Project 2B: Comparative Essay. Theories of Architecture and Urbanism. Semester 5, Architecture Course, Taylor's University.

1. 0
THEORIES OF URBANISM AND ARCHITECTURE [ARC 61303]
PROJECT PART 2: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ESSAY
(TIESHUXIE STREET & JALAN TUANKU ABDUL RAHMAN)
NAME: KOH SUNG JIE
ID: 0318912
TUTOR: MR. NICHOLAS NG

2. 1
Table of Contents
Content Page
Introduction 2
Outdoor Activities 4
Contact Points
- Streetside and Back Alley 5
- Intersections 6
- Open Spaces 8
Conclusion 10
References 12

3. 2
Introduction
Jan Gehl’s Life Between Buildings was published with the purpose of pointing out the shortcomings of the
functionalistic architecture and city planning that dominated the period. The book asked for concern for the
people who were to move about in the spaces between the buildings, it urged for an understanding for the
subtle qualities, which throughout the history of human settlements, had been related to the meetings of
people in the public spaces, and it pointed to the life between buildings as a dimension of architecture, urban
design and city planning to be carefully treated.
This comparative analysis aims to examine similarities and dissimilarities about patterns of social activities,
types of ‘contact points’ and the varying degrees of contact intensity between Tieshuxie Street in Dashilar,
Beijing and the vicinity around Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman(Jalan TAR).
Located south of Tiananmen Square, Danshilar District is regarded as one of the well preserved historic and
cultural areas in Beijing witha consistent makeup of traditional Hutongs that could be traced back tothe Ming
Dynasty. Thus, it is predominantly a residential and commercial district filled with 1-2 storey buildings
connected by narrow streets.
Figure 1.1: Tieshuxie Streetfrom map.qq.com.

4. 3
The other, Jalan TAR, is located north of Merdeka Square and had underwent much changes due to
economic developments. Many traditional 2 to 3-storey shophouses are replaced by multi-storey commercial
office buildings and thus a disproportionate skyline is formed. Moreover, thereis ahigher focus of commercial
activity here especially in the textile industry.
Figure 1.2: Jalan TAR from Google Earth.

5. 4
Outdoor Activities
Based on Life Between Buildings, there are three types of outdoor activities: necessary activities, optional
activities and social activities.
Tieshuxie Street
Because Danshilar District is a preserved
neighborhood area, necessary activities will normally
be domestic tasks such as going out to buy groceries
or getting appliances fixed (due to the large amount of
repair shops present). Under good weather conditions,
optional activities arise mainly for recreational purposes
for the local residents. Most of the social activities are
composed of community engagements which involves
greetings and conversations betweenneighbors or kids
playing together.
Jalan TAR
Jalan TAR is an evolving commercial hub, thus the
commute to work in the offices or to shop at the mall
would makeup most of the necessary activities present.
Also dependent on exterior physical conditions, optional
activities would generally take form in special occasions
held or recreational shopping at the countless shops
adjacent to the road. Plenty of social interactions will
take place in Jalan TAR, however the social
relationships formedwill not be deep.
Figure 2.1: Outdooractivities in Dashilar District.
Figure 2.2: Outdooractivities in Jalan TAR.

6. 5
Contact Points
Contact points are referred to places where more than one person encounter one another which results in
social activities. According to analysis, there are three categories of contact points found in Tieshuxie Street
and Jalan TAR:
Streetside and Back Alley
Tieshuxie Street
Due to the nature of the narrowness of the street as well as the irregular dispersal of residential and
commercial functions along the street, anywhere within the entire extent of Tieshuxie Street is a potential
contact point. Both necessary and optional activities would definitely occur as this is a neighborhood area.
Social activities in the form of communalactivities is widespread here due tointeractions betweenneighbors.
Therefore, the range of contact intensity is especially high as it could be a contact between close neighbours
or just a stranger travelling across the street. However, the frequency of encounters would not be high as
there are no gathering spots.
Jalan TAR
Jalan TAR has a wide sidewalk intentionally built with pedestrian friendly streetscapes such has vegetation
and benches. However, the sidewalk remains inactive during the day and is only populated during the night.
Moreover, Lorong TAR becomes a night market and a crucial contact point when street vendors set up their
food business after the sun sets. Passive and chance contact created by necessary activities would be
present during the day but during the night the intensity increases to acquaintance-type due to optional
activities such as office workers nearby grabbing a snack at the night market after work. Thus, frequency of
contact would be low during the day but very high during nighttime.
Figure 3.1: Hostel business providing
seating beside the street.
Figure 3.2: Elderly chatting about
by the street.
Figure 3.3: Shop owners conversing
with the local residents.

