Perceptions of Public and Professional on Visual Image of Putrajaya City

Abstract

Putrajaya is the federal government's administrative center which at the beginning of its development was planned as an Islamic city. The objective of this study is to analyze the visual images of the built environment that give the identity of Putrajaya based on public and professional perceptions. Modernization and lack of understanding of the interpretation of Islamic architecture has resulted in an identity crisis in the architectural style, misleading identity and affected the identity of the Islamic city. This study adopts both quantitative and qualitative methods. A questionnaire survey involving 500 civilians and photo-base method interviews with 100 professionals in the field of built environment was conducted to analyze the identity and the visual image of Putrajaya. The findings show that Putrajaya's urban design has a high aesthetic value and Islamic culture through the Islamic Middle East features to realize its application as an Islamic city. However, the style of modern that dominates, mixture, diversity and lack of local identity creates a misleading and a weak of cultural identity. The findings of this study can be utilized to strengthen the visual image of Putrajaya city as an Islamic city with its own local identity and identity to increase attractiveness to urban users.