Urban morphology and identity: The dock spaces of melaka on the maritime silk road

Authors

  • MO ZHIHUI Master of Arts in Architectural Conservation, Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore, Singapore

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61511/jcbau.v2i1.2024.911

Keywords:

historical docks, urban morphology, Melaka, maritime silk road, architectural typology

Abstract

Background: This research investigates the intricate relationship between historical docks and the urban development of Melaka, a significant maritime entrepot along the Maritime Silk Road. Focusing on the physical connections and urban morphological performance, this study explores how these docks have influenced the urban morphology and architectural typology of Melaka from its earliest settlement to the present. Method: Utilizing a multidisciplinary approach that combines urban planning, architectural analysis, historical research, and extensive fieldwork, this research identifies key dock spaces along the Melaka River and examines their connections to the city's inland areas. Through historical mapping and analysis of lost docks and market spaces, as well as religious buildings, the study reveals the complex interactions between these maritime infrastructures and urban development. Result: The findings highlight numerous challenges in preserving these historical nodes, including issues related to modern urban integration and conservation. Conclusion: The research concludes with recommendations for the conservation and management of these historical sites, emphasizing their importance in preserving Melaka’s historic urban landscape. By safeguarding these cultural heritage nodes, Melaka can maintain its urban identity and continue to honor its rich maritime history. Novelty/Originality of this study: The development of a comprehensive and adaptive maritime heritage integration model in modern urban planning, which combines urban morphology, historical mapping, and socio-economic impact assessment, provides a multidimensional framework for urban planners to preserve and revitalize infrastructure nodes while accommodating contemporary urban development needs, thereby creating a balance between heritage preservation and urban progress.

References

AbouKorin, S. A. A., Han, H., & Mahran, M. G. N. (2021). Role of Urban Planning Characteristics in Forming Pandemic Resilient Cities – Case Study of Covid-19 Impacts on European Cities Within England, Germany and Italy. Cities, 118, 103324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2021.103324

Allen, J. R., Hawkins, S. J., Russell, G., & White, K. N. (1992). Eutrophication and urban renewal: Problems and perspectives for the management of disused docks.

Amer, M., Mustafà, A., Teller, J., Attia, S., & Reiter, S. (2017). A Methodology to Determine the Potential of Urban Densification Through Roof Stacking. Sustainable Cities and Society, 35, 677–691. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2017.09.021

Bell, K., Beaven, B., & James, R. (2016). Book Review: Port Towns and Urban Cultures: International Histories of the Waterfront, c.1700–2000.

Borschberg, P. (2022). The Melaka Sultanate, c.1400–1528. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 65(3), 344–377. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685209-12341570

Bouzgarrou, A. R., Claramunt, C., & Rejeb, H. (2019). Visualizing Urban Sprawl Effects of a Tunisian City: A New Urban Spatial Configuration of Monastir. Annals of Gis, 25(1), 71–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/19475683.2018.1557252

Camiz, A. (2014). Urban Morphology and Architectural Design of City Edges and Vertical Connections in Historical Contexts.

Cartier, C. (2001). Imaging Melaka’s Global Heritage.

Cipriani, L. (2021). The Death and Life of a Tropical Landscape: Envisaging a New Melaka, Malaysia. 187–207. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4631-4_11

Ding, W. (2013). Urban design needs urban morphology: A practitioner’s viewpoint W. Ding. Urban Morphology.

Ducruet, C., Cuyala, S., & Hosni, A. E. (2018). Maritime networks as systems of cities: The long-term interdependencies between global shipping flows and urban development (1890–2010).

Erham, A., & Hamzah, A. (2014). The Morphology of Urban Waterfront Tourism: The Local Identity Portray in Melaka and Makassar.

Fisher, C. T., Cohen, A. S., Solinis-Casparius, R., Pezzutti, F., Bush, J., Forest, M., & Torvinen, A. (2019). A Typology of Ancient Purépecha (Tarascan) Architecture From Angamuco, Michoacán, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity, 30(03), 510–528. https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2019.50

Giosa, P. D. (2021). World Heritage and Urban Politics in Melaka, Malaysia. https://doi.org/10.1017/9789048550500

Girasole, E. G. d. (2014). The Hinge Areas for Urban Regeneration in Seaside Cities: The High Line in Manhattan, NYC. Advanced Engineering Forum, 11, 102–108. https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/aef.11.102

Gu, K. (2018). Exploring Urban Morphology as Urban Design Pedagogy.

