GIS and remote sensing techniques in land use planning for conservation of heritage site in Lembah Bujang, Kedah

Abstract

Heritage site in Malaysia, specifically in Lembah Bujang, Kuala Muda, Kedah defines a high significance in the history timeline, which not only holds the history of local area but to the earliest civilization in southeast Asia. The study on preservation and conservation of heritage site in Bujang Valley was triggered by the unfortunate event of the demolishment of Site 11 in Planning Block Bujang due to lack of land use planning guidelines in the area. The research focuses on the analysis of current land use or land cover condition, is land cover changes happen around the area and the impact of land use or land cover changes over time within the area of three Planning Block of Bujang, Merbok and Bukit Meriam. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the application of GIS and remote sensing are used to monitor the changes of land cover of study area through time period, classified land use changes and analyze the development pattern in and around the study area. The data were processed with ERDAS IMAGINE 2014 and MapInfo Professional 11. The results indicated that not all areas consists of shrines were protected by the existing law and the current law only cover the areas with physical evidences but not the whole surrounding local area. Therefore, some suggestions were proposed to protect the area such as identification of the core zone of heritage sites, setting up buffer zones, drafting physical guidelines in protecting the heritage sites and revitalize the heritage sites in term of physical restoration in order to gain financial support from UNESCO that will have an impact to the physical conservation of the area.