Implementation of hentian komuniti towards heritage town sustainability / Yong Adilah Shamsul Harumain ... [et al.]

The sustainability of heritage town has been a huge controversial issue. Many local authorities struggle to sustain heritage buildings due to lack of community participation although they have adequate funding. As a result, many guidelines or even restrictions to sustain those building meets a dead end. Most heritage building owners also face issues in maintaining their buildings due to the building age and change of use. Other challenges are cost, value and also interest. Community participation in the process of
sustaining heritage towns is equally important with the vital needs of the
local authority to maintained them. Both work together as a complete system
that compliments each other. The Hentian Komuniti is a unique community
participation concept which is a translation of a concept called Machinoeki
from Japan that reflects hospitality and volunteerism. The core principal
of Hentian Komuniti concept is to encourage the community to share the
space at their building premises where visitors can rest, get information
about the town, and also use the toilet service for free. This is an interesting
concept as the community works voluntarily to help the local government
to revitalize the town, nurture the idea of hospitality, which means cultivate
and educate good services. This paper explains the implementation of this
concept in the town of Taiping and the chain benefit outcome from the surveys
undertaken towards heritage building owners and local community in the
effort to sustain the heritage town.