The document provides a comparative analysis of two public spaces - Sisavangvong Road in Luang Prabang, Laos and Jalan Besar in Klang, Malaysia. It analyzes factors that contribute to successful public spaces, including contact points, types of activities, intensity levels, and transportation hubs. For Sisavangvong Road, there are five contact points that see a variety of necessary, optional, and social activities of high intensity. In contrast, Jalan Besar has fewer contact points and sees mostly necessary local activities of lower intensity conducted within buildings.

1. THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE & URBANISM
(ARC61303)
PROJECT 2 : COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ESSAY
NAME : SARAH BINTI MOHAMED ESA
STUDENT ID : 0324805
TUTOR : MR PRINCE

2. CONTENT
 INTRODUCTION
 SITE BACKGROUNDS
 COMPERATIVE ANALYSIS
CONTACT POINTS
TYPES OF ACTIVITIES
LEVEL OF INTENSITY
TRANSPORTATION HUBS
 CONCLUSION
 REFERENCES

3. INTRODUCTION
Public spaces are an important asset to our cities as
they provide people with many opprtunities to come
together and engage with the community. Successful
public spaces often include the diversity of group
present in our cities and create a social space for
everyone in the society to participate in.
(Jagannath, 2016)
With this, a comperative analysis is carried out to
observe and analyse the differences and similarities of
two different public spaces, in this case, at a street
level in reference to Jahn Gehl's “Life Between
Buildings”. The two streets that have been chosen are
Jalan Besar located in Klang, Kuala Lumpur and
Sisavangvong Road in Luang Prabang, Laos.
The comperative analysis between these two streets
are focused on several factors that contribute to a
succesful public spaces;
1. The existing of contact points
2. The type of activties at a physical environment
3. The level of intensity
4. Public transportation hubs

4. SITE BACKGROUNDS

5. SISAVANGVONG ROAD,
LUANG PRABANG,
LAOS.
Sisavangvong Road is a tourist hotspot located in the Northern province of Laos,
formed by the Mekong River and Nam Khan River. Accompanied by huge mountains
and lush greeneries as well as its influx of traditional and colonial built form.
Lao monarchs first consiladated the first
Lao Kingdom which was Lan Xang in the
year og 1353. It was later named Luang
Prabang.
Because of the attack from the militia
group from China in which have caused
damage to the Royal Palace, Laos then
accepted the protection from the French.
The French colonisation have influence
the architecture of Laos with their brick-
and-stucco buildings that gave the city its
faded colonial atmosphere.
In 1995, Laos was granted the Unesco's
World Heritage status, as to preserve and
enhance historic architecture and raise
the city's international profile.
Throughout the year, there is a rapid
growth in tourist attraction in which have
caused most of the buildings to change
from residential to touristic residential
area.
The old street of Luang Prabang
(Image source :
https://thisisnotapostcard.wordpress.com/luang-
prabang-laos/)
The current street of Luang Prabang
(Image source :
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/LocationPhotoDirectLink-
Old_Quarter_Luang_Prabang-
Luang_Prabang_Luang_Prabang_Province.html)
1887 - 1975 1995 2009 - present

6. JALAN BESAR,
KLANG,
KUALA LUMPUR.
Klang has been the site for human settlement since
the early Bronze Age where settlements started
mostly near the river. Because of the river, there was
a big demand for tin mining which resulted in the
British colonisation. This also leads to the built up of
attap houses and streets for connectivity.
In 1904, the railroad was constructed to increase the
infrastructure improved transportation problems.
Because of these improvements, several shophouses
and municiapl buildings have been built.
Years passed by, more and more infrastructures have
been built such as the Musaeddin Bridge and
Jambatan Kota as the connectivity to cross the river.
Community began to grow and people are seen to
live in shophouses.
However in the present time, our street Jalan Besar
seemed to be lost in time with with its traditional
sense of commerce and atmosphere. Nothing
compared to the vibrancy of its neighbouring districts.
1870 1872 - 1880 1886 - 1910
1959 - 1961 1965 - 2005 2008 - present
The old street of Klang
(Image source :
http://padangjawaku.blogspot.com/20
14/02/wajah-beberapa-tempat-di-
bandar-klang.html)
Jalan Besar in the present time
(Image source :
https://www.theislanddrum.com/uniqu
e-klang-sightseeing/)

7. CONTACT POINTS
Based on Jahn Gehl's Life Between Buildings, contact
points are referred to the place that offers for people
to meet and carry out their daily activities by enabling
them to see and hear others as well as experiencing
other people functioning in various situations.

