Impacts of land and real estate development on regional urban structures. The case of the ‘Perak Diamond’ in Peninsular Malaysia. Daan M.J. Florijn, 4286804 Under supervision of Dr. Leo van Grunsven Faculty of Geosciences Department of Human Geography and Planning Master in Human Geography Specialization in Economic Geography: Business & Location August 2019 1 2 Foreword This thesis is part of the joint research project on regional urban dynamics of the so-called ‘Perak Diamond’, a conceptual urban configuration in the state of Perak in Peninsular Malaysia. This research project is a collaboration between Utrecht University and ThinkCity Sdn Bhd, under supervision of Dr. Leo van Grunsven and Matt Benson, programme director at ThinkCity. The research team consists of six students from the master programme Human Geography, each focussing on a different topic: infrastructure, investment patterns, economic dynamics, urban functions, commuting patterns and land- and real estate development. This thesis focusses on the latter. The project offered a unique chance to combine personal interests in real estate development and the built environment in my master thesis, while discovering the beauty of Malaysia’s nature and its people. I look back on an interesting and challenging period where I developed both my research- as professional skills. I would like to thank Leo for his time and critical notes. Leiden, 2019 1 1 The illustration on the frontpage visualizes the spatial distribution of APDL’s in the period 2013-2017, which is used as indicator to show concentrations of construction activity in the study area. Source: authors calculations, based on data from LPHP. Base-layer for visualisation: Bing Maps (2019). 3 Table of contents Foreword ................................................................................................................................................. 3 List of figures and tables ......................................................................................................................... 6 Figures ............................................................................................................................................. 6 Tables .............................................................................................................................................. 7 List of abbreviations ................................................................................................................................ 8 1.Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 9 1.1 Peninsular Malaysia’s urban system configuration ................................................................... 9 1.2 Polycentric development policies .............................................................................................. 9 1.3 The concept of ‘Perak Diamond’ ............................................................................................ 10 1.4 Main theme of the joint-research and individual focus ........................................................... 11 1.5 Aims of this study and research questions............................................................................... 12 1.6 Scientific relevance ................................................................................................................. 13 1.7 Outline of the thesis ................................................................................................................. 14 2.The case study area ............................................................................................................................. 15 2.1 Location and administrative districts ....................................................................................... 15 2.2 The tin-mining industry as a major driver of urbanization in Perak ........................................ 16 2.3 Main economic activities and cities profiles ........................................................................... 17 2.5 Spatial management plans ....................................................................................................... 18 3.Theoretical framework ....................................................................................................................... 19 3.1 Polycentric urban regions ........................................................................................................ 19 3.2 Conceptualizing efficient urban form ...................................................................................... 22 3.3 Development processes: central actors, drivers and external influences ................................. 24 3.4 Conceptual model: scenario’s and conditions ......................................................................... 28 4. Methodology ..................................................................................................................................... 29 4.1 Defining urban areas in the study area .................................................................................... 29 4.2 Population growth and density patterns: data, assumptions and formulas .............................. 29 4.3 Global Human Settlement Layer ............................................................................................. 32 4.4 Spatial analysis of recent building construction ...................................................................... 33 4.5 Development context ............................................................................................................... 34 5. Population distributions and urban growth patterns .......................................................................... 35 5.1 Analysis on the district level ................................................................................................... 35 5. 2 Analysis on the city level ....................................................................................................... 37 6. Multi-temporal analysis of built-up area expansion .......................................................................... 38 6.1 Classifying urban centres in the study area ............................................................................. 39 6.2 Built-up area expansion per urban area ................................................................................... 40 4 6.3 Population density per built-up area ........................................................................................ 43 7. Spatial patterns of recent building construction ................................................................................ 45 7.1 Distribution of the property stock per district ......................................................................... 45 7.2 Analysis of applications for developments (APDL’s) ............................................................. 46 7.3 Spatial patterns of building construction in 2019 .................................................................... 50 8. Local development trends. ................................................................................................................ 56 8.1 Ipoh .......................................................................................................................................... 56 8.2 Taiping-Kamunting ................................................................................................................. 59 8.3 Lumut-Sitiawan ....................................................................................................................... 61 8.4 Seri Iskandar ............................................................................................................................ 63 9. Development context and influential (f)actors .................................................................................. 65 9.1 Drivers behind low-density peripheral development ............................................................... 65 9.2 Impacts of affordable housing programmes ............................................................................ 68 9.3 Inefficient land management as a driver of scattered development patterns ........................... 73 10. Conclusion and reflection ................................................................................................................ 76 References ............................................................................................................................................. 78 Interviewees ................................................................................................................................... 82 Appendix ............................................................................................................................................... 83 Appendix 1: Workflow model ....................................................................................................... 83 Appendix 2: Maps of Perak and the study area ............................................................................. 84 Appendix 3: Defined urban areas and corresponding mukims ...................................................... 86 Appendix 4: Physical development planning framework .............................................................. 87 Appendix 5: Multi-temporal analysis of built-up area expansion ................................................. 88 Appendix 6: Fieldwork observations: