Vernacular architecture, particularly in the form of shophouses and townhouses, played a crucial role in the justification of criterion iv for inclusion on the World Heritage List. While the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) noted that similar buildings are present in other Asian countries, the justification was considered pertinent because Melaka and George Town displayed a number of different architectural types from distinct periods. Furthermore, ICOMOS pointed out that ‘they are also preserved in great numbers, forming large coherent areas, and still keep their functions, which make them an outstanding example of an architectural ensemble’.

Shophouses and townhouses – mostly two-storey – form the silhouette of Melaka's World Heritage site. A familiar part of the urban fabric all over Southeast Asia (especially in port cities), there are hundreds of such buildings in Melaka (from the pre-war period as well as the post-war one). Approximately 600 historical buildings located in the site are mentioned in the nomination dossier (see Malaysia 2008: 32), but many more are located outside it. At the beginning of the 1990s, as specified in an inventory, there were a total of 2177 buildings recognized as ‘historical’ (built before 1948) in the state of Melaka, 10.5 per cent of Malaysian historic buildings (Idid 1995).