Back Lane

This is neither a store room or a house compound. It is a gated back lane in one of the neighbourhood. It is commonly noticed in many neighbourhood in PJ. For security reason, people resolve to barricade for control access. While it is understood the fear feeling of people, it is also a dangerous trend for safety consideration. It might become fire haphazard. Now, the smart mobile hawkers are using it for storage purpose. The chairs, containers, tables and even fridge are stored there. Not only it is for convenience purpose, but rather to me also for safe deposit. What a smart usage.

The question is should back lane be converted for better use? Previously, back lanes are provided as fire break and for urban services. However, with the introduction of services provision from the front of building and the possibility of maintaining 15 feet building setback without having the back lane, one will wonder why should we keep the existing back lanes.

I presume we can turn the back lanes onto a gated open space for the use of immediate neighbours. With at least 300 feet in length, it must be a good cycling track for children. With kitchens around the corner, it must be a good interaction place for housewife to chit chat on family matters or even cooking recipes. Perhaps the man can also spend time there after a day work. While we are talking about the losing of green space, perhaps converting the back lanes as green space will help to preserve the greenery. Having said this, the bottom line for local authorities should be having a maintenance-less and efficient-use of public space, hence saving on expenditure for road resurfacing, after all the work was not done very often.