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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction of the Project 2
CONCLUSION 23
REFERENCING 24
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Theories of Architecture and Urbanism Comparative Analysis Essay
1.1 INTRODUCTION
This essay attempts to make a comparative analysis between Jalan Besar in South
Klang and Preah Ang Eng Street in Cambodia. These two urban areas hold remarkable
historical value to their respective cities. The analysis will focus the concept of in what
way varying degrees of contact intensity and its impacts to the city and the contact
points under the lens of urban theories, specifically adhering to Jan Gehl’s
methodology of contact points and types of activities that occur on site.
Graphic representation of the relationship between the quality of outdoor spaces and the rate of occurance of
outdoor activities (Gehl & Koch,2011. P.11)
Jan Gehl believes that the community is the most important factor to form a successful
public space within the planning cities. Pattern of Social Activities According to Jan
Gehl’s “Life Between Building”, outdoor activities in public space can be divided into
three categories and each of which places very diversely demands on the physical
environment, namely necessary activities, optional activities and resultant, or social
activities respectively. Gehl also believes that humans are in constant search for new
experiences and naturally prefer areas with more social interactions. This aspect will
also be given focus in this essay.
Diagran of simplified outline for various contact forms. (Gehl & Koch,2011. P.11)
At the end of the analysis, we should have a clear understanding on the similarities
and differences between the two areas in the capital cities in terms of contact points
and activities and possibly provide a general framework on designing useful public
spaces in an Asian city.
1.2 BACKGROUND
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Theories of Architecture and Urbanism Comparative Analysis Essay
Phnom Penh was founded in 1372; Lady Penh, who found a dead Koki Tree containing
four bronze Buddha statues and one Vishnu statues in the Mekong River, brought it
and built a temple presently known as Wat Phnom, “Phnom” is Khmer for “Hill” and
the Lady Penh’s hill took the name of Phnom Duan Penh. The area around the hill
eventually was known as Phnom Penh, the royal capital of Cambodia in 1432, it
remained from 1432 to 1505; but was abandoned for 360 years from 1505 to 1865 by
subsequent kings due to internal fighting.
In 1866, King Norodom I ordered 10,000 of his subjects to move out of the old capital
of Oudong to return to Phnom Penh, hence the construction of the Royal Palace, and
thus the rebirth of Phnom Penh. The Vietnam war led Phnom Penh to be used as an
Army Base for the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces; leading to the rise of the
Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge forced evacuation of the city. Khmer Rouge was
driven out by the South Vietnamese in 1979, people began to return to Phnom Penh
and reconstruction began from foreign investments.
Presently, Phnom Penh is one of the fastest growing cities in Asia due to the high
economic growth rate. It is a city amidst of rapid change.
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Theories of Architecture and Urbanism Comparative Analysis Essay
1.3 BACKGROUND
JALAN BESAR, SOUTH KLANG, MALAYSIA
Klang, also spelled Kelang, is the royal town of Selangor, on the west coast of
peninsular Malaysia before Shah Alam. The town is named after the Klang River, which
cuts the town in half, and sits at the western end of the Klang Valley.
Klang has been highly significant in the geography and history of Malaysia itself.
Throughout its existence it has internally witness countless historical events that
eventually led to the rise of the modern era of Malaysia. In 19th century, Klang
executed tin mining activities in Klang Valley until intervention of British in 1867. The
British soon opted for Klang over Jugra as the centre of their administration, and his
remained until 1880 when they moved it to the mining centre of Kuala Lumpur.
Klang position was enhanced in 1886 by the completion of the Klang Valley railway (to
Bukit Kuda). The town growth was further stimulated by the State becoming a leading
producer of coffee and rubber. Despite the transition, Klang did not lose its greatness
and remained renown with the construction of Port Klang, which made the royal town
the chief outlet for Selangor’s tin. It became the official seat of Sultan Suleiman (Sultan
Alaudin Suleiman Shah). Until today, despite no longer being the state capital or the
main sea of the Ruler, Klang remains an integral element of the district to which it
gives its name.
Unfortunately, recently Klang has not been as much significant in recent times as its
influence dwindles slowly becoming ever-more irrelevance as urbanization arose.
Nowadays Klang no longer showing the dominance, instead, it is just a city housing all
the historical culture and valuable heritage.
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OLD MARKET
The old market next to it is a major tourist spot in Phnom Penh area that creates high
intensity contacts. It generally geared towards local visitors all year round, which
setting up in late afternoon for the evening market. It carries such items as fruits and
vegetable, second hand clothes, hardware, motorcycle parts and religious items. One
of the most crowded markets in the city. Therefore, this is the place where local
interaction strongly happens.
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Theories of Architecture and Urbanism Comparative Analysis Essay
PHSAR KANDAL
The Khmer name of the market is Phsar Kandal which translates to “market in the
middle” or “central market”. It is the one of the province’s biggest local market,
provides a window into the local Cambodian culture. There is high visual and verbal
contact between people which draws people not the area and people present stay
longer.