8. There are a total of five contact points along Sisavangvong Road. There is a
variation in terms of the place of where these contact points occur and at different
time of the day. Most of these contact points are more towards leisure and cultural
purposes.
SISAVANGVONG ROAD,
LUANG PRABANG,
LAOS.
The contact point in Sisavangvong Road starts off at the junction of the street, the
sidewalk plaza where people would gather and meet before continuing their journey.
Along the streets, there are also narrow backlanes and side alleys which are being
utilised to cater the morning wet market. The Royal Palace Museum along the street
also acts as a contact point aside from it being the landmark of the place because of the
history it holds. There's also an elevated walkway on which is used as a resting or
stopping spot for the pedestrians as well as the entrace towards Mt. Phousi. Mount
Phousi on the other hand acts as a contact point where the monks would usually come
to pray as there is a temple there. The view that Mount Phousi have to offer makes it a
famous spot for photography among the tourists, especially during the sunset.

9. CONTACT POINTS
JALAN BESAR,
KLANG,
KUALA LUMPUR.
As compared to Sisavangvong Road in Laos, the contact points in Jalan Besar are
usually for functional rather than for tourists purposes.
KTM station
Chong Kok
Kopitiam
OCBC Bank
Bak Kut
Teh
Seraph
Awaken
The contact point in Jalan Besar starts at the end of the road rather than at the junction,
which is the KTM station. Not far from the train station is where the famous spot for
locals to take their breakfast which is the Chong Kok Kopitiam. Other conatct point
which would be the Bak Kut Teh shop along Jalan Stesen 1 which is also a famous
retsaurant at the site. In the evening, Seraph Awaken is a go to shop for tea time.
Besides that, the only bank located at the site would be the OCBC Bank and thus,
making it a contact as it serves the only thing that the site don't have.

10. TYPE OF ACTIVITIES
Based on Jahn Gehl's Life Between Building, there are
three types of activities in relation to the quality of the
physical envirnment.
Necessary activties are more or less compulsory
activities. It basically revolves around our daily routine
and moreor less independent of the exterior
environment.
Optional activities happen only under favourable
exterior conditions and when weather and place invite
them. These activities are especially dependent on
exterior conditions.
Social activities are all activties that depend on the
presence of others in a public spaces. This type of
activity occur spontaneously, as a direct consequence
of people moving about and being in the same spaces.
This proves that social activities are indirectly
supported whenever necessary and optional activties
are given better conditions in public spaces.

11. SISAVANGVONG ROAD,
LUANG PRABANG,
LAOS.
1. NECESSARY ACTIVTIES
During the day, people can be seen having meals at the stalls located especially at
the Sidewalk Plaza. The size of the space at the Sidewalk Plaza allows locals to set
up their food stalls and provide proper dining space for the customers. It allows
the pedestrian passing by that area to walk, sit and talk thus making it a
functional space.
The narrow backlanes on the other hand, are used for morning market. It is
important as it is a place where nearby residents tend to their basic necessities
and groceries here, considering there aren't any nearby grocery store at the site.
The reason of it being at the backlane is most probably because the main street is
used to cater the daily morning alms giving ceremony for the monks.
View of the sidewalk plaza where people can be seen eating at the food stalls
(Image taken from Google street view)

12. Sisavangvong morning wet market
(Image source : https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g295415-
d2515071-i99141088-Morning_Market-Luang_Prabang_Luang_Prabang_Province.html)

13. As mentioned earlier, the contact points of Jalan Besar are more towards
functional and therefore making the site itself more for the locals to carry out
necessary activities.
Locals can be seen eating breakfast at some of the known restaurants like the Bak
Kut Teh or Chong Kok Kopitiam which is located just accross the street in front of
the KTM station. As compared to Sisavangvong Road, most of these actvities
usually happen at the inside of the building rather than by the roadside and this is
due to the area of the space provided at the roadside which is unfavourable for the
locals to set up a proper food stalls. Lack of shade provided at the side may also
contribute to why the quality of public realm is not so significant.
JALAN BESAR,
KLANG,
KUALA LUMPUR.
Bak Kut Teh restaurant in the morning
(own picture)
Locals can be seen eating breakfast at Chong Kok
Kopitiam
(Image source:
https://emobananaboy.blogspot.com/2015/08/chong-
kok-kopitiam-klang.html)
Sidewalk plaza at Jalan Besar which isbeing utilised for
motorcycle parking spaces
(own picture)
Sidewalk plaza at Sisavangvong Road which is
wide enough to cater pop up food stalls
(Image taken from Google street view)

