DOI:https://doi.org/10.55057/ijarei.2022.4.4.10
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Abstract: Malaysia is rich in heritage, primarily archaeological sites, historical buildings, monuments, artifacts, tangible, and intangible traditional and cultural heritage elements.
Archaeotourism is one of the heritage tourism activities which is growing rapidly and attracts many visitors to the Malaysian tourism industry. In alluring visitors to the destination, an archaeological site must offer an extraordinary experiential and continually to develop meanings as an attraction to increase the numbers of visitors. The issue of historical urban landscape in Nusantara has been defined for ‘colonial’-based cities, but not pre-colonial sites.
The primal and axial role of rivers, mountains and mounds in Malay history reflect not only its topographical and physical axis, but resonates from a time when the mountain claimed a primal role in the cosmology and cosmography of place. This paper attempts to find similarities between the early kingdom of Malay Peninsula, Bujang Valley archaeology site, 16th century Kota Melaka and 19th century Jugra, which reflect the historic landscape features and its uniqueness of architecture, with discovery of the remains archaeology artefact with another site in Selangor. Jugra site which similarly has the urban landscape consisting of mountain, river and key public structures. The urban form configuration and the natural setting identifies a continuity and model between a pre-Islamic and colonial-era model with similarity on the topographical, physical and historical attributes of each cultural and heritage element. This study emphasizes that by determining the historical urban landscape perspective in heritage sites, including natural physical landform, architectural archetypes, and significance in multicultural historical values, its key elements can be extracted for developing national identity and promoting heritage sites in the Malaysian tourism industry for its intangible intellectual, emotional, and aesthetical reasons.
Keywords: archaeological site, heritage tourism, historical urban landscape, national identity __________________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
To inculcate the values of identity and continuity, it is crucial to link the earliest Southeast Asian civilizations in Malay Peninsula to its later historical sites. This study emphasizes that by determining the historical urban landscape perspective in heritage sites, including natural physical landform, architectural archetypes, and significance in multicultural historical values, its key elements can be extracted for developing national identity and promoting heritage sites in the Malaysian tourism industry. Determining the significance of heritage resources with the entire cultural heritage environment including tangible and intangible multicultural elements in urban morphology analysis do contribute to the heritage preservation, conservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and management movement. The perspective of diversity for further
heritage planning and management do support smart tourism towards comprehensive digitalisation tourism in Malaysia. The continuity to highlight a robust identity in heritage sites and applied in the virtual digital technology implementation is align with the National Tourism Policy 2020-2030 which recommends Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) as a marketing strategy to improve management quality thus provide valuable experience in digital heritage tourism (Ministry of Tourism, 2020).
2. Literature Review
Heritage Urban Landscape
Heritage urban landscape (HUL) is a management, conservation, and protection historical- cultural value through sustainable approach in the historic urban areas (Ginzarly et al., 2019;
Kırmızı & Karaman, 2021). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has implemented the heritage urban landscape approach in 2011 to preserve, sustain and increase the quality of intangible and tangible historical assets in the existing physical urban context for historical urban management (UNESCO, 2011). Ginzarly et al., (2018) has explained that the integration of management policy and conservation practices in an urban heritage-built environment are the main tools for heritage urban landscape management. Freitas et al., (2020), Gravagnuolo & Girard, (2017), UNESCO, (2011) had defined historic urban landscape as a layering of cultural heritage and historical natural values in historic urban areas such as urban context, natural physical landform setting, and the concept of the historic administrative centre, intangible and tangible cultural heritage with the sense of place formed by local people.
Tangible cultural heritage is an element that can see and touch physically (Bak et al., 2019), such as cultural heritage (built heritage like historical buildings and monuments; human creativity products, for example, craft, artistic creations, and artifacts which have cultural significance in the local community) and natural elements (reserved forest) (UNESCO, 2011).
What is missing in many of the current South East Asian physical sites, is the presence and experience of the nonphysical cultural elements called intangible cultural heritage; which have disappeared and over layered with time. According to UNESCO, (2020) intangible cultural heritage is the elements that express and represent the atmosphere and sense of place of an urban area such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge, and practices in nature and universe or traditional crafts knowledge and skills.
