The impact of gentrification on local urban heritage identity in old quarter, Melaka Heritage City

Gentrification represents a new trend of development towards the new forms of socio-spatial divisions of the city centre. It also restores the quality of urban development and life of the local community. However, there are various issues arising from this developmental process. These issues have been identified as the demand for physical development, economic worth and sociological evaluation of the community, which have an effect on the local identity of the study area. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to identify the impact of gentrification on the local urban heritage identity in the heritage city of Melaka. The study takes a quantitative research approach. This study also shows the positive and negative impacts to the local communities, and these effects may differ with other cities. The study evaluates the impact on the socio-culture and spatial structure in this area. Hence, recommendations of this paper place emphasis on the involvement of the local community in determining the direction of development. Apart from that, safeguarding the local intangible cultural heritage value in the urban development process should also be emphasised as it is intended to respect and protect the rights of the local community while creating a balanced development without compromising quality of cultural heritage assets of the historic city.