Abstract

Narrow roads between rows of buildings used as public paths or commonly known as back-lane; the streets neglected by most of people. The unfavorable lane in residential area indeed had existed thousand years ago since the world urbanization. This paper traces the evolution of back lane design particularly in terrace houses in Malaysia, the largest housing type built since colonization and Post World War of more than 40 years ago. The first part provides an overview on the global development tracking back from the Prehistory to Post Modernism. Secondly, it assesses six aspects of evolution through observations approach carried out in two states, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. Critical review is made focusing on the two major elements, back lane physical design and its function with cross reference to literature research and current global issues. Variations of back lane have been discovered particularly in road width, drain condition, pavement material, landscaping, infrastructure and safety elemts.

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