Final thesis 26th may

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ABSTRACT The Higher Education sector is a valuable contributor to the global economy especially for the international education institutions which had continued to grow exponentially in the past decades shown great contribution to the economy in global cities (Tilak 2003). At the local level, it had known for having a steady presence in a locale, for attracting revenue from within and outside its host community, providing job opportunities on different levels and relatively resistant to business fluctuation cycles. One of the most prominent influence of higher education sector on its host community is the phenomenon termed ‘Studentification’. This term was coined by analogy with gentrification, a term used in 1960s to refer to a middle class invasion of areas which were formerly thought of as run-down, thereby causing the displacement of many working-class families. Among the first to use the term studentification was Dr. Darren Smith of the School of Environment at the University of Brighton, who in 2002 undertook a groundbreaking study of the studentification effect in the Headingley area of Leeds. According to Smith (2005), studentification is a process which a growing student population move in large numbers to traditionally non-student neighborhood. The proportion of students living in rented accommodation in particular parts of city centres, inner cities, suburbs of university cities or towns often results in the ‘take over’ of the area or even a ‘ghetto’ effect which in turn leads to increasing numbers of student-oriented services and so-called ‘student areas’. It also claimed that studentification encompasses four defining characteristics which are social, economic, cultural and physical transformation in district enclaves of university campuses or higher education institutes. ‘Studentification’, as sub-dimension of gentrification and is an important contemporary regeneration factor nowadays; it is a process closely linked to the shift toward the post-industrial service economy, the growing importance of knowledge generators and the quaternary sector creative class and global competition in the education sector. In the past few years, this phenomenon has been represented as a British phenomenon only; however; recent evidence suggests that it also occurs within other international contexts. This paper examines the processes of studentification in Bandar(town) Sunway, a district which is known as a Higher Education hub in Subang Jaya, Malaysia. First, ‘Studentification’ coined by Smith (2002) will be examined and defined. Second, how this phenomenon occurred in Sunway; the leading causes of studentification, emphasizing the relationships between the growing number of students and its influence of the dynamic production and consumption of student-related urban changes such as the changing urban fabric and rapid development in Bandar Sunway. It is concluded that an understanding of the relationships between geographies of studentification is essential for progressing knowledge of processes of urban change in Bandar Sunway.

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Abstract Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1

Research Aims

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4

The Conceptual Meaning of Studentification The New Phenomenon with Student Population Understanding The Studentification Impact Studentification: The Gentrification factory?

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Chapter 3: Methodology Chapter 4: Data Collection & Analysis 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7

Marco and Micro Map of Subang Jaya The Evolution of Subang Jaya The Commercial District in Bandar Sunway The Higher Education in Bandar Sunway The Influence of Accommodation Preference The Public Transport Network in Bandar Sunway The Studentified Area- SS15 I.! The Urban Pattern: Zoning, & Programme II.! Dissecting The Urban Form of SS15 Through Visual Images III.! The Urban Fabric of SS15 •! The Urban Signage •! The New Architectural Aesthetic !! Shophouses with new aesthetic in SS15 !! No. 19 GreenScape Gallery in SS15, Subang Jaya IV.! The New Program in SS15 •! Shophouses converted into accommodation V.! The New Urban Spaces •! The Laneway Eateries •! The ‘Parking lots’ after 6pm •! The ‘PENJAJA” VI.! Transformation of Traditional Residential Housing in SS15: The Heartless Student Housing VII.! The New Typology: Mixed Use Architecture

Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusion 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4

Introduction The key findings of the studentification in Bandar Sunway A reflective statement Conclusion

Bibliography

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Students are widely recognized as an influential social group enacting urban (Daneri,2015) This is reflected in the changes of urban pattern and impact associated with the student population in towns or cities: cultural and consumption spaces of students (Holdsworth 2014), student demands for privaterented housing (Munro, 2009), population change within university towns and cities and other processes of urban transformation such as gentrification (Chatterton, 2010; Smith and Holt, 2007). Within many British university-towns processes of urban change are unfolding which are increasingly underpinning the growth of so-called ‘student areas’, and are connected to distinct social, cultural, economic and physical transformations. The processes underpinning these emerging urban geographies have been termed ‘studentification’ (Smith, 2000), and are closely linked to the seasonal in-migration and settlement patterns of higher education students, as well as the production-consumption facets of student accommodation (Rugg and Rhodes, 2003) and student-oriented leisure and retail services (Chatterton, 2002). According to Smith (2004), studentification conceptualizes the processes where the existing private-rented housing or ‘single-family’ occupied housing is recommodified by landlords or investors to create houses in multiple occupation, which then lead to the growth of high concentrations of such students around the neighborhoods of higher education institutions. This sparks distinct social, economic, cultural and physical effect (Brooks, 2015). At root, studentification encompasses the replacement of ‘settled’ resident groups with ‘temporary’ student groups, a reconfiguration of local population structures from increases in the production of unrelated living together in shared housing, and with young cohabiting students changing local class and household structures, to a distinctive student-cultural lifestyle.

As processes of studentification become embedded in local neighborhoods, the rapid growing number of student-orientated service to satisfy the hedonistic cultural orientations of students might be causing the effect of gentrification in ‘studentified’ area such as the rising of different range of student accommodation, franchise restaurants which are popular among students and increasing the property market price at these areas. The progression of studentification eventually results in a substantial spatial restructuring and reorganization of a particular area in a city. For example, He (2014) shown how studentification had transformed the urban villages within Guangzhou, China. In Auckland, the internationalization of higher education has led to the growth of a group of affluent international student consumers, with international students transforming local forms of the Central Business District, via their specific consumption of low-quality apartments and international student- oriented business services (Collins, 2010). Furthermore, Sabri S, Ludin ANM (2009) described the inter-connections between strategic urban planning policies and the enlargement of higher education in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia.

Importantly, this paper points to a main gap in the existing scholarship on studentification. First, the impact of studentification in developing countries are still remain largely under-researched. Most of the existing scholarship is based on U.K context or first tier cities and it has not defined the impact caused to other contexts such as 2nd and 3rd tier cities, as the process of gentrification originated in Britain and often viewed as a negative concept, it has also recently adopted in American English to refer to similar problems arising from the overpopulation of many U.S college towns. It is assumed that such processes can be seen even in second tier cities and or the cities in developing countries that desire to follow the global restructurings in terms of economy, politics and culture. This is the motivation of the current research on studentification in developing countries. Therefore, this paper provides broader understanding of studentification in Malaysia and explores its impact on urban development and transformation of the urban fabric. Its focus will be on examine the process of studentification and documenting the changes of urban architectural and urban spaces of the ‘studentfied’ area in Subang Jaya.

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1.1 RESEARCH AIM The main aim of this thesis is to explore the processes of studentification and its influences on the urban development such as residential and commercial development in Subang Jaya. Also, the phenomenon of changing urban fabric in Sunway and the forming of ‘student area’ in ‘studentified’ area.

The key objectives of the thesis are to: !! Examine the dynamism of the unfolding processes of studentification at a micro-geographic scale in Sunway. !! Investigate the connection between the dynamic of studentification and the urban transformation. !! Document the influences of the studentification in current urban space/pattern and architectural fabric of Sunway. !! Document the influences of studentification on the existing architectural of residential housing and the typology of urban development.

