Adaptation of sustainable neighbourhood elements (SNES) in Malaysian urban neighbourhood planning

Abstract

Sustainability concept is important as it conserves the resources and provides healthy living environment. Therefore the sustainable living needs the fullest attention from the root of the community especially in urban neighbourhood. As part of sustainable development, it needs to be systematically practice so that the neighbourhood sustainability could be achieved. Looking at the efforts taken by Malaysian government in improving protection of the environment and conserving natural resources was already in par with the current sustainable development need. But to make the effort more reliable, the sustainable neighbourhood system has to be established to achieve the balanced development. This paper address the adaptation of the Sustainable Neighbourhood Elements (SNEs) into the current Malaysian urban neighbourhood planning. The study found 21 green space elements to form the SNEs where they can be applied into the current planning and design system. The SNEs were the main entity in every neighbourhood planning. Looking at the possibility of the adaptation, the issues pertaining Malaysia’s neighbourhood planning system was scrutinize so that improvement can be made to the current practice. The SNEs can be manipulated to suit the current planning system. This may enable the user to adapt the SNEs according to the need.