Heritage urban landscape in Southeast Asia, in Malay peninsula mostly formed because of the existence of natural geographical elements such as mountain as a landmark and sacred place for religious activity, coastal area and riverbanks for networking and transportation systems.
Adnan Jusoh et al., (2017) and Zuraidah Hassan & Zuliskandar Ramli, (2018) has explained that coast sites that were on the strategic trade routes with hilly physical landform as a landmark for traders heading to the region play an important role in the existence of the early kingdoms in the Southeast Asian Malay peninsula and the formation of royal town in Malay land. The existence of Malay heritage urban landscape has demonstrated in tangible and intangible cultural heritage and portray Malay symbolism such as the value of thinking, belief, architecture elements as being the cultural bases of Malay cosmology (Hussain et al., 2020).
Urban Morphology and architectural typology
multicultural elements (Ginzarly, Roders, et al., 2018). Therefore, determining the significance of heritage resources with the entire cultural heritage environment including tangible and intangible multicultural elements in urban morphology analysis can contribute to the heritage preservation, conservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and management movement.
Significance of Heritage Urban Landscape in Digital Heritage Tourism
According to National Tourism Policy 2020-2030, digital heritage tourism is one of the transformation strategies to embrace smart tourism through the digitalisation of tourism exploration (Ministry of Tourism, 2020). Therefore, digital heritage tourism is a new approach in the tourism industry that transforms multicultural historic elements and attributes into a game-alike expedition to engage visitors with the historical site. In addition, the ruins' heritage elements can be rebuilt into a virtual environment as a window to the past and to create a sense of presence for visitors to experience the virtual vicinity of the historical urban landscape.
Heritage layering and urban morphology mapping play a crucial role in linking the heritage urban landscape, national identity, and user edutainment in virtual digital heritage tourism to engage the user with historical information and enjoyment during digital exploration.
Storytelling is important in virtual digital technology to interact users with the digital interface, give an educational experience, and increase user engagement with the historical tourism journey (Bozzelli et al., 2019). Storyboard in digital heritage tourism must be parallel with the user's age, gender, and computer-related experience to enhance the user enjoyment level (Dawson et al., 2020). Digital heritage tourism can be a new medium to preserve and manage the cultural heritage for future generations especially for ruins historical elements (Fusté-Forné, 2020).
Finding the historical continuity: Bujang Valley, Melaka and Jugra
Jugra and Bujang Valley have multicultural identity content in both urban layout and architectural typology (Mazarina, et al., 2020, Jahn Kassim & Kamaruddin, 2018) with the elements of Malay, Chinese and Indian culture, interspersed with east Asia and western influences. The development of the Malay Archipelago civilization in southeast Asia, peninsular Malaysia must be identified within a framework of multiculturalism. This layered multicultural understanding of the Malay Archipelago civilization is significant as it will contribute in instilling the national identity among the young generation. Park (2009) and Zantides (2016) state that national identity is a sense of belonging to certain place. The resurgence of national identity of the place can be nurtured through heritage tourism activity (Yeneroglu Kutbay et al., 2016). According to Butler et al., (2014) and Zhang et al., (2020), heritage tourism is one of platform to instil the spirit of national identity among young generation. National identity in heritage tourism is to resurrect sense of belonging and memorable values of the heritage place among visitors by sharing of valuable memory elements such as “familiarity,” “comfort,” and “intimacy” with the heritage elements such as history, memory, place, built environment, heritage urban landscape, artefacts object and people.
3. Methodology
The aim of this paper is to highlight the common and shared key HUL elements between the Bujang valley (8th to 14th century) to the present layout elements of an existing site known as Jugra, the Malay heritage site in Selangor. Preservation of ruins cultural heritage must also take into account key factors related to the intangibles in linking the national identity, heritage urban landscape, and the need to specify character of the site. The methodology in linking the historical multicultural element is by mapping the heritage urban landscape layering for storytelling in virtual digital technology. This is a preliminary study to define and analyse through literature reviews towards the research objectives. The study of urban morphology is by qualitative method - to analyse the multicultural element and characteristics from the rise of Bujang Valley to Kota Melaka and resume with Jugra.
