This article first appeared in Digital Edge, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on March 25, 2024 - March 31, 2024

As urban cities continue to reshape themselves with technological advancements, the key to maintaining a sustainable innovative city lies in its community and the information that flows within its core.

However, with the traditional no-frills kopitiam gradually disappearing from cities in Malaysia, would urban rejuvenation result in a further loss of the country’s cultural heritage?

“Any urban rejuvenation is gentrification, but it is about finding the balance [with the local context in these interventions],” says Daniel Lim, director of urban mechanics and placemaking lead at Think City.

Gentrification is a demographic and economic shift in an area from low to high value, often leading to the displacement of the neighbourhood’s residents or businesses due to rising rents and living costs.

“Creative and cultural districts are not just about the creative sectors; they are part of nation-building and the understanding of history and heritage. When there is a push for creativity, culture and competitiveness in the market, that is when innovation happens,” says Lim.

He adds that the challenge with urban cities at present is that there is a lot of isolation within initiatives. Data and information flow matters in ensuring initiatives and people are placed together so that the knowledge and information are reapplied and redistributed.

“Malaysians should celebrate their culture, heritage and history as [celebrating our local identity and culture] creates a demand. This will allow [local businesses and the Malaysian identity in cities] to continue surviving,” Lim continues.

A good example is the Zhongshan Building, one of Think City’s Creative KL Grants Programme grantees, which has attracted more locals to visit downtown Kuala Lumpur. Business owners in the 1950s building have garnered more customers and created a community where dynamic artists and entrepreneurs work together under one roof.

As downtown KL continues to evolve, Lim sees a growing trend where people are becoming more community-oriented and interested in the local culture and history. But perhaps Malaysians should also embrace the country’s diverse communities with the growing migrant population.

“Everyone’s a migrant but just in a different way. That said, I think as much as [migrants] need to understand our culture and our way of doing things, we also need to understand where they come from,” says Lim.

Empathy and understanding are important but communication and involving migrants in the process of urban rejuvenation are equally important in creating inclusivity. Public spaces should cater for everyone’s needs and preferences, and not be monopolised by one single party.

“Now how do we balance [urban gentrification with] content creation using a placemaking approach? If you have relevant things that people like, they will come down to explore and discover experiences. [From there], you have created a balance immediately,” explains Lim.

A unified community fosters city development through the flow of information within its operations. Optimising the operation of public spaces and public transport through integrated data, low tech and artificial intelligence (AI) opens up the potential for creating a city that communicates through its community.

“Community information is key for city planning because you need that information to know your pain points, which needs to be fed up to the city. Unfortunately, I think the interface is the missing piece of the puzzle,” says Murali Ram,  who is advisory and sustainability leader at Arup Malaysia.

Everyday applications such as WhatsApp should be utilised for the collection and dissemination of city data, he says. It makes reporting incidents on the road or activities happening in the city much easier on the go, making it a good model that can be replicated by other cities, if not already utilised.

“The biggest problem Malaysia has is the last mile from any public transport. With AI, I think it can help city planners or transport planners to not only predict optimal routes but even provide on-demand services,” says Murali.

Public buses use conventional routes that do not exactly take passengers to where they need to go in terms of today’s hotspots. They are not designed to meet the demands of the passengers of today because the roads now are completely different from years ago.

Using existing data points and AI to predict and respond proactively to the public’s demands might facilitate the next generation of public transport, such as AI-generated routes. “The idea is that it is dynamic routing, and it is aggregated from the demand of the residents of the city,” explains Murali.

Meanwhile, installing sensors in the inner city for waste management could address issues of rodents and stench polluting the streets, thereby encouraging people to walk on the streets more often, he adds. The sensors could transmit data to the authorities, informing them of waste in public areas that need to be cleared.

“Taking a broader perspective, AI coupled with remote sensing imagery with Google Maps and high-quality aerial maps in land-use planning would be a quicker way to identify [water-absorbent areas],” says Murali.

