Rethinking Potentials of Public Space and its Management Through Placemaking in Kuala Lumpur

Public space takes many spatial forms, including parks, the streets, sidewalks and footpaths that connect an edge of a space between buildings or roadsides, hence are important spaces in an urban setting. In a city context, the public space frames the city image. Kuala Lumpur’s public spaces are typically made up of shopping streets. It allows an ambivalent space that encourages more activities and interactions through the continuity of the street. For that reason, street that brings out life and movement in an urban space is an ideal type of street. In maintaining public spaces and reinventing it, placemaking is a quest for engagement tool to help strengthening legal frameworks in order to protect the public space which is seen viable at a city level. This paper therefore, explores the potentials of public spaces and its management. It applies the case study method by means of investigating two areas in the city encompassing similar characteristics. Generally, the research is designed to test the theoretical framework in managing the public space and its key dimensions in shaping the quality of public space. The researcher then synthesizes the broad range of development of placemaking and the changing uses of public space. The findings will advance further understanding of a suitable application thus intensify the legal framework that shapes the quality of space and its management.