Biophilia: residents’ connection with green infrastructure in a town

Green infrastructure is urban nature consisting of greenery and green spaces distributed in and around town. It facilitates residents’ contact with natural environment that may fulfil their needs for nature in urban places. Human’s inherent affiliation with the natural environment or Biophilia has been long hypotesised. The paper draws the findings of a case study exploration on the connection between residents with green infrastructure in Taiping, a small colonial town in Peninsular Malaysia. Biophilic tendency of residents to green infrastructure in the town was elicited using questionnaire survey (n=335) and semi-structured interviews (n=33). The results show that residents who participated in activities within the greenery and open spaces in the town experienced various benefits that fulfil their needs for nature. Physically, participating in activities provided the residents active living. Physical and visual experience afforded relaxation, comfort and calmness. More social interactions were experienced resulting in community satisfaction. The study concludes that existence of matured green infrastructure extends beyond aesthetic enjoyment. It provides urban residents with a connection to nature that induces affiliation with green infrastructure in a town. Thus, planning and provision of green infrastructure with care by urban planners and designers are essential in the urban fabrics

Green infrastructure in cities and towns in Southeast Asian countries: quest for research

The cities in Southeast Asia are rapidly urbanised. Urbanisation in the region causes urban residents to live in a city with less balanced ecological system. Green infrastructure is known to be a vital indicator for urban environmental sustainability. The green infrastructure is all landscape types comprise of greenery and open spaces. Its network of park, playing field, pocket and incidental green space and neighbourhood space that is linked by tree-lined streets and waterways around and between urban areas provides green lung for cities, hence promotes healthy society through spaces for recreational, social and leisure activities. These are the places where urban residents have access and contact with nature, and interactions with other individuals. This paper explores the roles of green infrastructure in the Southeast Asian cities and towns, and its implications to urban residents‟ well-being. The green infrastructure acts as an important countermeasure to alleviate negative effects of urbanisation to residents and urban ecological system. A multidisciplinary literature review on urban open space, greenery and urban natural ecosystem was conducted to assess the body of research that highlights green infrastructure in Southeast Asia cities which include Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Bangkok. The major themes derived from the findings were categorised into three: (i) quantity of existing green infrastructure, (ii) studies on green infrastructure contributions to well-being of urban residents, and (iii) significant attribute parameters that emerged from the studies. The review has found that even though the concept of green infrastructure may be new for many countries in the region, the areas of research have gained recognition in the urban public health dimension. In other words, the governments of the region must consider urban residents‟ health derived from green infrastructure to be of important resources for future urban sustainability. There are also challenges especially on green infrastructure‟s implementation that need to be addressed in city planning and urban design. The findings implicates that accumulation of research can promote public health of Southeast Asian cities that ultimately lead to environmental sustainability

Green infrastructure as green health promotion agenda for urban community

The study investigates how the presence of green infrastructure network enhances urban residents’ physical health. The study reviews the literature related to green infrastructure benefits to physical health of urban individuals. In addition, it investigates the relationships of green infrastructure experience to physical health and well-being via a case study exploration on residents in Taiping, a small town in Central Peninsular Malaysia. Green infrastructure network is a composite of open space and greenery that is linked by walkways, streets and waterways around and between urban areas at all spatial scales. It is found that an accumulated literature review especially from the western world has produced a considerable amount of evidences on benefits of greenery and nature to health. Hence, this paper discusses the findings from various researches on the benefits of green infrastructure to physical health of urban residents. The paper also elaborates the results on green infrastructure experience and interaction derived from a survey (n=335) of residents in Taiping. Findings show that, regardless of ages, residents frequently visited the green infrastructure in the town. Effects from the existence of various types of green infrastructure in the town promote frequent visitation and participation in active recreation. The relationship suggests that the green spaces allow residents to experience active and leisure activities, which in turn afforded healthy feeling and wellness for residents. The findings implicates that the existence of green infrastructure network are essential in an urban fabric that may foster active living. Thus, as aspired by the Malaysian government, green infrastructure is a significant health promotion agenda that is seen as a way to improve healthy living in a communit

