human activity

attract other people causing them to gather with and move about with others and seek place themselves

near others. Life between buildings like Exelon Plaza Fountain and Petaling Street offers an opportunity

to be with others in a relaxed and undemanding way where one can take occasional walks, or maybe

enjoying social life and activities with others.

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Figure 6: Petaling Street

If we look at the street scene in Exelon Plaza Fountain and Petaling Street, it suggests that was the

starting point for defining the three categories: necessary, optional and social life for outdoor activities

which occur in a finely interwoven pattern. Life between building comprises of the entire three activities

combining to make communal spaces meaningful and attractive. According to Jahn Gehl, ‘Both

necessary, functional activities and optional, recreational activities have been examined quite thoroughly

over the years in different contexts. Social activities and their interweaving to form a communal fabric

have received considerably less attention.’

In William H. Whyte’s The Social Life of Small Urban Space, describe a close connection between

qualities of a city space and city activates and documents how often quite simple physical alterations can

improve the use of the city space noticeably. In East Monroe Street, entranceway and steps were widely

used for an outdoor stay to leads to the Exelon Plaza Fountain. On the other hand, Petaling Street can

be visible from all sides with the big sign indicating the place of the wet market.

Both places had always been successful in providing the community with a place for people to go and

have a sit and talk, get something to eat or drink, simply because there’s are soo many activities can be

done in the area, attracting many different people to come to the place.

Thus, East Monroe Street and Tun H.S.Lee Street both have a very different way in designing a sidewalk,

while East Monroe Street have a very wide sidewalk with a comfortable outside sitting area, Tun H.S.Lee

have a narrower street compared to East Monroe Street. But their success demonstrates the importance

of diversity in the community, different people or community response to a different style.

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Besides that, East Monroe Street and Tun H.S. Lee Street are similar in a way the public space is used

to promote social life between the community, though they do so in very different ways; while East Monroe

turn Exelon Plaza Fountain in East Monroe Street into a plaza with sitting place and eating and Petaling

Street in Tun H.S. Lee Street into a wet market with sitting and eating place. Both are successful in

creating a social life for the community in its own way.

People and human activity are the greatest objects of attention and interest. Outdoor activities lead to

social interaction between people. East Monroe Street has all sorts of outdoor activities such as

restaurants, bank, cinema and public space however H.S. Lee Street have much lesser activities which

is a tourist area, temple, wholesale shop and wet market. Thus, the street life is not active and have much

lesser social activities compared to West Monroe Street.

The observation was done in East Monroe Street and Petaling Street shows a little obvious interaction

between people of different generations who are strangers, excluding families, particularly in town centre

areas. However, by having public spaces in between the building or in the city life, it allows people of

different generations to co-exist.

Observation in public places shows the little overt interaction between people of different generations

who are strangers, although families including different generations were often seen, particularly in town

centre areas. However, inclusive public spaces allow people of different generations to co-exist in ways

that may mitigate expectations of trouble between them.

Observation in public places shows little overt interaction between people of different generations who

are strangers, although families including different generations were often seen, particularly in town

centre areas. However, inclusive public spaces allow people of different generations to co-exist in ways

that may mitigate expectations of trouble between them.

In conclusion, a good place that is refreshing, relaxing and rejuvenating, makes you can’t forget and miss

about the place once you stumble upon it. Both places provide activities and use for the community and

it is one of a sociable place where one can go to observe the passing scene, the crowds, meeting friends,

learn about new things and enjoyed the scene and the social life. The community can have lots of

enjoyable conversations at a wet market or flea market and the plaza

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4. BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Gehl, J. (2011). Life between buildings (1st ed.). Washington, D.C. [etc.]: Island press.

2. Jalan Tun H S Lee, Kuala Lumpur. (2016). The Thrifty Traveller. Retrieved 27 November 2016, from

https://thriftytraveller.wordpress.com/2015/08/23/jalan-tun-h-s-lee-kuala-lumpur/

3. Lee, R. (2016). Kuala Lumpur’s Jalan Tun H S Lee is ripe for redevelopment. The Edge Property.

Retrieved 23 November 2016, from http://www.theedgeproperty.com.my/content/kuala-

lumpur%E2%80%99s-jalan-tun-h-s-lee-ripe-redevelopment

4. Livability Fact Sheet, Sidewalks, Age-Friendly Communities, Transportation - AARP. (2016). AARP.

Retrieved 23 November 2016, from http://www.aarp.org/livable-communities/info-2014/sidewalks-

fact-sheet.html

5. Lowber, K. (2016). Outdoor Cafes/ Widened Sidewalks. Retrieved 21 November 2016, from

http://nacto.org/docs/usdg/outdoor_cafes_lowber.pdf

6. Seating and sitting in the V&A: An observational study - Victoria and Albert Museum. (2016).

Vam.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 November 2016, from http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/research-

journal/issue-03/seating-and-sitting-in-the-v-and-a-an-observational-study/

7. Spaces, P. (2016). Jan Gehl - Project for Public Spaces. Project for Public Spaces. Retrieved 27November

2016, from http://www.pps.org/reference/jgehl/

8. Spaces, P. (2016). What Makes a Successful Place? - Project for Public Spaces. Project for Public Spaces.

Retrieved 24 November 2016, from http://www.pps.org/reference/grplacefeat/

9. Traveller, T. (2016). Jalan Tun H S Lee, Kuala Lumpur. The Thrifty Traveller. Retrieved 22 November

2016, from https://thriftytraveller.wordpress.com/2015/08/23/jalan-tun-h-s-lee-kuala-lumpur/

10. YIP, Y. (2016). A long street of historical gems - Community | The Star Online. Thestar.com.my.

Retrieved 27 November 2016, from http://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2013/12/27/a-

long-street-of-historical-gems-jalan-tun-hs-lee-named-after-the-nations-first-finance-minister-is/