Chinatown, a diasporic space in host countries, is a testament to Chinese immigrants’ remarkable resilience and adaptability. They have created a place and a profound sense of attachment. This urban landscape, a common sight in many cities, visually permeates the sense of identity through symbolism, trade, and culture. In Kuala Lumpur, Chinatown is synonymous with “Petaling Street” and its surrounding streets. Being the landing point of Chinese settlers since the mid-19th century, the street has undergone several transformations due to its thinning-out identity and character of place. In 2007, it was transformed, with roads paved with red tiles and covered by a transparent dragon-like canopy, marking a new chapter in its rich history. Petaling Street was gentrified in recent years, and people were betting on its heritage for a modern revival.
Microcosm of the Asian urban experience
Petaling Street’s urban fabric comprises shophouses of varied architectural heritage laid out along planned streets of regulated commercial spaces. While these are the street’s formal qualities, their dynamism is informed by the informal, unstructured, and accidental spaces forming the urban voids of public life. The juxtaposition between structured and unstructured spaces gives Chinatown its distinct character, curating a unique urban experience within its multicultural landscape.
“I hear the roaring and honking of cars, trucks, buses, motorbikes, the ringing of temple bells, shouting street traders selling their food. Perhaps I cannot read their signs, yet once getting lost in the maze of little street stalls lining up along the alleyway, I am totally submerged in this dense microcosmos. Turning right into a narrower alleyway, I encounter deteriorating structures, signs of poverty, and ordinary people working hard to make a living.”
This quote was excerpted from Gibert-Flutre & Imai’s (2020) writing on Asian alleyways, resonating with many Asian urban conditions. While they appear as words on paper, they bring out the vibrant, sensorial spatial qualities of the Asian streets, including those of Petaling Street.
Colonising the Streets
Big or small, the streets, alleys, in-between spaces, and sidewalks around Petaling Street have been colonised, turning them into informal, spontaneous, and temporal active environments. They are lively public realms, structured or transient, gathering spaces for informal meetings, and sometimes used as informal living and dining spaces.
The trading activities created an invitation to stay within the informal and what appeared to be loosely structured streets. A study conducted by Tan et al. in 2020 listed 547 street trading activities mainly found on the sidewalks and main streets. Amongst these, 44% were on the pavement, 37% along the main street, 13% along the back alley and 6% along the five-foot way. Retail-type activities are mainly located on the pavement and main street, while 60% of all street trading activities in the back alleys are related to food and beverage. Out of these, non-permanent structures like makeshift stalls or pushcarts represent 76% of all the business premises.
Temporal Makeshift Pushcarts
The transient quality of the street is partly created by the pop-up makeshift stalls selling goods and food. Makeshift stalls and pushcarts are a common street typology here, often perceived as usurpers of the right to public spaces claimed by formal businesses, residents and pedestrians. While gentrification or what many would call “Singaporisation” to cleanse sidewalks has been a strategy for Asian cities to be more international, these informal typologies offer a temporal-spatial experience of transforming the street into life. Street hawkers operating from makeshift stalls and pushcarts are local community anchors. They form an inextricable part of the intangible street experience – a unique genius loci (spirit of place) of urban public life.
Alleys as a public living room
In recent years, alleyway refurbishment as part of urban social life has been seen as an emerging approach to urban revival, transforming the otherwise negative and service space into a public space. Petaling Street was one of the chosen areas in downtown Kuala Lumpur to undergo the alley transformation project initiated by the City Hall in 2015 to attract locals and tourists to downtown Kuala Lumpur. Alleys are turned into active spaces through art and creative place-making strategies, including upgrading services, improving road qualities and lighting and painting different types of mural wall art.
One of the successful activations of alleys was the Kwai Chai Hong, which was mooted by a group of five friends working alongside Think City in 2018. The intricate murals vividly showcase snapshots of daily life from the ancient days of Chinatown. From a woman tending to laundry to a musician playing soulful melodies and from a scribe capturing history to a sex worker navigating life’s challenges, each mural is accompanied by a discreet plaque featuring a QR code. When scanned, the QR code leads to a short video with audio, providing a captivating glimpse into the sights and sounds of historic Chinatown.
This movement had a snowballing effect, as seen in many other private owners transforming alleys through colours, objects, and furniture, turning an otherwise negative alley into a space to stay in.
Unstructured Cultural Expressions
The transformation of Petaling Street has seen the utilisation of prominent symbolic forms to portray a sense of Chineseness. These include the green transparent dragon-shaped canopy roof, the brightly coloured archways at both ends of the street, and lanterns lining the street. Over time, the street has accumulated a complex sign system that underlies its contemporary Chinese diasporic identity through the meaning formed by society. Although modernisation and urbanisation of the street have brought about unfamiliarity, the signage, ornament details, and colours remained significant elements to retain to portray the Chineseness of Petaling Street. A large number of signs are red and yellow, symbolising luck, prosperity, and joy, as well as Chinese ancestral trades.
Overall, whether small or big, the enmeshed experience along this street creates a ‘spatial tapestry ‘, a metaphor for the area’s intricate and diverse urban fabric. Petaling Street offers an Asian urban condition that embraces the imaginative use of urban spaces through their transience, functions, and social meaning.
References:
Gibert-Flutre, M., & Imai, H. (2020). Asian alleyways: An urban vernacular in times of globalisation. In M. Gibert-Flutre & H. Imai (Eds.), Asian Alleyways: An Urban Vernacular in Times of Globalization, pp. 15–32. Amsterdam University Press.
Tan, A., Aminuddin, A. & Daud, N. I. (2020). Street Trading Activities in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown: present situation and future directions. Malaysia Architectural Journal, Volume 2 (1), pp. 38-48.
Saidu, I. (2023) The Petaling Street Local Guide. [online]. Available at: https://www.thehiplife.asia/malaysia/petaling-street/ [Accessed 27 July 2024]
Sekhar, L. (2022). Architect Scarlet Koon explores KL’s Chinatown in new travel guide by Atelier International. [online]. Available at: https://www.optionstheedge.com/topic/culture/architect-scarlet-koon-explores-kls-chinatown-new-travel-guide-atelier-international [Accessed 27 July 2024]
