![A five foot way in Melaka](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/A_five_foot_way_in_Melaka.jpg)
A five-foot way (
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
/
Indonesian
Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to:
* Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia
** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago
** Indonesian ...
: ''kaki lima'') is a roofed continuous walkway commonly found in front of shops in
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, and
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
which may also be used for commercial activity. The name refers to the width of the passageway, but a five-foot way may be narrower or wider than five feet. Although it looks like European arcade along the streets, it is a building feature that suits the local climate, and characterizes the town-scape and urban life of this region. It may also be found in parts of Thailand, Taiwan, and Southern China. The term might be translated into
Hokkien
The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages in ...
as (五脚基); it is also called (亭子脚).
![Seremban 5-foot way](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Seremban_5-foot_way.jpg)
The term "five-foot" describes the width of the covered sidewalks.
The
overhanging canopy
Canopy may refer to:
Plants
* Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests)
* Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes
Religion and ceremonies
* Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an ...
, roof extension or projected upper floor on top of the five-foot ways provides a cover to shield pedestrians from the sun and the rain. As the ground floor of most commercial buildings in downtown areas is occupied by shops or eating places, the five-foot ways also function as corridors for people to
window shop or look for refreshment. These corridors were used by traders to set up various small businesses in the past, and are still used this way in many countries.
As the name implies, five-foot ways may have a minimum width of five
feet
The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...
, but the guideline has not been applied universally, as many five-foot ways are wider or narrower depending on the age, size, and function of the building.
History
The requirement for
arcade
Arcade most often refers to:
* Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine
** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware
** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board
* Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games
* ...
s in urban plans may be found as early as 1573 in the Royal Ordinances by
Philip II of Spain
Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...
.
Batavia
Batavia
Batavia may refer to:
Historical places
* Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands
* Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...
(now
Jakarta
Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...
) became a capital of the
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
in the early 17th century. As soon as
Jan Pieterszoon Coen
Jan Pieterszoon Coen (, 8 January 1587 – 21 September 1629) was an officer of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in the early 17th century, holding two terms as governor-general of the Dutch East Indies. He was the founder of Batavia, ...
, Governor-General of the
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
(VOC) occupied the port town of
Jayakarta, he started construction of the capital in European way. In the middle of the 17th century,
Johan Nieuhof
Johan Nieuhof (22 July 1618 in Uelsen – 8 October 1672 in Madagascar) was a Dutch traveler who wrote about his journeys to Brazil, China and India. The most famous of these was a trip of from Canton to Peking in 1655-1657, which enabled hi ...
, described two market buildings run parallel with central galleries. Nieuhof further mentioned that the building were divided into 'five walks' or galleries. It has been speculated that the 'five walks' are the ''kaki lima'', referring to the space rather than the width of the passage'.
KakilimaFig9.jpg, Batavia street-scape illustrated in c.1760.
KakilimaFig11.jpg, Kaki lima in Kota, Jakarta, c.1990.
KakilimaFig5.jpg, Kaki lima in Melaka, c.1990.
When the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
(EIC) ruled
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
during the
Napoleonic War
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
,
Thomas Stamford Raffles
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British statesman who served as the Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816, and Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. He is ...
was appointed the Lieutenant-Governor of the
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
in 1811–1815. Raffles was in Batavia in 1811–1815 as a governor during the
British Java
The French and British interregnum in the Dutch East Indies were a relatively short period of French and then British interregnum in the Dutch East Indies that took place between 1806 and 1816. The French ruled between 1806 and 1811, while t ...
period and may have observed the verandahs, footways and continuous eaves of the Batavia.
It has been claimed that Raffles ordered the construction of walkways of around five feet wide in front of shops in Batavia.
