Melakan Row Houses from the Ground Up

Chapter 4 deals with the old townhouses and shophouses of Melaka’s World Heritage site. It first traces the reasons for their decline in the post-war period. Things started to change in the 1990s with the repeal of rent control. This period coincided with the revaluation of these buildings as heritage and economic assets, but not without side effects, such as illegal demolitions, the displacement of residents, and tourism gentrification. The authorities have always been reluctant to interfere with private property, but during the application for the World Heritage inscription they were forced to step in with stricter conservation rules. Instead of a homogeneous approach, this chapter displays the diversity of discourses and practices of conservation as encountered on the ground.