14. Another necessary activities that the locals often carry out here is located at the
KTM station. The KTM station would usually becomes packed in the morning
where the local school children and the people would take the train to travel to
their respective places. In the evening, the KTM station would be the drop off
point for people coming home from work and schools.
Klang KTM Railway Station
(http://www.klia2.info/rail/ktm-komuter/stations/klang)

15. 2. OPTIONAL ACTIVTIES
Optional activties in Sisavangvong Road usually takes place at the tourists
attraction spots. For example, the daily Tak Bat ritual where a group of monks
silently walking down the streets of Luang Prabang to collect alms. The ones
involved are usually the locals, but as this ritual grew into popularity, interested
tourists would also join too. The narrow road of Sisavangvong tend to have lesser
vehicular circulation, especially at the early morning which also contributes to the
sound intensity levels on the street, making it a favourable place and setting to
carry out this silent ritual.
SISAVANGVONG ROAD,
LUANG PRABANG,
LAOS.
Monks lining up to collect alms from the people
(https://patosan.com)
The whole stretch of Sisavangvong Road is
taken up for the Tak Bat ritual every
morning

16. The unique feature about Sisavangvong Road is having different levels of
landscape which draws people to experience the street at different levels. Mount
Phousi being the tallest point of the site, offers locals and visitors to enjoy the view
of not only Luang Prabang, but as well as the Mekong River especially during the
sunset hours.
Street level View of the street from the elevated walkway
(Image source: https://www.thenational.ae)
View from Mt Phousi which has become the famous spot for photography activities
(Image source : https://www.planetjanettravels.com/laos-luang-prabang-14-things-
to-do/)

17. JALAN BESAR,
KLANG,
KUALA LUMPUR.
In Jalan Besar, the activties are mostly focused more on the localism rather than
tourism purposes. Although there are some tourists activties that can be carried
out here, but it is not as often as the ones carried out at Sisavangvong Road.
The physical differences that can be seen from Jalan Besar and Sisavangvong Road
is the size of the road itself. The road in Jalan Besar is bigger compared to the small
road of Sisavangvong. That is why the road at Jalan Besar tends to get busy
especially at noon which is the lunch break for the locals working there and the
evening where people would come home from work at the KTM station. The busy
road of Jalan Besar makes it unfavourable and dangerous considering it a three
lane road for people to carry out different activities, not as often as Sisavangvong
Road.
Sisavangvong Road
(Image source: https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk)
Jalan Besar
(Image
source:https://www.rambleandwander.com)
However, occassionally, there are some cultural activities that are held at the
secondary road of Jalan Besar, Jalan Stesen 1, where the road are not as busy as
the main road and the locals would utilised the parking lots to set up their event
space.

18. Klang Art Festival at the parking lot of Jalan Stesen 1
(Image
source:https://www.foodconnection.com.my/page/K
lang-Heritage-Fest-2017)
Klang Heritage Festival along Jalan Stesen 1
(Image source:
https://www.foodconnection.com.my/page/Klang-
Heritage-Fest-2017)
Jalan Stesen 1

19. 3. SOCIAL ACTIVTIES
Jahn Gehl has mentioned in his book, “Life Between Buildings”, talked about the
relationship between the architectural dimensions in a city and the perception it
gives towards the users. The different social activties that can be seen along
Sisavangvong Road is quite apparent due to the different architectural dimensions.
Edward T. Hall defines a number of customary distances for different form of
communications.
Same method is applied to when the locals transform Sisavangvong Road into a
night market area where the spaces becomes more intimate and the surroundings
become more chaotic. One can obeserve different interactions among the people;
the interaction between the locals, interaction between the locals and the tourists
as well as interaction between the tourists and other tourists.
As mentioned by Jahn Gehl, the existance of these social activties are always
stimulating because they are rich in experineces which makes the city livable and
vibrant.
SISAVANGVONG ROAD,
LUANG PRABANG,
LAOS.
interaction space interaction space
Diagram showing the intimate spaces occured during the night market

20. JALAN BESAR,
KLANG,
KUALA LUMPUR.
At Jalan Besar, most of the social activties take place either inside of the
shophouses or the five foot walkways. Because of the building typology of the
shophouses, it creates intimate spaces where the tendency of people to
communicate among one another is higher. On the other hand, the extension of
the buisnesses at the five foot walkway allows the interaction between the
salesperson and the passerby.
interaction space happening at the inside of the
shophouse
interaction space happening by the fivefoot
walkways as the business extends out.

