Project 1 Part 2 of Theories of Architecture & Urbanism. A compare and contrast essay with integration of Kevin Lynch's 5 legibility.

1. Project Part 2: Comparative Analysis Essay
Student Name: Patricia Kong Weng Yee
Student ID: 0315837
Tutor’s Name: Mr. Nicholas Ng
Date of Submission: 28.11.2016
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND
URBANISM
(ARC61303 / ARC 2224)

2. Introduction of Site 1: Petaling Street, Kuala Lumpur
Petaling Street, known as Chee Cheong kai by locals, is a famous street located in
Kuala Lumpur, which is known for its haggling culture. The street is usually crowded
with locals as well as tourists especially in the Petaling Street Flea Market. Located in
a medium sized commercial, educational and residential district, the street has dozens
of restaurants and food stalls which serves most local favourite dishes.
Figure 1: Location of Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur
It was originally centered on Market Square which is located at Jalan Tun H. S. Lee.
It was popular in the olden days as the land there was higher than the rest of the town
and was therefore less prone to floods.
Petaling Street has various landmarks. Well – known landmarks that are visible are
the entrances of Petaling Street Flea Market which is also known as “Green Dragon”
due to its wave – like roof structure. Build in the year 2003, the street is pedestrianized
and is transformed into a pedestrian shopping mall. The street is also regarded as a
heritage site due to its history.

3. Figure 2: One of the entrances into Petaling Street Flea Market, also known as
‘Green Dragon’
The flea market is considered as one of the contact points as well on the site. This is
due to its ease of transportation access to the bus transit station and the availability of
cabs nearby the street. This helps the connects the people from the commercial district
to the surrounding residential and educational districts thus increasing the chance of
having various activities such as social, necessary and optional. The entrance of the
flea market whereby these transportation network intersects becomes the major node
for interchange.
Aside from that, there are smaller nodes such as Merchant’s Lane, a famous hipster
café nearby located just a few blocks south away from Petaling Street Flea Market. It
is known due to its variety of food and its aesthetically pleasing interior design. The
café, as often as many people are interested in dining there, it shows possible of
medium degree of contact intensity where those who dine there might run into their
acquaintance or possibly their friends.

4. Figure 3: The interior view of Merchant’s Lane
Various development are taking place and slowly weaving into the lives of the
community residing in Petaling Street thus making Petaling Street an historical yet
modern city. Although there are many interesting things and facts about Petaling
Street that can be further explored, I have decided to focus on the several contact
points on the intersection point between the whole entire Jalan Petaling where the
entrances of the well – known Petaling Street Flea Market are located and the hipster
café known as Merchant’s Lane, with Jalan Sultan.
This intersection acts as a focal point of the site as it houses the busiest traffic and
has high density of different classes such as the locals, students, tourists, and foreign
workers. Other than Petaling Street Flea Market and Merchant’s Lane, there are
Nanyang Art Supplies and Lantern Hotel. This intersection point is usually full with
vehicles and human movement as it is located close to the Pasar Seni LRT and bus
stop. Besides that, there are a few budget hotels around thus bringing in more tourist
to this site. This thus has given me the opportunity to study and explore the different
engagement of people and also the uniqueness of this place.

5. Introduction of Site 2: Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Cambridge, a city located in Massachusetts, which homes the well – known Harvard
University, is a medium sized commercial cum residential district. The laidback
Massachusetts Avenue (also known as Mass Ave) which is a major street that is 16
miles long that connects to according to its official website, various district zones that
attracts residents and visitors regionally. The zones which the street has connected
were the industrial zones to the suburbs, passing through colleges and bustling
commercial strips.
Figure 4: Location of Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge
Formed at the end of the nineteenth century from separate roads, it connects to a road
that was once called East Chester Park at the south of Chester Square and also West
Chester Park in the north of Chester Park. Being the center of commercial activity due
to its length, there are many pedestrian traffic created as most of the buildings that fills
both side of the avenue are mostly apartments, shops and restaurants.
Although there is not much knowledge about the history that I could have provide about
this site, but the intersection I have chosen to focus on would be the intersection
between Massachusetts Avenue and Sidney St. There are a few landmarks that can

6. be found alongside this avenue. Some such as a famous coffee shop brand,
Starbucks, Walgreens and Lafayette Square.
Introduction to Jan Gehl’s Life Between Buildings
The book “Life Between Buildings” by Jan Gehl talks about the three types of activities
which could be done in public spaces. He also talks about the importance of space
planning in order to create opportunities for such activities to happen and also the
types of activities that can be done in the public spaces alone. Activities such as
necessary activities, optional and social activities. Necessary activities are defined as
activities that are compulsory or needed to be attended. Activities such as daily tasks
are included in this category. Optional activities are defined as activities that are done
if needed or if one participates in. It can be done only to those favour the conditions of
the activity. As there are necessary and optional activities present, it would often form
resultant activities which in other words, can be phrase as social activities. In this
category of activity, presence of others in public spaces are fairly needed in order for
social activities to happen. Life Between Buildings also talks about the intensity of
contacts whereby it ranges from passive contacts to close friendships. This is to show
the range of opportunity for meetings and daily activities in public spaces.
Comparative Essay
Figure 5: The contact points in Petaling Street

