127 8.2 The international case studies: The circulation of public and pedestrian spaces As quoted by Jan Gehl “Throughout history, contact with other people in public spaces has been a very important part of the way we live as human beings, and it still is. If anything, with longer life spans, smaller families, and more leisure time, there is a strong tendency that we will use good quality public spaces more intensively”. Today, a great city is not only defined by good urban plans and architecture, but also by the vibrancy of its public spaces. Public places are where people come together to interact, to build trust and to build a comfort level, and this is, I think, something that is key in our effort to build a harmonious society and in achieving the objective of our nation-building. In chapter 9 and 10 it has been discussed how Dubai has circulated urban models from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur for urban interventions and large-scale mixed-use developments. This chapter focuses on the import of public spaces and walkability, which has gained greater prominence in cities throughout the world in recent years. While Kuala Lumpur’s city centre (KLCC) has been more accurately adapted in terms of design and planning of the urban development, Singapore’s planning initiatives are adapted for policy planning in Dubai. Kuala Lumpur is a perfect example of a city that has undergone a transformation in public spaces in terms of both urban policy and practice. the concept of public open spaces has undergone a sort of reformulation. A reformulation of the idea of public spaces can be witnessed in Kuala Lumpur’s old city centre. In the era of colonization, public open spaces underwent tangible changes to the extent that traditional design criteria were left obsolete and neglected by the societies of designers. Whereas in the contemporary period with the emphasis on tourist attraction, social interaction has been pulled into the atrium, theme parks, and shopping malls (Goh et al., 1990; Ahmad, 1998). KLCC presents a new era of evolved public spaces that focuses on attracting public users more for commercial activities along with leisure.
Sneha Santhosh Kumar