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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The Conceptual Meaning of Studentification The term ‘studentification’ is a newly emerging process of urban change associated with the seasonal, in-migration of higher education students and the growth of high concentration of these students often generating a distinct social, cultural, economic and physical transformation in its host community or university towns (Smith, 2005). At a conceptual level, the processes of studentification causes urban changes which are tied to the recommodification of ‘single-family’ housing or the repackaging of existing private rented housing, by small-scale institutional actors such as property owners, investors and developers, to produce and supply houses in multiple occupation for higher education students (Smith 2005). Smith (2005) defines the process of studentification in the same vein of gentrification that in the 1980s and 1990s, dramatic transformations associated with the processes which have captured the interest of the Britain media. The term ‘Studentification’ was listed in the top one hundred new words of 2002 (BBS 2002), and has seep into numerous national media articles.

Chrisafis (2000) described the effects of the studentification in Leeds. She outlined the replacements of families by students in past three years, home prices have risen by 50 per cent, knocking first-time buyers out of the market. The shortage of children in the area caused school closure. She pointed out to the political impacts such as electoral role-over which its percentage in a studentified area is about 7 times more than the average of other city wards. There are also cultural and social changes that are outlined by Harris and McVeigh (2002), the conversion of pubs to theme bars, which often close during the time of returning the students to their homes. The significant existence of fast-food takeaways and off-licences selling cheap alcohols which dominate the shopping streets, house prices have also rocketed as landlords have created a property boom, all are the main aspects of studentified areas. The four key dimensions of studentification which can distinguish the process of studentification from other urban changes are as follow: Economic: Studentification involves the revalorization and inflation of property prices, which is tied to the recommodification of single-family housing or a repackaging of private rented housing to supply houses in multiple occupation for higher education students. This restructuring of the housing stock gives rise to a tenure profile which is dominated by private rented, and decreasing levels of owner-occupation.

Social: The social impact of studentification happens when loss of amenity and high house prices make a considerable emigration. The replacement or displacement of a group of established ‘permanent’ residents with a ‘temporary’, generally young and single, middle- class social grouping; causing new patterns of social concentration and segregation in the studentified area.

Cultural: The student presence is often supposed to bring 'dynamism' to the area. The growing number of young persons with a putatively shared culture and lifestyle, and consumption practices in studentified area or university towns often linked to the growth of certain types of retail and service infrastructure such as some areas will become the focus of a pub culture; based on the student market, this then will attract youth from all over the other areas.

Physical: Mostly in studentified areas no property is immune from conversion to student accommodation, not only mansions, semis and terraces, but also shops, offices and even outhouses and garages. The fabric of the buildings or houses will be left to deteriorate, or patched up by cowboy builders. Curtilages such as gardens and yards, once the pride of their owners, will left to run wild, or razed to the ground, or concreted over. The incidence of burglary at studentified area has leads to installation of security grills over doors and windows and causes changes on the urban and architectural fabric of that area.

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2.2 The New Phenomenon with Student Population Today, higher education is increasingly globalized, students and scholars travels to overseas on a quest for education and knowledge is not a new phenomenon. With the rapid developments in transportation, information, and communication technologies, educational services can now be provided across borders and over intercontinental distance. Campuses are no longer the small outfits they were; higher education is increasingly being provided in many parts of the world in organizational form derived from the world business such as franchise and off-shore provision. Therefore, internationalization of higher education in today’s global knowledge economy includes, increased international content in curricula, movement of students, scholar, programs and institutions across borders. These are referred to as “transnational” or “cross-border” higher education (Guruz ,2011). In addition, international students are mostly young middle-class group with the greatest socio-economic, cultural and political implications.

United Kingdom is currently the one of the most popular destination for international students after the United States (UNESCO, 2014). Over the last decade, studentification has become a leadingedge process of contemporary urban change (Allinson, 2006) on national scale in United Kingdom.

According to the research conducted for Universities UK by Oxford Economic (2017), on- and offcampus spending by international students and their visitors generated £25.8 billion in gross output for the United Kingdom economy. This activity contributed £13.8 billion gross value added (GVA) to UK GDP. Thus, a global higher education market has thus emerged, with annual revenue estimated at billions of dollars. On the other hand, its impacts on residential communities are increasing societal significance.

According to the Guardian report (2007): “with increasing numbers of students enrolling at higher education institutions, where to house them all is a dilemma exercising the finest minds in university towns across the UK”. This is exemplified by a new and distinct academic debate – the geographies of studentification (Holloway, 2010). Traditionally, demand for term-time student accommodations in the United Kingdom has been met by institutionally managed `halls of residence' in campus-type environments, with smaller numbers lodging with families or renting in the private sector. However, the recent massification of United Kingdom’s higher education sector encouraged by the new labor’s policy of widening access to higher education during 1992, profoundly changes this situation, creating massive demand for term-time accommodation as the number of enrolled students rose from 1,600,000 in 1995 to 2,470,000 in 2004-05 (HEFCE, 2005). The consequence of massification of higher education sector caused the in-campus accommodation unable to meet his demand to accommodate many higher education student, especially international students; accordingly, it is estimated that less than a quarter of United Kingdom students now live in halls of residence, with around 50% now renting in the private sector (Rugg, 2000). The growing of the higher education sector, providing not enough resources that required to manage the impact on student accommodation, is identified as the key factor that has contributed to the occurrence of studentification.

2.3 Understanding The Studentification Impact The term ‘studentification’ is employed by geographers, policy makers and the media to conceptualise the process of urban changes tied to residential concentrations of higher education students within university towns and cities (Hubbard, 2009). At a conceptual level, Smith (2005) thus argued that the process of studentification are related, not to the growth number of students, but to the rapid recommodification of `single-family' housing by the landlords and developers recognising the inability of higher education institution to accommodate increased student numbers. These accommodations such as houses in multiple occupation provide by private sector targeted at students thus constitute the growing of property ‘niche’ in United Kingdom context. Rugg (2000) mentioned that the average higher education institution has over 2500 student livings in privately rented accommodation. This niche is normally characterised by particular practices such as subdiving, renting and managing housing, and the landlords are then able to extract more rent from multiple student household than they would from a single family in the same accommodation. This means that the

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! production of houses in multiple occupation through the conversion or subdivision of housing appears a profitable investment opportunity. However, across the United Kingdom, established local residents often view the transformations of studentification in negative ways (Tallon, 2013) for example, as student numbers have grown, so parts of Leeds, Birmingham, Nottingham and Newcastle have been taken over by a transitory population of young people who aren’t interested in tending the gardens or cutting the hedges. Moreover, they keep odd hours, throw late-night parties and spend much of their time elsewhere… Some streets resemble slums; the roads are potholed and litter-strewn, the grass uncut and the fences broken (The Independent 2004, page 11); and often one that is akin to the displacement and exclusionary effects of gentrification (Smith & Holt, 2007). However, the implications of the four effects of studentification may be argued to be positive or negative, depending on the context and the social group it impacts. For instance, international students boost other British industries, adding £750 million to the United Kingdom transport industry and £690 million to the retail industry. Also, helps sustain the United Kingdom's research base especially in science, technology, engineering and mathematics; they account for over 40% of United Kingdom postgraduate students, 50% of those doing full-time research degrees, but also issues of social conflict with existing residents, as well as visual and noise pollution. Some areas of cities are becoming ‘student ghettoes’, which are thriving during term time, but ‘ghost towns’ over the summer.

