Cover Shin Tseng wears Dior
Shin Tseng wears Dior
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In this excerpt from our May 2023 cover story, urban development consultant and design director Shin Tseng discusses building a city that creates a positive impact
Too often in urban planning, the focus is on towering skyscrapers, bigger highways, and new modes of public transportation, ignoring persistent issues such as perpetual roadworks, traffic congestion, frequent flash floods, and general property overhang. This is evident in particular in Kuala Lumpur, where underused spaces have become a problem.
Instead of revitalising vacant buildings, they end up derelict or demolished in favour of newer, shinier models. Our cities have been shaped by industrialisation, where cars outnumber people, resulting in roads that are not pedestrian-friendly. Both old and new buildings are designed for individual purposes, meaning people only go there to conduct specific tasks and nothing else.
Read more: 5 greenest skyscrapers in Asia
But human lives are not linear. Believing that the current architectural model in Malaysia is unsustainable, Shin Tseng, director of the multidisciplinary practice Urban Agenda Design Group, advocates for a holistic and impact-focused approach to urban development. He is among the few architects in the country leading this approach.
“Many modern developments aren’t built to human scale because the current development model is based on a capitalist system that prioritises finances and the scale [of a project] over people,” Tseng says. “We forget to keep in touch with reality when profiteering is all that we prioritise. As our way of life evolves, the purpose of our buildings also changes. [The development model’s] slow adaptation to societal change is what causes the increasing number of vacancies in urban areas.
“While a return of investment is vital in a project’s sustainability, there has to be a limit as to how many giant, profit-maximised projects can be developed. In 2023, we’re looking at a worrying amount of oversupply in terms of retail and office spaces. This is triggered by a mass exodus of people leaving older buildings. More than half of the buildings in KL are empty, so why are we still building?"
See also: Meet the Malaysian architect crafting beautiful structures from bamboo
Above Shin Tseng wears Fendi
Shin Tseng wears Fendi
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One aspect that contributes to this problem is the lack of foresight when developing these buildings. Based on what Tseng believes to be an outdated financial model of the 1980s, these mega developments were built without human-scale in mind and used a speculative market to gauge their success. While not an issue at first glance, it becomes a problem when these buildings are left empty and there is a new influx of developments.
“A lot of developments are based on what’s most profitable at the time,” says Tseng. “But after being built, they don’t turn out as well as one estimated because they [no longer cater to] society’s contemporary needs. This is especially evident during this post-pandemic reality, as people’s priorities have shifted towards wanting a better quality of life. It’s easy to make top-down decisions for developments when the numbers look good on paper, but we need to remember that the socioeconomic landscape changes with the times. We can’t speculate a development’s impact when the model we use is from the 1980s.”
Above Behind the scenes at the photoshoot with Shin Tseng
Above Shin Tseng wears Louis Vuitton
Shin Tseng wears Louis Vuitton
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To break the cycle of unsustainable developments, Tseng believes that we have to look beyond the institutionalised finance-based model and initiate “purpose-driven and democratic” development strategies to keep up with rapid societal change. This means spaces should be built in response to the environmental context and the needs of the end user. When developments meet people’s needs, they attract real communities, which create what Tseng describes as a holistic “sense of place”.
“When people have a sense of ownership and feel like they belong, they’re more willing to be accountable for the success of a place they have a stake in, and that is when a city or a place can prosper and become truly sustainable,” he says.
For a development to truly succeed, Tseng highlights three key factors: easy accessibility to basic necessities like healthcare, workspaces, schools, nature and supermarkets, as well as consideration of how long it takes a person to walk safely from one point to another; a healthy, green environment for mental and physical well-being, with well-maintained roads that are inclusive and pedestrian-friendly; and a design that contains a diverse mix of evolving services and facilities that improve the quality of life.
Don't miss: How Asia’s innovative builders are championing sustainable architecture
Above Shin Tseng wears Valentino
Shin Tseng wears Valentino
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In traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture serves two purposes: alleviating sickness and maintaining health. Similarly, “urban acupuncture” is a design-led approach that revitalises specific urban areas through targeted and locale-sensitive strategies, in turn creating a positive ripple effect on immediate surroundings and communities.
Many precedents around the world have shown how creative hubs can help revitalise cities. In downtown KL, examples such as RexKL, the Zhongshan Building, Little Ghost Lane (Kwai Chai Hong), High Street Studio, and The Godown have successfully brought activity and footfall back to the area, leading to an economic revival by attracting communities and repopulating mom-and-pop stores and vacant shophouses. It bears mentioning, however, that these private grassroot initiatives can only do so much.
Theoretically, strategic stimulation of specific areas in cities can foster healthy urban life, but without consultation from technical experts, urban acupuncture treatments directed by a single authoritative entity can be ineffective or even fail completely.
“I used to be inspired by architectural marvels like the Louvre and the [Guggenheim] Bilbao museum, and all the architectural greats like Richard Meier, Frank Gehry, and so on. But one day, that shine wore off,” Tseng says. “Say you step out of the Louvre, turn a corner and see this bustling street market out of nowhere that’s teeming with people. The reason for this crowd is because they needed something real and affordable. And it just goes to show that through urban design, developments don’t have to be billion-dollar buildings, they can just be simple open-ended structures that allow for extensions as and when a demand arises.”
Above Tatler Malaysia May 2023 cover featuring Shin Tseng
Tatler Malaysia May 2023 cover featuring Shin Tseng
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To read the full story, grab a copy of the May 2023 issue from newsstands or click here for the digital copy.
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Usually found at home and one with her couch, Koy Yi would either crack open a good book or game in her spare time to wind down after a long day. She also loves to scour art conventions and book fairs alike when she's able, collecting art books of all regions to gain inspiration for her own illustrations. With a keen interest in people and the stories they tell, she enjoys a good talk and a good laugh (preferably over food). Follow her on her Instagram @peiyi57.
