In Search of Aesthetic Living: Reframing Local Lifestyle and Urbanisation Experience?

There seems to be a speeding trend in the city development and expansion built around this modern yet cultural-rich and historic Kuching City Centre especially over these past 3 years. Areas of commercial interests such as cafes, multistyle-foodstore outlets, restaurants and retail businesses operations, leisure malls and purpose-built modern townships facilities all began to mushroom around various locations in the cityscape since 2004.

Commercial Complexes and Urbanisation

Among all, there are two identified regional commercial development concepts worth to mention here that have been implemented and built around the town area within the Kuching City Centre since 2006. They are namely, The Spring (the largest lifestyle shopping mall in the state, situated in Kenyalang), and The Boulevard shopping complexes (a new local mall situated along Jalan Datuk Tawi Sli in the 4th Mile area).

Within a short period of time, both of these retail complexes seem to successfully draw numerous potential and interested investors in operating chain and retail businesses within these premises. Most of them are established regional and international brand names with chain outlets already operated from the Kuala Lumpur Capital City Centre.

Also, the good news is that the constructions of both of these retail and shopping complexes are towards the end of its construction stage. Local residents seemed to be very much excited about the near-completion of their construction status as seen across the main road where these two construction sites are situated. Relooking at Kuching City as a whole, there are also numerous ongoing landscaping and beautification of environment projects.

The State Government has called for local designers and design architects to reshape a few prominent tourist spots within the city centre, other than the efforts done and as evidenced on those planned shopping malls and complexes that were built or are being planned into the various strategic locations within the modern cityscape of Kuching area. 

Distinguished places worth to mention are those such as the Green Heights Mall, located off the Kuching Interntional Airport Road, 5 minutes drive from the airport and 15 minutes from the Kuching City Centre. It is Kuching’s first suburban neighbourhood mall with an international cold storage market and is targeted to be opened in early 2008.

The Grand Centro, which is proposed to be the biggest shopping complex cum hotel apartment project located in King’s Centre, Kuching, will be covering some 1,200,000 square feet (or 110,000 square metre) of gross building area; Last is the symbolic ‘high rise’ Kuching Tower, which is an RM300 million state-of-the-art building that is considered to be the Borneo Island’s tallest building which gives a new identity to the State capital.

Leisure Parks, Modern Townships and Reframing Approach

(Zheng-He Statue captured in evening sunset – by author, 2006)

Besides shopping malls and complexes around the city centre, a popular leisure and relaxation park that was built with the purpose of accomodating modern lifestyle, leisure and relaxation activities for local residents and neighbouring families is the Taman Sahabat’s Pavillions.

This well-designed park with a mixed-cultural outlook, is located along Jalan Song area, about 5 minutes drive from Swinburne University of Technology, Sarawak Campus, (located along Jalan Simpang Tiga, about 20 minutes drive from the Kuching International Airport). The park, commonly known to the local residents as ‘The Friendship Garden’, was completed and opened to public in May 2006.

As the name Malaysia-China Friendship Garden may well suggests itself, the park is in fact a joint effort between the Kuching City (Malaysia) and Kunming City of China, with a design concept based on the symbolic meaning of friendship between both countries.

One prominent feature of the park that visitors would never be forgotten is the vivid theme of a mixed-culture, modern yet historic and aesthetically designed landscape — consisting of the outstanding Zheng-He statue situated in the middle of the garden, and a Chinese-style Tea House that serves a variety Dim Sum. The main feature is the complimentary man-made lake with walking pavillions surrounding it and connecting the statue and the Tea House.

On the other hand, the Mudajaya Development Corporation (MJC), being one of the key developers in property development with its base in the capital city, KL, has been an active regional developer in Kuching area specialised in property development ever since the past decade from 1997.

MJC is known to the local residents as one of the popular and well-established major estate and property developers to spearhead the development of medium-class and exclusively designed housing development townships to cater for the regional market.

The MJC concept is seemed to be much welcome locally by the medium and high-income earners, as well as expatriates or foreign professionals and retired residents who may be interested to experience and enjoy a mixed of a beautiful, peaceful yet modern lifestyle living within the city centre.

One of the popular modern township concepts among the local enthusiasts of this concept created by the MJC authority is the strategic new township called The Batu Kawah New Township, located 7 km from the Kuching City Centre.