Overall, the positive effects of studentification are seen to encompass economic benefits through the multiplier effect; the regeneration of declining central city areas; the repopulation of central cities; revitalization, and a thriving community; social capital and social networks of young people; viability of public infrastructure and services; increased spending power in the local economy and the inflation of property prices.

On the other hand, the negative aspects of studentification are argued to be the formation of conflicts and boundaries between ‘students’ and ‘locals’; impacts of a distinct student lifestyle; an increase in incidence of burglaries; direct and indirect displacement of the existing population through gentrification; seasonal occupation of housing; dominance of a transient population with limited longterm commitment to the area; the loss of facilities oriented towards other social groups; and the creation of a student monoculture and unbalanced communities. Additional, the issue with developing countries is that, there’s no strong enforcement of law of boarding house, where the houses are illegally renovated and overcrowded.

2.4 Studentification: The Gentrification factory?

When studentification emerged as a contentious social issue in the early 2000s, it was usually associated with the ‘temporary’ of young, middle-class populations to the ‘permanent’ residential neighborhoods in university towns, causing to the concentrated (over)production of purpose-built student accommodation (Smith, 2002). Scholarship on studentification has begun to unravel the conceptual ties between studentification and gentrification (Smith, 2005). Typically, students are viewed as a highly-mobile social group and there are profound effects on the host community, due to seasonal movement, consumption values and expressive lifestyles of students (Hubbard, 2008). Moreover, the effects of studentification have significantly impacted on many socio-economic spaces within different towns and cities of United Kingdom and have been a key factor in the regeneration of many parts of United Kingdom towns and cities such as Leeds and Loughborough. According to the Studentification Guide (Universities UK, 2006), students often share common cultures and lifestyles of studenthood, which results in the reconfiguration of local infrastructures and services that are oriented to students.

Indeed, recent work has identified the increasingly blurred distinction between students and young gentrifiers (Hubbard, 2009) causing the studentification research agenda within broader sociological debates about extending and de-standardising pathways to adulthood, underlining the importance of the lifecourse-specific lifestyles, cultural and residential predispositions to studies of urban and demographic transformations (Bailey, 2009). It is important to understand that the concept of studentification is tied within wider contestations of the conceptual margins of gentrification (Hubbard 2009) with recent

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debates emphasizing that studentification should be considered as ‘nested’ within the wider conceptual rubric of gentrification (Butler 2007). The process of studentification should be aligned to form gentrification, which are started by small scale institutional agents, or ‘organic entrepreneur’ (Ley 1996).

When universities are set up in the cities and later universities’ accommodation can’t be provided to all the enrolled students and then students started to seek for accommodation at private section. In this sense, the small-scale property owners and investors would then recognize this an opportunity for profitmaximization, mostly in locations within close proximity to university campuses, which can be seen as the ‘pioneer’ of studentification. In this process of change, there’s a rent gap between the actual value of single-family housing and the potential value of House in Multiple Occupation, which is later becomes clear when the production of House in Multiple Occupation and the realization of long-term rental income from multiple students per annum can be noticed. Of course, this is only a partial explanation of studentification, and in line with non-structuralism interpretations of gentrification. It can argue that studentification is not essentially a product of urban land and property markets in university towns (Hamnett 2000), but is inter-related with demand-related facets, such as residential preferences and consumption practices. Another increasingly significant element of studentification in terms of the property market is the growth of purpose-built student accommodation in United Kingdom, developed by specialist providers and it started to accelerate at around the same time as studentification was becoming a recognized process in the early 2000s.

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CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY This chapter provide a discussion of the methodological approach to be taken to meet the research aims outlined in chapter 1. The research was done based on three major parts; study of literature, using correlation approach to examine the process of studentification in Sunway and using visual mapping strategies to analyse the impact of studentification within study area. The review of literature included study of the definition of studentification, in conceptual level defined by Smith (2005), the emergence of student population and its impact. The relationship between studentification and gentrification were also studied.

Correlation approach was selected as the most effective approach in order to establish some initial insights into where, when and how processes of studentification had emerged in Bandar Sunway.

The method employed address the main aims of the research which are to examine the process of Studentification in Sunway, a district of higher education hub within Subang Jaya; explore the emergence of studentification and its influence of the dynamic production and consumption of student-related urban changes such as student-oriented leisure and retail services in Sunway; and document the influences of the studentification in current urban and architectural fabric of Sunway.

A series of visual mapping methods were illustrated on how and where studentification may have emerged since the universities are started to set up in Bandar Sunway. Mapping the zoning of the study area such as the program of the study area to explore the pattern and urban form as well as the physical characteristic of the built environment, for instance, scale, density, characteristic of images and architectural style. This allows to generate what could be called the primary experience of urban spaces in the study area. The major contribution of this research concluded that an understanding of the relationships between geographies of studentification is essential for progressing knowledge of processes of urban change in Sunway, Malaysia.

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CHAPTER 4 DATA COLLECTION & ANALYSIS

INTRODUCTION This paper studied the presence of studentification of Bandar Sunway which is located in Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. Bandar Sunway is a township in Subang Jaya and it has also known as a Higher Education Hub, consists of 13 Higher Education Institutions, included 3 large universities in this area, namely Monash University, Sunway University and Taylor’s University. Other than these Higher Institution institutions, Subang Jaya has over 30 primary and secondary schools including local, private and international. 2 large private hospitals, Sime Darby Medical Centre and Sunway Medical Centre also located in Bandar Sunway. The commercial district of SS15 serves as the town’s central area, prominent for its large variety of cafes, restaurants, banks and boutique outlets. There are plenty of high-rise office buildings and serviced apartments surrounding the area as well. Residential areas such as PJS9, PJS7 and USJ 2 are very popular among the middle class families because of its location, just 30 minutes away from the capital city Kuala Lumpur and lower living cost.

The public transport system in Bandar Sunway is highly developed, boasting 2 light metro (LRT) lines, 1 KTM commuter line, 1 BRT line, bus and taxi services. Since 30 June 2016, many new LRT stations of the extended Kelana Jaya Line have opened, connecting various areas in Subang Jaya with Kuala Lumpur city centre and Petaling Jaya. The LRT stations are strategically located within walking distance from shopping malls, commercial centres and residential areas and supported by feeder buses. Currently, there are a few large mega commercial projects under development and other potential development has made Bandar Sunway a compact surburb sub-centre of Subang Jaya town.

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4.1 MACRO AND MICRO MAP OF SUBANG JAYA !

MACRO MAP

The study area of this paper, Bandar Sunway is located in Subang Jaya District with the red highlight shown above. Subang Jaya is located strategically between two important cities and it is wellconnected by public transport. It is served by an urban-suburb rail link, the yellow highlighted KTM Commuter line is connecting both Port Klang, the main gateway by sea into Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur, the nation capital city.

MICRO MAP

The macro map above shown the location of Higher Education institutions in red highlight and outline the commercial district in Bandar Sunway in white highlight. The rest of the area would be the residential area in Bandar Sunway.

