The city of little islands

Cut off: Gated communities and guarded neighbourhoods are a sign of growing inequality within our cities. — Filepic/The Star

MOVING around in the Klang Valley is like getting on a boat, hopping from one little island to the next. You can only enjoy the streets from the confines of your vehicle of choice – a car, train, motorbike, bus – and once you arrive at your destination, be it a mall, office building or residential area, you’re cut off from the outside world.

Of course, there are still open areas that blend in and connect with their surroundings, like old shoplots, but for the most part our capital city has become an agglomeration of enclosed spaces, where to enter one needs to go through a security checkpoint, filtering who can enter and who cannot.