SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Architecture

THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC2224) (ARC61303)

PROJECT PART B

NAME: BENNY TAN SHIOWEE

ID: 0315447

LECTURER: MS IDA MARLINA MAZLAN

1. Site Introduction

Figure 1: Location of Klang Valley (Source: Google Map)

Klang or Kelang, officially Klang City, is the royal city and former capital

of the state of Selangor, Malaysia. It was the civil capital of Selangor in an

earlier era prior to the emergence of Kuala Lumpur and the current

capital, Shah Alam. Port Klang, which is located in the Klang District, is

the 13th busiest transhipment port and the 16th busiest container port in the

world.

Klang Valley is also known as Central region of Malaysia. The valley is

named after the Klang River, the principal river that flows through it, which is

closely linked to the early development of the area as a cluster of tin mining

towns in the late 19th century.

Figure 2: Location of Little India (Source: Google Map)

This essay will have more discussion and focus on the Little India and

the surrounding in the Klang Vally. Little India is located at the South of Klang

Valley. It consists of a colourful street from the striking saris hanging from shops

to the snacks and sweetmeats on sale from shops and roadside stalls.

The Little India enclave along Jalan Tengku Klang, Klang is the biggest

Indian street in Malaysia. Fierce competition among shop owners translate

into cheaper prices for consumers and people are literally spoilt for choice

amidst the rows of shops on the left and right sides of the road, with stalls

spilling onto the sidewalks and back lands. Variety of items such as saris,

necklace, gold and flowers are sold here. During Deepavali event, the Indian

festival of lights, the street is astoundingly transformed into a colourful

spectacle of lights and booming sound of music.

2. Introduction of Cognitive Mapping

In this project, I used a cognitive map as a median to understand and

orient myself in the Little India in Klang Valley. A cognitive map is a type of

mental representation which serves an individual to acquire code, store,

recall, and decode information about the relative locations and attributes of

phenomena in their everyday or metaphorical spatial environment.

3. Analysis & Synthesis

In the classic text of Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City introduces

urban designers, planners and readers to a new way of thinking about the

urban form of a city. With the normal method, people tend to use the

professional maps and plans to understand the city. Instead of focus on the

traditional way we understand and read about our city, Kevin Lynch

emphasize on how people in the city actually use and perceive their physical

environment. There is a common exercise in urban design and urban

planning courses which are ask students to draw a map of their

neighbourhood or city in order to develop a better understanding of the

differences between the physical map and layout of an area and how

people actually perceive the same area. Lynch argues that people will orient

themselves in urban situations by means of mental maps which consist of five

elements: paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks.

The purpose of the mental mapping activity is rarely how well a student

can draw a map but to start thinking differently about cities and their urban

form. The task can easily be accomplished through different instructional

media including drawings, written text, or oral presentations. In the project, I

have drawn a cognitive mapping in order to help myself in understanding

the Klang Valley.

From what Kevin Lynch stated in his book, The Image of The City,

districts have various kinds of boundaries and are “medium to large sections

of the city” (Lynch, p.47). Some of them are hard to be identify, definite and

precise. They can be recognized internally when people walk by, and

occasionally can be used as external reference as a person goes by or

toward them. In a large view of Klang Valley, the building typology is defined

by the typology of the building which is authority, central hub, religious,

historical, sport hub, residential, institutional and royal. They are act as a main

and key role on organizing a city and typically two-dimensional features,

often held together by some commonality.

As an observer, there are varieties of districts in Klang City. There is

central hub where Little India Street and most of the commercial area gather

right after the Klang River. The central hub is connected to other districts

except royal districts due to its privacy characteristic. It is easy access from all

others districts which make it a central hub in Klang City.

In the Klang City, the district boundaries are seems to act as the

secondary role. These edges provide the boundaries that separate one

region from another, the seams that join two regions together, or the barriers

that close one region from another. They may set limits to a district and may

reinforce its identity, but they apparently have less to do with constituting it.

They are linear elements, but are not the paths along with the individual

experiences the built environment. They can be physical edges such as

shorelines, walls, railroad cuts, or edges of development, or they can be less

well-defined edges that the individual perceives as a barrier.

As an observer, the Klang River is considered as one of the edge of the

city in the North Klang Valley because it is impenetrable to cross movement

by the people and it is continuous in form. Despite that, Kompleks Mahkamah

Klang and Stadium Padang Sultan Sulaiman are considered as visible edge

at the East of the Klang Valley because it is gigantic in scale that exposes an

entire metropolis to people view. However, the Jalan Jambatan Kota is

served as an edge at West of the Klang Valley because it is the main

highway and impenetrable to cross movement with the car passing in high

frequency. Taman Bandar Diraja Klang is considered as an edge at South of

the Klang Valley because it is continuous in form of vegetation and

impenetrable to cross movement.

From what Kevin Lynch states in the book, paths consist of the

"channels along which the observer customarily, occasionally, or potentially

moves" (Lynch, p. 47). These can include streets, paths, transit routes, or any

other defined path of movement. The paths are often the most predominant

items in an individual's mental map as this is main mechanism for how they

experience their city.