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4.2 THE EVOLUTION OF SUBANG JAYA To establish some initial insights into where, when and how processes of studentification had unfolded in Sunway, a series of aerial view of the urban development of Subang Jaya from 1987 to 2017 is shown below. Before 1974, this area was part of Klang. The town was developed by Sime UEP Properties Berhad, the property development arm of the Malaysian conglomerate Sime Darby during 1976. This area was formerly a rubber plantation called Seafield Estate under the municipality of Majlis Perbandaran Petaling Jaya. Construction work for the development of South Subang Jaya began on 21 February 1976 and was concluded in 1988. At the same time, the first Higher Education institution was built on 1974, which is Sunway College.

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Upon the completion of the South Subang Jaya, Sime UEP began clearing land for development of the North Subang Jaya. From the aerial view, lands were cleared for residential development. Many double storey houses projects were launched during 1988 toward the North of Subang Jaya and the first commuter train line was introduced on 1995 to attract people that are working at Port Klang and Kuala Lumpur to settle down at Subang Jaya. At the past decade, Subang Jaya had focused on commercial and high rise development at Sunway area.

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4.3 THE COMMERCIAL DISTRICT IN SUNWAY

Bandar Sunway is located at the North of the Subang Jaya, making it closer to the Kuala Lumpur. This area is well-connected with 4 expressways included Shah Alam expressway Persekutuan expressway, Baru Pantai esspressway and DamansaraPuchong esspressway. Furthermore, the commuter train link which linked Port Klang and Kuala Lumpur is making this area a convenient spot to settle down. This area was once formerly rubber plantation and mining area. Many of this tin mine areas had become pond and had been utilized by the developers in Bandar Sunway as an attraction for tourism and property. Bandar Sunway has turned into a commercial business district of Subang Jaya, consist of mixed-used business district, light industry district and Sunway business district. Today, Subang Jaya is having 1,321,672 of population and Sunway itself is having 205,152 of population (census 2016).

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Sunway Business Precinct is a mega on-doing development project in Bandar Sunway consists of shopping centre, conventional centre, hotel, spa resort, high-rise apartment, water theme park, indoor ice-skating and universities. Shuttle bus service and canopy walk are available throughout this precinct.

Operating hours: 10am - 10pm.

Cinema: 10am – 2am Water theme park: 10am - 6pm

This area is also known as ‘SS15’, consists of total 6 Higher Education institutions and 3 secondary schools.

This area is popular among students because of the location and various choice of food and range of price, Eateries: 1. Affordable restaurants (Average 8MYR per son/ 2 AUD: Asian café, economic Chinese restaurant 2. 34 upmarket cafés! (Average 30MYR per son/ 10 AUD: Brewyard, Cosans, Coffea Coffee, Frisson Cafe Food Truck: Fat Duck, Banks: Maybank, Public Bank, CIMN Bank, Alliance Bank, Bank Simpanan National, Hong Leong Bank, Hong Leong Islamic Bank, RHB Bank Entertainment: 1. Asian café pool lounge 2. Internet Lounge 3. ATA Pub Operating hours: 6am – 3am.

This area consists of 2 Universities and a shopping centre, Summit Shopping Centre.

This area is mainly office buildings, car workshops and wholesale stores such as Mydin and Giant hypermarket.

Operating hours: Shopping Centre: 10am - 10pm.

Offices: 9am - 6pm

This area is also known also ‘Mentari’ because of the Mentari Court Apartment is taking a big area out of this district. Mentari is located right opposite to Sunway Business District which consists of a lot of lowcost flats and apartments, attracted a lot of factory workers than students to live here.

Operating hours: 9am - 12pm.

Sungai Way Free Trade Industrial Zobe is located next to the ‘Mentari’, consists of 7 light industry factories. Most of the workers are staying at Mentari Court because of the relatively low rental. This area is isolated by the adjacent Persekutuan expressway.

Light Industries: 1. Western Digital Sdn Bhd 2. Omron Malaysia Sdn Bhd 3. KESM Industries 4. Trio Tech (M) 5. FreeScale Semiconductor 6. NXP Semi Semiconductor Malaysia Sdn Bhd 7. Yayasan Nanyang Press Sdn Bhd ABX Express (M) Sdn Bhd 8. AutoPlate Division Operating hours: 8am - 6pm.

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4.4 THE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN SUNWAY

Bandar Sunway is known as a Higher Education hub because of its relatively high percentages of university and student in this area. Sunway College (now upgraded to full university status) was the first higher education institution set up in Bandar Sunway in 1987 when Subang Jaya was started to develop in 1967. After the development project, mainly the construction of commercial buildings and residential in Subang Jaya by Sime UEP Properties Berhad was concluded in 1988, the private educational investors started to look into the potential of Bandar Sunway as a university hub. Starting from 1989 after Sunway College was launched in this area, 7 universities were sprung up at the next 8 years. In 1998, Monash University established a partnership with Sunway University and later developed into a comprehensive campus, due to the high demand of enrolment, making it the first foreign university in Malaysia. Most of the university buildings in Bandar Sunway are multi-storey buildings that able to attract big amount of students. One of the biggest scale among all the universities is Sunway University, occupying 22 acres of prime land in Bandar Sunway, In 2013, a newly constructed 12 storey Sunway University building is opened to accommodate at least 9,000 new student population. The phase 2 campus expansion is now under construction to fulfill the visionary plan of Tan Sri Jeffery Cheah, the founder of Sunway University College to have 30,000 students on board the campus.

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LIST OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN SUNWAY

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4.5 THE INFLUENCES OF ACCOMODATION PREFERENCE

In Malaysia, Higher Education institutions are mainly located at Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. Most of the local students will move to Selangor or Kuala Lumpur to further their study after graduated from secondary schools. Therefore, students which enrolled into these higher education universities are mostly local students from other states of Malaysia and international students as well. The affordable cost of quality tertiary education is one of many good reasons why local students choose to stay in Malaysia to further study and international students choose to further study in Malaysia. For example, to acquire a UK engineering degree (3 years) in Malaysia through a 3+0 franchised degree programme at an estimated 51,000 MYR (17,000 AUD), whereas the tuition fee of the same 3-year degree programme at the host university in the United Kingdom is about 144,000MYR (48,000 AUD) or 30,000GPB. Another reason of study in Malaysia is the relatively cheap cost of living compare to other countries. For example, a state university in Australia requires approximately 34,000AUD per year included 19,000 AUD for annual tuition fee and 15,000 AUD for cost of living per year; meanwhile in Malaysia, a private university or foreign university branch campus requires approximately 35,000 MYR (12,000 AUD) per year included RM RM20,000 for annual tuition fee and 15,000 for cost of living per year.

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a) ON-CAMPUS ACCOMMODATIONS

• Lack of on-campus accommodation.

There are 13 universities located within Sunway. Out of all these universities, only 3 universities provide on-campus accommodation for students, which is (1) Sunway University, (11) Monash University and (12) Taylor’s University. However, on-campus accommodations provided by the universities are expensive and unable to accommodation all the enrolled students and therefore, most of the students tend to look for off-campus accommodation or shared houses for cheaper options.

• Rate per month $$$ 3000-2000 MYR/ 1000-700 AUD

b) OFF-CAMPUS ACCOMMODATIONS

• Short distance off-campus accommodation.

The above diagram shown the locations of high rise accommodation which is mostly rented by students. Most of these accommodations are 5 minutes walking distance from university, made it a preferable off campus accommodation for students.

