Analyzing Criteria for Potential Adaptive Reuse of Pre-War Shophouses: A Multiple Linear Regression Approach

Abstract

Pre-war shophouses are among the national historic structures that needs conservation work. However, choosing between adaptive reuse and other options is difficult because of the numerous factors involved.  Therefore, before selecting a potential adaptive reuse, the adaptive reuse criteria must be taken into account. The criteria for adaptive reuse include six major categories: economic, environmental, social, architectural, technological, and legislative. These criteria represent as independent variables meanwhile the potential adaptive reuse represent as dependent variable. In this study, a specific group of respondents such as town planners from local governments, valuers from the valuation and Property Service Department (JPPH), architectural firms, researchers, and building owners who are involved in the adaptive reuse of pre-war shophouse buildings were given the questionnaire. In this work, multiple linear regression and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. In order to determine whether the shophouse can be reused rather than demolished and replaced by new structures, this paper applies multiple linear regression to analyze the relationship between the criteria for potential adaptive reuse. In other words, the study will identify the crucial conditions for potential adaptive reuse for a chosen new use of pre-war shophouses. The results show the new shophouse and the criteria for adaptive reuse have strong correlation.