Hall. (2013). The potential influence of urban morphology on planning practice T. Hall. Urban Morphology.

Hall, K. R. (2014). European Southeast Asia Encounters With Islamic Expansionism, Circa 1500–1700: Comparative Case Studies of Banten, Ayutthaya, and Banjarmasin in the Wider Indian Ocean Context. Journal of World History, 25(2–3), 229–262. https://doi.org/10.1353/jwh.2014.0008

Hall, K. R. (2022). Fifteenth-Century Melaka’s Networked Ports-of-Trade and Maritime Diasporas in the Bay of Bengal and Western Indian Ocean. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient.

Hein, C. (2014). Port cities and urban wealth: Between global networks and local transformations.

Hole, J. (2024). Evolution of Heritage and Development in Liverpool’s Waterfront Over 40 Years. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4024258/v1

Hoyle, B. (2001). Urban renewal in East African port cities: Mombasa’s Old Town waterfront.

Hradilová, I. (2013). Influence of urban waterfront appearance on public space functions. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 60(8), 261–268.

Hu, Z.-H., Liu, C., & Lee, P. T. (2020). Analyzing Interactions Between Japanese Ports and the Maritime Silk Road Based on Complex Networks. Complexity, 2020, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/3769307

Hussin, N. (2012). Trading networks of malay merchants and traders in the straits of Melaka from 1780 to 1830.

Khiani, R. K. (2022). Integrated Urban Morphology Approach to Investigate Urban Design of Qambar Sindh. Mehran University Research Journal of Engineering and Technology, 41(2), 64–78. https://doi.org/10.22581/muet1982.2202.06

Kilian, D., & Dodson, B. (1996). FORGING A POSTMODERN WATERFRONT: URBAN FORM AND SPECTACLE AT THE VICTORIA AND ALFRED DOCKLANDS.

Kowalczyk, C., Kil, J., & Kurowska, K. (2019). Changes in Land Plot Morphology Resulting From the Construction of a Bypass: The Example of a Polish City. Sustainability, 11(10), 2987. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11102987

Lam, J. S. L., Cullinane, K., & Lee, P. T. (2018). The 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road: Challenges and Opportunities for Transport Management and Practice. Transport Reviews, 38(4), 413–415. https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2018.1453562

Landon, D. B., Trigg, H., Bain, A., & Morin, E. (2016). Urbanization and Landscape Change in Early-Eighteenth-Century Boston: The Environmental Archaeology of Town Dock.

Latip, N. S. A., T. Heath, & M. S. Liew. (2009). A morphological analysis of the waterfront in city centre, Kuala Lumpur.

Li, X., & Yeh, A. (2004). Analyzing Spatial Restructuring of Land Use Patterns in a Fast Growing Region Using Remote Sensing and GIS. Landscape and Urban Planning, 69(4), 335–354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2003.10.033

Lin, W., & Liu, W. (2023). Resilience Evaluation of Ports Along the Maritime Silk Road From the Perspective of Investment and Construction. Journal of Advanced Transportation, 2023, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/8818667

Madricardo, F., Foglini, F., Campiani, E., Grande, V., Catenacci, E., Petrizzo, A., Kruss, A., Toso, C., & Trincardi, F. (2019). Assessing the Human Footprint on the Sea-Floor of Coastal Systems: The Case of the Venice Lagoon, Italy. Scientific Reports, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-43027-7

Mamun, M. A., Paul, P., Noor, S., & Begum, A. A. (2020). Reviving the Urban Water-Edge: History and Heritage Morphology in the Envisaging of Chittagong City. Etropic Electronic Journal of Studies in the Tropics, 19(2), 97–118. https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.19.2.2020.3775

Marat-Mendes, T. (2016). Physical, social and cultural dimensions of urban morphology: Redressing the balance T. Marat-Mendes. Urban Morphology, 20(2), 167–168.

