Next Generation Perspectives - OUR WORK

OUR WORK

New Generation

Perspective

The KL city has undergone a remarkable transformation since its early days as a tin mining town i the mid-19th century. Today it is the capital of Malaysia; a global city; and is among the fastest growing metropolitan regions in Southeast Asia in both population and economic development.

This has resulted in significant investments by the government, private sectors, associations and local institutions into preserving the city's physical heritage and cultural assets, rehabilitating key public amenities, and managing year-round celebratory events.

what, why & how?

key highlights

economic reconstructing

The Local art scene

What, Why & How?

This study enables an accurate understanding of the GTWHS issues, tracking of changes, measurement of impacts, assessment of policy instruments' effectiveness, and design of recalibration measurements, if needed.

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More importantly, the findings can identify necessary policy and regulatory adjustments that can be incorporated into the site's Special Area Plan - set in place by PLANMalaysia in 2010.

This rich and comprehensive database which captured 6,713 entities in 5,403 buildings in 2019 has now been analysed to provide an account of the socio-cultural and economic changes in GTWHS since 2009.

Key

Highlights

Hotels and Tourist Accommodation has the largest footprint and makes up 20.4% of total floorspace of all the major land use categories in 2019, surpassing residential use which was the highest in 2009 and 2013.

Larger hotels with more rooms are still concentrated around Jalan Penang and Lebuh Farquhar, with new clusters emerging along the coastline on Pengkalan Weld.

New hotels have predominantly appeared in accordance with the Special Area Plan’s location guidelines and is evidence that policy refinements can be influential.

Many restaurants and bars were concentrated around Jalan Penang, Lebuh Chulia and Little India, with pockets of activity along Pengkalan Weld.

They increased significantly (▲74%, +230) and this has expanded the industry’s total floorspace (doubling from 4.7% in 2013 to 9.8% in 2019).

Urban mechanics

We adopt a community-first, evidence-based approach.

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Environment & Social

We adopt a community-first, evidence-based approach.

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Strategy & Analytics

We adopt a community-first, evidence-based approach.

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Culture-Based Economic Development

We adopt a community-first, evidence-based approach.

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60+

Projects and Initiatives

100+

Projects and Initiatives

RM43.2bn

Projects and Initiatives

Economic

Reconstructing

It is evident that in the decade after the UNESCO listing, the GTWHS economy became less reliant on household, transport and finance services, and by 2019 was heavily skewed towards hospitality and tourism.

This is contributed by push and pull factors including price hikes in rental and properties, disruptive technology, new transport hubs and more.

"There is also a significant Increase in economic activity driven by new hospitality and tourism ventures."

This report contains the survey results for Think City’s first Business Community Pulse Check. It was conducted in August 2020 in the downtown areas of Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, and George Town.

The Local

Art Scene

The Art, Culture and Craft industry in this study comprises 19-different types of businesses and supporting services such as handicraft, museums, arts suppliers, studios and galleries.

The doubling (▲97%, +55) in the number of entities in the Art, Culture and Craft industry over the last decade is mainly due to increases in handicraft, artefacts and souvenir outlets, private museums and art galleries.

The increase in Art, Culture and Craft establishments are concentrated in the Clan Jetties and parts of Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, with a growing cluster around Lebuh Armenian.

"Loss of residents was largely the result of out-migration of young working families and an ageing population, with limited in-migration."