21. LEVEL OF INTENSITY
The level of intensity is a result based on the various
contact forms.
Based on the outline, it is shown that the types of
contact forms at the very low intensity whereby
although they are insignificant, they are still valuable
both as independent contact forms and as a basic for
other complex interactions.

22. Most of the contact points in Sisavangvong Road has the high intesity level based
on the different types of activities that the site has to offer.
The idea of people attract people can be seen along Sisavangvong Road. For
example, another place where the intensity level is high during the day would be
the sidewalk plaza. Because of it being at the junction of the road, the area itself is
exposed towards the public more.
SISAVANGVONG ROAD,
LUANG PRABANG,
LAOS.
One of the highest intensity levels would be the backlanes where the morning
market is happening. Here, there's an opportunity for the locals especially to be
able to meet up with their friends and family as well as neighbours. There's also a
chance of contact where the tourists and the locals would exchange information
among one another. Because also of the narrow streets that the market took place
at effects the positioning of the stalls, it gives the chance for the sellers to talk
among one another.
level of intensity at the morning wet market
level of intensity at the sidewalk plaza

23. JALAN BESAR,
KLANG,
KUALA LUMPUR.
At Jalan Besar, the pattern of the level of intensity can be observed as one travels
from Little India street entering Jalan Besar heading towards the KTM station.
Pattern of intensity such that it is high at the entrance of Jalan Besar due to the
Little India street and drastically decreases along Jalan Besar but increases again
once reaching at the end of the street, which is at the KTM station.
However, similarly to Sisavangvong Road, the place
where the intensity level is high is often at the eatery
areas. At Jalan Besar, Chong Kok Kopitiam and Seng Huat
Bak Kut Teh shop are the places where people would
normally go to when they are visiting Klang. Same goes
to Sisavangvong Road where the sidewalk plaza being
one of the place with high intensity level because of the
food stalls there.

24. TRANSPORTATION HUBS

25. Sisavangvong Road do not rely so much on its transportation which may be due to
the size of the road which limits the number of vehicles on the road. Because of
this, the mode of transportation that can be seen at Sisavangvong Road are mostly
consists of small vehicles such as bicycles, motorcyles and “tuk tuk”. That is why
the use of five foot walkways and pedestrian walkways are fully utilised there as
people would usually walk from one place to another.
As for Jalan Besar, because of the size of the road is bigger, therefore, the amount
of vehicles on the road is more which gives an oppurtinity for the site itself to cater
public transportation. The train for example, helps a lot in connecting the site to
different places. It also opens up job opportunites for the locals whereby they can
use the train to travel back and forth from their workplaces.
Jalan Besar offers higher chance of connectivity to the otehr side of the Klang
district due to the bridge that connects the main road into Little India then Jalan
Besar.
SISAVANGVONG ROAD
JALAN BESAR
Klang KTM Station

26. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the differences between Sisavangvong
Road and Jalan Besar are quite significant looking at a
bigger picture where one is more towards the tourism
and another are more to the locals. However, through
these differences, there are always similiraties that can
be found between both of these streets.
First would be the contact points where the dining
areas are included and in relation to its level of
intensity. Besides that, both of the streets do carry
almost similar necessary, optional and social activties.
The only difference is how people would utilise the
space to carry out these activties in relation to the
physical environment.
To top off, both sites are unique in their own way when
one get to experienced it personally.

27. Gehl, J., & Koch, J. (2011). Life between buildings: Using public space
Jagannath, T. (2016, August 23). The Importance of Public Spaces – Thejas
Jagannath – Medium. Retrieved from
https://medium.com/@thejas009/the-importance-of-public-spaces-
5bb49ba6c000
(n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.luangprabang-laos.com/Local-influence
Takada, C. L., & Yamaguchi, S. (2016, August 04). Analysis of the Changing
Landscape of a World Heritage Site: Case of Luang Prabang, Lao PDR. Retrieved
from https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/8/747/htm
REFERENCES