The production of palm oil has profoundly transformed the socio-spatial and environmental fabric of Peninsular Malaysia, reshaping its landscapes into territories of agro-industrial production. This dissertation investigates the historical development, contemporary dynamics, and potential transformations of these territories, situating palm oil production within broader processes of colonial and post-colonial governance, extended urbanisation, and territorial operationalisation. It argues that the operationalisation of territory is central to understanding the socio-environmental restructuring of agrarian space and the interdependencies between agriculture and urbanisation. Rather than framing palm oil plantations as exclusively agrarian spaces, the research examines them as active components of urbanisation processes, challenging the conventional division between industrial agriculture and urbanisation, and demonstrating how agro-industrial landscapes are embedded within complex socio-economic networks.

Focusing on Johor State, a key territory of Malaysia’s palm oil industry, the study investigates the transformation of the territory through three distinct yet interrelated modes of production: independent smallholders, government-led resettlement schemes, and corporate estate plantations. These modes, shaped by global supply chains, Malaysia’s planning apparatus, and everyday practices, reveal varied forms of operationalisation, as well as distinct developmental pathways.

Methodologically, the research employs a multi-scalar approach, drawing from urban and territorial studies, political economy, landscape and environmental history. It combines cartographic analysis, geospatial mapping, archival research, and ethnographic fieldwork to uncover the spatial logics of palm oil production and its socio-environmental consequences.

By situating plantation economies and their spatial dimension within the framework of operationalisation, this dissertation critically engages with contemporary debates on agrarian-industrial landscapes, resource extraction, and extended urbanisation. Despite the vast body of research on palm oil’s ecological and economic dimensions, its spatial transformations remain understudied within architecture, urban studies, and landscape design. Addressing this gap, the dissertation proposes a qualitative analysis of palm oil territories, foregrounding their role as spaces of both extraction and urbanisation.

The findings contribute not only to academic discourse but also to policy recommendations and alternative pathways in agro-industrial territories. In particular, the research reveals how independent smallholder systems, state-led resettlement schemes, and corporate plantations each produce unique spatial outcomes and governance regimes, shaping not only the landscape but also the everyday lives and aspirations of local communities. These differentiated forms of operationalisation offer critical insights into the layered and contested nature of territorial transformation in Malaysia’s agro- industrial landscapes.

Ultimately, the study expands the scope of urban theory, moving beyond city-centric paradigms to interrogate the material and political processes shaping landscapes of industrial agriculture. This perspective opens new avenues for the design, governance, and theorisation of agro-industrial landscapes.