Technology, Transformation And Sustainable Development Goals In Penang Bay

Today we talk to a homegrown citymaker, Qhawarizmi Norhisham of Qhawarizmi Architect (QWA), about his winning blueprint in the Penang Bay International Ideas Competition (PBIIC) and his vision to sustainably transform Penang’s core urban areas into an integrated and resilient new economic zone. Mixing traditional and cutting-edge development tools, Qhawa sees the potential to democratise land ownership with blockchain technologies, reduce congestion with drone delivery services while improving transport infrastructure, boosting the Bay’s eco-tourism credentials and restoring its seafront mangroves. 

The PBIIC is an initiative from the George Town Conservation and Development Corporation (GTCDC), in partnership with the Penang State Government, Think City, Seberang Perai City Council (MBSP) and Penang Island City Council (MBPP). The competition was unusual in that it was open to submissions from all disciplines, as well as ordinary citizens and, of course, Penang city residents, to foster a conversation about the economic and social future of the island based around a diverse set of creative ideas.

A total of 37,000 us dollars in prize money was up for grabs which was broken down into $20,000 for the first prize winners, $8,000 for second place and $4,000 for third on top of that five honorable mentions each received a thousand us dollars apiece.

There were two Malaysian submissions in the top three. In third place was a submission from Arkitek Kashaf and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). Second place went to team from the Bartlett School of Planning, at University College London in the United Kingdom. And in first place – and the subject of or interview episode – we have Qhawarizmi Norhisham and Ar. Yasmin Rahman, of Qhawarizmi Architects in Selangor.

Hi Qhawa. Congratulations on your win. Could you explain some of the thinking behind your blueprint for Penang Bay? 

Qhawarizmi Norhisham: We didn’t look at is as urban fabric or as a mature urban environment. Rather, we looked at Penang Bay as a Petri dish, and the elements that we want to prosper, such as economic growth, social mobility, community empowerment. We treated them as cells, living organisms: in order to grow them we need to give them nutrients to develop. I’m not saying that we are being [overly] realistic, but we were trying to [avoid] advocating what could be [termed] as a mega project, which might take too long, because the capital is [so] big.

At the same time, we are not only advocating redevelopment, or further redevelopment. Some of the areas we would like to turn into a natural ecosystem. We tried to have a balance between these two things. I think that’s the underlying vision of the whole thing. We did a sort of audit on the Penang 2030 [vision] and outlined all the goals that we needed to achieve [with the blueprint]. Many of them are complementary, the elements aren’t contrasting [or conflicting] with one another. And I think what differentiated us from [some] of the other submissions is our actual knowledge of the site, as well as our research. 

Going back to that ideal of a Petri dish. You took a cellular approach to creating the plan as well. Can you explain the eight development parcels you looked at and why you structured the elements into those specific cells? 

Qhawarizmi Norhisham: I think when we look at Penang, it’s a fairly complex urban scape.  There’s a lot of stakeholders. A lot of users of the urban area. And that’s what makes it interesting. I think the reason we chose those eight parcels, [is because when] you look at those parcels, most of them, or maybe none of them, require any additional land mass. Our thinking was that we should work within the existing footprint.

For example, if I go through the parcels. The Heritage Tourism Seafront is definitely catering for tourists. The Macallan Waterfront Spine is for the commuters and local community. Jelutong Innovation Campus [is] for the startups. The Gazumbo Island Marine park for marine ecosystem conservation and sustainable fish farming. Butterworth Old-Town for heritage appreciation because we think the other side of the shore also deserves the same level of appreciation [as George Town] because they also have such a rich history. The High-Tech Autonomous Farms for future food security. We can see that this is already a problem. The Butterworth Cross Rotunda is a fairly metropolitan area, so we’ve sort of envisioned this as a new and connected business district. And the Mangrove Ecology Enrichment [concerns] the ecological balance in the wetlands.

We believe these eight parcels will eventually improve the Bay as a whole. We’re not necessarily talking about job opportunities and whatnot, but also ecological preservation and the end goal is to improve resiliency for the whole bay.

Along with the eight parcels, there are eight urban design strategic tools that you listed in the plan. Can you expand on those? 

Qhawarizmi Norhisham: When we think about the gravity of the situation and the extent of our intervention, we think that to achieve some degree of success in realizing any or all of these possible developments, we have to come up with certain policy level strategies. So, these eight strategic tools can be imagined as a key. You could use them independently but if your obstacle is fairly complex, maybe you need to use more than one. 

It’s not a procedural or step-by-step strategy. It’s just to provide a range of strategies to get to your goal. For example, one of the tools can be used to manage or envision future land use. There’s a lot of laws with regards to this, so in order to create a bit more flexibility, we’ll have to come up with a little bit more creative zoning. We’re saying: why don’t we zone based on characteristics? This land can be used as A, B, C, and D or a combination of all or some. Right now, it is fairly strict. If an area is zoned as residential, it needs to be residential. But I think in this new age, where work and living are blurred, I think we should see how we can develop new zoning laws or types. [Some things] might require a bit more creative diplomacy. 