4. Findings
Bujang Valley: Historical background
Bujang Valley is located at Mukim Merbok at the coast of the southern part of Kedah, Malaysia with 144 square miles or 224 square kilometers land area. The border of Bujang Valley is Singkup Para Hill from the North, Straits of Malacca from the west, Muda River from the south, and Ah Teng Hill from the east side (Fatimah Hassan & Morshidi Sirat, 2006;
Rasoolimanesh & Jaafar, 2016). As the earliest civilisation (urban) in Peninsular Malaysia, also known as Kedah Tua, between the fourth century until fourteenth century A.D, it was also known as Kataha (Indian), Katahanagara (Sanskrit), Kidaram or Kadaram (Tamil), and Kalah or Kalah-bar (Arabic) (Andaya, 2001; Zuraidah Hassan & Zuliskandar Ramli, 2018). It was believed that Kedah existed before the Malay Sultanate in Malacca.
Key topographical elements of the Bujang Valley site is the role of Mount Jerai as the anchor datum of the landscape due to its strategic location in the south of Jerai Mountain in fertile lowland with a broad and the winding deep river estuary in Sungai Merbok as the main river access and networking system for the settlements. Historically the Bujang Valley has significance for the entire Malay world (Narimah Samat, 2013), and reflect HUL elements of the Malay world such as:
1) The elements of the mountain as a point of orientation.
2) Settlements in Bujang Valley are approximately close to the river which function as a main transportation system and water supply. The tributaries of Merbok River and Muda river were the initial sites of the settlement civilization in this kingdom (Narimah Samat, 2013).
3) Based on Narimah Samat, (2013) research study, another factor that influenced the dispersal of settlements was from foreign traders who tend to build houses around the hilly area such as Gunung Jerai, Bukit Penjara, and Bukit Batu Lintang because this place is much suitable for their daily activities compared to lower altitude areas.
Figure 1: The Datum of Jerai and Sungai Merbok in the historical landscape of Bujang Valley
Kota Melaka: Between mountain and estuary
The mountain, or the hill in the history of the Malay historical urban landscape, is both 'breaker' and 'beacon'. By the ‘breaker’, one refers to the linear and vertical physical character of a mountain or mountainous range, which, in terms of topography, divides a land mass into two.
The geographical and topographical conditions of site as mountains, hills and mounds, which have acted like a seed to the beginnings of cities, and then brought to the embryonic seeding of cities between mountains and rivers and seashores.
It is at the foot of these hills, mounds or mountains which spurred forth the brewing of the earliest Malay settlements. The mountain ranges are known as the bone of the Peninsula (Paul Wheatley, 1961) which divide and cause settlements to evolve upon land and sites that much lower as these are mineral rich with fertile soil, attracting settlements at the foot of these mountain ranges.
By ‘beacon’, one refers to how it was the mountains that had ‘beckoned’ or attracted venturing traders and seafarers throughout centuries. Kedah’s Mount Jerai was a beacon, playing an alignment and navigational role and had eventually made the Merbok and Bujang valley a constant landfall to traders and it was Bukit Jugra - hailed as a landmark to Arab Mariners, as was Bukit Puteri in Kuala Terengganu. The critical link between these two forces of mountain and sea were the rivers, for they were the channels through which the rainwater that fell on the mountains flowed down, ultimately to merge with the sea. These river basins - between the sea and mountain - contained the earliest polities of island South East Asia…’and had eventually shaped the political dynamic between them. As the observations of Tarling
(1999; p197) the Malay cultural worldview, was built by the straddling of mountain and sea, which gave rise to its urban-ism and the particularities of its cities: “…In the traditional Malay view of the world there was a powerful duality, a landscape dominated by high and steep mountains and seas whose horizons seem un-reachable…”. The primal and axial role of rivers, mountains and mounds in Malay history reflect not only its topographical and physical axis, but resonates from a time when the mountain claimed a primal role in the cosmology and cosmography of place. Beginning from time immemorial through to the era domain of the Islamic periods, key mountains and hills represents, in the Malay cultural geography, physical topographical features that are crucial markers and ‘place-making’ backdrops.
In his chapters on ‘Sacred Mountains: Capitals and Cities ‘, Munoz (2006) further describes:
“A common feature of kingdoms was to have their political centre, kedatuan, kraton or capital located on a site close to a sacred hill or mountain. The Malays were the first to develop cities.
