An adaptation of the Malay kampongs or villages concept on modern housing schemes development in Malaysia

Abstract

Traditionally, villager's houses organised in groups, surrounded by green nature, landscape, each space connected by informal pathways to form a settlement known as village, kampong or 'kampung'. The kampong setting grow harmoniously and evolved over the years. Indirectly the culture and values of the Malay community in the village are slowly influenced by the atmosphere and living environment that tested through many years. Today, the existence of a traditional Malay village as an early settlement pattern of the Malay community threatened by the process of urbanisation and modernisation of the country. The kampong setting has replaced by mass production of housing schemes called 'taman perumahan'. As a result, the existence of traditional Malay kampongs in urban areas has been replaced by a planned housing schemes that is considered modern and well-planned. However, there is an effort to re-adapt the traditional village concept ideally into modern urban housing either through architectural design, landscape and neighbourhood planning at different level. This paper is written based on qualitative approach by collecting and structuring field data through several methods such as observation, and fieldwork study. This paper explores such effort in modern housing schemes at the Precinct 8 (Putrajaya) and Nong Chik Height (Johor Bahru).