• Various rental price for off-campus accommodation.

The rental price of the accommodation is based on the location and the facilities provided by the apartment. Newer the apartment will have higher rental fee; rental fee of the apartment with gym and swimming pool will be relatively higher than the same standard apartment as well.

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Rate per month $$$ 2000-1500 MYR $$ 1500- 800 MYR $ 800- 500 MYR

c) SHARED HOUSE ACCOMMODATIONS

• Shared house in residential areas.

PJS 9 800-600 MYR/ < 270 AUD per mouth Very close to universities, shopping centre and hospital. This area is gated community which have better security.

SS 15 1000-500 MYR < 340 AUD per mouth Very close to universities and various of restaurants and franchise are able to found here. Average operating hour is until 3am.

PJS 7 600-450 MYR < 200 AUD per mouth Very close to Taylor’s university and rental price is relatively lower than other area. However, not much restaurant is founded in this area. Shuttle bus and canopy walk are available and linked to shopping central approximately 20minutes walking distance.

USJ 2 800-600 MYR < 270 AUD per mouth Located opposite to the university. A quieter residential area compares to the above areas. Only convenient for students who study in this area sue to lack of pedestrian walkway.

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4.6 THE TRANSPORTATION NETWORK Bandar Sunway has 2 main highway which is Leburaya Pantai Baru and Lebuhraya Shah Alam. Subang jaya is located between Port Klang, the main gateway by sea to Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur. KTM Commuter is an electrified commuter train service first introduced in 1995, catering especially to commuters in Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding suburban areas. In the recent year, 2015, the first BRT elevated Sunway Bus line is built to service the highdensity areas of Sunway. Then in 2016, elevated light rapid transit line is built to connect with the KTM line. The transportation network in Bandar Sunway is effected by the student population. It reveals that theirs is existence of student price on the public transport and also free transportation to the students.

Furthermore, a semi-public sky bridge which can be access from Sunway University and Sunway shopping area was built during 2016.

The sky bridge are now mainy occupied by the students sue to the limited exit on particular area only such as exit to Taylorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s University, Sunway University and Monash University.

The expressway (Perleburaya is the Malay name) Bus Stop KTM Commuter Railway that connects Kuala Lumpur(east) and Port Klang (west) LRT Elevated Light Rapid Transit that connect to the south side of the town

BRT Elevated Bus Stop (Operated by Rapid KL to serve Sunway Business District)

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a) PUBLIC TRANSPORTATIONS

1. Public Transports for people in Sunway. a. KTM Commuter Line This line connects Kuala Lumpur (city centre) and then pass through Subang Jaya Station and travel to Port Klang(West end) Operating Hours: Mon to Saturday: 6am – 11.45 pm Sunday & Public Holiday: 6.00am – 11.00 pm b. Various Bus Operators ! RapidKL (U770, U771 & 641) ! Metro Bus (10, 13, 13A) ! Mini Bus (66, 99, 9) Operating Hours: Mon to Saturday: 6am – 11.00 pm Weekdays Peak: 6.30am Sunday & Public Holiday: 6.00am – 11.30 pm Sunday Peak: 7.30am c. Elevated RapidKL Bus Average Frequency 4-8 minutes Mon to Sunday: 6am – 12.00 pm d. Elevated Light Rapid Transit Line (KJ28) This line connects from Putra Height (South end residential district) to the Subang LRT Line, stopping at USJ2 and SS15, and then travel all the way to the Gombak (the border of Selangor) Mon to Saturday: 6am – 11.45 pm Sunday & Public Holiday: 6.00am – 11.00 pm

b) STUDENT TRANSPORTATIONS

2. Shuttle bus service for students in Sunway.

There is shuttle bus service arranged by 2 universities, Sunway University and Taylor’s Univeristy. Sunway Shuttle Bus is free of charge because it is operated by Sunway Group itself while Taylor’s University is cooperating with 3rd part bus company to provide bus service for students. a. Free Sunway Shuttle Bus Running along Sunway Group property only, starting from Sunway Hotel Tower.

Operating Hours: Mon to Saturday: 7am – 10.15 pm Sunday & Public Holiday: 9.00am – 10.15 pm b. 3rd Party Taylor’s Shuttle Bus Running in 2 routes which are SS15 area and ‘Mentari’ area. Both shuttle bus is available for student with student price when student ID is provided.

Operating Hours: Mon to Saturday: 7am – 12.00 pm Sunday & Public Holiday: 9.00am – 6pm

c) PEDESTRIAN NETWORK

3. Pedestrian Network in Sunway.

There’s two type of pattern in Sunway; SS15 area and Sunway Business area. a. The traditional 5-foots walkway and laneway pattern SS15 is a much more pedestrian friendly area due to the 5-foots walkway in front of every shop houses in this area which built during 1985. Laneway in between shop houses row allow this area to be highly permeable. b. Busy traffic pattern and sky bridge This area is business commercial area developed by Sunway Group. Canopy walkway is provided within Sunway University to connect with the shopping centre for its students. A newly constructed sky bridge (2016) is connecting with the elevated bus station and it also run across a 4 lane highway and connects with Taylor’s University.

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4.7 THE “STUDENTIFIED” AREA, SS15 DISTRICT

SS15 is a popular and vibrant commercial and residential enclave located in the heart of Bandar Sunway. The neighborhood of SS15 comprises both commercial and residential properties. Residences here are mainly 2-storey terrace houses, which were completed back in 1988. Furthermore, there is a medium-rise apartment, namely My Place Apartment, a high-rise serviced residence Menara Rajawali and two high-rise office buildings such as Subang Square and First Subang. There are plenty of amenities in SS15, such as education centres, education institutions, banks, cafes and eateries.

Almost all banks branches can be found in the enclave including Public Bank, Affin Bank, Alliance Bank, EON Bank, RHB Bank, Maybank and Southern Bank. Several universities, colleges and private institutions which include Taylor's College, INTI College, Seafield College, ALFA College, Westminister College and Metropolitan College are nestled within the enclave. SS15 is highly popular among the youngsters and students. When the student population start to grow during the early 20s, many shop houses with single program turned into mixed-used program within a single building, for instance, shop houses located opposite the Taylor’s College and INTI College turned into mixed-use with multiple tenants in a single building. For example, eateries on the ground floor, offices on the first floor and renovated student accommodation on the highest level.

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i) THE URBAN PATTERN: ZONING OF SS15 & ITS WALKING DISTANCE

“It is a place for student” mentioned in The Star News, a Malaysia news publication interviewed some of the local community after SS15 becomes a popular destination for trendy cafes. Within this area, there is also an abundance of international F&B outlets, restaurants, boutique outlets and banks. Six Higher Education institutions and 1 secondary school are set up in ss15, included Taylor’s College, INTI College, Metropolitan College, Seafield College, ALFA College and Westminster College. The gap between shop houses is a walkway lane allows people and students to walk around in SS15 easily.

In Malaysia, students usually travel with public transports and private car.

Therefore, on street parking is available throughout SS15. There are 3 open space parking lots and 1 multi-level parking building at the centre of SS15. These car park lots have the capacity of 100 and it is located at the short distance to the universities. However, the on street parking and parking lots are still not sufficient to accommodate all the cars, therefore, parking is always a problem in this area. Most of the cars will park at the same spot more than 2 hours. As result, newly opened cafes are located within the radius.

