If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it—or in the case of our increasingly hostile cityscape, maybe it’s time we look at what we already have instead of building something new without forethought
While Malaysia is no stranger to floods, traffic congestion and construction sites, the devastating floods of December 2021 as well as the worsening traffic conditions recently have raised the question of whether urban landscapes like the whole of Klang Valley, or even a metropolitan city like Kuala Lumpur, were at all liveable for its people.
Swathes of forests cut down to make way for concrete and steel, livelihoods in older streets impacted by high-rises, rising water levels and an increased number of areas impacted by the torrential downpours over the past year—this is what our current and future generations have to contend with, and will have to live with years down the line.
See also: What to See, Do and Eat at Battersea Power Station in London
But does it have to be that way?
Coinciding with this month’s theme on power and purpose, Tatler sits down with a collective of like-minded individuals who have based themselves in the unlikely corners of downtown Kuala Lumpur; small, thriving spaces surrounded by towering buildings and rapid developments—but at the same time, are built on structures that are decades of years old and looking better than ever.
For Adela Askandar and Farah Azizan of award-winning design studio Studio Bikin, it was clear that despite the developments in the greater Klang Valley, urban cities like Kuala Lumpur and Damansara were still hostile to its people.
“Imagine trying to navigate a building based on a tower-and-podium typology. You can’t,” says Adela. “Because it’s several levels of concrete. And say if you try to go from St Regis, which is situated in this considerably posh area of central Kuala Lumpur, to Nu Sentral—you can’t. Because even if it’s less than five minutes away via car, there’s no pedestrian route.”
On May 26, 2022, road safety expert Rozi Ismail stated in a MalaysiaNow article that despite there being plans to build three new highways to reduce traffic congestion in the capital city, its construction would take a long time and not be able to match the pace of Malaysia’s booming private vehicle ownership.
For Dr Kulanthayan KC Mani of Universiti Putra Malaysia, another road safety expert, he was cited in a New Straits Times (NST) article that the number of vehicles in the country has outnumbered the human population in 2021; last year, there were 33.3 million registered vehicles compared to the 32.6 million people residing in Malaysia.
