SHOULD wE JOIN T wO TERRITORIES?

The vision of Iskandar Malaysia sees much of Johor’s coasts as an asset, subject to rapid urbanisation. The coast is seen as ideal ground for living, in spite of the vulnerability of low-lying land to natural forces. Here, the onset of the built environment is premised on Vitruvian virtue of firmitas, as it applies to architecture under a state of stability. Coastal ground is stabilised as land by infrastructural measures that preserve firmitas. The coast, as a transitory zone where spatial interactions between sea and land occur, is therefore contradicted.

Kampong Pasir is an example of firmitas along Johor’s coast that lies vulnerable to fluid ground. In 1983, a bund was constructed to protect the neighbourhood from the overflowing Skudai river. Today, its houses face the added threat of interior flooding during the tropical monsoons. Under the advent of intensifying climate change, can firmitas truly be preserved along the coast? Or can architecture diverge from firmitas and deal with fluid ground in a new way?