1.0 Introduction Medan Pasar Medan Pasar (Market Square) is located at the heart of Kuala Lumpur. It was known as the starting point of KL. When people talked about Kuala Lumpur, Medan Pasar used to be the first thing to come up to their mind. It was originally a residential area of Malays who inhabited the village along Gombak and Klang rivers. Then in the 1986, the development of Medan Square is bloomed as a trading center because of the tin mining industry. Before the pedestrianised of the street, it was a mini square which also acts as a street divider. It allows street vendor as wells as cars, services trucks, busses and motorcycles to congregate there. After the pedestrianisation of the square, it became a more inviting and accessible landmark with the existing clock tower. However, due to the lack of planning of the site, it is now a community hub for mostly the foreigners, the migrant workers there and the locals rarely visit that space anymore. Currently there are a bunch of white collar locals who work at the bank offices there as it is still a financial district with a coexist of foreign money trading businesses.
Figure 1. Shows the situation of Medan Pasar before and after pedestrianised.
Rao He Street The other Asian street that being compared is the Rao He street which is a night market that located at Taipei, Taiwan. Taipei city is the capital city of Taiwan, it is located at the northern area of Taiwan. Rao He Night Market was known as one of the oldest night market in Taiwan. It was originally a main road that was busy with vehicles and pedestrians. However, in the 1980s, there was a major train station named as Song Shan train station built to serve the district. People no longer use Rao He street as a mean for transportation, it became a secondary road. In 1987, to aid the situation, the government decided to resume the vibrancy of the street with night market. Till then, the area surrounding Rao He street was developed rapidly and is now designated as a major commercial and tourists destination.
Figure 2 shows the crowd of Rao He Night Market. The two sites are to be analysed and compared with a detail level of understanding. According to Jan Gehl’s “Life Between Buildings”, he studied on the different types of contact points and varied degrees of contact intensity of people in a city. These are to be extracted and apply on the comparative analysis of the two sites with their similarities and dissimilarities.
2.0 Comparative Analysis 2.1 Pattern of Social Activities According to Jan Gehl’s “Life Between Buildings”, the social activities that take place at the public can be categorised in three types, which are the necessary activities, optional activities, as well as social activities.
Zooming into the pattern of social activities at Rao He street, it has a very high intensity of social activities as it is served as a night market which not only the locals but tourists are also visiting the site. Commonly like other night markets, there are seats which allows the people to enjoy their food and also plaza which can be a congregation spot for the people that contribute to interactions of people in the night market. In a macro level of analysis, the train station nearby the night market is also a factor of contribution. This allows tourists or locals even from other areas of Taipei able to travel to this night market as it is very convenient and accessible by using train. The commercial buildings and the food stalls also cater to the optional activities of the people there as people would come for food hunting and also shopping with their families and friends. Referring back to Jan Gehl’s theory again, social activities can also known as “resultant activities’, which he mentioned that nearly all instances they evolved from activities linked to other two activities categories. Relating back to the site, the pepper pork bun located at the Eastern gate of Rao He street is certainly a very popular stall in the night market. It influences a high intensity of people while the eastern gate is possessed as a magnet to pull in more people. In contrast, during the day, the street is quiet and there are not much activities being carried out there. However, there are some locals would gather at Fu De Temple which is at the middle of the street and Ci You Temple which is located at the Eastern gate to pray every morning. It is also a tourist attraction around the market vicinity.
Figure 3. Shows that the whole stretch of Rao He Street is sandwiched between Song Shan Railway Station and tourist’s spot Rainbow Bridge, which contribute to the social activities in the night market.
Figure 4. and 5. Shows that the contrast of the crowd in the night market during the day and night. However in the case of Medan Pasar, during the day, the social activities are mainly happening in the five foot walkway due to the tropical climate here. Although the pedestrianising of the street increases the accessibility of the street, but the square itself can be scorchingly hot in the afternoon as the buildings alongside the square are mostly three to four storeys height. The people would rather to hide underneath the five foot walkway for shading purposes. The hiding spot becomes a space for necessary and optional activities where the migrant workers promoting their trading and boutique businesses and having conversations. However, the five foot walkway could be an obstructive path due to the staggering
walkway and also occasional displacement of businesses. Therefore, there are also some people would prefer to take the flat pavement on the square. Besides the shoplots on the site, there are also banks offices that are dominating the street. There are quite an amount of white collar locals there during weekdays. This is also a necessary activity that are happening on site. At night, the busy bus transportation and cars slow down and the pedestrians are also getting lesser as there are not much activities happening there except for the view of Masjid Jamek.
Figure 6. Type of activity: Necessary activity, The white collar locals are waiting for public transportations at Medan Pasar.
Figure 7. Shows that the people in Medan Pasar normally congregate at the five foot walkway instead of gathering at the plaza due to the climate.
2.2 Contact Points and Contact intensity Contact point are defined as a focal point where opportunities of meeting and communicating with another being could be found at. Based on Jan Gehl’s theory, “the concept of carrying degrees of contact intensity is the basis of the following simplified outline of various contact form.” The lowest degree of contact intensity would be passive contact and the highest would be acquaintances, friends and close relationships.