Strategic Urban Design and Sustainable Environment

One careful note is that essentially, current and future city development and expansion plans should have sustainability values with its balanced ecology design concept.  We have to ensure existing and any launched environmental landscaping projects be able to support long term healthy environment for its residents.

All plans as conceptualised for their strategic or customised purposes should maintain a solid objective, that is, to bring an ultimate sustainable value to its audience, at the same time not forgetting to support the community, and foster its residents’ cultural-rich lifestyle other than the main aim of creating and facilitating urbanity progress among the citizens and within the region. 

The core objective of these urbanised community concepts as an integrated township — with commercial leisure malls and beautiful landscape and parks being planned and built in a commercial cum residential setting, is in fact a significant indicator of the State Government’s strategic move and effort in encouraging the growth of property investment and tourism industries and the state’s economy. However, it is also absolutely important for related authority concerned to note that recently there has also been published news reporting on the problems of environment and health issues around the local residential areas.

Critical factors such as eco-friendly and sustainable development issues which would contribute much to the successful long term implementation and benefits of those new and or current city development and expansion plans to the public or residents at large (technically, the end-users), will be the key factors to be examined and evaluated, as we aspire to reframe and create a more pleasant urbanity experience to the residents.

On the other hand, we should also be pleased to note that Kuching, Sarawak is in fact one of the members representing Malaysia for the Healthy Cities Programme since 1994, under the Healthy Cities Project organised by WHO, which started in 1984 in Toronto, Canada. Dr Trevor Hancock, one of the founders of the WHO’s Healthy Cities Programme, has contributed his effort in introducing and promoting this programme since 1994.

An achievement to be proud of by the local residents is that, Kuching, Sarawak has won the 3rd place, after Ichikawa City, Japan (2nd) and Sai Kung District Council, Hong Kong SAR (1st), under the category of ‘Community-based Rehabilitation’, in the Healthy Cities Good Practice Awards 2005, organised by World Health Organization (WHO) for the “Awards for Healthy Cities 2005″.

Engaging in Reframing Local Lifestyle and Urbanisation Experience 

Above all, the reframing approach to urbanisation — in terms of both the urbanity experience of the community, and its sustainable environment within the city, is in fact an urgent mission of all its local residents, and core responsibilities of local designers.  Activities among the communities should be on the working out of an ideal model for these developmental progress of the city and its citizens.

The main focus could be on its strategic urban and service design sectors, with key projects focusing on the aim of keeping the chain of facilitating and enhancing individual and entire community’s intellectual and physical well-being. However, as we all know that ‘urbanity‘ among the residents and communities, does not just happen in real-time as much and as easy as when compared to the growth of its physical or tangible constructs do, towards its encompassed or regional built environment in the city.

So, the vital approach could be engaging in creating and providing the means, as a medium of a ’smart’ or digitally enhanced environment for its social audience, that could possibly enable for tracking-back and monitoring on the progress of how far we are from now, to the ideal state of achieving the sort of urbanisation experience in both the abovementioned entities.

Below are links and resources provided as further information to facilitate interested readers who may be keen in exploring the various potential commercial opportunities, community involvement with local events and happenings within the modern yet historic and cultural-rich Kuching City — the 4th largest city after Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Johor Bahru.

Note: The city itself is also much well-known to foreigners for its rich history of the White Rajahs era about 160 years ago.

Further Resources

Official Website of Kuching – The Cat City:
http://www.catscity.com.my/
Kuching on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuching
Kuching City – Places of interest:
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-486782-action-pictures-kuching_malaysia_vacations-i-photoid-3313333
The Borneo Island:
http://www.mongabay.com/borneo.html
Mudajaya Corporation (MJC) – Batu Kawah New Township:
http://www.mudajaya.com.my/property_bk.htm
‘Taman Sahabat’ (Malaysia-China Friendship Garden):
http://www.virtualmalaysia.com/destination/the%20malaysia-china%20friendship%20garden.html
http://photos.igougo.com/pictures-photos-j59655-s1-p241023-Zheng_He_Statue.html 
The Spring:
http://www.thespring.com.my/ 
The Boulevard Commercial Centres in Sarawak:
http://www.shinyang.com.my/propertyDevelopmentCommercial.htm
Retail Complexes Development in Kuching:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=12970437

~ by vikiz on November 22, 2007.