Challenges of community engagement by local authority for designing urban green spaces in central business district of Bandar Perda, Penang

• Main Authors: Md Yusoff, Shaqhrony, Maulan, Suhardi, Mohd Tahir, Osman, Zakariya, Khalilah
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: Department of Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Design and Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia 2020
• Subjects: G Geography (General); HT101 Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology; NA9000 Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying; NA9053.R4 City planning
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/86072/1/MSLM%202020%20Publication%20-%20Final%2010.10.2020.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/86072/

Rapid urbanization in cities such as Kuala Lumpur and Penang with high population density resulted in the reduction of green spaces and ecosystem deterioration. With the efforts to improve the environment, public participation was made compulsory in local authority’s administration through Act 172. Despite the governance of the regulation at both federal and local government, the lack of interest in public participation and inconsistency in communities’ presence throughout the course of the community engagement programs demand solutions. Quantitative research method was conducted with the involvement of 283 respondents using questionnaires survey. Study area involves an existing urban green space in Bandar Perda, Penang. The results highlighted several needs and barriers in public engagement that requires a radical business process re-engineering on the existing standard operating procedures in local authority. New guidelines and amendment to the work process of executing community engagement will ensure the building of confidence and increase the interest, in gaining the trust among stakeholders to attain sustainable development of urban green spaces that give benefits ranging from physical and psychological health to social cohesion, ecosystem service provision and biodiversity conservation for all community members with different backgrounds.