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It is not hard to find a beautiful scene like this in Italy where locals still live in traditional way (even in the cities) and this way of life will go on pretty much forever.
In China, its own unique cultural heritage and the way of life will be diminished in the name of modernisation.
Click photo to view original photo and narration at Flickr.
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A beautiful city where a river runs through. The city on one side, forest and villages on the other side, there also stand a beautiful fort, pokes through the tree canopies, they watch the changing faces of its other side thinking its own side is always the same - timeless and thought that modernity will never know how to cross the river. These two distinct sides form one of the most beautiful setting of all cities. However, the city will be changed forever.....
About this Site
Kuching, state capital of Sarawak is Malaysia's most pleasant city famed for its old world charm and beautiful setting is currently threatened by badly planned bland development. This relentless development will result the city losing its unique character as well as livelihood of the its people.
These three most important areas are affected :
1. The oldest fresh produce and wet market - Ceko Market precinct
2. The water front precinct
3. The old quarters
The purpose of this blog is give critical review to the current developments and raise public's awareness to understand the important of traditional markets; raise appreciation of the importance of the history and heritage of old quarters and to reconnect public sense of place of their own city.
This blog also questions (applicable to all cities and society) what we mean by beauty, what it means to a city; what does a city need; where it stands in the region and how it represents itself. What and where is the sense of place for the residents, and in what way in today's world we should live.
Perhaps Kuching is just a small city, its mistakes are thus not treated significantly and won't attract regional attention but it is hoped that this blog could acts as a good reference for many other cities around the world amidst uncontrolled urban development.
Please support by passing on this blog site.Thanks [Desmond Ong]
These three most important areas are affected :
1. The oldest fresh produce and wet market - Ceko Market precinct
2. The water front precinct
3. The old quarters
The purpose of this blog is give critical review to the current developments and raise public's awareness to understand the important of traditional markets; raise appreciation of the importance of the history and heritage of old quarters and to reconnect public sense of place of their own city.
This blog also questions (applicable to all cities and society) what we mean by beauty, what it means to a city; what does a city need; where it stands in the region and how it represents itself. What and where is the sense of place for the residents, and in what way in today's world we should live.
Perhaps Kuching is just a small city, its mistakes are thus not treated significantly and won't attract regional attention but it is hoped that this blog could acts as a good reference for many other cities around the world amidst uncontrolled urban development.
Please support by passing on this blog site.Thanks [Desmond Ong]
Posted Items - Quick guides
Posted Items - Markets
- Old Ceko Market (after)
- Old Ceko Market (Before)
- The way we live
- Discarding the old, in the new supermarkets - Asia
- Old markets are tourist attraction - the list
- The sights and smells of the old markets
- Kuching Waterfront and the old markets
- The development that kills Kuching's old markets
- Benefits of Markets
- Slow Living & Old Market
- The market that defines the city [Melbourne]
- At the Italian markets
- At KL's wet markets
- At the Italian markets
- At KL's wet markets
- At the Italian markets
- At KL's wet markets
Posted Items - Waterfront
- The Soft Edge
- Kuching Waterfront and the old markets
- Kuching river edge
- 'Place of No Return' - the transformation ahead
- State Assembly Building at the river front #1
- Kuching riverfront view from the hotel [2]
- Kuching riverfront view from the hotel [1]
- Crossing the river
- The last trip
- River city and 'working river' study - Palembang
- River city study - Luang Prabang
Posted Items - Old Quarters
Posted Items - Cities and Society
- Cities, Architecture & Society : Interview with Massimiliano Fuksas
- An argument of our contemporary city = generic city
- kuching Tourism Perspective #1
- Case Study - Sydney's old Inner City we preserved
- Case Study - Sydney's Inner city from slum to highly valued precincts
- Streets as Places
- Perception of 'Poverty'
- Get soul into the city, landscape chief urges
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Tags
- aerial map (2)
- architecture (3)
- books (1)
- Borneo (2)
- car use (1)
- case studies (4)
- Ceko market (4)
- city (7)
- clearing (2)
- cultural landscape (1)
- destruction (3)
- development (6)
- Dewan Undangan Negeri (2)
- diagram (1)
- DUN (3)
- economy (2)
- Gambier Street (1)
- Google map (2)
- hotel (3)
- inner city (2)
- kuching (11)
- kuching waterfront (9)
- Kyoto (1)
- land use (1)
- mall (1)
- market (2)
- markets (10)
- modernisation (4)
- old houses (5)
- old market (12)
- old quarter (5)
- people (1)
- planning (2)
- poor (1)
- poverty (1)
- precincts (1)
- References (1)
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- river (9)
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- sampan (3)
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- satellite map (1)
- sense of place (11)
- setting (7)
- shopping mall (2)
- slow living (1)
- slum (2)
- society (3)
- State Assembly building (2)
- streetscape (2)
- supermarket (3)
- sydney (2)
- tourism (3)
- village centre (1)
- waterfront (9)
- way of life (8)
- working river (2)
Blog Archive
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2008
(39)
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August
(14)
- Case Study - Sydney's Inner city from the slum to ...