Singapore
In 1819, Raffles
founded modern Singapore, and it was in Singapore that the five-foot way became firmly established as an architectural feature of the region, when
Stamford Raffles
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British statesman who served as the Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816, and Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. He is ...
included this and other details in his
Town Plan of 1822. Raffles issued a set of instructions on how the new colony may be organised in his
plan for Singapore in 1822. He stipulated that the buildings in the newly established colony should be uniform, and should be built of brick and tiles to reduce fire risks. He added that:
This became the five-foot way, and this feature of
shophouses
A shophouse is a building type serving both as a residence and a commercial business. It is defined in dictionary as a building type found in Southeast Asia that is "a shop opening on to the pavement and also used as the owner's residence", a ...
in Singapore was observable by the 1840s from the drawings of Singapore
John Turnbull Thomson
John Turnbull Thomson (10 August 1821 – 16 October 1884) was a British civil engineer and artist who played an instrumental role in the development of the early infrastructure of nineteenth-century Singapore and New Zealand. He lived the last 2 ...
. The land leaseholder had to provide public walkways of certain width in front of their shops and houses. As they constructed the second floor above the public walkways, it formed roofed continuous walkways along the street. Although it was planned as a public walkway, the five-foot way would also become a place for hawkers to trade, and it was used as retail, storage, and even living spaces. Attempts in Singapore to clear the walkways of hawkers who were obstructing the walkway in the 1880s led to the so-called "Verandah Riots".
John Turnbull Thomson - Singapore Town from Pearl's Hill Looking East.jpg, View of Singapore c.1845, shophouses with arcades can be seen in this drawing by John Turnbull Thomson
John Turnbull Thomson (10 August 1821 – 16 October 1884) was a British civil engineer and artist who played an instrumental role in the development of the early infrastructure of nineteenth-century Singapore and New Zealand. He lived the last 2 ...
.
Singapore 2014-01-25 (12848733274).jpg, A five-foot way in Singapore
A five foot way in Singapore.jpg, A five-foot way in Singapore
Other Straits Settlements
Ordinances and by-laws requiring such verandah walkways were then enacted from the mid-19th and early 20th century in the
Straits Settlements
The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...
and Malayan towns, for example, the 1884 building by-laws introduced by
Frank Swettenham
Sir Frank Athelstane Swettenham (28 March 1850 – 11 June 1946) was a British colonial administrator who became the first Resident general of the Federated Malay States, which brought the Malay states of Selangor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and ...
in the rebuilding of
Kuala Lumpur
, anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera''
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia
, pushpin_map_caption =
, coordinates =
, su ...
provided for the inclusion of 5-foot passageways beside the road. However, the term "five-foot way" was not specifically mentioned in such ordinances and by-laws, rather words as arcade, verandah or verandah-way or five-foot-path were used. The term may have been coined by builders in response to the minimum width of the walkway. The walkway would become an integral feature of many settlements in neighbouring British colonies in the Malaya peninsula, and by the later half of the 19th century became a feature of the distinctive "Strait Settlement Style" buildings.
It is still commonly found in the towns and cities of Malaysia. Although it was originally a feature colonial-era buildings, many buildings in the post-colonial era in Malaysia still incorporated a sheltered walkway, although not necessarily in the form of an arcade.
Penang - Part 4 - Relics (25232695510).jpg, Shophouses in Penang with a five-foot way
Five Foot Way in George Town , Penang.jpg, A tiled five-foot way in Penang
Kaki-Lima-Chinatown.jpg, A five-foot way in Kuala Trengganu, Malaysia
A five foot way in Kuching, Sarawak.jpg, A five-foot way in Kuching
Kuching (), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River ...
, Sarawak
Southern China, Taiwan and Hong Kong Colony
The Five Foot Way or Verandah regulation was also applied for town planning in
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
in the late 19th century and in South China in early 20th century under the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
. The verandah may be found as the ''
qilou
Tong lau or ke lau are tenement buildings built in late 19th century to the 1960s in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southern China, and Southeast Asia. Designed for both residential and commercial uses, they are similar in style and function to the shophou ...
