The Sense of Place Transformation before and during Pandemic Era in Public Space: Masjid Al-Malik Khalid, USM, Penang, Malaysia

Abstract

This article was formed from the author's experience during Ramadan while living and studying at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang. The pandemic situation is very influential on the transformation of a place which in turn affects the attachment of the people who are around the place and the mosque as one of the public spaces affected by the pandemic. This study aims to find out the sense of place transformation that occurs in a public space, namely the mosque Al-Malik Khalid within the USM campus. To be able to answer the objective of this qualitative research, a phenomenological-narrative approach was used. The birth of a sense of place towards space was influenced by the presence of memory, imagination, and one's interaction with the various activities that occur in it. This encourages the embodiment of one's attachment to the place and creates its language of space.