This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on March 25, 2024 - March 31, 2024

While some countries or cities battle more pressing matters such as poverty, corruption and climate change, restoring and conserving buildings or parts of a neighbourhood may seem unnecessary as millions of dollars have to be spent. But the reality of it is far more complex as the benefits of restoring historic sites ripple far beyond the work itself.

This was the key message discussed at the Lessons from Historic Sites: Culture-Based Economic Development Seminar & Exhibition on March 4. Jointly organised by Think City Sdn Bhd and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), the seminar and week-long exhibition were carried out under the Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme.

This is not the first time Think City and AKTC have joined forces. In 2013, they signed a memorandum of understanding for the George Town World Heritage Site plan. The MoU, which led to a decade-long partnership, sees them working with the support of local planning agencies to provide technical assistance for the protection, development and enhancement of Penang’s historic George Town, including developing strategic planning frameworks for the city.

The seminar on March 4 presented lessons from selected cities on how culture and heritage can be used to deliver tangible social and economic development outcomes.

AKTC general manager Luis Monreal presented his findings on how cultural regeneration has driven economic development in countries such as Afghanistan, Egypt and India.

“The historic city’s programme aims to achieve a few things, namely, the social and cultural development of the neighbourhood, to generate employment opportunities and entrepreneurial activity through some ancillary programmes that we put together,” he said.

“We have also built a number of public parks around the world. The reason for this is to create greener environments for the community. These parks are self-sustaining, meaning they are sustained financially. They generate revenue and help to create jobs. Believe it or not, some of these parks generate an excess of income over expenditure.”

Monreal also explained that AKTC started venturing into public parks in Egypt. The Al Azhar Park in Cairo was one of the trust’s earlier ventures. The park covers 30ha and has a contemporary design inspired by historic Islamic gardens. The park attracts nearly two million visitors a year and allows families with low income levels to use the park as the garden they would like to have at home.

“The US$30 million park is a gift from His Highness the Aga Khan to the city of Cairo. It not only generates enough funds for its own maintenance, but has also proved to be a powerful catalyst for urban renewal in the neighbouring district of Darb al-Ahmar, once one of the poorest districts in the city,” he said.

Within that area, AKTC restored a Mamluk-era building in Cairo, which is now being used as a medical centre that specialises in gynaecology and paediatrics.

Monreal said the medical centre receives tens of thousands of patients a year. Besides that, a derelict school in the area was rebuilt as an education centre, where children have access to computers and other educational materials.

Several monuments and public spaces in the area were restored to create what is now known as the tourist route. “This tourist route has a clientele of 95% Egyptian tourists and some from European countries. They use electric buggies to take tourists around the route. All this has been our model that we have adapted and transformed to the needs of other countries as we were moving along in developing this historic cities programme,” he explained.

In Afghanistan, AKTC worked on restoring and revitalising Babur’s Garden, which is the garden that was built around the tomb of the first emperor of the Mughal dynasty.

“The garden, when we arrived, didn’t have any trees. During the [wars that happened in the country] the local population had to cut down trees to heat themselves and cook. So, the first thing was not only to restore the almost 1km perimeter wall of the garden but also to plant about 3,500 trees and restore the Queen’s Palace,” said Monreal.

“Today, the Queen’s Palace is the centre where we have exhibitions. Some artisans would sell their crafts. Those kinds of activities, apart from the entrance fees, contribute to a number of economic resources that in turn provide a financial surplus.”

He added that since restoration works were completed in 2008, there have been more than seven million visitors to Babur’s Garden. People of all ages representing all of Afghanistan’s ethnic groups benefit from the tranquillity of the garden, which is immersed in history. “Seldom does a place impact people in this way, helping expand their understanding of history while nurturing their aspirations for the future.”

In India, AKTC’s project was one of the famous monuments, also known as the prototype of the Taj Mahal — Humayan’s Tomb. According to Monreal, this monument is the mausoleum of the emperor Humayun, built about 100 years before the Taj Mahal.

“We decided to develop a very major central project in the centre of Delhi, which includes the Humayun’s tomb complex and the Sunder Nursery. We connected both sites through the terrain. The Sunder Nursery was created during the British period to grow plants for the public buildings of the British administration,” he said.

