T r op i c a l M o de rn it y The initiative of ‘urban redevelopment’ in this geographic context brings up the enduring question of ‘Tropical Modernity’, a lingering conundrum in Southeast Asian architectural practice that is most often met with environmental strategies and building techniques, but seldom with an eager recognition and appropriation of existing conditions and potential. The recognition of that potential was key to the concept behind our proposal. The question ‘How to build a modern tropical city?’ is partly answered by the daily flurry of activity of tropical cities building themselves - informally colonizing space, reshaping existing structures, adapting constraints... this activity provides a basic level of urban functioning regardless of what has been planned.
98 · Penang Tropical City