Application of pocket gardens & landscape spaces in urban context

Types of pocket garden & landscape space Use & activities of urban spaces Landscape spatial materials Form composition Some examples of project Attributes of successful landscape space

A review of the communications and multimedia act 1998 in achieving media pluralism / Mazlina Mohamad Mansor @ Mansoor and Zaiton Hamin

Achieving media pluralism is at the heart of the public interest policy in a democratic society (Just, 2009). It establishes the tenets of having different independent media owners with the availability of a variety range of contents regardless of patterns of demand (Doyle, 2002). The communications and multimedia law is expected to advance these public policy objectives via the structural regulation (ownership control), behavioral regulation (content control) and/or technical regulation (transmission control). This research argues that Malaysia have taken a light and a relatively passive approach in addressing the issue of media pluralism via the communications and multimedia law. The existence of one Malaysian public listed company, Media Prima Berhad owning majority of the free-to-air commercial television stations nationwide i.e TV3, 8TV, ntv7 and Channel 9, raised the concern of the formation of one gigantic conglomerate controlling majority of the market. This development is not in line with the principle of media pluralism

Experiential contacts with green infrastructure’s diversity and well-being of urban community

The study explores the significance of residents’ experience with an array of green infrastructure in Taiping, a small town in central Peninsular Malaysia. It argues that the existence of a composite of greenery and open spaces in a town that has diversity contributes to sense of well-being of residents. Green infrastructure network is a composite of various types of greenery and open spaces linked by streets, waterways and drainages encircling and connecting urban areas, at all spatial scales. In Taiping, the green infrastructure network consists of a town park, street planting, open spaces of public buildings, pocket spaces between shop-houses, school playfields, neighbourhood open space, home gardens, and river corridors. Questionnaires (n=335) and semi-structured interviews (n=33) explored the diversity of the green infrastructure in the town and the causal relationship to well-being—physical, cognitive and social. The data suggested that green infrastructure afford residents diversity of experience. Diverse experiences of green infrastructure network, physically and visually attract residents to participate in active activities, to socialize and to perform other transactional activities outside their homes. Therefore, the effects from the participation trigger many positive moods such as serenity, relaxation, comfort and satisfaction. Moreover, in physical and social terms, experiencing urban green spaces such as parks and gardens afford town residents active living, and community participation and harmony. There were modest relationships between the dimensions of diversity with the well-being dimensions, suggesting that residents felt diversity affect their sense of well-being. Hence, the results implicate that urban green spaces are essential amenity for towns and cities that afford an individual and a community physical, cognitive and social well-being

The Significance of Green Infrastructure Experience to Cognitive Well-Being of Residents in Small Town

The paper explored the significance of residents’ experience with an array of green infrastructure in Taiping, a small town in central Peninsular Malaysia. It argued that the existence of a composite of greenery and open spaces in a town with pleasing qualities contributes to cognitive performance, through contact and participation. In particular, it examined the relationship of participation in the green spaces to residents’ cognitive well-being. Green infrastructure network is greenery and open spaces linked by walkways, streets, waterways and drainage ways around and between urban areas, at all spatial scales. In Taiping, the green infrastructure network consists of the Lake Gardens (town park), river corridors, street plantings, school playfields, neighbourhood open spaces, home gardens and loose-fit spaces such as pocket spaces in between buildings and shop-houses. Ease of access to green infrastructure network, physically and visually facilitates residents to participate in active activities, to socialize and to perform other transactional activities outside their homes. Therefore, the effects from the participation trigger many positive moods such as serenity, cheerfulness, relaxation, calmness, comfort and satisfaction. Questionnaires (n=335) were used to explore frequency of residents’ visits to the green infrastructure and the causal relationship to cognitive performances that lead to their well-being. The data showed, regardless of ages, residents frequently visited the green spaces. Results also suggested that there was a modest relationship between frequent visits and cognitive wellbeing of residents. Hence, they implied the benefits of access to green spaces and implicated that the existence of green infrastructure network such as parks and neighbourhood open spaces are essential land use in an urban fabric that foster sense of well-being to its inhabitants