Section 13 stakeholder representatives, as well as attendees from the other housing areas surrounding the Special Area Plan of Section 13, take a look at several proposed designs and connectivity solutions for future developments in the city section.
DESPITE being designated as a 'Special Area Plan' in the city’s Local Plan, Petaling Jaya's Section 13 never had a set of urban design guidelines.
It has become an issue that the city council plans to fix with feedback from stakeholders and residents.
About 100 attendees at the one-day workshop focused on urban design guidelines for the redevelopment of Section 13.
These attendees ranged from building and planning professionals, to residents from the housing areas around Section 13, as well as stakeholder representatives from the former industrial area itself.
“One of the challenges for urban design is to create 'people space' from public spaces, this needs the creation of places such as public parks, urban sculptures and public transport,” said Petaling Jaya Mayor Mohd Azizi Mohd Zain.
He explained the aim of the focus group was to solicit views and preliminary suggesions in preparing the design guidelines for the city area.
Currently, Section 13, which started life as an industrial zone, was designated a Special Area Plan in 2010.
However, the current design guidelines were basic, said Bukit Gasing assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran, and could result in disjointed pedestrian connectivity.
According to Section 13’s city councillor Lee Suet Sen, main issues for this will include asking landowners to surrender some land for infrastructure and pedestrian connections.
“We have to work out the connectivity, from Section 13 all the way to Section 52, which means crossing Asia Jaya LRT station, till PJ Hilton,” said Lee.
The discussion was moderated by urban planning consultancy IZM Consult’s principal Ihsan Zainal Mokhtar.
For those working in Section 13 such as Lee Choo who felt the decision to redevelop Section 13 and seeking views from stakeholders was a good step.
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