6. compArAtIve cAse study: downtown kuAlA lumpur

CHAPTER 06

6. Comparative Case study: Downtown Kuala Lumpur

The desire of the Malaysian government to position its capital city Kuala Lumpur as well as its largest city as a global city has led to its modernisation. Together with its surrounding urban areas, it forms the most industrialized and economically stable region making it the fastest growing city in Malaysia. The Urban area covers an estimated 1,940 square kilometres with an estimated population of 6.6 million (2013). Among the 70 world urban areas with more than 5,000,000 population, Kuala Lumpur ranks 56th in population density, with approximately the same density as Western European urban areas in the same size classification (Cox, 2013). Located in a densely forested tropical region, the urban areas with somewhat low density have permitted the retention of substantial greenery (Cox, 2013). As a result, Kuala Lumpur appears to be among the “greenest” urban environments in the world. The greenery is especially evident in residential areas, where most housing is either detached or row house (Cox, 2013). Since the city downtown represents the city itself, we see that all new developments in the Middle East and Asia are being made based on this liberation

Location map of Downtown Kuala Lumpur (Source: Author, Mariette Robin) of the cultural background in the respective contexts. In the last decade, The Greater Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan Region (KLMR) has witnessed a rise of new residential, institutional and commercial development driven by economic and political reasons.