6.1 loCaTion and dimension of siTe

6.1 Location and dimension of site

The development of the Kuala Lumpur Central City (KLCC) complex including the Petronas Towers, a large shopping complex, a convention centre and a 20-hectare urban park all replacing a former Turf horse racing track was a major decision for urban transformation made by the Federal government in 2009. Meant to be a “city within a city” development it features a complex interrelation of private and public sector interests forming the heart of Kuala Lumpur’s downtown core. There was a demand for premium commercial spaces, but the land had become scarce. A decade into the 2000s, the vacant plots surrounding KLCC were developed into high-rise, high-density lands allowing the construction of 50 storey buildings. The urban fabric of the downtown core drastically and rapidly changed into a forest of skyscrapers with many single-use plots being converted into mixed-use ones. The downtown region is served by an extensive network of urban expressways and urban railways, yet it primarily relies on private vehicles. In the 1980s about 35 per cent of transportation was by mass transit but in just three decades this had dropped to 10-12 per cent. Two new lines have been proposed through the core despite the declining use of public transport and it is not predictable if this trend could be reversed now. These expressways have an influence over accessibility patterns and play a significant role in the development patterns of the downtown core.

0 0.75km 1.5km Map of features of Downtown Kuala Lumpur (Source: Author, Mariette Robin)

0 0.75km 1.5km Skyscrapers