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Theories of Architecture and Urbanism Comparative Analysis Essay
CONGKOK KOPITIAM
Across the commuter station at Jalan Stesen is Chong Kok Kopitiam, a Hainanese
coffee shop famed for its coffee and traditional toast. The pairing of coffee and toast
is the way they trapping the people and creating a moderate to high intensity contact
point to that area. Old timers and locals come together to enjoy the lovely, aromatic
coffee in this well-known meeting place.
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CHENNAI
Chennai Silk Palace is well known for its wedding silks, trendy and unique silk sarees.
The Chennai shows a strong Indian Culture, which is an optional place for the local
who seek for clothing. Besides, it is also a tourist hotspot of Klang. Low contact
intensity but during tourist season Chennai become a place to go.
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3.0 Comparative Activity Analysis (CONTACT POINTS & DEGREE OF CONTACT INTENSITY)
Types of Activities
Jan Gehl characterises cities in terms of its “personality”, which can be categorised as
either an “impersonal” city or “personal” city. Impersonal cities exhibit characteristics
such as having multi-storey buildings, underground parking, catered mostly for
automobiles and poor conditions for pedestrian circulation. Personal cities on the
other hand have low, closely-spaced buildings at human scale, encourages foot traffic
by blocking vehicular access and a generous amount of pleasing outdoor spaces that
encourage more social activities.
The three types of activities that occur in cities according to Gehl can be divided into
Necessary Activities, Optional Activities and Social or Resultant Activities. Necessary
activities are the activities that people have to do on the street under all conditions in
order to survive such as commuting or going to grocery shopping. Optional activities
are those people pursue only in favourable conditions and only if time and place allow
it. The occurrence of these activities is most sensitive to the condition of the street/
environment. Finally, social or resultant activities are activities that depends on the
presence of others, like passive interactions, as well as active interactions such as
engaging in conversations.
Both Jalan Besar and Preah Ang Eng Street contain a mix of these activities to a certain
degree. These activities depend highly on the scale and configuration of buildings and
open spaces as well as weather conditions.
3.1 Necessary Activities
Looking into Preah Ang Eng street’s outdoor activities pattern, the overall intensity of
outdoor activities is high as it is one of the most concentrated tourist’s areas in Phnom
Penh due to its budget accommodations and vibrant lifestyle along the street. In
another hand, the intensity of outdoor activities in Jalan Besar is much lower than
Preah Ang Eng, nonetheless both of them did share a common point of attraction to
evoke the necessary activity with the city.
A few similarities can immediately be seen between the two areas at first glance, and
that is both areas provide public transportation services. Both public transports
terminal, the Train Station in Jalan Besar and the Giant Iris Bus Terminal at Preah Ang
Eng, play a heavy role in their day to day commute. They both show a high contact
point to that respective city as these services provides accessible for people regardless
of demographics and majority for most workers in the area. Yet it helps foster a sense
of community. For example, people travelling together are more likely to feel a
community connection than those travelling in cars in isolation.
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Bus terminal with others transaportation services Railway station in Jalan Besar with others taxi services
provided such as tuk tuk provided
Jalan Besar is primarily a business district with a number of commercial outlets such
as restaurant and shops, mainly to serve the working community in the area. whereas
Preah Ang Eng is a booming commercial area with its market as a major node in Phnom
Penh. Although functionally different, both areas can be considered similar in the
transient nature of pedestrian flow on site. These necessary activities such as
groceries shopping in market or having lunch in restaurant encourage community to
walk around in that cities, and hence the street became the transient space during the
day for pedestrians to discover more. As a result, these necessary activities force a
high degree of contact intensity towards that city.
The point of divergence between the two sites mainly revolves around the time of the
day the necessary activities take place. There is a varying level of social activities
intensity depending on the time because of the difference in the type of activities
between daytime and night. In Jalan Besar, all the activities tent to more focus of the
working hours, which mean the community will more likely to gather around along
the streets during lunch time or dinner period. The night activities in Jalan Besar is not
as much as Preah Ang Eng due to lacking of facilities provided to evoke the necessary
activities such as food. In another side, Preah Ang Eng, the night market is the core
that still bringing the streets alive compare to Jalan Besar. The night market promotes
a place where people starts linger around, sitting on the huge open area having all
kind of conversations. As a result, the night market is the key contact point which
keeps Preah Ang Eng stay active throughout the night.
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Night Market at Preah Ang Eng Jalan Besar during night time
The most significant differentiating factor however is the scale and proportion of the
two sites. Jalan Besar is a narrow street with four-storey height building surrounded,
the scale of the site with these elements does not seem wrong, but Preah Ang Eng
does appreciate the scale much more better with those extended covered shading
devices it gives a feeling of order or sequence or a steady change on façade instead of
just four-storey height plane wall straight pointing up to the top. But according to
research Asians in general have the tendency to avoid being out in the open and prefer
narrow pathways, which is exactly how the five-foot walkway in these both streets
was designed.
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Another similarity between the two sites is the presence of five-foot wat to promotes
more outdoor activities. Within proximity to Jalan Besar, ThinkCity provides a proposal
for exhibitions and events which would generate optional activities for the site. It is
located at a strategic corner of the adjacent block which increases its visibility to the
public and provides an easy access. Preah Ang Eng on the other hand is located near
a huge landmark, Hiroshima House, which is also a frequent spot for events and
celebrations.
