Assessment of comprehensive local land use plan and low carbon cities in Malaysia

Abstract

Asia is the major contributor of GHG and CO2 emission in the world. Prior to that, many Asian countries begin to implement Low Carbon Cities initiatives in their comprehensive local land use plans to mitigate climate change. The purpose of this study is to assess the comprehensive local land use plan and Low Carbon Cities in Malaysia. Content Analysis Method is used in the study to assess and analyse three (3) Low Carbon Cities from three (3) local jurisdictions by qualitative and quantitative, on how well these plans recognized the concepts of low carbon city in preparing for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Five (5) protocol components and 43 indicators were used in the process and Descriptive Statistics for Plan Quality result shows that the plans reflect adequate awareness but with limited analysis for climate change; although the actions taken varied widely in scope and content in their plans. The results for Total Standardized Scores exhibit City of Shah Alam at (26.58/50), Cyberjaya of Sepang at (37.08/50) and The Federal Territory of Putrajaya at (39.55/50). Factual Basis score lowest (Mean = 6.11) while Inter-organizational Coordination and Capabilities score highest (Mean = 7.78). The results for Indicator Performance of Plan Component in Coverage shows Implementation and Monitoring is the lowest at (75.0%) while Inter-organizational Coordination and Capabilities is the highest at (100%). The results for Indicator Performance of Plan Component in Depth indicates Factual Basis has the lowest percentage of (58.3%) and Inter-organizational Coordination and Capabilities has the highest percentage of 77.8%. This study concludes that Low Carbon City action plans at local jurisdictions is a dynamic and long-term process. As this study is limited to a single period it may not reflect the actual planning progress. Plans and policies require time to develop, therefore longitudinal analysis is more reliable to find the contributing factors to policy learning responding to the climate change issues at local level.