SS15 district serves as the town’s central area. It is prominent for its large variety of eateries. Therefore, most of the shop houses have mixed-use programme with eateries on the ground floor and offices at the upper level. The shop houses throughout this area were constructed at the early 19th century, where the shop houses shared the common feature of the 5-foor ways, a paved pedestrian walkway with 5 feet in width and commonly projecting from the ground floor into the street. Therefore, the gap between the shop houses connected the back and forth of the lane, promoting foot traffic and creating dynamism in SS15.

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ii) DISSECTING THE URBAN TISSUE OF SS15 THROUGH VISUAL ANALYSIS !

1. THE FIVE-FOOT WALKWAY

2. UTILIZATION OF THE URBAN

The Five foot ways (Malay: Kaki lima) are paved pedestrian walkways, 5 feet (1.524 metres) in width, projecting from the ground floor of a building into the road. This feature can be found in shop houses throughout SS15. It functions as a covered verandah to shield pedestrians from the sun and rain. In SS15, some of these verandah is usually occupied by the eateries.

Some of the eateries stall will locate their stall along the verandah to make extra space for the shop and also attract pedestrians into the shops. These occupied five foots walkway along the shop houses has becomes a unique element into SS15

LANEWAY The laneway in SS15 allows permeability for pedestrian. It is common in this area where the shop houses (restaurants) located beside the laneway will occupied half of these space for outdoor sitting area. Usually canvas roof will be installed as an add on for the building.

Furthermore, these urban space also occupied by some food stall owner where the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;restaurantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; only set up during the night after operation hours of the shop houses.

3. MULTI-FUNCTIONAL IN SINGLE BUILDING Shophouses is a vernacular architectural building type that is commonly seen in areas especially Southeast Asia. These shop houses consist of shops on the ground floor which open up to a public arcade or "five-foot way", and which have residential accommodation upstairs. Typically, shop houses have 2 to 3 levels due to the constraints in building technology. In the early 20th century with advent of modern construction materials like reinforced concrete, 3 to 4 storey shophouses are most common in central cores of towns with higher levels of prosperity and population density. Therefore, shop houses in SS15 consist of 3 to 4 level and each of the shop houses has multi-programmes. Initially the upper level is occupied by single families, today, this shop houses are rented out for commercial use and students room.

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iii) THE URBAN FABRIC OF SS15 URBAN ELEMENT: 1. URBAN SIGNAGE In SS15, most of the shop houses are multi-storey and multi-functional. Each floor has different commercial use, as result, different design of signage and color can be found in this area. Urban signage is an element that can contributes to the liveliness and dynamism to the urban street.

It is a symbol of bustling metropolis and irresistible prosperity.

URBAN ELEMENT: 2. NEW ARCHITECTURAL AESTHETIC SS15 is developed at the early 20th century with advent of modern construction materials such as reinforced concrete, therefore, these shop houses adopted postmodern and revival styles with heavy concrete faรงade and a row of linear window opening. Today, a new architectural aesthetic started to begin in SS15, with simple vertical panels facade to cover the windows on the building fabric with minimal signage. This new faรงade can be found throughout SS15 and one of the building with this new faรงade is also located in SS15, the NO.19 ArchiCentre.

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SHOPHOUSES WITH NEW ARCHITECTURAL AESTHETIC: THE VERTICAL PANEL FACADE

The new architectural aesthetic started to appear in the recent year. There is no exact date recorded when is this new aesthetic started in SS15. The diagram below shown that most of the buildings with this new architectural aesthetic is 3-storey shophouses which located further away from the institutions or student’s hotspot this because the new façade has flat and minimal signage on the building surface. As result, shophouses with multi-tenants or student-oriented service that located near the institutions with vibrant signage to attract people and students are most likely remain its original heavy concrete façade to maximize the surface for more signage.

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NEW ARCHITECTURAL AESTHETIC PROJECT IN SS15

No.19 GREENSCAPES GALLERY Architect: ArchiCentre Location: 19, Jalan SS15/5c, Subang Jaya Engineer: Jurutera Perunding TSSC Lim Contractor: LIMK Construction Completion: 2012

Nestled in the bustling commercial area of SS15 Subang Town Centre, No. 19 is the reincarnation of a late 1970â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 3-storey shop house refurbished into a green rated modern flexible-use studio gallery. In the sea of concrete and terracotta roof tiles, the steel vertical fins of the new facade become a contemporary respite. A devoted mimicry of ArchiCentreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own office at No. 55 located down the street, No. 19 chose to conceal the contents of its upper storeys instead, except for a punctuation midway where the gallery bares its interiors. The box louvers finished to emulate wood grain soften down the industrial appearance of the existing building and at the same time provide privacy and heat/glare-reduction.

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iv) THE NEW PROGRAM IN SS15 !! SHOPHOUSES CONVERTED INTO ACCOMMODATION The diagram below shown shophouses that have been converted into accommodation programme. Three type of accommodation are found in SS15 such as mixed-used shophouses with upper level converted into living space and this kind of accommodation has minimal living space, low living quality and cheapest among the accommodation (500 MYR/166 AUD per month) because it is owned by unit owner who exploited some loophole in the housing law by converted their unit into rooms using partition boards only; shophouses converted into commercial hotel for tourists and shopshouse converted into student unit that managed by proper housing agents.

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v) THE NEW URBAN SPACES IN SS15

1. LANEWAY EATERY: THE ‘LORONG’ MAMAK The laneway eatery is one of the unique eatery in SS15 where the laneway is occupied by the eatery after the business hour. During the usual business hours, 9am until 5pm. During the day, those laneways are functioned as a pedestrian walkway for the local community, however, these laneways are then turned into a space for eatery and usually open until late night. The ‘lorong’ Mamak, also known as ‘TamilMuslim’ food stall that opeated in the laneway, is a famous food stall in SS15, providing affordable food for the local community. Mamak’s food is cheapest in SS15, usually 8 MYR comes with a bowl of noodle and a beverage. Mamk which occupied the lanway has turned the space into a ‘student’ place where students love to hang out during the night.

Operating Hours: 5pm-5am

2. THE ‘PARKING LOT’ AFTER 6PM One street parking is available throughout the whole SS15 and as result, food truck is started to become popular in this area when the student population is started to grow. Parking spot in SS15 is free of charge after 6pm and therefore, many parking spot will be taken by the food truck to put their table and chair for the customers.

There’s are different food trucks in SS15 such as food truck that serves local food with cheaper price (<12MYR/4 AUD) and food truck that serves western food to attract youngster with price slightly expensive (<30MYR/10 AUD). Other than food truck, some of the restaurant also extend their business area by occupying the front on-street parking to accommodate more customers.

Operating Hours: 8pm-2am

3. THE “PENJAJA” Penjaja is a Malay term means hawker in English. Hawker tend to be mobile and usually set up their food stall at any gathering hotspot. In SS15, a very common phenomenon where the hawker stalls tend to set up under the tree or corner of any empty land and selling local delight with cheap price that able to attract tourists and local community.

‘Penjaja’ usually set up their food stall at empty land beside the road, started with a canopy and later on turned into a self-constructed food stall with simple cement floor slab.

