Mixed-Use Development Criteria in Kuala Lumpur City Centre International Zone
The qualities that have been identified in the KLCC International Zone are discussed.
Variety of Uses
Urban areas are capable of accommodating a variety of primary and secondary uses or activities. The most significant criteria for the establishment of a mixed-use development is that the district must be multifunctional, that is, integrated with more than a single primary use in one place. Examples of these activities would include commercial, industrial, and residential uses. Jacob in 1965 made a similar argument in her book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities that an environment containing a number of primary functions will invite people outdoors at different times for different purposes while using a variety of facilities at the same time (Jacob 1992). This simultaneously creates a variety of choice of activities and experiences for users generated by a mix of compatible uses in close proximity (Bentley et al. 1985).
However, variety cannot be achieved by a random amalgamation of activities on a site but rather a variety of uses that mutually support each other (Bentley et al. 1985). Some activities act as magnets attracting people to the site. Everyone has to go home and go to work hence concentrations of dwellings and workplaces are primary uses of spaces in the cities. Unlike primary functions in a development with a variety of uses, secondary uses are enterprises which lack pulling power to attract people, but they become functional by people drawn to the place by the primary uses (Bentley et al. 1985: 30).
Time is also an important element in the system of mutual support. It is not only necessary for secondary uses to be sustained by their associate primary uses. These mixture of uses as illustrated with the help of images below, must keep people in the area over a long period of time because of the manner in which time is spent between work and home (see Fig. 1.7).
Fig. 1.7 Graphic representation of variety of uses such as retail, various types of eateries, offices, playground, recreation, parks and accommodation, in the sketch map of KLCC master plan
