A comparative analysis essay between Newbury, Boston and Jalan Petaling, Kuala Lumpur about Contact Points.

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Theories of architecture and urbanism (ARC61303/ARC2224)
Project Part 2: Comparative Analysis Essay
Name: Ivy Voo Vui Yee 0319534
Tutorial Group: 4-6pm
Tutor: Mr. Nazmi
(Semester 5, August 2016)

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Contents
1.0 Introduction Pages
1.1 Introduction of Jalan Petaling, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia --------------------- 3-5
1.2 Introduction of Newbury Street, Boston, United State ---------------------- 6-8
2.0 Contact Points
2.1 General comparison on activities -------------------------------------------------- 9-10
2.2 Table of contact points --------------------------------------------------------------- 11
2.3 Intensity of Contact Points --------------------------------------------------------- 12-16
3.0 References
3.1 Information references --------------------------------------------------------------- 17
3.2 Figure and Image references -------------------------------------------------------- 18
4.0 Appendix ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19-21

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1.0 Introduction
1.1 Introduction of Jalan Petaling, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Figure 1. Jalan Petaling is highlighted in yellow color and Chinatown is highlighted in red color.
Jalan Petaling is located at city center of Kuala Lumpur which still maintains much of its traditional
atmosphere. It is a long street from North-west to South-east. Jalan Petaling is working in tin mines
which early settlers came to Kuala Lumpur for wealth because of this industry in the 1800s.
Chinatown is a famous and well-known landmark, Chinatown placed at the center of the street
which is a famous tourist’s attraction nowadays. This landmark has created a lots of nodes around
it and make it has a high density of people and always crowded especially at night. Jalan Petaling
consists of traditional shop houses with eclectic architecture style but mostly are Art-Deco and
Baba and Nyonya style. Abundant of food stalls, restaurants, trading and budget hotels can be
found along Jalan Petaling.
The common sights of Jalan Petaling are the haggling, illegal parking (double-parking), homeless
sleeping at the 5 foot walk way, informal circulation like shortcuts, not using zebra crossing etc. At
night, hawkers will move their stalls to the 5-foot walkway to continue their business and turned
the street become overcrowded and congested (Figure 4). I believed these scenes are mostly affected
by the culture of Jalan Petaling and the education level of the users. Although Kuala Lumpur is a
developed state compare with the others but there are also a lots of abandon shop houses can be
found along Jalan Petaling due to the urban decay.
The men in Jalan Petaling are mostly Chinese, Cantonese and Hokkian especially the hawkers and
the traders. Due to the changes of time, traders are mostly foreigners today and severely affecting
Jalan Petaling lost its originality. People started moving out from Jalan Petaling because of the
decay in economy, degrading of living condition and environment, huge amount of foreigners
migrating into Jalan Petaling for business and little amount of outsiders and customer.

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Figure 2. The scene of old Petaling Street, a typically street full with Chinese traders and people.
Figure 3. Chinatown in Jalan Petaling is a highway at the past and the hawker stalls were set beside the
road. Since 2003, the road has been closed, hawkers and vendors started moving out their stalls to the
middle road.
Figure 4. Today’s shop-houses in Jalan Petaling.

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Figure 5. Traditional 5 foot walkway can be found in Jalan Petaling. 5 foot walkway is a significant element
of Baba and Nyonya Style.
Figure 6. The bustling moment during night. Hawkers extended the seats and space for business. Many
people especially tourist will come here for dinner and enjoy the night life.
Figure 7. Abandon shop-housess are the good evidence to show that the decaying of Jalan Petaling.

