The traditional village is one of the urban design typologies where its survival depends on its success in attracting people. The number of people visiting an area can be considered as one of the factors used in assessing the overall success of a place. However, due to rapid urbanisation, the unique character of traditional villages in urban areas or cities can be seen as outdated or considered as not worth preserving. Thus, this paper aims to identify the buildings within a village that can create a character for the area, and which act as important physical elements that contribute towards the success of a traditional village in an urban setting. This case study was conducted in Kampong Bharu, Kuala Lumpur, and a mixedmethod approach was used involving personal observations, in-depth interviews, and questionnaires with 330 respondents. The result revealed that buildings, as a physical element, play an essential role in attracting people to Kampong Bharu. Thus, this element should be considered for preservation in any regeneration programme targeted at existing traditional villages which are located in urban settings.

In the face of the process of urbanization, population growth, increasing population needs and modern lifestyle changes, infrastructure development in urban centers around the world is also growing rapidly. Developments of urban space are some of which are not well coordinated and have left traces of waste space or interstitial space in the urban context, many researchers, and figures in the field of urbanization argue that this uncoordinated waste space leaves a variety of detrimental impacts on the city and community in the city. As a result, many researchers, and figures from various fields, especially in the field of urban design, have contributed knowledge to various solutions and opportunities to take advantage of this interstitial space. Studies have found that in recent times various approaches have been taken to utilize this interstitial space by performing various intervention strategies which each have a different impact on the quality of success of activating this space. This paper examines the concept of interstitial space that exists with the process of urbanization, the quality of public space in the city based on theoretical development by previous researchers and examines real case studies empirically in the approach of developing interstitial space towards space that benefits the city and society in it. A comprehensive empirical examination conducted through several case studies analyzed and compared based on figure theory regarding the quality of urban public space in major city with high density.