Description
UNESCO described Melaka and George Town as "the most complete, surviving historic city centres on the Straits of Malacca with a multicultural living originating from the trade routes from Great Britain and Europe through the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and the Malay Archipelago to China." In 2008, it granted the two towns a joint heritage listing as Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca, saying they have "a unique architectural and cultural townscape without parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia".Malaysia did not take this honour lightly. To preserve this heritage, Parliament allocated funds and channelled it through Khazanah, the national sovereign fund. Khazanah established a special purpose vehicle called Think City and George Town was chosen as a laboratory experiment to see if a sustainable regeneration initiative could be kick-started through a grants programme.In four years, the George Town Grants Programme has disbursed RM16.3 million to almost 240 projects involving local communities, government agencies, and local and international experts. The challenges, successes and shortcomings of this four-year journey, led by a passionate and dedicated team are laid out in this book even as transformations continue to unfold.Most of all, the greatest gain has been the depth of heritage know-how that is now being shared with other cities in Malaysia. In time, it is hoped that this knowledge can also be used to help transform other historic cities in the world.ISBN:9789671178164