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1.2 Introduction of Newbury Street, Boston, United State
Figure 8. Newbury Street is highlighted in red color.
Newbury Street is located at Boston, Back Bay area. Before 1800s, Newbury’s origin begin under
water and now it a 2 mile long stretch as the part of Boston Harbor. Newbury Street is from east
to west. Newbury Street is famous of its ‘high-end boutique’, besides that, there are also a lot of
restaurants, cafés and office area along the street. With these features, Newbury Street has
become a popular destination for tourists and locals. The building in Newbury Street are mostly
brownstone but some building has renovated with large glass bays on the ground floor which
generate a nice urban landscape. Most users who visit this street have specific destination rather
than aimless shopping. Landmarks were majority created by exclusive stores at this street which
usually visited by regular customer.
There are staircases up and down to access the buildings and I was attracted by these up and down
staircases because this will never occur in our country and this make the journey more interesting.
People can just simply have their window shopping when they walk along this street as some shops
have show windows or show rooms which facing the walkway with large glass to exhibit their
clothes or product to attract customers.
Besides that, cafés and restaurants at this street extend their seat to the sidewalk within their
boundary in a very organized way. People can just sit within the boundary, enjoy the view towards
the sidewalk while having foods or drinks at. Vegetation is planted at the two side of the street
which used to promote the urban landscape. United State is a country 4 seasons, so the
environment of Newbury Street will look different according to the season. For me, I like the winter
scenery of Newbury Street. Newbury Street develops itself in a very outstanding and magnificent
character and turn itself from a harbor to one of the nicest shopping street from in Boston. With
these features, I found that Newbury Street has shown an individuality and uniqueness which
lacking in many other commercial districts.

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Figure 9. The current scene of Newbury Street, Boston.
Figure 10. The most common activity and sight along Newbury Street which is the pavement café.
Figure 11. The shops are renovated to large window glass and facing the walkway. People can simply have
their window shopping and interaction from outside to the shops.

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Figure 12. The typical up and down staircase make the circulation of the street become more interesting.
Plenty of vegetation can be found along the street.
Figure 13. The most common activity and sight along Newbury Street which is the pavement café.
Figure 14. A staircase used as a boundary from inside and outside can be found at Newbury Street which
cannot simply found in Jalan Petaling.

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2.0 Contact points
2.1 General Comparison of Activities
Figure 15 (Left). I found there are 3 different contrasts in Jalan Petaling, so I separated it into 3 part, upper
part (has more landscape), middle part (Chinatown, tourist attraction) and the bottom part (the decay
part).
Figure 15 (Right). Newbury Street has quite constant environment and activities along the street compare
to Jalan Petaling.
When we talk about Jalan Petaling, Chinatown will first come in mind and this has become the
main purpose why people visit to Jalan Petaling. It started to transform into a historical place
instead of a commercial area. Jalan Petaling mostly is used to serve the local communities like the
local residences, students, office workers, foreigners and foreign workers. The shops are mostly
trading and little café and restaurants but due to the culture itself, hawkers tend to sell food and
do their business beside the road and back alley. In the other side, Newbury Street has
transformed itself from a residential area to a commercial area which consists a lot of high-end
retail shops, café and restaurants. User groups usually are the outsider like shoppers, residences
from other neighbour street and tourists.
The upper part of Jalan Petaling has more landscape. Compare to Newbury Street, it has a lot of
vegetation along the street, even the owner of the house of shop will plant in front or around
their space. Newbury Street has only little public seating area like benches but the facilities along
the street have more possibility to use as informal seating area like the planter box, staircase at
the frontage and shopfront area. There are some benches provided only at the upper part of
Jalan Petaling. 5 foot walkway in Jalan Petaling usually occupied by the homeless and beggars. To
solve this problem, the local residences will use their own chair and sit at the 5 foot walkway.
(Figure 16)
Upper Part
Middle Part
Bottom Part

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Both streets have provided side parking along the street. Due to the overcrowded at Chinatown
(middle part) and the huge amount of vehicles, people tend to double park which could be the
reason of making the street jam and congest. Double parking is quite hard to find in Newbury
Street. To control solve the traffic jam along Newbury Street, they are promoting to use bicycle
on every Sunday and through this event, the amount of using vehicle has decrease.
Back alleys at Newbury Street is organized and used well. Services like solid wastage, garbage
collection and fire escapes are placed and used at the Newbury back lane. In the opposite side,
back alleys are misused as illegal parking, illegal activities like drug selling and prostitution,
shortcut and used at restaurant’s kitchen. Add on, Newbury Street has more street lights than
Jalan Petaling. Street lights at Jalan Petaling are either not working or unavailable at a certain
point. All of these factors are affecting the image and the security of the sites. A street with bad
image and low security, people will no longer visit to this street.
As my conclusion for this general comparisons, I found that the speed of the people walk in Jalan
Petaling is faster than the people in Newbury Street due to all the factors above. Newbury Street
has more interesting things to focus and pay attention compare to Jalan Petaling and this issue
has become my design studio’s research topic that I wish to slow pave human movement in Jalan
Petaling.
Figure 16 (Left). Vegetation and benches provided at upper part of Jalan Petaling only.
Figure 16(Right). A girl is seating on the steps outside a hotel. (Informal seating area)