As an observer, when travelling in the Klang Valley, there are

pedestrian walkways in the centre of the city which is the Little India Streets.

Commercial and religious areas which have large amount of users are also

surrounds with the pedestrian walkways. There are few main highways

surround the city and an alternative vehicle road which is KTM for people to

enter the Klang City.

During the day I visit to the Klang Valley, the first identification of the

Klang Valley which catches my attention is the landmarks of the city. As what

Kevin Lynch stated in the book, the landmarks are easy to identify as they are

more likely to be chosen as significant. They are always having a clear form,

contrast with the background and some prominence of spatial location.

Despite landmarks, Kevin Lynch states that nodes are points within the

city, strategically located, into which the individual enters and which is often

the main focal point to which she or he is traveling to or from. There are often

junctions – a crossing or converging of paths. They often have a physical

element such as a popular hangout for the individual or a plaza area. In

many cases, the nodes are the centers of the district that they are in.

Figure 3: Police Station & Fire Station at Jalan Tengku Diaudin (Source: Google Map)

As an observer, the first landmark I seen during my site visit is the Police

Station and Bomba Station at the Jalan Tengku Diaudin right before turn into

the Little India Street. It is very unique in blue and red colours and remains

external features to me when I enter Little India Street. It is two detached

building which erect at the entry of Little India.

Figure 4: Restoran Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh near to the bridge at Jalan Besar (Source: Google Map)

From the observation, there are several nodes and landmarks along

the Jalan Tengku Kelana (Little India Street) from the Jalan Tengku Diaudin.

On the left hand side of the Jalan Tengku Kelana, the Restoran Seng Huat

Bak Kut Teh at Jalan Besar is considered as the first node in Klang City

because of its strategic location which is under the bridge and become the

popular hangout destination for the local community and tourists.

Figure 5: Cendol Stall at Jalan Stesen 1 (Source: Google Map)

Few streets after the first node, there is a second node, Cendol Stall at

Jalan Stesen 1. It is located at the alley in between shop house and car park.

The reason of choosing this as node is because the local people like to

gather and hangout at there for cendol especially in hot weather. The place

is provided seating for the people to chatting and chilling.

Figure 6: Masjid India Klang at Jalan Tengku Kelana (Source: Google Map)

As an observer, the Masjid India Klang is the second landmark that I

seen on the right hand side of the Jalan Tengku Kelana. It is one of the

landmarks of Klang City because of its big scale and unique history

background. It is easy to identify for tourist and local people due to its big

scale and usually become the navigation of people.

Figure 7: Street Stall at Jalan Taliair (Source: Google Map)

I found out there is a Street Stall as another node at the intersection of

Jalan Tengku Kelana and Jalan Taliair. It is a place for people to gather due

to the characteristics it has. The stall has provided food and drink for people

to buy and chilling around. It is located at a strategic location because it is

near to the tree which provided sun shading for the comfortable of users.

Figure 8: Chennai Silk Palace SDN BHD at Jalan Istana

There is the third landmark I found near the Little India which is located

few streets away from Jalan Tengku Kelana. It is Chennai Silk Palace SDN BHD

at Jalan Istana. It is located at a strategic location which is corner lot which

make it attractive by its outlook and easy to identify. Therefore, the location

itself makes it a successful landmark in helping user to remember the place.

Local community and the tourist are come to the place because it is famous

with its good, sarees.

3. Conclusion

In a nutshell, Lynch primarily emphasized the role of the visual sense

and how people find their way in the city is relied on vision which is the basic

forms in evoking a strong site image. The five elements (paths, edges, districts,

nodes, and landmarks) are defined as various techniques in optimising and

creating the perfect city. With the five elements implemented by Kevin Lynch,

Klang Valley is most recognizable by its edges which are the Klang River,

nodes and landmarks generate along the Jalan Tengku Kelana. These three

elements are easy to identify with the theories of Kevin Lynch. However, the

paths and districts in the Klang Valley are not easy to identify to the observer

and may need to improve.

Moreover, “The Image of The City” is a classic work and can be use as

a method to understand and read a city with its five elements.

4. References

1. The Image of the City. (n.d.). Retrieved June 05, 2016, from

https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/image-city

2. Image of the city, kevin lynch & case study. (n.d.). Retrieved June 05, 2016,

from http://www.slideshare.net/rajapukai/image-of-the-city-kevin-lynch-

case-study

3. Amir, R. (n.d.). BOOK REVIEW THE IMAGE OF THE CITY by Kevin Lynch.

Retrieved June 05, 2016, from https://prezi.com/cffm7tasiolc/book-review-

the-image-of-the-city-by-kevin-lynch/

4. Introduction to Klang Valley. (n.d.). Retrieved June 05, 2016, from

http://community.simtropolis.com/journals/entry/11832-introduction-to-klang-

valley/

5. M. (2012). Klang's Little India. Retrieved June 05, 2016, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSPGok37bRE