Place-based assessment of sociability of shopping streets in the Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Malaysia
The functions of streets as social places have been undermined by the emergence of modern shopping malls that focus on indoor social activities. Streets mainly use as channels for vehicular movement rather than spaces for social activities due to the dominan...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/84462/1/FRSB%202019%2015%20-%20ir.pdf |
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| Summary: | The functions of streets as social places have been undermined by the emergence of
modern shopping malls that focus on indoor social activities. Streets mainly use as
channels for vehicular movement rather than spaces for social activities due to the
dominance of car-oriented environment. In the context of Kuala Lumpur city, in spite of the high
intensity of pedestrians in the main shopping streets, low social activities observed.
The lack of social activities in the main shopping streets could be due to the quality of the
physical and the social environmental characteristics. The aim of the research is to
determine the street sociability based on the assessment of the people-based and place-based
characteristics of selected shopping streets in Kuala Lumpur.
This study employs quantitative research methods. This quantitative cross-sectional study
uses two sets of questionnaire surveys to examine SL, PL sociability attributes besides ISL in
four main shopping streets namely Jalan Bukit Bintang, Jalan Masjid India, Jalan Petaling
and Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. The result obtained using sets of statistical analysis such
as: descriptive statistics, correlation, multiple and logit regression, factor
analysis, pairwise comparison using SPSS Ver.16 and ANP Super Decision Ver. 2.8.0. The
finding of this study lists and orders the level of importance of the SL and PL sociability
attributes based on street users’ priorities. The finding suggests the safety of crime and traffic
and spatial accessibility as the top SL priorities while free entry places, or eateries and
services for cheaper prices is the top PL priorities. This study compares two sociability
assumptions including peoples’ priorities regarding the importance of the sociability
attributes and the existing situation of the shopping streets. The finding indicates that the
sociability attributes of the street layout do not correspond to the peoples’ priorities regarding
the importance of the SL/PL sociability attributes. This study highlights the positive contribution
of ISL on integrated sociability at both street-level and place-level.
The findings of this study provide a better understanding of the SL and PL characteristics,
which support the effort to bring back social activities to the streets as responsive social spaces while meeting the criteria of the Kuala Lumpur as a world class city. Thus,
it introduces a practical method in assessing and predicting street sociability in the context of
major cities in Malaysia. In addition, the use of the ANP method expands the body of knowledge in
the field of urban planning and design regarding place sociability
considering users’ priorities of a place. |
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