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2.2 Table of contact points
A table of contact points that could occur according to the activities at these two streets which
discussed above is provided below. Based on the “Life between buildings’ by Jan Gehl, contact
points could take place in 3 different types of outdoor activities, Necessary activities, Optional
and Social activities and Resultant activities.
Contact Points Jalan Petaling, Kuala Lumpur Newbury Street, Boston
A. Necessary Activities
1. Heading to a destination -5 foot walkway + 1m
pedestrian walkway which
promoting ‘people gather
people’ effect.
-Narrow sidewalk (left) which
promote the ‘people gather
people effect’.
-Wider sidewalk (right) which
providing larger space for
interaction.
2. Crossing Junctions (Zebra
crossing)
-connected with daily activities
-interacted with people who
also used the particular
junction daily
High chances
-People will use the zebra
crossing.
-People (Pedestrians) will
wait for the traffic light at the
junctions.
Average Chances
-People tend to use alley as
shortcuts.
-Informal walking pattern
-Not common to use zebra
crossing.
3. Weekly worship NO
-No religious building along
the street but available at
neighbor street.
YES
-2 churches along the street.
B. Optional & Social Activities
1. Pavement Café or
Restaurants
Average
-Extended and arranged in
their own way (not organized
well and messy)
-Become obstacles along the
street
High
-Well planned and organized
(within their own boundaries)
-Facing pedestrian walkway
but not blocking
2. Sitting Area (Gather spot) Average
-5 foot walkway
-Misused (homeless sleep
everywhere)
High
-Staircases, planter box,
frontage
3. Social Updates YES
-Not organized well (stick
everywhere)
-Messy and too pack
-Not updated recently
YES
-Shaded space
-Promoting interaction and
conversation
C. Resultant Activities
1. Street Observing Abandoned and
unmaintained shop houses
Shopping area (Window
shopping)

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2.3 Intensity of contact points
For the intensity of contact points, Jan Gehl did a list which is about the vary degrees of contact
intensity is the basis of the following simplified outline of various contact forms.
Figure 17. Different type of people meet in different intensity of contact points.
Back to the table, Jalan Petaling has a constant 5 foot walkway in front the shop houses with
1meter extra pedestrian walkway which still consider narrow compare to Newburry Street.
Newbury Street has one narrow and one wider walkway at the left and right side of the street.
For narrow sidewalk, it creates a ‘people gather people’ effect. Although it will creates a high
visual connection but it has a low intensity of contact points which is the ‘chance contacts level’
(Refer to Figure 17.) as the people going to meet in a narrow sidewalk will be the spontaneous. For a
wider sidewalk, it will also provide a high visual connection but the intensity will higher than the
narrow sidewalk as it provides a larger space to people to interact with each other and the
chances to meet friends is higher. As Jan Gehl mentioned,’ Spontaneous contact is incited when
forms of human activity appear as it is a contributing factor that leads to contact.’ (Figure 18)
Figure 18 (Left). Jalan Petaling’s narrow sidewalks limit the interaction and chances of contact points.
Figure 18 (Right). Newbury Street’s wider sidewalk provided higher chances for contact points.

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At Newbury Street, people willing to use zebra crossing and wait for the pedestrian traffic light to
cross the road. Compare to Jalan Petaling, most of the people are not willing to wait for the
pedestrian traffic light maybe because it is not functioning or their own behavior and they tend to
cross the road whenever they want which created an informal movement pattern. For this
situation, intensity at Newbury Street is from low to high as the chances to meet spontaneous to
close friend is higher when people are waiting at the junction or frequent bump in a same
junction due to daily activities. People can just have interaction and conversation around there.
Jalan Petaling has lower intensity because people are just keep walking or stop at some random
point but of course people in Jalan Petaling will still get the passive contacts and chance contacts
in this situation. Obviously, the visual connection on both side are quite high. (Figure 19)
Figure 19 (Left). Low intensity and lower cances of interaction will occur at Jalan Petaling.
Figure 19 (Right). Low to high intensity will occur in Newbury Street junctions.
There are two churches located at Newbury Street, due to their religious culture, people will
hang around and chit chat at the steps in front the churches before their worship. People tend
to do this because staircase has creates an open public space for them to hang around instead
of gather inside the sacred church. Add on, the staircase can be their sitting area too. For this,
the intensity is high because people who go for worship of course they will meet with their
friends, people who come here purposely for seating area of course they got the chances
contacts and the acquaintances contacts. This situation does not take place in Jalan Petaling
because there is no religious building at Jalan Petaling but is at neighbor street. (Figure 20)
Figure 20. People will gather outside the church before and after the worship. It creates a high intensity of
contact point.