For example, AI could facilitate scenario building of how 100 years of rain could be distributed and how permeable the land is. Then, grey infrastructures such as the different types of water retention systems could be introduced throughout the highways and roads.

“[You can even take it a step further] and start looking into buildings that can incorporate green roofs and green walls with water absorption features,” says Murali.

The integration of technology with low-tech sensors, infrareds and cameras set up at key drainage inlets would help optimise operations for mitigation purposes from an operational standpoint.

Upgrading existing buildings for operational efficiency is part of any urban regeneration, but the operators or landlords of these spaces would have varying interests and requirements. An integrated co-working platform could help alleviate many concerns surrounding accessibility to services and navigating city regulations.

“When you’re talking about retrofitting a building, getting rid of the old tech and replacing it with smart devices, what you have to keep in mind is having a good supporting platform,” says Lakshita Wijerathne, CEO of Eutech Cybernetic.

This is why he sees a demand for modular-based solutions. A modular-based approach to city management modifies operations without impacting the whole solution.

“The approach allows for easy maintenance of building operations, future-proofing investments, and allows for constant enhancements or modification of the solution to meet your exact needs. The total cost of ownership will be much less compared to taking a monolithic approach.

“Once all the information is available in one data pool, then you can define business processes that cut across all these silos and you can easily optimise [your operations],” says Lakshita.

The information can be captured and connected to the cloud and then to the city management platform, which would be able to relate incidents that occur within the community to clinics or hospitals for emergency healthcare support.

“That should be the approach of urban planners, I feel. Not only digitising the common services, but also giving an ecosystem of partners, private marketplace and components for occupants to make use of by subscribing. That will alleviate a lot of heartache,” he explains.

Lakshita hopes that by implementing a modular approach to city management, occupants would not see sustainability as a cost; rather, it could be made profitable.

“It will increase asset valuation and reduce operating costs. Landlords will be able to attract better tenants and increase rental. But again, one single person will not be able to do it. You have to work as a community,” he says.

To build Malaysia’s digital economy, there must be liveable, exciting, vibrant cities to attract the right talent. The enabling environment matters and that is why the creative and cultural districts can provide their own contribution to the digital economy, says Lim.

With a city that carries cultural significance and provides work accessibility, city dwellers would be more willing to innovate. “At the end of the day, the fundamentals of [a city] are good-quality public spaces, good public transport, affordability and liveability,” he adds.

City planners need to move away from just thinking about the immediate problem and start thinking about the holistic city planning aspects. For example, technology could facilitate identifying parking hotspots and creating dynamic pricing according to locations, which would nudge people’s behaviour as to where they park and walk.

“These behavioural nudges can be enhanced with the use of technology. But even before the technology, you need a clear strategy on how you want to employ technology to deliver the outcomes you want. So, I think that is often the missing link when it comes to city planning,” says Murali.

The demand for an interconnected sustainable city is also an opportunity for the private sector — app developers, for example. Everything cannot be left to the imagination of the public sector because they are not designed to think in an entrepreneurial manner, says Murali.

Investing in technology for museum exhibitions could provide locals and even visitors with education about a city’s heritage and history. Part of urban regeneration will need to focus on how these artsy exhibitions can interpret more than what meets the eye.

“Personally, I feel like we need to invest in our museums, our interpretations, network of galleries and more. Because these experiences are not just [about mere] museums and galleries, but are actually a very powerful education tool [and] advocacy tool,” stresses Lim.

The Borneo Culture Museum managed to combine interactive features with augmented reality in its museum. Technology as such is able to play a role in raising awareness of the importance of culture within a community through an immersive experience.

“If you can empower the community by giving them the know-how, the tech platforms and the tech capabilities, I’m sure they will be able to come up with better solutions than you and me parachuting into a community and trying to give them a solution,” says Lakshita.

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