7. 6
Comparison:
Similarities betweenthetwois seen whenboth contact points thrive in informal spaces. BothTieshuxie Street
and Lorong TAR are not intended to be gathering areas, however the locals from both instances has
determined so. Their characteristics diverge when contact intensity is pointed out as Tieshuxie Street is more
communal which allows a higher intensity, Jalan TAR is more commercial-focused which made its contact
intensity lower. However, Jalan TAR’s frequency of contact is more regular and predictable than Tieshuxie
Street’s.
Intersections
Tieshuxie Street
Intersections are easily recognized as contact points in Dashilar District as they are generally used for
commercial activities. Shopowners and peddlers would extend the businesses to the roadside or even in the
middle of the road because they understand intersections normally have a higher frequency of contacts.
Necessary activities would dictatethe scene as most customerswouldintentionally go there toshop, however
optional activities might occur if a seller is successful in persuading a random passer-by. Occasionally,
optional activity in the form of street side chess playing would happen in these intersections as well. In this
case, most of the contact intensity would go towards chance contacts or even acquaintanceship if a regular
customer familiarizes witha seller.
Figure 3.4: Wide sidewalk pavementrelatively empty
during the day.
Figure 3.5: Lorong TAR’s densely packednightmarket.

8. 7
Jalan TAR
Intersections in Jalan TAR serve a more direct purpose as vehicular intersections. The intersections are
merely a crossing for the pedestrians where they use the existing traffic lights to traverse the other side.
People would gather and wait at the edge of the road in order to cross the wide busy road. Thus, the contact
intensity would normally not go beyond passive contacts since it is dominated by necessary activities,
primarily travelling. The contact frequency would vary as it would be higher during lunch hour or during the
weekends when there are more people shopping.
Comparison:
There is a huge contrast between the intersections of the two places. The main reason is that Tieshuxie
Street is pedestrian oriented while Jalan TAR is vehicular oriented. Therefore, the narrowness of Tieshuxie
Street creates opportunities for contact through encroachment of businesses on the street. Conversely, Jalan
TAR is a high-speed vehicular road which separates the two ends of the road, disallowing any social
connection between them. Therefore, Jalan TAR itself is an edge which acts as a boundary that breaks the
continuity (Lynch, 1960).
Figure 3.6: Locals playing chess in the middleofthe 3-way
intersection
Figure 3.7: Grocery shopextendingits business into the
crossroad intersection.
Figure 3.8: Pedestrians gather andwaitat the edge to cross Jalan TAR.

9. 8
Open Spaces
Tieshuxie Street
There is a small plaza located where Tieshuxie Street intersects Yingtaoxie Street. Because the plaza is
surrounded by small businesses, it has become a successful recreational area for optional and social
activities. People would sit here waiting for an acquaintance buying at a nearby shop or just leisurely enjoy
the streetscape. Also, the place could well be a popular hangout area for friends and close friends living in
close proximity. Contact frequency is high because the plaza is not only an open space, but also an
intersection.
Jalan TAR
There are twolarge open spaces at Jalan TAR howeverthe one acting as a contact point is the one outside
of SOGO Shopping Complex. Musical performances are held every night by street artists and they would
gather more than a hundred people. Thus, this contact point is heavily reliant on optional activity because
they attract people by recreational means. The people attending to these occasions would vary from families
to friends which would suggest a relatively high contact intensity however passive contacts would be more
evident during the day. Similar to thestreets, the contact frequency differs greatly betweenthe day and night,
having a low frequency during day but extremely high at night.
Figure 3.9: Physical relation between shops nearby and
small plaza.
Figure 3.10: Pedestrians resting on the builtplatforms atthe
plaza
Figure 3.11: Musical performance atnightacts as a catalyst for a lively contact point.

10. 9
Comparison:
Regardless of the difference is size between the two plazas, both serve as a recreational platform for the
nearby locals, which mostly rely on optional activities. Furthermore, these plazas can be categorized as
nodes, strategic points of activity (Lynch, 1960) and proves that people and humanactivity being thegreatest
object of attention and interest (Gehl, 2011), where people attract people, leading to a large congregation.
However, while Tieshuxie Street’s plaza is affected weather, the plaza outside SOGO is affectedby climate.
People would not use the small plaza during the rain but as for Jalan TAR’s case, it is usually not preferable
to use a wide-open space during a hot sunny day in a tropical country.