- Slow Living & old market
- An argument of our Contemporary City = Generic City
- State Assembly Building at the river front #1
- Diminishing way of life #1 - Beijing
- River city and 'working river' study - Palembang
- River city study - Luang Prabang, Laos
- Kuching riverfront view from the hotel [2]
- Kuching riverfront view from the hotel [1]
- At KL's wet market
- The market that defines the city [Melbourne]
- At the Italian Markets
- Get soul into the city, landscape chief urges
- References
-
▼
August
(14)
About Me
- Desmond Ong
- Desmond is a Landscape Architect trained in Australia. Primary interests are urban landscape, cities and place-making. He believes photography as a powerful medium to bring awareness and understanding of our built,cultural and natural environments. Desmond also actively engaged in photography, 3d visualisation, animation, visual art, social and environmental issues. Desmond believes the 'integration' of all these practice areas and has proven it in many past projects and will continue in future. It is [Art:Design:Environment] Desmond has been recording photo documentary of cities and towns of Australia since 2003.
[One Quote]
Norman Lewis, who wrote in his 1997 biography The World, The World: “...those parts of the world where I have travelled most happily, are those countries which had most preserved their peculiar style and character, and... those that seemed hardly worth a visit ... were those that had succumbed to a flaccid and joyless prosperity which they were doing their best to export to the rest of the world.”
Kuching's Vanishing Icon
Kuching's Vanishing Icon
Kuching's Future
Kuching's Future
Image Links - Markets around the world
- Queen Victoria Market [Melbourne]
- Rialto Market [Venice]
- Rialto Market [Venice]
- Mercato dei Contadini [Turin]
- Paddy's Market [Sydney]
- Mercato Ortofrutticolo [Pisa]
- Mercato dei Contadini [Turin]
- Pasar Cinde [Palembang]
- Cekor Market [Kuching]
- Siti Khadijah Market [Kota Bharu]
- Siti Khadijah Market [Kota Bharu]
- Ubud Market inner courtyard [Bali]
- Rialto Market [Venice]
- Mercato Centrale [Florence]
- Mercat de la Boqueria Ber [Barcelona]
- Cardiff Market [Cardiff]
- Paddy's Market [Glasgow]
- The fruit and vegetable souq [Essaouira]
- Nishiki Market [Kyoto]
- Kuromon Market [Osaka]
- Siem Reap Market [Siem Reap]
- Souq Hamidiye [Damascus]
- Souq Hamidiye [Damascus]
[+] Preserve or [-] Demolish [?]
Image Links - Old Quarters around the world
Pressing News
- ::: ‘Price to pay’ if Kuching gazetted heritage city
- ::: STB urged to attract crowd to Gambier Street
- ::: Kuching fast losing its old-world charm
- ::: Chong applies for judicial review
- ::: Demise of Gambier Street Market
- ::: Uproar as old wet market is closed
- ::: DBKU to help in relocation of hawkers
Articles Worth Reading
- :: Councils urged to rethink upgrades
- :: Rita's personal account of Indonesia traditional markets
- :: Learning from the Hutong of Beijing and the Lilong of Shanghai
- :: Farmers and supermarkets in Asia
- :: Why Wet Markets Lose Out to Hypermarkets
- :: The 'urban renewal' of Hong Kong's older areas
- :: Saving the world - one street at a time
- :: The Future of Shopping Malls: An Image Essay
- ::The village people
- :: Neat, tick. Tidy, tick. On the brink of death, tick
- :: The cars that ate China
- :: Cities sick of urban sprawl
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