氣候變遷與海平面上升所帶來的潛在災害，使“與水共生”的議題日益受到都市研究領域的重視。沿海聚落必須因應氣候與其他物理或社經因素的變遷進行調適，以便盡可能降低破壞與發掘未來發展的機會。
對於應用在地的資源與方式促成有機生長的傳統聚落，瞭解當地居民的居住感受與執行調適政策的能力極為重要。然而，這方面的措施卻時常受到忽略，以致政策最終導向失敗。為了了解當地居民觀點與空間模式發展之間的相互關係，本研究將探討當地草根為因應海岸環境所做之調適措施，如何反映在空間模式的發展上。
水上聚落為馬來西亞一種傳統的生活方式。部分肇因於其在法律上定義為非法建築，針對水上聚落的空間與(或)環境調適上的相關研究極少。然而，這類聚落因其地理位置的關係，實際上為海平面上升(Md. Din & Mohd. Omar, 2009)及其他海岸潛在災害(Chan, 1995)的相對高風險暴露族群。
以馬來西亞柔佛州龜咯水上漁村（港腳漁村及鹹水港漁村）為例，本研究通過詳細的田野調查與訪問，探討生活在沿海環境的在地居住觀點如何形塑聚落的空間模式。通過研究設計的兩個時期進行觀察，研究結果將呈現社區尺度與建築尺度的空間發展與其變遷原因。本研究發現，水上聚落的空間模式發生改變與空間調整，主要為因應環境的改變。長期的居住經驗形塑了居住觀點，而空間模式的發展則反映了居民與水共生的經驗。瞭解在地居住觀點對於落實任何的災害調適措施極為重要。本研究為補充傳統水上聚落研究之匱乏，對其空間模式進行詳盡的調查與分析，以提供未來相似自然與人文條件之水上聚落空間發展與調適策略之相關研究參考。

The concern of “living with water” raises increasing attention due to potential disasters following by climate change and sea level rise. It is recognized that coastal community needs to adapt in order to moderate the harm or exploit beneficial opportunities resulting from changes in climate and other physical or socio-economic factors.
For organic-growth traditional settlement that was built by local resources and measure, it is important to consider people’s perception and capacity to implement adaptation policy. However, it is usually be neglected and leads to failure of policy. To identify the interrelation between local perception and spatial pattern, this study discusses how grassroots’ response to coastal environment reflects on spatial pattern development.
Water settlement is one of the traditional lifestyles in Malaysia. Partly due to illegal position in land use, the study of its space or/and adaptation to environment have received less attention and are limited in literature. And yet, these settlements are actually considered comparative high-risk exposed to sea level rise (Md. Din & Mohd. Omar, 2009) or other coastal potential disasters (Chan, 1995) based on their location.
Using case study of Kukup water settlement (Kukup Laut Fishing Village and Ayer Masin Fishing Village) in Johor State, Malaysia, this study conducts field research and interviews to identify local perception to coastal environment in shaping settlement’s pattern. Applying to two designed phases, the result shows spatial pattern at community scale and building scale in order to identify the development and the causes. The study finds that spatial pattern has been facilitated to adapt to coastal environment. The everyday life experience, therefore, formed local perception; and the pattern represents the generation’s experience to live with water. To understanding local perception to coastal environment and its changes is essential to practice of any adaptation policy. Through a detailed investigation and analysis to spatial pattern, it is to provide appropriate reference for further spatial and/or adaptation studies of traditional water centric community with similar natural and man-made conditions.

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