Culture-Based Economic Development

"Unlocking the power of culture for sustainable urban development"

Think City aims to build an interconnected network of cultural assets within and between cities, which focus to preserve and leverage heritage as a catalyst for local socio-economic development.

“Modern organisations face complex questions. Are we investing in the right talent and assets? Are we capturing the opportunities brought about by technological change? How can we become more resilient and sustainable? ”

Howard Lee-Yang
Director, Strategy & Analytics

Key highlights

>100

Total Heritage Building Projects

>100

Intangible Cultural Heritage Projects

National Monument Conservation / Heritage Management Plans

How We Work

History Meets Innovation

Think City’s Culture-Based Economic Development includes work in Conservation and Adaptive Reuse. This includes preparing dilapidation surveys, strategic master plans and conceptual design as the basis of reference for interventions, restoration and adapted space use—increasing the value of heritage assets and connecting heritage building owners to new businesses so that these buildings have new relevance in modern life.

From Preservation to Prosperity

Adopting UNESCO’s holistic approach, Think City’s Culture-Based Economic Development also includes work in managing historic urban landscapes, which goes beyond physical preservation and focuses on the entire human environment, including all tangible and intangible qualities by integrating urban heritage conservation and social and economic development goals.

Guiding the Future

The creation of a Conservation Management Plan (CMP) helps develop the management strategy for historic assets, sites and places. It explains the significance of the asset and examines how any future use, management, alteration or repair will be carried out in order to preserve that significance.

featured work

Northern Region Archeotourism Network

The Northern Region Archaeotourism Network Programme (NRAN) aims to leverage Malaysia’s unique tangible and intangible cultural assets as enablers for economic resiliency and socio-economic growth.

This report contains the survey results for Think City’s first Business Community Pulse Check. It was conducted in August 2020 in the downtown areas of Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, and George Town.

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