Their cities are often focused on mercantile activities, with few landmarks built in durable materials. Usually, the rulers avoided altering the original landscape, instead simply adapting their urban layout to pre-existing geographical features”.
Thus this was how some of the key cities in the Malay world, had evolved against this powerful backdrop which perpetuated iconography and images of the city across time. From the rise of Bujang Valley to Melaka and later in Jugra, these cities are centres of life essentially striding mountains or hillocks. Refer Table 1 for historical timeline.
Table 1: Historical timeline in continuity from Bujang valley (8th century) to Jugra 8th -13th century 14th -19th century 19th -21st century
Bujang Valley Kota Melaka Jugra
Melaka was a centre that grew due to its strategic location striding a wide navigational river with a naturally-occurring ‘fort’ (Figure 2). The hill became the ‘royal’ site which was bordered by orchards and a large field and then a dense community represented royal enclaves, followed by other structures including mosques and artisan neighbourhood and on the opposite side of the river was the commercial area. (Figure 2a). The open green area represented direct administrative apparatus and support structures under the monarch in the era of medieval maritime cities or river-based cities which grew at the confluence of rivers. Over time, it has evolved into a more structured and axial character.
Figure 2: Strategic location of Kota Melaka (copyright; with permission: Kamariah Kamaruddin)
Figure 2a: A 3D-modelling of 15th century estimate of Melaka harbour reconstruction (copyright; with permission: Virtuocity Systems SDN BHD and Universiti Utara Malaysia)
Jugra, Selangor: Historical background
It was Sultan Abdul Samad ibni Almarhum Raja Abdullah, the fourth Sultan of Selangor who had shifted the administrative town from Kuala Selangor to Jugra. Thus Jugra was selected due to its character as reflective of a local and intangible outlook on the environment. Similarly with Bujang Valley, but in a more compact scale, the grid layout of the royal zone is linked, oriented and anchored to the hill (Jugra hill) and river (Langat river) (Figure 3).
Figure 3: The datum of the Jugra hill and Langat river in the historical landscape of Jugra
Similarly Jugra’s Kuala Langat, Melaka and the Bujang Valley acted as a port because of its strategic location on the route from both Arab and Indian countries in the west and China in the east, with the advantage of mountain and a hill as landmark to navigate traders to the port, then Bujang Valley developed into government centre that focused on the trader's activities (Adnan Jusoh et al., 2017; Zuraidah Hassan & Zuliskandar Ramli, 2018). These port cities was also a stopover place for ships that depends on monsoon wind for their voyage, therefore leading to goods exchanged happening during this period. In separate eras, it had become a focal point of both eastern and western foreign traders because of its prosperity. According to Zuraidah Hassan & Zuliskandar Ramli, (2018), around the 7th century, a Chinese traveler name I-Ching had stopped at Chieh Cha which was thought to be the Bujang Valley on their trip from China to India. The significant impact of Bujang Valley as a port city based on the variety of artifacts that was found in archaeology site in 1956 by the Archaeological Society of the University Malaya based in Singapore such as pottery and ceramics from China, glass shard from the western part of Asia, beads from India, and most of the ceramic was in form of fragments. Iklil Izzati et al., (2011) stated that the supported evidenced to prove Bujang Valley as a port city were found near river sites such as in Pengkalan Bujang, Kampung Sireh, Kampung Sungai Mas, and Simpor Tambang.
River as dendritic system
In all cases, their river systems are vital as it connects the hinterland resources with the port or maritime activity. In the Bujang Valley, Iklil Izzati et al., (2011) revealed 86 from 87 sites in Bujang Valley can be linked with the river and the sea. Even though Sungai Batu Complex did not function as a trading site, the river systems in Sungai Batu Complex also could be perceived with the same role because of its location that strategic as a feeder point before the goods being taken for trading activities located on the banks of ancient’s river that connect to the Merbok River estuary. In case of Jugra, the Langat river was key to its commercial routes and prosperity.
Figure 4: The river flow from the Jerai Mountain at Bujang Valley by Bronson’s Model.