Operating Hours: 11am-7pm

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vi) THE TRANSFORMATION OF TRADITIONAL RESIDENTIAL HOUSING IN SS15 : THE HEARTLESS STUDENT HOUSING

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THE HOUSE IN MULTIPLE OCCUPATION (HMO) IN SS15 When the supply and demand of on-campus accommodation cannot meet with the rapid growth of student population, it turns out that students started to move into residential area nearby their universities.

Two types of student housing are introduced to accommodate the growing student population in United Kingdom, the House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) and Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA). In United Kingdom context, the House in Multiple Occupation requires license and landlords require extra legal responsibilities when converting the single-family residential houses into student housing.

Landlords must register their rental property as an HMO with the local authority if it has three (habitable) storeys or more and it is occupied by five or more people in two or more households. A 'habitable storey' is any storey that is in residential occupation even if it's self-contained.

In Malaysia, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no license or permit required to convert the houses into student housing. Therefore, there is no formal record of how many houses in SS15 are converted into House in Multiple Occupation.

However, many banners can be found in SS15 residential area and wanting to rent out to students-only tenants and in most of the online room rental website shown that a standard single family residential house (single storey terraced house) for 3 occupations can now accommodation up to 5 or 6 tenants after the landlord removed the living room, the heart of the house to make space profitable rooms for student tenants which are looking a room in SS15 to stay closer to university and local amenities. The significant impact of HMO in term of physical impact to the affect area is the changing of building fabric especially for double storey residential houses and overcrowding of car parked at the area. Other than ss15, this urban changes also happened at other residential area such as PJS9 and PJS7.

1. TRANSFORMATION OF THE BUILDING FABRIC OF A DOUBLE STOREY HOUSE The diagram beside analyzes the changes of building fabric after a typical residential house turned into student housing. The architectural feature of the building is removed to create more interior space to maximize the profit per room. Garden and landscape also removed for the ease of taking care the house.

2. TRANSFORMATION OF THE TYPICAL FLOOR OF A TERRACE HOUSE a. THE COMMON AREAS OF THE ORIGINAL FLOOR PLAN OF A SINGLE STOREY TERRACE INCLUDED ! Living Room ! Dining Room ! Kitchen b. Each of the rooms will have it owns fenestration c. Typical fenestrations for terrace house are slide window and top hung window

a. THE COMMON AREAS OF THE HMO INCLUDED !

Dining Room !

Kitchen b. Each of the rooms will have it owns fenestration but the newly added rooms have no natural light. c. Different fee will be charged based on the room sizes and it condition. d. Rental excluded utility bill: !

Newly added room 500 MYR per month !

Bigger room with natural lighting: 700 MYR per month !

Shared room 600 MYR shared among the tenants. !

HMO rental: 3000 MYR per month

d. Rental: 2,000 MYR/ 700 AUD per month excluded utility bill

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vii) THE NEW TYPOLOGY: MIXED USE ARCHITECTURE

â&#x20AC;˘

FIRST SUBANG Architect: DMP Architects Sdn Bhd Location: 19, Jalan SS15/4d, Subang Jaya Developer: Titijaya Group Completion: 2011 ! Basement for public access. ! Ground, 1st and 2nd are retails podium. ! 3th level and next 3 upper levels are private parking lots ! 286 Soho Unit First Subang is the first high-rise mixed-use building in SS15 consists of SOHO units on top of a retail mall. SOHO is stands for Small Office, Home Office. It is a hybrid apartment for residential and commercial purposes which allows people to work and live in the same house. Instead of being used as SOHO unit, most of the units are converted into studio to rent out for students. As young students are known to have great spending and consumer potential, many franchise companies had opened their stores in First Subang to attract students around and those who stayed here.

Therefore, all the restaurants operated by franchise companies had taking over the retail podium provides different variety of cuisine.

Other entertainment service such as karaoke that offers student price also available in SS15 courtyard to attract more students and youngsters.

Operating Hours: Eateries: 10am-10pm Karaoke: 11am-3am Fitness Studio: 7.15am-9.30pm

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SPECIALITY ! Funtopia ! Thinker House ! Nail & Salon ! TM Broadband Station ! Felancy & Energized ! Korean Hair Shop ! iCare Dental ! Bookxcess ! Bonzour Home ! Okashi World ! 7-eleven ! Mama Jo Launderette ! Mirage Optics OTHER ! Bodytone Fitness Studio ! Loud Speaker Karaoke ! Village Grocer

FOOD & BEVERAGE ! Rakuzen ! Jibby Chow ! Yesterday ! Naj & Belle ! The Birdland & Fat Cow ! Shinmapo ! Naughty Nuriâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ! Hanbing ! Fa Ying !

Artico ! Mr Dalkgalbi ! Oyster King ! Owee Cuisine ! Texas Chicken ! Yoshonoya Hanamaru Udon ! Putien

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CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION This final chapter draws together the key empirical findings of the thesis, and explores the contributions of knowledge in the field of studentification in Malaysia. "The term “Studentification”!was first devised by Smith (1999) to conceptualize the process of contemporary urban changes and impact associated with the student population in towns or cities: cultural and consumption spaces of students, student demands for private-rented housing, demographic change within university towns and cities and other processes of urban transformation for example gentrification. However, it can be argued that most of the existing academic research and scholarship conceptualize this new phenomenon within western context only and therefore the definition of studentification does not fully capture the diversity of expression of studentification in other context. Instead, it can be affirmed that a more allencompassing definition of studentification would be beneficial. The diverse geographies of studentification that have been identified by the existing scholarship argued the impact of the studentification lead to the growing number of House in Multiple Occupation(HMO) and development of Purpose-built Student Accommodation(PBSA) that has negative effect the host community. The recent research also revealed a new phenomenon that has emerged in university towns and cities which is a distinct interconnected process of urban change that warrants exploration: destudentification, where the studentified cities or towns become ‘ghost town’ after the term time of the Higher Education students and then led to social (for example, population loss), cultural (for example, closure of retail and other services), economic (for example, devaluation of property prices) and physical (for example, abandonment of housing) decline”.

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5.2 THE KEY FINDINGS OF THE THESIS BANDAR SUNWAY

SS15

The main objective of the thesis is to explore the process of studentification, a contemporary urban changes associated with the student population which originated from UK context and its impact to the built environment and it influences on the urban development within Bandar Sunway, Malaysia.

The thesis has shown that the presence of student geographic has been a necessary condition for the unfolding of rapid urban transformation in Bandar Sunway. The concept of studentification has, without doubt, many merits for grappling with the multiple expressions and outcomes of studentification within Bandar Sunway. This includes the different social, cultural, economic and physical consequences of studentification on the urban landscape(s).

This thesis is the first empirical grounding of studentification in Bandar Sunway, exploring the process â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;in situâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. A major contribution of this research is to demonstrate that this new process of urban changes is longer only occurred in UK or western context only but also started to seen in Malaysia, a city in developing country that desire to follow the global restructurings in terms of economy, politics and culture and the definition of studentification does not capture the diversity of expression of studentification in Malaysia as well. Indeed, the thesis sought to provide a mapping analysis of the presence of studentification occurring in Bandar Sunway for objective 1. What the research process identified was the expansion of Higher Education institutions in the micro-scale of Bandar Sunway and later research revealed the presence of studentification did transformed the urban fabric and development of SS15 with relatively high concentrations of students. By contrast to UK-based studies of studentification to undertake some mapping of such information using GIS and studied how the House in Multiple Occupation(HMO) and Purpose-built Student Accommodation(PBSA) have the negative effect on taking over the traditionally non-student residential area and the changes of the demographic. Rather, the physical transformation of the Subang Jaya was identified via a range of sources including ground work to produce a series of visual analysis on the urban changes in SS15 to provide a more realistic understanding of the impact of studentification.

