FIELD, LIGHT AND FOOD: ADAPTING OF THE TOWN SQUARE AS A LEISURE GATHERING SPACE AT NIGHT

Authors

  • Khalilah Zakariya Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA
  • Nor Zalina Harun Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA
  • Mazlina Mansor Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21837/pm.v15i1.220

Keywords:

urban square, town square, public space, urban design

Abstract

A square is an important built open space in cities and towns. In many urban areas throughout the world squares act as essential form of public space, making them a venue where socializing, meeting and event activities take place. Over the years, more squares are emerging as public spaces in Malaysian cities and towns as an alternative to parks. While most people often visit parks in the morning and evening, they still need a public space where they can conduct their leisure activities after working hours and at night. This is particularly relevant for towns and cities located in tropical and humid countries like Malaysia. The rising need to be outdoors in a cooler environment in the evening and at night, as a respite from the daytime heat and work, has attracted people back to the town squares. The sense of openness that a square offers is different from that of a park at night. The attractiveness of a square as a night space relies on how its users relate to the square’s physical, social and environmental attributes. Through examining a town square in Malaysia that has transformed into an active public space at night, this article aims to explore the attributes that enabled the square to be adapted into a night space. The findings revealed that there is a strong relationship between the opportunities for various activities and the provision of relevant infrastructure that support the square to serve as a public space for people
at night. This is an important tangent in shifting how urban public space in Malaysia might be designed and planned in the future so as to cater for the changing needs of urban dwellers.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Carmona, M., Heath, T., Oc, T., & Tiesdell, S. (2003). Public places urban spaces: the dimensions of urban design. Oxford: Architectural Press.

Childs, M. C. (2004). Squares: a public place design guide for urbanists. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

Cooper-Marcus, C., & Francis, C. (1998). People Places: Design Guidelines for Urban Open Space. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Denscombe, M. (2007). The good research guide: for small-scale social research projects. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill.

Francis, M. (2003). Urban open spaces. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.

International Making Cities Livable. (2002). The European Square. Retrieved from http://www.livablecities.org/articles/european-square-conference-report.

Khalilah Zakariya, & Nor Zalina Harun (2013). The people’s dataran: celebrating historic square as a potential temporary market space. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 85, 592-601.

Kostof, S. (1992). The city shaped: urban patterns and meanings through history. London: Routledge.

Lynch, K. (1960). The image of the city. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Lynch, K. (1981). The good city form. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

Nor Zalina Harun, & Ismail Said (2008). Morphology of padang: a case study of Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur. In International Seminar in Sustainable Environment & Architecture. Shah Alam.

Nur Azlini Abdullah (2004). Plaza in Urban Area. International Islamic University Malaysia.

Tibbalds, F. (1992). Making People-Friendly Towns. London: Longman.

Whyte, W. H. (1980). The social life of small urban spaces. Washington D.C.: The Conservation Foundation.

Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research: design and methods (3rd ed.). California: Sage.

Zaidah Zainal. (2007). Case study as a research method. Jurnal Kemanusiaan, 9.

Zeisel, J. (1984). Inquiry by design: tools for environment behavior research. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Downloads

Published

2017-05-12

How to Cite

Zakariya, K., Harun, N. Z., & Mansor, M. (2017). FIELD, LIGHT AND FOOD: ADAPTING OF THE TOWN SQUARE AS A LEISURE GATHERING SPACE AT NIGHT. PLANNING MALAYSIA, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.21837/pm.v15i1.220

Most read articles by the same author(s)

<< < 1 2 3 > >>