DOI: 10.18848/2327-7912/cgp/a390 ISSN: 2327-8676

Imagining Urban Planning in Selected Malaysian Literary Texts

Nurul Atiqah Amran, Arbaayah Ali Termizi
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<p class="ql-align-justify">Literary urban studies have become an independent field of study, focusing on literature that explores cultural phenomena that are both deeply criticized and highly revered. In this article, we explore the notion of narrative in urban planning, a perspective that has prompted scholars to view planning as a kind of storytelling. It is a practice that urban planners and policymakers should adopt when designing inclusive, resilient, and equitable cities. Western contemporary approaches have integrated these methods to build a more sustainable, human-centered approach to urban planning and development. In this study, we focus on how fictional narratives are structured to describe city planning, rooted in cultural and historical specificity. This article examines the fictional and poetic portrayals of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, across three literary genres: novel, poem, and short story. The analysis is structured within the practical field guide to narrative in urban planning, conceptualized by Lieven Ameel, Jens Martin Gurr, and Barbara Buchenau, which combines essential literary concepts and urban planning practices. At its core, we question how narrative influences or supports the planning to create cities that are not only imagined but also inclusive, grounded, and sustainable. By placing a novel, a poem, and a short story in dialogue with Kuala Lumpur’s planning discourse, the study shows how each literary genre generates distinct ways of knowing the urban.</p>

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