Identifying urban social sustainability contributing factors in Kuala Lumpur City Center

Abstract

Urban social sustainability is about creating equal opportunities for accessing inclusive city space for all people besides enhancing health, happiness and democracy for current users and generations to come. On the other hand, the vital role of effective public spaces, in which people can socialize, is increasingly emphasized, as they are essential for sustainability of the city especially from a social point of view. In Malaysia, traditional shopping streets are among the most vibrant urban areas which have preserved and continued their historical characteristics and actively served their users as places for social and shopping activities for decades. Concerning these successful public spaces, this study aims to identify main factors affecting urban social sustainability in the city centre of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Through conducting an extensive literature review, key themes of urban social sustainability have been extracted including equity of access, townscape design, satisfaction of psychological needs and social inclusion and mixing. This study employed quantitative research method and utilized a self-completion questionnaire. The data was collected using random sample of 227 users from two major shopping streets, i.e. Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman- inhabiting Malay and Indian traders, and Jalan Petaling- one of the earliest Chinese shopping street in Kuala Lumpur. The respondents include pedestrians, shoppers/workers and visitors attending in stated streets at the time of data collection. To identify the perception patterns of various groups of respondents about social sustainability dimensions, researchers conducted factor analysis, using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences- SPSS, version 16. Safety and comfort, access to services, liveliness, preservation of heritage and identity, legibility, place attachment, inclusiveness, social infrastructure, connectivity have been determined as main social sustainability contributing factors. Safety and comfort are defined as the most important factors perceived by users. This study has important implications for planner, architects and authorities while planning to maintain the current conditions and also targeting to design for a better future of streets to better serve its current and future users.