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Restaurant and café at Jalan Peatling will extend and move their extra seat to the pedestrian
walkway especially during night. At Newbury Street, the pavement café is permanent located on
the walkway which still within their boundaries. This action has encourage a wide mix of people
to traverse the street. For this contact point, both side has the highest intensity and highest
chance to meet people as the seats are facing the walkway, people could see and notice what is
happening along the street. People who walking along the street could also have visual
connection with the people seating at the pavement café. I have to admit that Newbury Street
has done better than Jalan Petaling in this situation at least the seats should not disturbing the
circulation. (Figure 21)
Figure 21. Higher chances to interaction with friends and people as the seats are open spaces and facing
the walkway.
At Newbury Street, facilities like planter boxes, staircases and the frontages have created possibilities to act
as a seating area. This can be concluded by the lack of proper seating areas along the street. For Jalan
Petaling, facilities at Newbury Street are less can be found, people usually sit at 5 foot walkway or the steps
inside the 5 foot walkway. Staircase in front the building can be only found in front a college along Jalan
Petaling. Based on Jan Gel’s theory, the possibilities related to the low-intensity contact forms offered in
public spaces perhaps can be best be described by the situation that exits if they are lacking the activities
between. For overall, both sites have the low intensity but for Newbury Street, it has a higher intensity than
Jalan Petaling. At Newbury Street, people still can get a chance contacts and passive contacts at this public
area but at Jalan Petaling, maybe because the 5 foot walkways are misused by the homeless and the
prostitution business, people normally will avoid staying or walk through there, that’s why people in Jalan
Petaling will only get the passive contact which is the ‘see and hear’ in this situation. For the staircase
infront a college, people who used the steps as seating area will be the students itself and some foreigner
workers while waiting their transport. They are mostly being alone and being together which create a
boundaries between isolation and contact become shaper. (Figure 22)

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Figure 22 (Left). 5 footy walkway has the possibily to become a good contact points but it is misused in
Jalan Petaling.
Figure 22 (Right). Chances of meeting and interact with people is so strong in Newbury Street.
Newbury Street provided a shaded space with a proper board for advertisement and social
updates. Contact is at a modest level such as visual contact point and chance contact. The
advertising boards along Newbury Street allows private conversations to occur beneath the
shading device. It remind me about Jan Gehl’s theory, he mentioned that ‘in addition to
imparting information about the social world outside, the opportunity to see and hear other
people can provide ideas and inspiration for action.’ The intensity at Newbury Street is low, but
the visual connection and chances contacts still will occur at the spot especially the passive
contacts. In the other hand, Jalan Petaling does not provide a spot to let people gather for the
social updates and the advertisement are too spread and messy, people could not really gather.
So for this situation, I think Jalan Petaling has no contact point in this activity. (Figure 22)
Figure 23. A proper advertisment board is fitted benath a shading device which could let people gather.