Sources: Iklil Izzati et al. (2011) and Miksic (2018)
Based on Iklil Izzati et al., (2011), Figure 4 highlight the proposed river concept in Bronson Model (1977) shows ‘A’ is a major main centre of the river estuary located towards the Straits Of Malacca then followed by ‘B’ and ‘C’ river. ‘B’ and ‘C’ are in secondary and primary river junctions and function as second and third feeder points. ‘D’, ‘E’, and ‘F’ are located at the upstream level and ‘F’ may be at the top of a Mountain. ‘X’ is in the sea centre at the Straits of Malacca which is consume the product from the ‘A’ centre. The river flows from the Mountain towards the River until the port area which located along with the coastal site at the Straits of Malacca.
5. Analysis
The parallels of the Malay historical urban landscape: from Bujang Valley to Jugra Jerai Mountain is the higher peak in Kedah state, located at the border of Kuala Muda and Yan, Kedah, with 1300m height and 3992-meter height above the sea level (Nur Umaira et al., 2019;
Zuraidah Hassan & Zuliskandar Ramli, 2018). Jerai Mountain is known as a landmark to guide traders and sailors for trading activities from all over the region because can be seen from the shore and as a lighthouse to guide the ship at night. Similarly, Jugra consisted of a hill as datum, a river, a royal zone connected with a port centre and the hinterland through the river.
Figure 5: Historical timeline in continuity from Bujang valley (8th century) to Jugra mapping with divisions of historical periods
Sources: Puteri Shireen (2021) and Tengku Anis Qarihah (2021)
The discovery of temple remains, statues, and inscriptions around Bujang Valley archaeological sites, show proof that Bujang Valley was both a religious and commercial
stopover (Zuraidah Hassan & Zuliskandar Ramli, 2018). According to Adnan Jusoh et al., (2018), the remains archaeology sites at Bujang Valley are Ulu Sungai Merbok (on the top of Jerai Mountain), Tupah, the left and tributaries of Sungai Bujang (especially at Pengkalan Bujang), Sungai Batu Estate, the river side of Sungai Semeling, and Kampung Sungai Mas.
Refer Figure 5 for Historical timeline in continuity from Bujang valley (8th century) to Jugra mapping with divisions of historical periods. Jugra, is a site where key public structures are located around the hill datum point and are critically oriented to these topographical elements.
Both sites reflect how the critical link between these two forces of mountain and sea were the rivers, for they were the channels through which commerce and social life flowed upstream and downstream, ultimately to merge with the sea. These river basins – between the sea and mountain - are reflected in the earliest polities of island South East Asia…’and had eventually shaped the political dynamic between them. The primal and axial role of rivers, mountains and mounds in Malay history reflect not only its topographical and physical axis, but resonates from a time when the mountain claimed a primal role in the cosmology and cosmography of place. Beginning from time immemorial through to the era domain of the Islamic periods, key mountains and hills represents, in the Malay cultural geography, physical topographical features that are crucial markers and ‘place-making’ backdrops.
Trade and routes
Similar to Kota Melaka and Jugra, the Merbok estuary was a particularly thriving site due to its sheltered location, these gave way to communities which economically benefitted from trade. Between the fifth and the early eleventh century, Sungai Mas in the Bujang Valley became the civilizational enter of Kedah. Buddhist inscriptions found in the valley are evidence of Indian contact from the 5th and 6th centuries. In the 7th century, it became a collecting point of local products for an expanded trade in the Straits. It became a crucial trading center amongst the ports as it increasingly acted as major redistribution centres of Chinese wares, Middle Eastern products and Indian valuables. Ships sailing from South India would follow the direct latitude towards the east and as they approach land would be guided by Mount Jerai, the highest peak in the Kedah plains. During an era when sailors and mariners could not calculate longitude but could determine their latitude through stars, the beacon of Mount Jerai was a natural landfall. It was known that Early sea traders from the west, upon reaching the coast, engaged porters to transport goods by raft, elephant and man-carry along the rivers. The famed Sungai Muda and its tributaries would reach the trading world of both sides of the continent as its wide mouth was particularly favoured coupled with good climatic conditions and an adaptable and just host community. Hence not only Kedah’s nearness to the entrances to the Straits of Malacca became a natural resting point as traders waited for the change in the monsoon directions center of religious and industrial knowledge, people who came to trade, were also enamoured by the natural personalities of the host community.
