PLANNING THE UNPLANNED : CONSERVING NATURAL GROWTH IN ACHIEVING CONTINUITY IN KUCHING HISTORIC QUARTERS
CHUNG CHING FATT, ANTHONY
CHUNG CHING FATT, ANTHONY
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Abstract
In some of the revitalization projects, for instance gentrification causes displacement of functions and most of the time, thus causes a change in the loci of the place as in some of the place, functions and activities define the place. This conservation of physical urban monuments leads to discontinuity of historic quarters and most of the time, the revitalized historic quarters start to grow as a new definition although the economical value of the place is regained. As a result, the genius loci & identity of places were lost in rapid urban renewal.
This was one of the criticisms on the revitalization of Boat Quay in Singapore, where the sense of place and identity of the Singapore River as a vibrant trading central had totally replaced by new definition: the leisure and entertainment center of Singapore.
However, an increased concern for the continuity of identity in a particular locality has signified a historical shift from modernism to postmodernism in urban design. While modernism planning tended towards the universal and homogeneity, postmodernism drew backwards upon the sense of place, loci, and particularity . In line with the postmodernism planning, a new perspective in conservation that talks about humanity and sense of place should be implemented especially on historical quarters that are still surviving.
The dissertation seeks for a deeper thought in conservation which focuses on understanding and adopting the continuation of naturally growing historical quarter, as a strategy to keep the activities, life, and memories of the place. The steps should entail the understanding of organic approaches and transformation pattern, which allowed decades of natural growth and continuity of the place through re-evaluation of the historical quarters. The new conservation concept should also encourage ‘developing historic quarters’ to continue to grow and integrated with the surrounding new context.
Thus, Kuching was chosen as a subject of learning as it was observed still maintain its economic value and vibrancy, that still keep part of its traditional cultures and trades, while the historic quarters are coincidently just started to go through revitalization during the author’s site observation. By investigating its history, morphology, and urban form at particular era, the stages of learning and adaptations, involvement of citizens in molding the city, and good places that existed till nowadays are learnt. Alongside, the identity of old Kuching district being a riverfront marketplace was reaffirmed. Furthermore, the impact of the latest revitalization planning on the historic quarter is being analyzed to reinforce the importance of natural growth and raised a criticism on the new developments in Kuching. Eventually, integration between the natural growth and new development, inserting bottom-up approach into the current top-down urban development in the district is proposed to strike a balance between economic value and continuity in the sense of place of the historic quarter.
Keywords
Architecture, Design Track, Chen Yu, 2010/2011 DT, Conservation, Genius loci, Historic quarter, Identity, Kuching,, Natural growth, Organic growth, Revitalization, Sense of place
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Date
2011-06-16
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Dissertation