+ BACKGROUND, CHALLENGES AND OBJECTIVES
Background
Over the past 50 years, the city of Kuala Lumpur saw a significant increase of population from 452,000 people in 1970 to 1.8 million in 2010. Despite this sudden rise, population density of the inner city has not proportionally increased, in fact there a decrease of density when comparing with the 1970 level. Moreover, rapid urbanization is resulting in growing number of homeless and unplanned urban sprawl.
Challenges
The decreasing inner city population has led to a series of challenges for the city, including:
- High percentage of workers but lack of residents.
- Busy during the day and quiet at night creating safety issues
- Lack of housing choices leaving only high end or low end housing
Objectives
The main objective is to attract internal and external talents to live and work in the greater Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley. Kuala Lumpur wishes to achieve this by:
- Improving public realm and green spaces
- Provide a range of affordable, quality inner city living
- Reduce the dependence on private transport
+ ACTIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION
Key actions taken by DBKL
(The Kuala Lumpur City Hall (Malay: Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, abbreviated DBKL))
In order to face the challenges caused by the diminishing inner city population and to create a more affordable and quality inner city life to attract desired residents, DBKL has taken various steps.
Urban Village @ Medan Pasar
Urban Village is an innovative and creative urban solution to make the city more liveable and inclusive.
Pilot projects of 2 Micro house designs were located in urban environment at Medan Pasar plaza to get feedback and response from the public.
Micro housing is a communal living concept where the units are compact and self‐sustained with ample amount of shared spaces to create an integrated and harmonious environment and foster community building.
These micro-houses are to be rented out to unmarried working adults in the low-income category.
The first micro house project is to be launched at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Kuala Lumpur, and is expected to be occupied by the end of 2020.
The micro homes will have 200 rooms to be rented out at RM100 (USD $25) per month for each person including electricity and water consumption, with applications to be made online. The room will be featured with only sleeping and bathing facilities, without a dedicated place for cooking.
‘Perumahan Bandar’ & Adaptive Reuse
Disused commercial buildings are repurposed as ‘Perumahan Bandar’ as a way of repopulating downtown KL with new graduates and young professionals.
Adaptive Reuse Project Perumahan Bandar @ Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman
Public Transport
- 200m from Masjid Jamek LRT Station
- 600m from Bank Negara KTM Station
Perumahan Bandar, urban housing, is a new concept of shared living space introduced by Kuala Lumpur City Hall, targeted for Malaysians from Klang Valley, working in Kuala Lumpur for the first time. The two blocks of 7 storey building can accommodate 311 tenants with an affordable rental price of RM100 (USD $25) per month.
Design Concept of ‘Perumahan Bandar’
- Compact & Practical: Bedroom furniture functions as a room partition and a cabinet
- Vibrant Design: Reduces psychological stress from living in small spaces
- Location: Conveniently located in the city centre, commute to work are within walking distance or easily reachable through public transportation
- Communal Living: Shared spaces such as pantry, living area, TV room to interact with each other.
Building Renovation and Sectional Description
The building renovation was done in 2 phases. Phase 1 consists of 188 units which was completed on 23rd of October 2019, whereas Phase 2 comprises of 123 units is targeted to be completed by December 2020.
Building Layout
Each shared space consists of 3 to 6 units of bed. Every unit is provided with their own lighting fixtures, fan, bed, mattress and 4 doors wardrobe.
Perumahan Bandar enhancement also include:
- Roof top garden that consist of communal space and edible garden as a supporting facility to the building.
- Installation of solar panel on the roof top
+ OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS
The micro homes will benefit singles with low income who have just started working. This project promote inner city living by providing lower and middle income group and young adults with their housing needs before they can get accommodations that are more comfortable. The project ensure that the living spaces, community needs and its built environment meets basic aspiration of living, which are safety and health.
Perumahan Bandar is a retrofitting project, reusing the existing shop lot buildings located in the city centre with the purpose of giving new life to the abandoned building and avoid building wastage. Being located in the city center, tenants make maximum use of public transport, reducing air and noise pollution. Bicycle parking are also provided in the building to encourage cycling as one of the main transportation in the city centre.