Architectural continuity: pillared architecture as original identity
A key character of the temples in the Bujang valley is the open air, structurally exposed pillared structures and spaces which reflects with the notion of tropical local architecture – elevated and open air – with the architectural notion of liminality, implies to view space and architecture is seen as an experience in progression, rather than as a structure or a static physical notion, as typically related to Western concepts. The word liminality, is derived from the Latin word lien, means threshold'. According to Oxford dictionary, “liminality is the transitional period or phase of a rite of passage, during which the participant lacks social status or rank, remains
and the main space must be preceded by an ‘interstitial’ ‘open air pillared space which evoke how close the connections between the ruler and the ruled; or the threshold of mundane to sacred, public to private; and community to individuality.
These reflect the original language of the tropical sites and such pillared structures become reflected in the eventual construction of other building types, in which the walls are inserted between columns – resulting in a language of expressive and exposed structures – rather than clothing or obscuring them. The same character can be observed in the typologies in the architecture of Jugra, from the audience hall in the palace the pillared museum to the pillared shophouse continuously reflect such character in their architectural language. (Figure 7 to 9)
Figure 6: Reconstructing the full temple structure in the Bujang valley as an archetype (copyright; with permission: Noorhanita Abdul Majid)
Figure 7: The original view of Istana Bandar 1910 Sources: warisanpermaisuri.blogspot.com
The original Istana Bandar (see Figure 7) was not the totally enclosed structure which is present today, but an open air pillared structure which consist of a light column structure on first floor over a more masonry columnar space on the ground floor.
Figure 8: Bandar National School Source: Malaysia Traveller
The Bandar National School
This is the oldest school in Selangor and the first school in the Kuala Langat district also reflected the same identity, where the post and beam structure of the school is traditional and exposed (Figure 8). This school was originally known as Bandar Dandan Bakti Raja Malay School and was built in 1898s. It enrolled 53 students which all of them were boys. The schools relocated to the present site, opposite with Bandar Mosque in 1952.
The Old Jugra Prison (Jugra Insitu Museum)
During the British development of Bukit Jugra between 1875 – 1876, a two-story building was constructed using the square shape of granite. This building is unique because already used advanced technology by using granite material for the construction. This building was abundant and decay before conservation and restoration were done by a private agency and stakeholder.
In 2001, state archaeology discovered that this building was known as the ruins of ‘Rumah Pasung’ among local people. Restoration work was carried out for the following year until 2013, the building transform into a museum known as Jugra Insitu Museum under the supervision of Perbadanan Adat Melayu dan Warisan Negeri Selangor (PADAT) agencies.
(Figure 9). Throughout time, key parts of the existing building are preserved such as granites walls, flooring, jail cells, and the repetitive while pillars in which walls were inserted in between the columns, and these columns are still preserved and expressed.
Figure 9: Jugra In-Situ Museum in 2013 after restoration process Sources: Visit Selangor website
The Old Kuala Langat District Office
The first building to be build was Jugra District Office (Figure 10). This building is located on the hillside of Bukit Jugra heading to Langat River which the location was strategic where the
Figure 10: District Office Residents in 1876 Source:www.jstor.org/stable/41493610
Long Puteri Palace/ Maimun Palace
The location of this palace is close to Jugra Palace and was the official residence of Raja Long Puteri, granddaughter of Sultan Abdul Samad. The palace was resided by Raja Sakinah Raja Mustar in the 1930s and was left vacant in the 1960s (Figure 11). This palace is also known as Maimun Palace. Though currently abundant and decayed, the remains of thee c structure clearly depict a pillared hall with a curved form of staircases which its fourteen steps of the stone staircase. The layout of this palace floor plan was divided into 3 space areas, which were the living area, middle space, and kitchen area which were the kitchen divided from the middle space. This palace has 3 rooms and one guest room. The open air nature of the frontage of the palace is key to its architectural identity, where the columns are expressed and the wall are inserted light weight elements between the columns, and the stone staircase located in a classical symmetrical manner (Tengku Anis, et.al. 2017)
Figure 11: Long Puteri Palace/ Maimun Palace in 1930 and 2019 Source: www.ombakbergigi.com
Picture shown the Sultan’s old Istana at Bandar Langat, the picture was taken late in 1874. This palace is located at Bukit Jugra and is known as Sedang Masa l Palace. Sultan Abdul Samad moved to his new residence at Jugra Palace in 1876 when he told his advisor, Sir Frank Swettenham, that he much prefers his house and garden up at the hilly area, which was at Bukit Jugra. Sultan Abdul Samad stayed in this palace for the rest of his life. When the Sultan passed away in 1898s, the palace was abandoned and ruins.
