GEORGE Town’s first decade as a Unesco World Heritage Site (WHS) has seen building restorations and conservations, a tourism boom and the mushrooming of hotels and cafes.

The changes have been welcomed, but not without criticism by some who said the building preservations had not been up to standard, while others felt that gentrification is displaying George Town’s old residents and businesses by high rent-paying tourism-centric businesses.

Follow the Special Area Plan

Mark Lay from the vocal George Town Heritage Action (GTHA) said heritage authorities only needed to follow the George Town Special Area Plan (SAP), which guided and controlled development within the WHS, to address the concerns as the city moves forward.

“Take baby steps and implement the strategies and recommendations, like the residential overlay part on keeping some sections of the heritage zone for housing,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“It is very good in preventing houses from becoming commercial units and tackling speculation.

“Building owners will either have to rent out the premises as living spaces at affordable rates or close up the units.”

The SAP, which notes the displacement threat and residential population loss in the WHS, stated that the population had been declining by 30% since 2000.

Based on 2010 land use data, the residential component only made up 21ha (13.9%) in the WHS, shrinking by 12.1% from 2000.

A survey commissioned by Think City, the federal government-linked urban regeneration organisation tasked with rejuvenating George Town, found that the city’s residential population fell to less than 10,000 between 2009 and 2013, after the Unesco listing.

Repopulating George Town

Penang island mayor Yew Tung Seang said authorities were committed to repopulating the city, with the council on a project to find out what would make people want to live in the city.

“The city has to be liveable. We need more public spaces and parks; accessible back lanes for pedestrians and cyclists; and better cleanliness,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

The council has also been speaking to heritage property owners about the ROI (return of investment) of renting their building spaces as micro homes, Yew said.

“Our pre-war shophouses were traditionally shops on the lower floor and homes on the top floor. The lower floor has more value. The upper floor can be used as micro homes.

“If you renovate the top floors, you can offer them as micro homes at attractive rental rates to students and people who work in the city,” he said.

Creating jobs and opportunities

There must also be job opportunities, Yew said, to attract people to repopulate George Town, adding that Penang needed to capitalise on its strengths in areas like tourism, education, services and the food business.

George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI) general manager Ang Ming Chee said her office was working with Unesco to develop a creative industry in the WHS, where the younger generation would be recruited to rebrand and market traditional knowledge.

“We need local products that we can sell to both visitors and locals. We need to make it cool and trendy so the younger generation will also be interested to get involved,” she added.

Ang also said nine of 10 residents wanted to stay in the inner city if given the choice, but the problem was the high rent and high cost to restore the heritage buildings.

“We have a RM3 million heritage seed fund to support heritage shophouse owners in restoring their pre-war buildings. That helps us keep our outstanding universal values,” she said.

Preserving heritage

Retaining George Town’s outstanding universal values (OUVs), which includes its environment and multicultural identity for the future, remains challenging for all stakeholders as the city adapts to changes and progress.

Think City executive director Hamdan Abdul Majeed said people would continue to see changes and new things introduced to George Town because it was “a living city that must evolve and adapt to new uses, needs and demands”.

“The question is how we can harmonise new innovations and make them fit into the heritage environment without jeopardising the OUVs and the city’s old-world charm.

“It’s a learning process. It requires everyone to be open to the different views to come up with optimal solutions,” he said.

Ang of GTWHI, the WHS manager that also provides education on conservation guidelines, said the heritage city also needed to grow in an economically sustainable way.

She said the SAP had been implemented successfully to some extent, and today building owners would consult GTWHI on their renovation projects, although incentives to encourage compliance were still needed.

“We have to make it more sustainable and cheaper to maintain the buildings. Going with traditional knowledge is the way. The building materials are even cheaper.

“Maintenance of the buildings also must be friendly to the environment and adapt to climate change,” she said. – July 7, 2018.