The People's Dataran: Celebrating Historic Square as a Potential Temporary Market Space

This exploratory paper initiates a discussion on the potentials of appropriating a temporary weekend market adjacent toa historic square as an informal activity to encourage people to engage more with DataranMerdeka as their historic place. From employing methods of observations, mapping and interviews, the findings from this paper reveal how locating temporary market activity at DataranMerdeka might activate this historic square as a lively social space while tapping into the existing event culture. This study suggests that the juxtaposition between the historic and the everyday can ascribe new meaning to the layers of the city's heritage to support cultural sustainability.