The purpose of connecting both sites was to work as an engine for the social and economic development of a village called Nizamuddin Basti, which is a Muslim settlement around the tomb of a Sufi saint, Nizamuddin Auliya.

“The important thing was to translate to this village, which has been absorbed by the growth of Delhi, to transmit all these stimuli. We wanted to improve the conditions of the schools, their curriculum and create additional programmes for the students. We also created a medical service that deals with about 10,000 patients per year,” he added.

“The Sunder Nursery has created a lot of employment and is self-supporting in financial terms. In between the Sunder Nursery and Humayun’s tomb, we have built an underground museum that will open in July this year. It will also create employment and offer new incentives for tourists, both local and foreign, and for the citizens of Delhi to visit this area.”

Presenting the George Town World Heritage Site, Think City director Laurence Loh said both Think City and AKTC have been focused on the integration and protection of cultural and natural heritage. The organisations also adopted measures that give this heritage a function in the day-to-day life of the community, in their efforts to boost George Town.

Loh began with a brief background on his footing in the city with a few of his fellow architects. “Before the World Heritage Site inscription, the Penang Heritage Trust actually applied for George Town to be listed as one of the 100 most endangered sites in the world. At the same time, the World Monuments Fund gave us money to restore a building [a pre-war shophouse was converted into the Penang Heritage Trust’s office in Church Street].

“We started out restoring a single building, and in the process, the whole area around it started to regenerate. This was voluntary adaptive reuse and conservation by individual owners who knew nothing about the World Heritage List, but they just followed the trend. So the surrounding area regenerated and came alive.”

Think City came into the picture in 2009 and has worked on several projects, including the repaired and restored dome of Masjid Kapitan Keling, the upgraded 144-year-old Seh Tek Tong Cheah Kongsi, the restoration of the 177-year-old Makam Dato Koyah and the upgraded pocket park in Armenian and Acheen Streets.

Loh said Think City looked at George Town as a catalyst for Penang’s regeneration. They wanted to turn Penang into an ambitious, globally connected city. “We looked at Penang as a laboratory for a sustainable future that serves the people there, and we landed on the idea that Penang needed a city-centric strategy. At that time, George Town needed a new plan to regenerate, build human capital and turn itself into a knowledge-centric economy.”

To do that, Think City came up with a framework comprising four elements: FAST (Facilitate, Accelerate and Support Transformation), EASE (Efficient Access in a Sustainable Environment), FLOW (Full Life On the Waterfront) and CLICK (Connect, Learn, Imagine, Create, Kickstart).

“So, from 2009 to 2014, under the George Town World Heritage Site programme, we managed to work on projects through this framework. We managed to set up a grant programme [worth RM 16.5 million] and eventually, we seeded 206 projects. I think this really sparked a regeneration of George Town,” he said.

One of Think City and AKTC’s most recent projects in George Town was the Esplanade Sea Wall Heritage Trail, which was part of the North Seafront Master Plan.

“When we started the project, you could see that the walls were crumbling. Then, we turned to AKTC and said: Can you identify some experts who can help us? And they told us how to do gravity wall construction and we were able to complete it. When it opened, there were traffic jams for a whole month because everybody wanted to drive past this place,” said Loh.

“But they didn’t just drive past, many parked their cars and strolled along the trail. The restaurants and shops here started to thrive again. In fact, there are more shops in the area today. Something as straightforward as building a trail along the sea has provided economic benefits to the area and business opportunities for the locals.”

He further stressed the importance of investing in the public realm. “When you invest in the public realm, people start to believe that things can change. And I think we are the agents of that change. But with restoration and conservation comes the need to develop a management system that can absorb the growth or increase visitors to an area.”

As a result, Think City has been able to rethink the element of involvement in city-making, said Loh. The organisation will not only focus on physical conservation but also on the people, environment, space and economy involved.

Think City is currently working on a few other projects nationwide, including the revitalisation of Kuala Lumpur; the Kita-untuk-Kita Programme to facilitate exit from poverty and reverse the social, economic and physical decay in public housing schemes; and the Levelling Up Seberang Perai Programme, which consists of a visionary strategy for Seberang Perai, environmental and conservation education, and the revitalisation of small townships and neighbourhoods. “The vision is to always create inclusive, authentic and viable, creative and colourful places that knit together the historic fabric of places and society to enhance visitor appeal and availability,” he said.

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