Being realistic, thinking of the economic or ownership value of certain land, I mean, some land is fairly strategic. You might want to make it as something for the common good. But you need to understand that there are also vested interests. Of course, you can blame them: they are just trying to protect their interests or their livelihood. 

Hence, these eight tools try to unlock that blockage by allowing those economic and ownerships pressures to be released somewhere else or released in a way which going to keep the Bay resilient by having this infrastructure for the common good. Other tools are complementary and to make it holistic. For example, promoting green building, retrofitting, encouraging adaptive reuse, living on water and democratizing inclusive spaces. I think they should crisscross and complement each other in order to adjust specific situations in any parts of the bay.

As part of this renewed structure, you have proposed some quite novel development and land ownership models. Can you explain the thinking behind elements like the Land Value Re-Allotment and the Dynamic Development Model? 

Qhawarizmi Norhisham: I think we need to think about collective resiliency. Of course, this will affect private landowners. And we have to consider their economic stake. I think it can be justified to let their land go if the value can be represented by something else. So, in our case, each [piece of] land has its own development potential, either maximizing how many people live there in terms of density or how much area or gross floor area you can build by plot ratio.

What we’re trying to introduce is the detachment of the potential land value versus the actual ownership of the land. Instead of you owning the land which has this potential, what if we can give you an assurance that you can fulfill the potential of the land somewhere else? Or you could sell the potential to a willing buyer.

You might ask, okay, how are we going to do this? I think it’s not that difficult. I think in our proposal we did not explain it as thoroughly as this, but the mechanism could be as simple as the owner agreeing that he will elevate or release the ownership of the land that and that potential will be tokenized. When I say tokenize, I’m talking about NFTs, non-fungible tokens, and we develop smart contracts [backed by] blockchain technology.

It should be as secure your printed land title. Even though you no longer own the four corners of the land, you still own the potential value of development of that land. So, in that way we can distribute those gross floor areas or density a little better. If you sell 5% of your land development potential, for example, you still have 95%, which will appreciate as space become more and more scarce, as people need to build more and more houses.

Unlike owning land, where you can’t trade anything except the land itself. We think that in the future, tokenizing land, its potential and development, could be part of this technology.  I’m sure when you do that, you’ll see cities can grow a bit more competitively because you are [more] flexible. Of course, a lot of land [laws and regulations] will have to be amended in order to usher a new age of technology into our planning. 

Another of the high-tech solutions you’ve mentioned, and one that may have surprised people, in the plan for a drone port at the Butterworth Cross Rotunda. 

Qhawarizmi Norhisham: We see this building as logistical infrastructure. If you look down at the street right now you will probably see a fleet of delivery vehicles sweeping through the neighbourhood. I think drones should be considered as part of this future delivery mechanism. 

It’s our current obsession. I think partly it’s because our office is in CyberJaya. Although many people would say that it’s a failed project, maybe people can’t relate to that idea of a tech township, but I love it.  Even though you don’t see much on the surface, underneath there’s a lot of continuous technology innovation. That includes drone technology and autonomous driving. 

Pos Malaysia has been demonstrating their capacity to execute [drone] services. They are investing heavily in order to commercialize this service. And recently, Air Asia, [announced an intention to enter the drone delivery] market. By the time the Penang Bay [development] is there, this will probably be a common scene. Where you see drones delivering your food or your parcels.

That being said, the Rotunda is the intersection. It’s where your international mail or parcels can come from ships in the harbour to the port. While your domestic mail and parcels come by train, which is the KTM line. So, you can see how this location is where the mail from abroad and the domestic mail and parcels are concentrated. Of course, you can’t deliver to the other side of the [shore], so really, we need to have another drone port on the other side.

You made that reference to cells earlier in the interview. Can your plan be implemented in modules, or in phases and still have a positive impact? 

Qhawarizmi Norhisham: I think this [is the most] prudent way to go about it. We need to cut them into phases. We’re working on a regional scale, so we need to see if we get some of these off the ground, say as pilot projects. I would say that the community enrichment programme, which requires more in the way of a syllabus and training can go first. They might need some small physical intervention, maybe a better pathway to connect the school to their public housing, maybe to connect to the bus stop. We can do that early on. 

We also need a milestone achievement. I would say try to look at the very busy rotunda intersection, or on the other side at Seberang Perai. Looking at moving the pier, I would say, is a big milestone for each side of the shore, so it has to go in modules and phases. Right now, they are running the high-speed ferry. We thought that a new pier might be a little bit more tailor designed to fit that new transportation node so you can get the best out of that high-speed ferry. There are some opportunities to hop on the existing plans, such as the light rail and cable car, to gel them together. It is possible to make an impact, with this connection sort of a working as a tendon to bring separate initiatives together.

For more details about Penang Bay International Ideas Competition head over to https://penangbaycompetition.com.my 

To check out our winners at QWA, access their work here at https://qwaarchitect.wixsite.com/microsite 

And check out the QWA Podcast on Spotify or on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgNMgKbs_pKWQmuLImAlZzNGJL640FbiC