Five-foot way

A five-foot way (Malay/Indonesian: kaki lima) is a roofed continuous walkway commonly found in front of shops in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia which may also be used for commercial activity.

Although it looks like European arcade along the streets, it is a building feature that suits the local climate, and characterizes the town-scape and urban life of this region.

[2] The overhanging canopy, roof extension or projected upper floor on top of the five-foot ways provides a cover to shield pedestrians from the sun and the rain.

As soon as Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Governor-General of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) occupied the port town of Jayakarta, he started construction following European fashion.

He added: ... a still further accommodation will be afforded to the public by requiring that each house should have a verandah of certain depth, open at all times as a continued and covered passage on each side of the street.

[8]This became the five-foot way, and this feature of shophouses in Singapore was observable by the 1840s from the drawings of surveyor and engineer John Turnbull Thomson.

[9] Although it was planned as a public walkway, the five-foot way would also become a place for hawkers to trade, and it was used as retail, storage, and even living spaces.

The Indonesian usage of kaki lima is interchangeable with trotoar (from French via Dutch: trottoir), as both refer to walking paths or sidewalks.

In Indonesian, the colloquial term pedagang kaki lima references street hawkers that often occupy the five-foot ways.