Planning of housing in Malaysia: the need for a reform

Abstract

The planning system has in practice been a strong driver of housing development in a country and an explicit requirement in the process is the determination of housing needs. Although housing has been a consistent focus in all the five year Development Plans in Malaysia, housing needs assessment has not been at the forefront and the planning of housing has not been adopting a comprehensive and inclusive approach, involving all the relevant stakeholders. This paper therefore, will focus on the issues and problems of planning of housing, determination of housing needs, involvement of stakeholders and so forth and provide suggestions towards a more comprehensive, inclusive, appropriate, adequate and sustainable housing development approach for the country, based on the review of the best practices of developed countries, particularly Australia and United Kingdom.