Debates on the social production of urban spaces have been embedded in human geography and urban sociology since the 1970s. This paper analyses and interprets how different social perceptions, constructions and 'lived' experiences of space contribute to urban studies in the fast-growing city of Johor Bahru, under Iskandar Malaysia, that is regarded as the dual city of Singapore. This is addressed through the investigation of urban transformation in the city centre, field observations and interviews with developers in Iskandar Malaysia and inhabitants in an urban kampong (village) located in the expanded metropolitan area. The paper also discusses the Malaysian capitalist modernisation manifested in urban redevelopment that drives socio-spatial transformation and results in the decline of the old centre and massive suburban sprawl, while reinforcing the cultural hegemony of spaces by the dominant socioeconomic class and ethnic groups.

Samutprakan province, located in the alluvial flood plain that once formed part of the pre-existing mangrove forests of the lower Chao Phraya River, has been affected by rapid urbanization from Bangkok since the 1980s, which has had significant impacts upon the hydrological system. Today, Samutprakan could be further transformed by the discourse of global city branding through the initiative of the Suvarnabhumi Aerotropolis. We conducted a time-series analysis of aerial photographs of the Bang Pli and Bang Pla districts of Samutprakan province to investigate how the landscape has been changed over time and the results indicate that the intensified industrial and higher density residential developments exacerbated the deteriorating ecological conditions of the waterway. Despite the proposal of an environmentally friendlier alternative of aquatic modern living, the strong tendency is that traditional aquatic cultural livelihoods and urban agriculture are being displaced and gentrified by the new town development.