Mou, N., Ren, H., Zheng, Y., Chen, J., Niu, J., Yang, T., Zhang, L., & Liu, F. (2021). Traffic Inequality and Relations in Maritime Silk Road: A Network Flow Analysis. Isprs International Journal of Geo-Information, 10(1), 40. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi10010040

Moudon, A. V. (1997). Urban Morphology as an Emerging Interdisciplinary Field. Urban Morphology, 1(1), 3–10. https://doi.org/10.51347/jum.v1i1.4047

Navastara, A. M. (2017). Urban Morphology of European and Asian Cities: A Descriptive Case Study. Jurnal Penataan Ruang, 12(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.12962/j2716179x.v12i1.5218

Ngah, N. S. (2024). Factors Influencing Large-Scale Infrastructure Project Abandonment: Lessons From the Melaka Gateway Project. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 14(4). https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarbss/v14-i4/21125

Nogalski, S. (2022). Urban Morphology. An Introduction to the Study of the Physical Form of Cities. Journal of Urban Design, 27(5), 607–609. https://doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2022.2075536

Nor, M. M. (2021). Bibliometric Analysis on Street Network Components in Influencing Genome of Urban Morphologies. Japcm, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.31436/japcm.v11i1.440

Ooi, C.-S., & Shevren, L. (2014). Creative Heritage: Melaka and Its Past.

Perez, J., Araldi, A., Fusco, G., & Fuse, T. (2019). The Character of Urban Japan: Overview of Osaka-Kobe’s Cityscapes. Urban Science, 3(4), 105. https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci3040105

Prasertsuk, S., & Busayarat, C. (2022). 3D Data Visualization and Analysis Tools for AI Ready City: Space Syntax and Social Media Data. Nakhara Journal of Environmental Design and Planning, 21(2), 214. https://doi.org/10.54028/nj202221214

Rech, M. F., & Yarwood, R. (2019). Exploring Post-Military Geographies: Plymouth and the Spatialities of Armed Forces Day. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786438874.00020

Salama, A. M. (2020). Coronavirus Questions That Will Not Go Away: Interrogating Urban and Socio-Spatial Implications of COVID-19 Measures. Emerald Open Research, 2, 14. https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.13561.1

Salim, N., & Mohamed, B. (2018). THE EVOLUTION OF HISTORIC WATERFRONT: A CASE STUDY OF GEORGE TOWN, PENANG. PLANNING MALAYSIA JOURNAL, 16(8).

Sarihan, E. I. (2021). Historical City Evaluation in the Context of Morphological Theories (Istanbul, Last Ottoman Period). Architecture and Engineering, 6(1), 64–72. https://doi.org/10.23968/2500-0055-2021-6-1-64-72

Shamsuddin, S., Sulaiman, A., Latip, N. S. A., Amat, R. C., & Alias, N. (2012). Sustainable historic waterfront development: Approaches and dilemma of two UNESCO world heritage sites in Malaysia.

Sonne, W. (2022). Urban Typology, Morphology, Iconography. 17–36. https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839463109-002

Spector, J. O. (2010). From Dockyard to Esplanade: Leveraging Industrial Heritage in Waterfront Redevelopment.

Strappa, G. (2019). Urban morphology and architectural design: A contemporary condition. Urban Morphology.

Suykens, F. (1989). The city and its port—An economic appraisal.

Trisciuoglio, M., Barosio, M., Ricchiardi, A., Tulumen, Z., Crapolicchio, M., & Gugliotta, R. (2021). Transitional Morphologies and Urban Forms: Generation and Regeneration Processes—An Agenda. Sustainability, 13(11), 6233. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116233

Wang, H. (2014). Preliminary investigation of waterfront redevelopment in Chinese coastal port cities: The case of the eastern Dalian port areas.

Wang, H., & Jia, B. (2020). Urban Tissue of Traditional Chinese and Southeast Asian Port Cities: The Influence of Maritime Trade. Jcau, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.v1i1.841

Wardhani, F., & Bahri, S. (2020). Comparative Study of the Patterns and Characteristics Urban Morphology in the Old City, Case Study Road and Block Patterns Bengkulu and Singapore. Geographia Technica, 169–181. https://doi.org/10.21163/gt_2020.151.34

Wenyuan, W., Tianming, Z., Zijian, G., & Yunzhuo, X. (2019). Study on the Influence of the Shift of Production Center of Seaports on Urban Spatial Forms. International Conference on Information Science and Control Engineering.

Zhang, Z., & Pan, K. (2022). Analysis of Transportation Network Scheduling of Maritime Silk Road and International Digital Trade Potential Based on Improved Genetic Algorithm Under Digital Trade Barriers. Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing, 2022, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/7903376

Zhi-pen, L. (2001). A HISTORIC REVIEW OF WORLD URBAN WATERFRONT DEVELOPMENT.

Published

2024-07-31

How to Cite

ZHIHUI, M. (2024). Urban morphology and identity: The dock spaces of melaka on the maritime silk road. Journal of City: Branding and Authenticity, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.61511/jcbau.v2i1.2024.911

Issue

Section

Articles

Citation Check