8/14/2019 TheSun 2009-11-03 Page13 Put People First in Town
Planning
1/1
speak up!13theSun | TUESDAY NOVEMBER 3 2009
Put peoplefirst
in town planningWORLD TownPlanning Day is onNov 8. Although it
iscommemorated inonly 30 countries, forthose interested inurban
development, itprovides an occasionto reflect on townplanning, its
strengthsand weaknesses.
This year, theFederal Town andCountry PlanningDepartment
com-memorates the day by holdinga conference on Nov 9, with
thetheme Sustainable Develop-ment People-centric Planning.Although
this is not somethingnew, it is timely.
Town planning emerged asa distinct professional activityabout a
century ago to improvethe quality of life of the people,
es-pecially the poor. Unfortunately,the people are often forgotten.
Forinstance, dismayed by what hesaw in the 1960s, Herbert Gans,an
American sociologist oncecalled for Planning for people,not
buildings.
Urban development in Malay-sia has been anything but
peo-ple-centric. For example, therehas been too much pandering
tothe interests of private car driversand highway
concessionaires.How else could one explain themany highways
criss-crossingKuala Lumpur and the KlangValley? The Penang Outer
RingRoad (PORR) is still an agenda.
Making things worse, pedes-
trians and public transport havebeen neglected. Walkways are
of-ten not provided or built so badlythat they serve no purpose at
all.Even if provided, they are oftenoccupied by motor vehicles
orhawker stalls or not maintained.
While Malaysia gives priori-ties to private cars, many
cities,especially those in Europe, haveremained people-friendly.
Forexample, cities in Germany, thehome of Mercedes-Benz, BMWsand
Porsches, VWs and Audis,have very good public transportsystems.
More importantly, pe-destrians are provided with safewalkways and
drivers stop forpedestrians at crossings.
What is even more excitingis that roads and highways aregiving
way to walkways andbicycle paths. For example, NewYork recently
created a 2.5 acrepedestrian plaza in place of roadsthat used to
cater to 53,000 carsdaily. This enables about 356,000pedestrians to
walk and usethe place. Transportation Com-missioner Janette
Sadik-Khan,who was handpicked by MayorMichael Bloomberg, has won
ac-colades and has been invited bycities like Beijing and Sao
Pauloto talk about her work.
In Seoul, in 2002, Mayor Lee
Myung-bak demol-ished about six-kmof a six-lane highwayin the
city centre andrevitalised a river thatonce flowed throughthe city
to create theCheonggyecheonPark with a flowingstream and
pedestrianwalks. It is an attrac-tion to both Koreansand tourists
and playsan important role inSeouls endeavour to
become an international finan-cial and commercial hub.
In 2007, Lee was elected thepresident of South Korea.
There is much that can bedone to make Malaysian towns
and cities more people-centric.The local authorities
shouldreclaim public space for peopleto walk, mingle and make
newfriends or rekindle old ones.
For instance, five foot ways intraditional shophouses should
becleared of boxes, display shelvesand parked vehicles. Shop
own-ers should not be allowed to raiseor lower the level of
walkways.
The same should also applyto all municipal open spaces androad
reserves that are occupiedby hawkers, car-dealers, show-rooms, etc.
Such spaces mustonly be for people to congregate,if only to see
other people and beseen.
Old wet markets that are nolonger used should be turnedinto
public parks. Such spacescould be used for weekend activi-
ties such as farmers markets oreven garage sales to bringpeople
back and enjoy the towncentres.
For instance, the old market inBalik Pulau in Penang should
notbe a site for multi-storey build-ings. It should be turned into
anopen space so that the townshipwhich is famous for
seasonalfruits, especially durians, has agreen place for the local
peopleand visitors to mingle and enjoylocal fruits.
Last but not least, river banksshould be turned into
linearparks. Malaysians should be ableto walk, mingle and relax
alongthe banks of Sungei Klang inKuala Lumpur, Sungei Segget
inJohor Baru and Sungei Penangin George Town just as the
SouthKoreans do in central Seoul.
As Lewis Mumfort said in1938, City is a place for multiply-ing
happy chances and makingthe most of unplanned opportu-nities. But
unless people meetand mingle, the benefits of cityliving will not
materialise.
Dr Goh Ban Lee is interested inurban governance, housing
andurban planning. Comments: [email protected].
LocalCounselby Goh Ban Lee
[email protected]
One task force too manyHOW many task forces can one ad-
minister effectively? Chief secretaryto the government, Tan Sri
MohdSidek Hassan, now has Pemudah,PKFZ and the
auditor-generalsreport to contend with.
This clearly shows a lack of de-sire to allow Sidek to do his
day job
to improve the government services
while at the same time allowing allthe task forces to be an
eyewashso that all the scandals remainunresolved.
Maniam SankarKuala Lumpur