'' (arcade) of these regions. In the early colonial period of
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
, any construction and projection was not allowed above the public walkways, but the colonial government issued "the Verandah Regulation" in 1878 to enable adjacent land leaseholder to build overhanging second floor above the walkways to cope with the lack of living space.
KakilimaFig18.jpg, Verandah in Hong Kong Colony, c. 1890.
KakilimaFig20.jpg, Qílóu in Guanzhou, c. 1990.
South East Asia
This architectural feature also spread to other South East Asian countries, such as
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
,
Brunei
Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...
, and
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
after the mid-19th century. Such feature may have been introduced to
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
after the visit of
Rama V
Chulalongkorn ( th, จุฬาลงกรณ์, 20 September 1853 – 23 October 1910) was the fifth monarch of Siam under the House of Chakri, titled Rama V. He was known to the Siamese of his time as ''Phra Phuttha Chao Luang'' (พร ...
to Singapore in 1871, while towns in southern Thailand were influenced by their proximity to Malaya.
It remains a prominent element in modern architecture in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
and
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
.
Communal Kaki Lima
Roofed walkway lukan1900.jpg, Roofed Walkway in Lukang
Lukang, formerly romanized as Lugang and also known by other names, is an urban township in northwestern Changhua County, Taiwan. The township is on the west coast of Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait. Lukang was an important sea port in the 18t ...
, Taiwan, c.1900.
Roofed walkway Pengchiau1996.jpg, Roofed Walkway in Peng-Chau, Hong Kong, 1996.
Kaki Lima in Indonesia
The Indonesian usage of ''kaki lima'' is interchangeable with ''trotoar'' (from
French via Dutch: ''
trottoir''), as both refer to walking paths or sidewalks. In Indonesian, the colloquial term ''pedagang kaki lima'' references
street hawkers that often occupy the five-foot ways. The ''Kaki Lima'' in Indonesia historically offered a potpourri of goods such as shirts, socks, blouses, pots and pans. Nowadays, they are often occupied by small eateries and stands.
1991Semarang-Pecinan-Shophouse5.jpg, Kaki Lima in Pecinan, Semarang, 1991.
Jakarta-Kota-Kakilima1.jpg, Two Wheels Kaki Lima in Kota, Jakarta, 1990.
Braga Street Bandung.JPG, ''Kaki lima'' or five-foot way along Braga Street
Braga Street ( id, Jalan Braga, su, ᮏᮜᮔ᮪ ᮘᮢᮌ, also written ᮏ᮪ᮜ᮪ ᮘᮢᮌ) is a street in the center of Bandung, Indonesia, famous in 1920s colonial Indonesia as a promenade street. A European ambiance of chic cafes, boutiq ...
in Bandung
Bandung ( su, ᮘᮔ᮪ᮓᮥᮀ, Bandung, ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of West Java. It has a population of 2,452,943 within its city limits according to the official estimates as at mid 2021, making it the fourth most ...
, Indonesia, occupied by street artist selling paintings
See also
*
Overhang (architecture)
In architecture, an overhang is a protruding structure that may provide protection for lower levels. Overhangs on two sides of Pennsylvania Dutch barns protect doors, windows, and other lower-level structures. Overhangs on all four sides of barn ...
*
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
*
Verandah
A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure.
Although the form ''veran ...
References
Sources
*1. Johann Friedrich Geist, Arcades The History of a Building Type, 1989,
*2. Doren Greig, The Reluctant Colonists Netherlanders Abroad n the 17th and 18th centuries, 1987,
*3. Jean Gelman Taylor, The Social World of Batavia European and Eurasian in Dutch Asia, 1983,
*4. Hideo Izumida, Chinese Settlements and China-towns along Coastal Area of the South China Sea: Asian Urbanization Through Immigration and Colonization, 2006, (Japanese version), {{ISBN, 978-89-5933-712-5(Korean version)
Architectural elements
Architecture in Indonesia
Architecture in Singapore
Architecture in Malaysia