KEMUDAHSAMPAIAN SEBAGAI PELENGKAP PEMBANGUNAN MAMPAN BANDAR PINGGIRAN: KAJIAN KES RAWANG, SELANGOR

National and global structural economic transformations brought with them various problems especially for early mining towns in Malaysia that were founded by the British in the early 19th century. Among the problems faced by these towns were declining production, income, employment opportunities and population following the natural resource depletion which used to be their only economic base. Some of these towns such as Papan and Siputih, Perak (old mining towns in the Kinta Valley) die away. Rawang is one of the early towns in Selangor, founded and developed because of tin mining activities which are still in existence and operational until today. The sustainability of Rawang depends to a large extent on its proximity and therefore, accessibility to the Kuala Lumpur urban conurbation: an advantage not possessed by other mining towns in the Kinta Valley which lead to their demise. This paper aims to assess Rawang’s accessibility using the Gravity Model towards the development of the town’s model of influence. This study hopes to share the knowledge and useful information with stakeholders regarding the role of accessibility in determining the relevance of early mining towns whose sustainability is no longer dictated by its natural resource base as in Rawang.