Map - Petaling Jaya (Petaling Jaya)

Petaling Jaya, commonly called "PJ" is a city in Petaling District, in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. Originally developed as a satellite township for Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, it is part of the Greater Kuala Lumpur area. Petaling Jaya was granted city status on 20 June 2006. It has an area of approximately 97.2 km².

Petaling Jaya is surrounded by Kuala Lumpur to the east, Sungai Buloh to the north, Shah Alam, the capital of Selangor, and Subang Jaya to the west and Bandar Kinrara (Puchong) to the south.

Under plans developed by Francis McWilliams, the city was developed during post-war British Malaya on a piece of 1200 acres rubber estate, the Effingham Estate, around Old Klang Road to address the overpopulation of the capital Kuala Lumpur in the 1950s. Since 1952, PJ witnessed a dramatic growth in terms of population size and geographical importance. The development of Petaling Jaya commenced in 1952 with the construction of 800 houses centred on the area known as "Old Town" today.

Lieutenant-General Sir Gerald Templer (then the British High Commissioner of Malaya and Petaling District council chairman) planned for Petaling Jaya to be a satellite town to prevent people from assisting the communists; the earlier housing areas were fenced off from the surrounding area. The first two main roads built in Petaling Jaya were simply called "Jalan 1" or Road 1 and "Jalan 2" or Road 2. Road 1 was later named Jalan Templer while Road 2 was named Jalan Othman after Othman Mohamad, former Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of Selangor.

Until the end of 1953, the town was administered by the Kuala Lumpur district officer. The Petaling Jaya Town Authority headed by N.A.J. Kennedy commenced administrating Petaling Jaya in 1954. On 24 August 1959, Encik Abdul Aziz bin Haji Mohd Ali became the first Malayan to head the PJ Authority. Administratively and historically, it was considered part of Kuala Lumpur. However, Petaling Jaya ceased to be part of Kuala Lumpur when the latter became a Federal Territory on 1 February 1974. It then became a township in its own right within the state of Selangor.

Petaling Garden Berhad was the pioneer private development company, responsible for the development of some areas of Petaling Jaya. It was started in 1957 by a group of Chinese businessmen including Ang Toon Chew, Robert Kuok, Tan Kim Yeow, Tan Chin Nam, Ho Yeow Khoon and Low Boon Chian. The company went on to develop thousands of acres in Petaling Jaya more specifically, Section 5, 6 and 17, to become the townships Taman Petaling Klang and Sri Petaling to name a few. Petaling Garden was brought to the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange and became one of the first publicly listed Property Development Companies in Malaysia. The company was bought over by Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) in the year 2007, it was valued at RM 964 million at time of purchase.

Southern Petaling Jaya, from Section 8 to PJ Old Town, had the first settlements that were established around 1953. As development progressed, Northern Petaling Jaya, on the other side of the Federal Highway was developed. The first shopping complex in Petaling Jaya was Jaya Shopping Centre (better known as Jaya Supermarket). Built in 1974, it is located in Section 14.

On 1 January 1977, following the passing of the Local Government Act the previous year, the Petaling Jaya Town Authority was reorganised to become Petaling Jaya Municipal Council or Majlis Perbandaran Petaling Jaya (MPPJ). Petaling Jaya progressed rapidly due to the massive rural-urban migration. As more people from rural areas immigrated, Sungai Way and Subang districts along with areas such as Subang Jaya, Seksyen 52 (New Town or colloquially known as "State", the name of the first, former cinema in the area) developed in areas under the jurisdiction of the municipality.

Following a boundary realignment exercise in January 1997, parts of Petaling Jaya including Subang Jaya, USJ, Putra Heights, and Bandar Sunway were ceded to the newly formed Subang Jaya Municipal Council or MPSJ at the time. In exchange, the MPPJ annexed Bandar Utama, Sungai Buloh, Bukit Lanjan, and Kota Damansara from the Petaling District Council (Majlis Daerah Petaling, MDP), which disestablished itself after the cession.

Due to the proximity of the city to the capital of Malaysia, Petaling Jaya had and have been the headquarters of many federal government departments such as the Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (National Registration Department, 1958–2004), the Jabatan Arkib Negara Malaysia (Malaysian National Archive Department, 1961–1982), and the Jabatan Kimia Malaysia (Malaysian Chemistry Department, 1957–).