Toward A Holistic Understanding of Sense of Place: A Phenomenological Reading of Chew Jetty, Penang
Veronica Ng

Abstract
The twentieth century urban growth has engulfed small villages and places which form parts of the urban environment. One example of such place is the Chew Jetty in Georgetown. Situated along the Pengkalan Weld (Weld Quay), Chew Jetty, an on-stilts water village which housed migrant communities, has been in existence since the 19th century. For Georgetown, as a world heritage site, it is vital to preserve its histories, communities and cultural practices of places. Positioning itself as a small contribution within this large colossal task, this paper aims to reveal the perception on the local sense of place of the Clan Jetties amidst the backdrop of Georgetown’s globalised everyday life. Adopting Francis Violich’s phenomenological approach for reading small urban places as the method of study, this paper argues that the reading of place by way of phenomenology acts as a vehicle to communicate unique visual and social images of place.

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