Regulatory Factors in Shaping New Towns of Malaysia

The post-war period has witnessed the emergence of new towns in a number of countries in Southeast Asia. Newtown development started in Malaysia with Petaling Jaya as a satellite town in 1953 to accommodate the rapid growingpopulation of Kuala Lumpur. New towns have been designed in accordance with the British town planning principles,based on the modern ideal city. Nonetheless, they have constituted a regional character as they have incorporated localfactors such as local technologies as well as site and climatic conditions. In the shaping of the new towns in moderncities, regulatory aspects have played important roles. The regulations decide the basic framework for planning of newtown, block plan and unit plan. The ultimate goal of this study is to understand the identity of the new town planningof Malaysia. As a first step, we reviewed the local regulations, standards, and design guidelines which are applicable tothe new town planning from the national land use to local plans. As a result, we categorized the guidelines into fourareas: urban space, site plan, street system, block plan and unit plan. We expect this study to provide the framework ofthe Malaysia’s new town planning from the perspective of the local regulations.