Evaluation of Islamic City Image in Kota Bharu Islamic City: A Pilot Study and an Early Finding

Abstract

Kota Bharu was rebranded from Cultural city to Islamic city, hence the urban design of the city in the direction of creating a city image related to Islamic identity. The existing literature on city image shows some discrepancies in the Islamic image perceived among residents, but to date, no research has been conducted from the perspective of visitors. This study objective is to evaluate the perception of visitors on Kota Bharu Islamic city image. A quantitative self-reporting survey consists of 62 questions divided into ten categories was created based on the existing literature. The attributes were Natural Environment, Social Need and Human Comfort, Religious Identity, Tolerant, Layout, Elements of Jannah, Intellectual and Knowledge, Cleanliness, Economic System, and Safety Setting derived from Islamic Built Environment framework. This paper aims to explore small sample data (n=40). Hence, instrument validity, reliability, and normality of the data were examined through a panel of experts and also by analysing the data with the aid of SPSS software. The result showed that the instrument is reliable and the data for preliminary study exhibit reasonable normality. The initial research discovery shows that visitors perceive the Islamic city image of Kota Bharu positively, reflecting the city is now representing the identity of the Islamic city. Based on experience and pilot test results, positive results are expected in the actual investigations. This research has provided early findings which will be beneficial to the administrators, designers and researchers and the researcher itself before conducting the actual full-scale study.