Implications to digital heritage via historic urban landscape
Speake and Fox (2000) for example, summates how acculturation is key to the economic sustainability of cities and that which is needed in the continued ‘enculturation’ of cities:
“..culture has been major feature of urban change during the past two decades. Innovating cities which have been able to identify and market a unique or unusual cultural niche have often been successful in their attempts at regeneration. Imitating cities which replicate initiatives …. are frequently less successful than their more innovative and inventive counterparts “South East Asian cities, including townships, urban cores and urban sites have evolved and disappeared after centuries of ‘layering’ and ‘development’. Particularly cities in the region which lie within the crossroads of ‘East’ and ‘West’, the centers of cities the conundrum between the aim to conserve tradition while at the same time, fulfilling global standards in rising sustainability is increasingly seen as symbiotic. Khirfan (2010) highlights how ‘reveal that the spirit of place remains constant as the urban form is reshaped” in his use of four layers of the urban form to analyse a methodology that combines town plan analysis and GIS to investigate the interactions between the symbolic significance of heritage, urban form, and the distinctive spirit of place. The analyses reveal symbolic significance of tangible and intangible heritage, combined with innovative designs and urban rituals. As Gospodini (2001) earlier observes: The growing tourist interest in the architectural heritage of cities as well as in reconstructed and revitalized historical urban areas since the 1970s can be seen as an expression of the individual’s nostalgia for ‘what has gone’.
Such understandings and insights can enhance how urban heritage and historical studies able to create a conceptual framework which can guide urban heritage enhancement, spur possible implications for urban tourism while complying with rising sustainable standards. Cosmodino (2011) This kind of functional homogenization of the individual’s everyday environment allows someone to argue that nowadays the urban tourists’ search for counter structures is mainly oriented towards the formal dimension of the urban environment. In other words, urban tourism is gradually becoming an activity based on the projection correction of ‘homogenized’
everyday activities and habits within a mirror of completely different spatial settings—i.e.
radically innovative forms of urban space. In this sense, it can be said that urban space morphology and urban design are gradually becoming significant parameters or resources in urban tourism development. Therefore, it is challenging to attempt to investigate what can actually constitute counter structures in terms of the physical form of space and urban space morphology. Nasser (2014) goes further to describe the essential relationships:’…. planning for sustainability in heritage places is significantly different because of their inextricable link to the past as a continuum. Heritage places represent layers of evolving traditional forms of architecture and city building that have together created a “sense of place.” Urban planners recognise the link to the past and its influence on the “sense of place as an important dimension of sustainable places, strengthening local identity, contributing to investment…”
At the same time, the emergence of principles in sustainable urbanism have witnessed a return to the advantages of’ informal and organic-based’ approaches and patterns of planning.
Carmona (2010) summates that recent theories in urban design have been concerned with ‘an emerging tradition of sustainable urbanism’ and had cited Brown’s et al. (2009) identification of ‘four convergent lines of thinking in sustainable urbanism...’, and that are: 1)the need for vibrant walk able neighbourhoods that attract creative classes (ii) the emergence of downtowns of increasing demand for urban living; (iii) an awareness of the growing obesity which has spread due to car dependent urbanism; (iv) the growing interest in the potential of urban form to reduce the carbon footprint of mankind’. There is a focus on the traditional city form and features, as sustainability and its implementation has witnessed the re-emergence in the
People should have personal attachment and perceived the existence of historical elements in this area as memory or identity. For example, in the tropical realm of the Malay Nusantara region, pre-colonial ‘original’ urban patterns of South East Asian, many of these were essentially riverine or maritime in nature. As described by Andaya (2008: p 22) “ “.. the people were named after a particular river or stretch of river, stream or coast. In this maritime world, rivers and seas formed unities, while land formed the link between bodies of water..” Thus in parts of the Asian archipelago, the river constitutes the very core and essence of the identity and references of place and therefore has contribution in forming its local population worldview, cultural consciousness and cultural practices. Therefore, the strengthening and rebuilding the character of Asia’s riverside area, is particular crucial in rebuilding its sense of identity and therefore its branding and further results and mappings can be used to support the interdependence between old urban fabrics with the new development. Furthermore, in modern context, the physical and spatial structure of historical area can promote the identity of river city.