7. Figure 6: The contact points in Massachusetts Avenue
Similarities
Based on the contact points found in each site, there are some similarities between
both of the site. The first similarity would be the intersection of two roads were used
as the main contact point. This is due to the possibility of an iconic or an obvious
landmark nearby the area which makes the intersection easily known. For example, in
the Central Square Cultural District where the intersection between Mass. Ave and
River St. is, has The First Baptist Church, a church whereby it is one of the known
landmark in town. As for Petaling Street, it would be the iconic “Green Dragon”
entrance located at Jalan Petaling and Jalan Sultan.
Secondly, the degree of contact intensity at both site are almost similar whereby there
are mostly passive contacts amongst the people. For example, at the Carl Baron Plaza
in Massachusetts Avenue, passive contacts are maintained among passer-by as there
are frequent stopover benches, various storefront and shaded sidewalk which
encourage people to stop, look and see. This is although through the setbacks of the
buildings that various opportunities for social activities can happen such as Park(ing)
Day where it is usually held on a specific date where metered parking parklets and
bike lanes are made into a temporary public space. This helps the high pedestrian
sidewalk to encourage opportunities for optional and social activities. In a similar way,

8. Jalan Petaling in Petaling Street is originally a street for cars but was pedestrianized
in order to encourage more optional and social activities to happen.
Differences
The differences that can be found in between the site are the availability of space to
sit in both site as stated in Gehl’s theory where he talks about activities and seating
preferences. For example, along the sidewalks of Mass. Ave, there are few benches
provided for people to sit and rest up before heading to another destination. This allow
the people to form a strong visual connection between the pedestrian and the
storefront where it would encourage the pedestrian to window shop. With the addition
of shades created from the tress, the pedestrian would linger more at the site. In
contrast with Jalan Petaling where instead of benches premade on the site with
shades, the pedestrian relies on the five-foot way of the shop lots in order to rest for a
short while. The pedestrians would eventually find a nearby restaurant to sit. The lack
of space that can be found in the shop lots at Jalan Petaling causes the prevention of
social and optional activities to happen. This causes the space to not be of any used
of any activities.
Aside from that, it would be the attractions on a pedestrian street. Mass. Ave has a
few attractions. Attractions such as the wide variety and transparent storefronts, and
street performance are held at the open space near the street. This encourages
pedestrians who are just passing by or heading to the subway station to stop and
watch the performance. This will increase the degree of contact intensity between the
pedestrian and eventually create opportunities for social activities to happen at the
site. In contradiction to Mass. Ave, Petaling Street does not have any attractions on
the pedestrian street. The possibility is not only due to the lack of open space but the
lack of necessary and optional activities on the site.
Discussion
In Jan Gehl’s Life Between Buildings he talks about how the necessary activities and
where the outdoor areas are of a quality would create optional activities, only then
social activities would occur. He stated that the character of social activities varies
depending on the context in which the activities have occur. This starts his focus on
public life and the areas which the activities had taken place, making building design
become a means to an end. He emphasizes that life between building was a dimension

9. of architecture that deserves a more careful treatment in ways that social interaction
and perception and the sensory experience of a city life can take place. This can
enable us to prepare a meticulous planning building process by understanding these
spaces between buildings as Gehl once quoted “First life, then spaces, then buildings
– the other way around never works”.
Based on the observation between the two site, it seems that the planning of the town
that resides on Mass. Ave is more prominent that the planning at Jalan Petaling. In
regards to the space provided in Jalan Petaling, if considered well, the space could be
of better usage and this will encourage more people to linger around the area more
and also more exciting activities can happen. Thus, creating opportunities for tourist
to understand the historical past of the place while experiencing new things there. The
usage of sidewalks in Mass. Ave are used with much consideration to the pedestrian
that with even the setbacks of the building aside, several kinds of activities can be
performed. Besides that, with the nearby station and the available cab transport
service, it can be improved more by placing them somewhere slightly further from the
main attraction of Petaling Street. This is due to its heavy traffic conditions during lunch
breaks and after school period which caused the site to be quite busy. It would cause
an uncomfortable sense due to the sound of the car honking and an unpleasant
environment that possibly made the requirements for the three types of activities to be
low. The pedestrian will not stay for long in situations like that and would rather stayed
somewhere less hectic.
In conclusion, I feel that the public space which creates these sorts of event in both
site is moderate as only a part of the street had some identity to it. The church in Mass.
Ave and the ‘Green Dragon’ at Petaling Street was the most distinctive and therefore
are probably the most experienced by the pedestrian in the city.

10. References
Gehl, J. (2011). Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space. Island Press. Retrieved
from
https://books.google.com.my/books?id=X707aiCq6T8C&printsec=frontcover&
dq=jan+gehl+life+between+buildings+thesis&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=on
epage&q&f=false
Tan, M. (2015). Kuala Lumpur Trave Guide. Wizio Publishing. Retrieved November
27, 2016, from
https://books.google.com.my/books?id=sRzRCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT64&dq=abou
t+petaling+street&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=about%20petalin
g%20street&f=false
Zoning Ordinance Map. (2011). Retrieved from Cambridge CDD @ 344:
http://www.cambridgema.gov/CDD/zoninganddevelopment/Zoning/Maps.aspx