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Lastly is the street observing which consider as resultant activity.Peope tend to stop and look at
the shop exhibits on Newbury Street and this may lead from visual contact to friend contact. It
create situations that results in a direct relationship to other people and to the surronding social
envirnoment. Window shopping can also occur in Jalan Petaling but there are too many similar
trading along the street, people will get dull and boring. Some trading, they will extend their
cabinet to the 5 foot walkway to catch customer’s eyes and let customer get the product in more
easier and faster way. This action could create a good contact points which is quite different with
Newbury Street’s window shopping. In this situation, intensity at Jalan Petaling is higher than
Newbury Street. People could from passive contact to acquaintances contacts. The opportuities
being able to meet, see and hear is higher than Newburt street. (Figure 24)
Figure 24 (Left). Business dealing and haggling occur outside some of the trading which create a good
contact points and with higher interaction chance.
Figure 24 (Right). Intensity of contact point during window shopping along Newbury Street might not higher
than Jalan Petaling.
From these comparisons above, I found that Newbury Street has more contact points and
possibilities to become a good contact points compare to Jalan Petaling. I also agree that, Jalan
Petaling’s contact points are really work and successful like Newbury Street. I think the main
reason of Jalan Petaling has lesser contact point and less people gather or visit the street is
because of the security and the image of the environment which causes by the illegal and
negative activities along the street. So, as an architect, we should take Newbury Street as a good
example and learn from it then apply to Jalan Petaling which I believed these contact points
could bring back the crowds and turn Jalan Petaling to be livelier than now. Although most of
the contact points at both sites have low intensity but according to Jan Gehl, low intensity
contact is also a situation from which other forms of contact can grow. It is a medium for the
unpredictable, the spontaneous and the unplanned. Last but not least, people and human
activities are the greatest object of attention and interest which could create a strong intensity
of contact point. We should achieve the life between buildings especially in the outdoor area
rather than just create a dull and boring space that make people choose to stay at home instead
of coming out to enjoy the surrounding or context.
(2630 words)
-End-

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3.0 References
3.1 Information References
A Short History of Newbury Street. (n.d.). Retrieved November 13, 2016, from
http://www.newbury-st.com/Boston/History
Chinese village in the city petaling Street kuala lumpur malaysia. Retrieved November 13, 2016,
from http://tourvacation-world.blogspot.my/2011/07/chinese-village-in-city-petaling-street.html
Gehl, J. (1987). Life between buildings: Using public space. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
H. (2011). Jalan Petaling - Lemonicks. Retrieved November 27, 2016, from
http://www.lemonicks.com/Travel/asia/malaysia/jalan-petaling/
Newbury street boston. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2016, from http://xn--
80aalewbjz9aa3im.xn--p1ai/200-newbury-street-boston.php
Petaling Street (Chinatown), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2016, from
http://www.backpackingmalaysia.com/things-to-do/petaling_street_chinatown/kuala-lumpur
Tam, S. (2012). Petaling Street. Retrieved November 13, 2016, from
http://www.thestar.com.my/travel/malaysia/2012/02/15/petaling-street/
Welcome to Newbury Street, Boston. (n.d.). Retrieved November 13, 2016, from
http://www.newbury-st.com/

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3.2 Figure and Image References
Figure 1: Prepared by author
Figure 2: https://s-media-cache-
ak0.pinimg.com/originals/d0/68/cf/d068cf34e0299d0db36b80d1ca859bd6.jpg
Figure 3: http://tourvacation-world.blogspot.my/2011/07/chinese-village-in-city-petaling-
street.html
Figure 4-7: Capture by author on the site.
Figure 8: Prepared by author
Figure 9: http://xn--80aalewbjz9aa3im.xn--p1ai/200-newbury-street-boston.php
Figure 10: http://www.visitingnewengland.com/Newbury-Street-Boston.html
Figure 11: http://www.boomsbeat.com/articles/5512/20140623/35-fun-photos-of-newbury-
street-boston.htm
Figure 12: http://xn--80aalewbjz9aa3im.xn--p1ai/200-newbury-street-boston.php
Figure 13: http://www.boomsbeat.com/articles/5512/20140623/35-fun-photos-of-newbury-
street-boston.htm
Figure 14: http://www.boomsbeat.com/articles/5512/20140623/35-fun-photos-of-newbury-
street-boston.htm
Figure 15: Prepared by author
Figure 16 (Left): Capture by author
Figure 16 (Right): http://www.cestchristine.com/wp-content
/uploads/2012/11/fe62e5ec1d0c11e2a8d122000a1c0290_7.jpg
Figure 17: from the book ‘Life between buildings” by Jan Gehl
Figure 18-24: Prepared by author (from Project 1 and Design Studio Project)

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4.0 Appendix
i. Table of general comparisons

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ii. Table of contact points

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iii. Sketches that showing the bottom part of Jalan Petaling is decaying (From design studio)