Objective 2 focuses on identifying the presence of studentification in Subang Jaya revealed the development of Subang Jaya itself was started on 1967 before any education institutions were set up in this area. However, Subang Jaya has experienced a dramatic population change from 79,002 during 1991 to 447,183 during 2000, an increase of 466.04% within 9 years after the Subang Jaya

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development project concluded on 2000 and there 4 Higher Education institutions were set up in Bandar Sunway by that time. This process for identifying the locations of Higher Education universities in Bandar Sunway, availability of range of accommodations and network of public transportation discovered the highly “studentified” area: the SS15 District. Importantly, this process reveals that studentification has shaped SS15 District into a vibrant and place filled with dynamism. Through the analysis of SS15 District, it revealed that SS15 District has the highest density of universities where 6 out of 12 universities in Bandar Sunway are set up within SS15 District. The growing number of students in SS15 had become an opportunity of increment of hospitality services toward student preferences such as upmarket cafes and franchises that can attract young people, entertainment services such as pool lounge. Furthermore, the average operation hours of SS15 district also affected by the student’s social behavior, from 6am before the class until 5am late night.

The empirical findings of this thesis serve to demonstrate that there is physical transformation on urban spaces and fabric of SS15 through a series of visual illustration analysis in objective 3. It shown that the function of urban space is no longer restrict by its ‘defined’ function but it has been changes to adapt the environment such as the public 5-foots walkway has become the extension of the shophouses, the laneways between shophouses are no longer for pedestrian use only, but utilized by turned into a ‘place’ for night-only businesses for students. The development of SS15 also tied to the supply-demand relationship for the growing number of young middle-class students in SS15. Students that have great spending ability and consumer potential are clearly the result of multi-functional in a single shophouses that comprise of eateries, trendy boutique and living spaces in high concentration of students in this area. Second, the thesis has discovered a new architectural aesthetic which is the vertical panel façade that has flat and minimal signage on the building surface contrasting with the neighborhood characteristic. This new aesthetic can be seen a result of SS15 district becoming a youngster hotspot and therefore, developed this simple yet modern façade to attract young people to SS15 district. It also discovered that a new programme emerged among the shophouses in SS15 for instance 3 types of accommodation are found in SS15 which are mixed-used shophouses with upper level converted into living space and this kind of accommodation has minimal living space, low living quality and cheapest among the accommodation; shophouses converted into commercial hotel for tourists and shopshouse converted into student unit that managed by proper housing agents. In this process, it also revealed that landlords exploited some loophole in the housing law by converted their unit into rooms using partition boards only due to the gray area of private owned building function. Furthermore, the urban space such as laneway, parking lot and empty lands in SS15 also been utilized by eateries, turned these spaces into a place for eateries that are popular among students due to the affordable price.

The last objective of the thesis was to explore the influences of studentification on the existing architectural of residential housing and the typology of urban development in SS15. It is important here to look into the transformation of existing houses that have converted into student housing when the oncampus accommodation is not sufficient to accommodation the high rate of enrolment every year. In SS15, there is noticeable changes in the effected residential area such as overcrowded cars on residential area, converted houses lose its original architectural identity to make space for profitable room, garden and green landscape which originally located in front of the houses are covered by cement.

Furthermore, the living room is removed to make more room in a house to maximize the profit when the landlords started to notice the rent gap between renting a whole house to a family versus renting each room with different rental. Moreover, it reveals that the high concentration of students moving into SS15 raised a new typology development in SS15 which is the mixed-use architecture. Originally, SS15 district is prominent by low rise buildings and the first high rise building was built during 1999 has single function only. However, in the recent years, 2 mixed used buildings are built in 2012 and 2013 serve as a new retail place consist of commercial on the ground level and residential on the upper levels. This new architecture is developed by developers who recognized the student population as an opportunity for profit- maximization to attract student who willing to pay more for better living quality and wanted to stay near to the universities. Contrast to the existing research findings on studentification where the it shown that studentification often result in ‘take over’ of the residential area, however, in SS15 District context,

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SS15 urban form is unique with mutli-level shophouses in the centre of the form and residential area at the outer ring. The student population had rejuvenated the shophouses, turned the shophouses in SS15 district into a fully occupied multi-level shophouses thus promoted the business and job opportunity to the local. Importantly, instead of developing the PBSA, SS15 developed the mixed-use architecture that not just serving a single purpose that may led to ‘ghost town’ during student semester break or holiday, instead, this mixed use building smartly attracting students to live in the upper level of residential units and also attract students and local to visit this place throughout the year.

5.3 A REFLECTIVE STATEMENT On reflective, this thesis has involved a research process that has included many constraints and logistical barriers. Looking back on the process, perhaps it would have been advantageous to have sought to obtain an official permit to access more official data for example the population changes in micro scale of Bandar Sunway and Higher Education student numbers although efforts to capture this data are difficult in the Malaysia context due to the census data collection is still very limited to macro scale only, visit Bandar Sunway to capture more in-depth social behavior of the students and able to interview both students and local businesses to investigate the impact of growing number of students to the economy in SS15. This would have been useful to analyze the impact of the changes in SS15 would be seen as negative or positive to the local community, local business and students. I could have also sought to collect more data from local housing agencies to more fully capture changes in the local housing market, from family housing to converted student housing, if these agencies had been willing to share their data.

5. 4!CONCLUSION In conclusion, this thesis provides empirical evidence that processes of studentification have occurred in the Malaysia context. Therefore, this thesis that shown that the processes of studentification are a global phenomenon; which are not specific to the UK or first tier countries only. Furthermore, evidence has been presented to show that studentification in Malaysia has been a positive urban changing process that activate the SS15 district to become a dynamic town that popular among the students and thus able to generate more jobs and business opportunities for the local community to contribute to the future development of SS15 District. The thesis confirms that the expansion of the Higher Education institutions since 1987 was the key trigger for the growth of student populations by looking into the increment of student-oriented services that contributed to the transformation of urban pattern and urban fabric of SS15 district. At the same time, the effect of expansion of student populations also influenced the development of SS15 and generated mixed use architecture in SS15 to meet with the demand of growing number of young student group. This shows that studentification is not essentially a product of urban land and property markets in university towns (Hamnett 2000), but is inter-related with demand-related facets, such as residential preferences and consumption practices.

The thesis therefore has shown the social conflict of destudentification occurred in UK context is minor in Malaysia context due to the nature of education system in Malaysia is different with UK and other western context, where the destudentification is described a reduction of student population in studentified area after student’s term time, mainly during the summer break which contrast with the situation in Malaysia where each of the universities offer different term time and students in Malaysia often has different study break with each other. As result this thesis concludes that there is presence of studentifification in Malaysia context and this studentification has densify and influenced the urban pattern and development in SS15 district and there’s minor negative impact to the local community compare to UK context. It shows that studentifification can be an urban rejuvenation for developing country that that desire to follow the global restructurings in terms of economy, politics and culture.

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