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Another observable similarities between the two is the pedestrian circulation around
the site. Nonetheless, these similarities create a huge contrast between the two
streets, just because a different adaption of elements. It is worth noting that although
both sites can be considered as transient spaces, both of the pedestrian circulation
held on five- foot walkway, but most pedestrians would opt to walk along Preah Ang
Eng rather than Jalan Besar. This is mainly due to a number of factors which include
weather differences, time of activity, as well as the scale and proportion of the
elements on site. The heat and humidity during the day in Klang compels pedestrians
to maximise the use of the covered walkway of the surrounding buildings to get from
point A to point B through Jalan Besar. Furthermore, most of the activity on Preah Ang
Eng takes place under self-extended umbrella shading devices, despite of the
aesthetics of the streets it still promotes better optional activities to the site compare
to Jalan Besar where the outdoor activities are limited inside five-foot walkway.
Besides, the optional activities in Preah Ang Eng are more likely to happen during the
evening which makes it more comfortable for pedestrians walking in the open.
The most differ optional activities that happen on both sites are sightseeing, casual
observations and window shopping. Jalan Besar, with its very minimal shopping area,
it kind of disperse the people to gather around at nodes or landmarks, creating a
contrast towards the degree of contact intensity between nodes and common area.
This is differed compare to Preah Ang Eng especially during the evening when night
market started. The pedestrian-friendly nature of both sites encourages optional
activities such as sightseeing and casual meetings.
In terms of optional activities, the two sites differ from each other in terms of the
intensity of the contact points. As a public realm, Preah Ang Eng is observably more
successful as compared to Medan Pasar for optional activities such as casual sitting
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and as a hangout spot. This may be again due to the difference in scale between the
two and the lack of a compelling sitting area in Jalan Besar, all with weather conditions
considered.
3.3 Resultant Activities
The social activities are the resultant activities evolved from the necessary and
optional activities. For instance, the budget accommodations and the marketing
activities make Preah Ang Eng a tourist’s destination and become a necessary activity
for the locals, workers, and visitors. The stalls and markets along the street provided
and fulfil both the necessary and optional needs of the people where they come to
buy stuff, ponder, or shopping with friend and family. This eventually leads to creating
a form of a social pattern through the fundamental activities and behaviours of the
people.
By comparing Jalan Besar and the Preah Ang Eng Old market as contact points for their
respective streets, we can observe a high level of social activity on site, mainly due to
the nature of the contact points being groceries and food destinations. The activities
on both sites can only take place with the presence of other people in the society to
produce connections between members of the community. The type of connections
can be broken down into two distinct categories, namely passive contact and active
contact. In this food and culture environment, both categories of connection exist
simultaneously.
The difference between the two contact points in comparison lies in the type of
community that produces the social activity. It can be observed that most of the social
activity at Jalan Besar is generated by locals rather than tourists. This is in contrast to
the Phsar Kandal at Preah Ang Eng, whereby there is a balance in the composition of
locals and tourists on site.
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Theories of Architecture and Urbanism Comparative Analysis Essay
There is generally only a small group of locals that frequent the Sultan Abdul Aziz Royal
Gallery. This lack of local participation can be explained by the nature of the contact
point itself. Sultan Abdul Aziz Royal Gallery was designed to cater to tourists, with
exhibition mostly the antique and souvenirs rather than daily necessities. The result
of this is a contact point with resultant activities that seem out of place for local, thus
rendering it as an ineffective node for the community.
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Conclusion
It can be observed from the comparative analysis conducted between Jalan Besar and
Preah Ang Eng that social activities play a significant role in the success of a public
space in an urban context. Although both sites exhibit somewhat similar
characteristics, the minor differences in terms of the nature of the contact points, as
well as the configuration of the scale and spaces in the urban fabric is enough to
produce significantly different results.
Another key take-away from the analysis is the importance of considering local
customs and context in the design of an urban space. An obvious example of this is
the Sultan Abdul Aziz Royal Gallery and the streets scape design along Jalan Besar. If
the planner or designer really think about the needs of the community and the
behaviour movement of the community, Klang could be much better, not in term of
development but the vibrance of the city itself.
Jan Gehl’s urban theory of “personal” and “impersonal” cities are apparent in this
analysis. Preah Ang Eng exhibits more of a personal city characteristic as compared to
Jalan Besar, which explains why it has become a major destination in Phnom Penh. In
order to remain relevant, Jalan Besar needs to act as a harness to the contact points
surrounding it and transform itself into a more public friendly destination that adheres
to the needs of the community in terms of generating more resultant activities around
the area.
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References
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Advameg. (2018). Culture of Cambodia - history, people, clothing, traditions, women, beliefs,
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Co/Cambodia.html#ixzz5CYDBmNjy
By EILEEN PAAT. (2010, May 10). The treasures and pleasures of Phnom Penh. Retrieved from
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Gehl, J. (2011). 1. In Life between buildings: Using public space (p. 51). Washington, DC: Island
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