ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the approach to urban revitalisation in two major cities of the Southeast Asian region: Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Singapore was a major trading hub and naval base for the British Empire whose lacklustre defence in 1941 weakened British power. Singapore's top-down central planning initiatives introduced a comprehensive city-wide revitalisation strategy which targeted historic areas and the urban streets. The Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan Region (KLMR) includes ten different municipalities. The major revitalisation project launched by the federal and state governments and DBKL is the River of Life (ROL) Project including the revitalisation of the Gombak and Klang river corridor in central Kuala Lumpur. DBKL commissioned AECOM, a very large US-based design, planning and project management firm, to produce a master plan for a 10.7 km stretch of the Klang and Gombak river corridors in the central part of Kuala Lumpur. The master plan prepared by AECOM was endorsed by DBKL and the first construction works commenced in 2015.