The plaza in Medan Pasar itself is a contact point. There will be two or three food trucks parking at the plaza and selling food to the migrant workers and the white collar locals. The tourists would also pass by the site to visit the significant clock tower. However, most of the time people rarely gather at the plaza not only because of the climate issue, but also it is just a transient space for people to travel to other more important landmarks such as Masjid Jamek, River of Life and also the Kasturi Walk. The plaza is also sandwiched between the Masjid Jamek and Pasar Seni Lrt station. During the day, the white collar workers who travel to the site by train would pass by the site to their own respective offices. The intensity of contact at the plaza are mostly just passive contact to the tourists and white collar locals.
Figure 8. Shows the existing food trucks attracting people at the end of the plaza.
Figure 9. Shows that people are passing by the plaza to other destination.
Figure 10. Shows the location of Medan Pasar is surrounded by other significant landmarks In comparison, there is also a plaza which located near the western gate of the Rao He night market. It is also defined as a contact point of the street. While having the role as the entrance and also the exit of the night market, the western gate is the busiest spot of the street at night when the night market starts. It is a path where most of the passerby enters or leaves the night market. Eventually, it attracts crowds of people to the plaza which sits next to the gate. There are also seats in the area which allows the shoppers to sit, rest and also socialise while enjoying watching the crowd in the night market which would also allows chance interactions happen there.
Figure 11. Shows that the western gate is always busy with people and they would rest and sit at the plaza.
The intersection point of both streets are taken into consideration as the contact points. The junction which is at the center of the Rao He street is one of the significant point that located at the intersection from different directions of 2 major path ways, Rainbow bridge & Mrt Station. The junction acts as a assembly point it usually gets crowded when the night market started. Due to its large size, it can accommodate a huge amount of people and also it is familiar as an intersection junction. There are also some tourists or locals would pass by the junction to another tourist spot, the Rainbow Bridge as they take it as the fastest route without the need to walk through the whole stretch of the street which could be a chance interaction. During the day, there is also a building in construction which tends to stop people in their tracks.
Figure 12. Shows that people are passing by the junction either to Mrt station or the Rainbow Bridge.
Figure 13. Shows the construction that is happening at the corner of the junction.
While in Medan Pasar, there is a busy road which segregates the square and Jalan Hang Kasturi. The contact point of the road is also a bus hub which was originally at the plaza before the pedestrianisation of the street. The bus crowd alongside the road also leads to the variety of shops that has mushroomed along the road. These shops are catering the need of the bus crowd who are mostly the migrant workers which the intensity of their contacts are as high as acquaintances and friends. However there is also vehicle disorder issue happening there, which is the consequence of the pedestrianised plaza. Due to the elimination access of vehicles in the plaza, the road has become congested as there are cars and busses pick up as well as drop off, and also services drop off. The multiple vehicles parking forms an obstructive edge between Medan Pasar and Jalan Hang Kasturi which also cutting off the continuation of pedestrian flow.
Figure 14. Shows that the busses are congested at the road which has become an edge between Jalan Hang Kasturi and the Square in Medan pasar.
Figure 15. Shows that the business alongside the road are catering to the bus crowd, which also causes the congestion of traffic.
In terms of the seating area, to cater to the needs of the shoppers in Rao He night market, there is a huge seating area located after the junction of the street. It is a place that people usually bring along their friends and families to sit and enjoy their food after the shopping at the front part of the night market. Although there are ample seating area, however it is still proves insufficient because of the huge amount of people that go to the night market. So normally, people would have to stand beside the tables to wait for the seatings. This could create acquaintance interactions between the people who are waiting and the people who are sitting.
Figure 16. And 17. shows that the crowd of people at the seating area and others would have to stand beside the tables to wait for their seats. For Medan Pasar, there are also seating area at both sides of the plaza. The people who are utilizing the seats are mostly the migrant workers and the homeless people. Unlike the seating area in the night market, the seats are normally occupied only in the morning and night due to the lack of shading devices for the seating area. If it is raining, naturally the seating areas will be abandoned. The intensity of contact that is occurring here is just merely passive contact. In the morning, a few of the migrant workers would gather around the seats to have conversations. When the sky is getting dark in the evening, the homeless people will start to occupy the seats as their “home”.
Figure 18. Shows that the seating area in Medan Pasar are seldom occupied.
Figure 19. And 20. Shows that most of the seats are taken by the homeless people.
3.0 Conclusion To summarize the analysis, Rao He night market is a place which is lively at night. On the other hand, Medan Pasar is lively in the morning. This is because as a night market which operates every night, a lot of people will visit Rao He night market without fail. As for Medan Pasar,only the locals and white collar workers make up the crowd, with an occasional event to liven up the place every once in a while. Although both these sites are in close vicinity with famous and important landmarks but the patterns of their social activities are very distinctive even though geographically they are very similar.
School of Architecture, Building, and Design Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Architecture
Theories of Architecture & Urbanism Project 1 Part B: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ESSAY (Individual)
Chong Xin Dean 0325353 Tutor: Mr. Nicholas Ng
4.0 References
1. Gehl, J. (2011). Life Between Buildings: Using public spaces. Washington, D.C.: Island press. 2. Lynch, K . (1962) The Image of a City. 3. https://www.englishintaiwan.com/shopping-in-taiwan/taipei-night-markets/rao-he-night-market