The back lane is often associated with annoying, disgusting, narrow and dark. This paper concerns the use of the back lanes of the old shop houses in China Town, Kuala Lumpur. The instruments used in collecting data include observation, unstructured interview and literature review. The use and physical characteristics of back lanes were identified. It was found that the back lanes of China Town in Kuala Lumpur showed the success of turning back streets into lively alleys. Thus, the back lane could be considered as part of urban design strategies and not as leftover spaces.

In the 19th century, Chinese immigrants were drawn to Johor via the entirely unique Kangchu system that was only adapted in the state, later contributed significantly to its economic progress. The Chinese came for pepper and gambier plantation and settled at riverside which formed the frontier Chinese settlement called “Kangkar”. It is also believed that kangkar is the earliest established Chinese settlement in Johor, then many of them substituted by New Village in 1950s, and today’s modern housing in the 20th century. Irony the kangkar settlements are declining while some already abandoned. Furthermore, study of Chinese settled at Johor in kangkar settlement is still lacking, which severely constrain the preservation of such historical settlement. To help fill this gap, this paper aims to delineate the kangkar settlement which represents strong historical significance to Chinese architectural paradigm in Johor. It is crucial to start paying attention on this Chinese heritage to avoid irreversible loss of humanity’s heritage as well as diversity. As the formation of kangkar settlement was mainly ranged from 1844 to 1917, historical data was collected through content analysis of archival documents, literature reviews, and interviews of scholars. The special terms used were revealed such as Kangchu, kangkar, and “surat sungai”. Kangkar as a unique Chinese living settlement which existed due to Kangchu system, plays important and positive roles in Johor development in terms of economy, co-existence, and identity. It is hence crucial to preserve the kangkar settlements by providing insight of guideline to sustain and avoid further decline.

The back lane is often associated with annoying, disgusting, narrow and dark. This paper concerns the use of the back lanes of the old shop houses in China Town, Kuala Lumpur.  The instruments used in collecting data include observation, unstructured interview and literature review.  The use and physical characteristics of back lanes were identified.  It was found that the back lanes of China Town in Kuala Lumpur showed the success of turning back streets into lively alleys.  Thus, the back lane could be considered as part of urban design strategies and not as leftover spaces.Keywords: back lane; social place; pedestrian; urban eISSN 2398-4295 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21834/ajbes.v3i13.151

The back lane is often associated with annoying, disgusting, narrow and dark. This paper concerns the use of the back lanes of the old shop houses in China Town, Kuala Lumpur.  The instruments used in collecting data include observation, unstructured interview and literature review.  The use and physical characteristics of back lanes were identified.  It was found that the back lanes of China Town in Kuala Lumpur showed the success of turning back streets into lively alleys.  Thus, the back lane could be considered as part of urban design strategies and not as leftover spaces.© 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies, Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: back  lane; social place; pedestrian; urban