11. 10
Conclusion
We can see many exterior forces manipulating human behavior at the streets. One major influence is the
climate of the particular country. Dashilanr District, located in China, experiences four seasons and its
average temperatureis cooler than Kuala Lumpur. Moreover, Tieshuxie Street is less sunny than Jalan TAR
as Kuala Lumpur is nearer to the equator. This factor determines why people in Tieshuxie Street is more
willing to go out or perform more optional activities. Because fenestration has an innate capacity to inscribe
architecture withthe character of a region (Frampton, 1983) which is why Malaysiarequires the design of the
shophouse having a 5-foot way as a shaded walkway. It also explains the temporal factor for contact points
in Jalan TAR between day and night while Tieshuxie Street does not show such differences.
Furthermore, people in Tieshuxie Street do not mind walking to a nearby local stores to buy groceries while
the residents of Jalan TAR require large air-conditioned supermarkets, such as Mydin, nearby to get their
essentials. In short, climate has always played a part of shaping both our history and culture because it has
decided our preference of going outdoors or staying indoors.
Next, another aspect is the statuses of both areas. Danshilar District is regarded as a residential and
commercial heritage zone while the vicinity around Jalan TAR is treated as a developing commercial center.
Hence, this creates a distinction between preservation and change. Also, this is a major factor for the
difference of contact intensities, Danshilar has a higher intensity due to a community engaging in close
proximity, thus able to establish greater relationships among locals. Conversely, the widening of roads in
Jalan TAR pulls thecommunity apart withlonger travel distances, reducing the contact intensity amonglocals.
The element of proximity affects theconnectivity and access betweenbuildings which enhances the previous
statement of how the locals are more inclined to go out or not. In addition, the greater proximity between
opposite buildings in Jalan TAR coupled with the presence of fast-moving cars tends to make pedestrians
moveat a faster pace than Tieshuxie Street. This is because the pedestrian is limited to one side of buildings
attracting his attention while the other side are fast-moving vehicles. Due to the speed of the vehicles, it
creates a mental impression that the place is unsafe, so the pedestrian wants to move away as quickly as
possible. Moreover, the large distance between buildings leaves the pedestrians more exposed to intense
sunlight during the day.
Figure 4.1: Jalan TAR as an obstruction thatobscures the
vision towards the opposite shoplots.
Figure 4.2: Tieshuxie Streethas a close proximity between
buildings thatencourages walkability.

12. 11
What is most interesting from this analysis is that some places are built to gather people fails to become a
contact point while many places with no intention of being gathering spots end up becoming major contact
points. For example, the wide walkway from Jalan TAR mentioned before was specifically catered for large
masses of people as the municipal had prepared benches and pleasant vegetations, howeveryouwould find
them mostly empty during the day. However, Tieshuxie Street is such a constricted passage which its width
could only fit no more than small 2 cars, is so often used for pedestrian commute. This is also evident in
Lorong TAR, which merely serves as a back alley for delivery of goods. Surprisingly, due to the short gap
between buildings, pleasant shades are created that some vendors sucessfully managed to set up
businesses during the middle of the afternoon. This shows the robustness of people whereas the degree to
which people can use a given place for different purposes (Bentley, 1985).
Another example would be the other open space in Jalan TAR which is not mentioned, Laman TAR. To
anyone, it is obvious Laman TAR is built with a purpose to be an assembly area. But such a large area at a
prime location would prove so useless as throughout the 24-hour cycle, no one would approach the area
aside from the homeless. The opposite would be the intersection mentioned in Tieshuxie Street. It is
unexpected to see a simple intersection transformed into a small hotspot for peddlers and locals alike.
Despite not having benches or other sort of seating provided, people would sit on the steps before the shops
at the intersection. This can also be seen at plaza outside SOGO in Jalan TAR where people congregate
during night performances.
From this wecan learn that the nature of contact points is not influenced by urban formsalone because there
are many unseen factors at work. However, all contact points are ultimately decided by the community itself.
Figure 4.3: Locals makinguse ofsteps as informal
seating in Tieshuxie Street’s intersection.
Figure 4.4: Mass ofpeople sitting on the pavementsteps
outside SOGO shopping complex in Jalan TAR.

13. 12
References
Gehl, Jan & Koch, J. (2011). Life between Buildings. Washington D.C.: Island Press.
Frampton, K. (1983). Towards Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance. London:
Pluto Press.
Bentley, I., McGlynn, S. & Smith G. (1985). Responsive Environments: A Manual for Designers. Abingdon:
Routledge.
Lynch, K. A. (1960). The Image of the City. Massachussetts: The MITPress.
Seven principles of good design. (2011). Retrieved June 29, 2017, from
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110118103740/http://www.cabe.org.uk/councillors/principles.
Dashilar Project. (n.d.). Retrieved June 26, 2017, from http://www.dashilar.org/en/index.htm.
Street Images of Tieshuxie Street. (n.d.). Retrieved June 26, 2017, from map.qq.com.