| dc.description.abstract | The analysis conducted in this research defines the morphological characteristics of the regional urban structure of Perak, in Peninsular Malaysia. Driven by the recognition that Peninsular Malaysia’s urban system and its main cities face several challenges in respect of spatial structure, the research unravels the shortcomings of a hierarchical approach at the regional and sub-regional level. Spatial patterns of real estate development are used as an indicator to describe the evolution and expansion of built-up areas of individual urban centres and to determine the centrality of the regional urban structure. The context - constituted by the actors, rules and external factors that play a central role in local development processes - is studied to offer a more comprehensive understanding of the drivers that influence urban growth patterns. Based on these findings, the implications of land and real development on the morphological regional urban structures in the region of Perak are explained. Ultimately, the definition of the regional urban configuration of the ‘Perak Diamond’ is constructed and verified through a multidisciplinary approach, bundling quantitative and qualitative analytical methods.
The findings of the research show the difficulty to define the morphological regional urban structure of the ‘Perak Diamond’, as the different scenarios do not seem to exclude each other. In fact, the regional urban structure of the Perak Diamond can best be described as monocentric, with characteristics of archipelago development around Lumut-Sitiawan and characteristics of corridor development patterns alongside the main roads.
Ultimately, the potential to form a polycentric regional structure, from a morphological perspective, is highly doubted, because of little control and coordination by (state) governments, the absence of adequate land management and loopholes in the planning system, which stimulate autonomous developments and makes it is difficult to steer urban development towards a polycentric scenario. | |
