Curating the Historic City: Mapmaking, Zoning, and Exclusion

• In Event: Urban Exclusion in Southeast Asia - Sponsored by the Southeast Asia Council (SEAC)

Abstract

This paper concerns mapmaking and zoning as a form of exclusion in the preservation planning of George Town, Malaysia. In particular, it focuses on how the historic city’s cartographic boundaries have been constructed and how these boundaries, in turn, both sanction and exclude specific kinds of material practices. The paper consists of three parts. First, it describes two sets of boundaries that have been prescribed for the historic city: the external boundary that carves the historic city out of the rest of George Town’s historical fabric, and the internal boundary that bisects the historic city into the core zone and the buffer zone. Second, it unravels the contested trajectory of these cartographically constructed boundaries, exploring past proposals for, and thus ways of seeing, the historic city. The evidence shows that the final cartographic construction is more a matter of administrative convenience than a product of careful study and historical geography. Third, it evaluates the material impact of the boundaries. Artificial as they are, the boundaries are used as an appropriate perimeter for further state interventions. While buildings within the site are considered heritage and thus warrant preservation efforts, those outside are left to their own devices. The paper concludes by critiquing the role maps play in framing official operation and intervention. In Southeast Asian cities, mapmaking plays an important role in framing the government’s emerging role as “the curator,” or the arbiter of taste. As a form of selection, curation necessarily involves inclusion and exclusion.

Author

• Napong Tao Rugkhapan, University of Michigan