The Centre of Studies for Landscape Architecture recently involved in a virtual collaboration design and planning project of street markets between Malaysian and Indonesian universities. The project was initiated by The School of Landscape Architecture at Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and involved several Indonesian universities which are Universitas Aisyiyah Yogyakarta, Universitas Tridinanti Palembang, Universitas Lambung Mangkurat Banjarmasin, Universitas Internasional Batam, Universitas AMIKOM, Universitas Indo Global Mandiri, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta and Institut Pertanian Bogor. Apart from UiTM, other local universities involved were International Islamic University Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia. The program was carried out from 7th November 2020 until 20th December 2020.

The three-week design and planning project on street markets which involved more than 150 students required them to work in groups to produce a schematic design and planning of a street market chosen by them known as ‘pekan sehari’ in Malaysia or ‘pasar limpah’ (tumpah) in Indonesia. Each group composed of 3 undergraduates. Each nationality is to search a market in their hometown and conduct a field survey to the market and gather data regarding its physical properties and words and gestures of locals’ interactions. At the end of the three-week program students were required to share and present their idea virtually to a set of critique panel.

Trough the collaboration program, students as well as lecturers were able to gain fruitful insights regarding the state of street markets in Malaysia as well as Indonesia and pave a way for future collaborations.