In a river city or a maritime city in South East Asia, peculiar grid patterns and urban open spaces have been linked to topographical elements which has a strong socio-cultural impact in the region. Hence particularly, the morphology of riverside settlement and maritime traditional cities in South East Asia before being disrupted by colonial or external influences, one can unearth both urban forms and architectural identities in the traditional identities of a tropical site. This can not only be digitised to rebuild the city's identity, but contribute in bringing closer to level of environmental sustainability. The physical and spatial patterns of an urban core is of particular interest, as the urban core represents original elevated identities of communities that contains urban design essences and patterns of traditional ways of life that straddled maritime or riverside settlement.
Both sites, Bujang Valley and Jugra exemplified the close relationship of the social culture of aquatic communities in the South East Asian archipelago and the nature of their river eco- systems. Patterns of settlement are formed along these rivers and these crowd densely around river banks and river mouths. They arose from a riverbank settlement could be developed by modifying the patterns on the river; where the river and the sea was the source of daily water, fishery and trade transportations. The settlements were built along the wetland on the river bank that directly connected to the river transportation. The riverfront houses had two faces with the main face was directed to the river. Formerly, each riverfront house had a terrace with boat dock. The houses were connected by long bridges on stilts. The houses stood on the wetland that was always inundated, therefore, it was built on a stilt or rafts foundation.
As original past settlements based on these river functions not only determines the distance of the buffer area, but also the orientation of the buildings. The settlement orientation changes gradually from the upstream to the middle until the downstream. The settlements in the
upstream zone are not oriented to the river. The layout of a public building is adjusted to topography and circulation path of the land. A riverfront building which typically have two faces with the main direction is to the land; and with the main orientation to the river. It indicates that the higher the level of river dependence the more the settlement will be oriented to the river. People’s dependence on rivers influence their adaptation manifested in the typology of the building. In the upstream where river functions have little effect on people's lives; people avoid the erosion by keeping away the settlement from the river banks. The dependence on rivers is the basis of development that more adaptable to river ecosystems. The vernacular settlements had a concept that flexible to the natural cycle of the river ecosystem. It also shifts the community perception on the natural cycle of the river ecosystem from sources of life to disasters. The development also shifts from adapting to avoiding or controlling and changing the ecosystems.
The morphology and patterns recall the observation of Tarling (1999; p197) which gives a summation of the localised Malay cultural worldview, which gave rise to its urbanism and settlement patterns is particularly crucial: ‘…In the traditional Malay view of the world there was a powerful duality, a landscape dominated by high and steep mountains and seas whose horizons seem unreachable…’ Wind and water takes a critical role in the Malay world as both structures and landscape elements were environmentally and strategically laid out as to form an environmental fusion with the surrounding water resources. Traditionally Malay palaces are strategically placed near the river and oriented optimally to capture the prevailing wind.
6. Conclusion
The issue of historical urban landscape which are emergent is studied to find parallels between sites separated by a long historical period. There are similarities of elements in terms of topographical, ecological, urban and architectural. The elements of Bujang Valley and Melaka as archaeotourism site resonate with a more recent historical site in Selangor, and this highlights the critical elements of a localised definition of historical urban landscape which must be reconstructed from the layering of morphology, the remains of historical buildings, monuments and architectural elements - the key datum within the natural environment, and the alignment with changes in historical events. Each contains key and essences of heritage elements that can be virtualised into digital virtual technology. Investigating the interactions between the significance of heritage, urban form, and the distinctive spirit of place reveal symbolic significance of tangible and intangible heritage in the spirit of national identity in the Malay Archipelago thus inspire a promise of engagement with the future generations.
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