Applications Of Geographic Information Systems In Urban Land Use Planning In Malaysia

Over the past forty years Geographic Infonnation Systems (GIS) have been used in many planning applications ranging from daily administrative operations to strategic planning functions such as evaluating socio-economic data in land use allocation tasks

Urban development and expansion trends under the political instability in palestine: jerusalem- ramallah case study

Urban development, expansion, and Land use changes in the urban environments are a global phenomenon, by 2050, urban population in the world will increase to be more than 6.6 billion inhabitants and they will live with less than 1% of the world land surfaces. Political instability is one of most important drivers that effecting on the land cover/land use change and urban expansion, especially in the areas that faced the political problems and wars. Urban development in Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) impacted strongly by Political Transformations during 20th century and early of 21th century. The political instability factor in OPT leaded to distortion of Palestinian urban form and effecting on future urban expansion and development. Therefore, this study aims to assess of urban development and planning in Palestine during the political transformation stages, as well as it aims to explore urban expansion trends under the geopolitical effects in Jerusalem – Ramallah urban region as a model in the Palestinian urban environment. Descriptive, historical, and cartographic methods conducted based on used Geographic Information System to explore existing and future urban expansion trends in Jerusalem – Ramallah region as a case and model in the Palestinian urban environments. The result showed how the political instability conditions effected strongly on the urban development process and expansion in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Therefore, this study will improve our Knowledge in the urban development research context about the relationship between the urban development and the political transformations. Palestinian policy makers and planners, as well as Palestinian planning organizations at different levels need to put more efforts to prepare of the regional, sub-regional , and master plans for all Palestinian localities and regions especially in the OPT, in the conflict and sensitive areas such as Jerusalem –Ramallah region. This study recommend to adaption a new planning ideas and strategies to face the Israeli physical planning in the Palestinian urban environments like compact communities and principles of smart urban growth

Predicting Seberang Perai housing land pattern in 2017

Land use decision making is a complex process involving trade-offs among various land stakeholders due to the resource’s scarcity. Pulau Pinang is the second most densely populated and also the fourth most urbanised state in Malaysia. Urbanisation is Penang state is partially translated as escalating housing land demand that poses threats to agricultural land especially around the peri urban areas. At present, Malaysia is still lacking in scientific tools to assist planners simulate current and future land use developmental patterns. Existing planning guidelines could not anticipate future development scenarios. Hence the need for a scientific tool based on dynamic spatial model to simulated development pattern using scenario approach. This study aims to develop a GIS-based, CA Markov Model that predicts housing land development in Seberang Perai region of Penang State up to 2017 using 2005 and 2011 land use data. The study first demarcated Seberang Perai based on the degree of suitability to accommodate all land use classifications. The degree of suitability is ranked according to development criteria scores, weightings and constraints, with the latter two quantified using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique. CA Markov Model then simulates the dynamic interactions between cells under specific transition rules to predict land pattern in 2017. The study provides information on the potential locations and direction/pattern of growth in 2017. The simulation outcomes show that new or expanded housing lands are located in close proximity with the predicted growth centres and settlements identified in the Penang Structure Plan 2020 hence endorses compact urban development pattern. The CA Markov Model can assist relevant authorities in allocating suitable housing land sites sustainably

Malaysia towards zero poverty by 2020

Since 1970, Malaysia have been adopted various policies to reduce poverty and address the socio-spatial inequality. These policies managed to reduce poverty rate from 52.4% in 1970 to 1.7 % in 2012. However, inequalities and disparity among regions and ethnic groups have not been properly addressed. Policies that worked well nationally might not be suitable to be used in addressing poverty at local level. Thus, this paper aims to critically look at the strengths and weaknesses of such policies particularly in eliminating poverty. The paper is based heavily on the review of the recent literature and the data gathered from Economic Planning Unit-EPU and the Department of Statistics, Malaysia. Empirical experiences have shown that Malaysia has managed to reduce poverty beyond the declaration of MDG; halving poverty by 2015. However several issues need to be addressed as the country aim to be a developed nation with zero poverty as indicated in its vision 2020. Although the slogan "growth with equity" was used, spatial disparities were found among region such as between Sabah and Penang. Penang State, which has experienced steady economic growth, has implemented top-up model of eliminating poverty where families earned less than poverty income line received top-up income from the state government since 2013, claimed to have zero poverty rate. However, the sustainability of this approach is questionable. In addition to that, the sign of incidence of poverty between rural and urban and among ethnic minorities is quite clear. This inequality with external factors (illegal migration and global economy) poses some challenges for achieving the vision 2020. By evaluating the policies and analyzing regional disparities the paper will enrich the literature on poverty and help the planners to formulate sound poverty eradication polices

Driving forces in modelling dynamic urban spatial growth for the George Town Conurbation (GTC)

Urban growth and transformation of spatial land use and land cover have affected various important physical environments, social, and economic activities. Researchers throughout the world have implemented diverse approaches in understanding the dynamic process of urban spatial growth where models have been developed to predict and simulate future urban growth and development. Model were developed based on the driving forces or factors that stimulate urban development. Therefore, the driving forces must be identified and analysed, especially for those that can be applied to forecast future changes and their potential environmental effects. The objective of this paper is to identify and analyse possible driving forces that promote urban spatial growth using the George Town Conurbation as a case study. The driving force were identity by reviewing recent research journals and articles regarding modelling urban growth. In addition, on-line survey was also generated and distributed to planners, academicians, researchers, and urban modellers to assess their perception on urban land use transformations and also measure the weight of potential drivers or factors that stimulate urban spatial growth. The findings indicated that distance to public amenities, cheap housing price, distance to workplace, and proximity to area that support new and growing businesses are among factors that are important determinants of urban development. The results provide valuable insights in modelling the dynamic urban spatial growth in future research

Social accessibility of Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia among low income group in urban Penang, Malaysia

With increasingly higher cost of living in urban areas, various strategies have been undertaken to ease the financial burden, especially of the low income population residing in urban areas. The Malaysian Government, for example, has launched an affordable community shop program, known as Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M), that sells goods with quality comparable to those available at supermarkets or other retail stores but priced at 30 to 40 percent cheaper than the latter. However, previous studies have shown that these stores are less popular among the low income population as their locations are less accessible. There is also the stigma of being associated with poor migrant workers. This study takes into consideration distance as a factor in shopping at KR1M. Therefore it aims to investigate whether stigma has hindered low income population from shopping at KR1M. A quantitative survey was conducted on 57 households of Flat Taman Seri Pinang, Teluk Air Tawar, Butterworth, Pulau Pinang, which is located approximately 290 metres away from the KR1M. The findings indicated that the majority of low income respondents, with monthly household income ranging between RM1,001 and RM2,000 did visit KR1M. Furthermore, more than 60 per cent of the respondents strongly disagreed that stigma has led them to be ashamed of shopping at KR1M. The findings indicated that most of the respondents would choose to shop at the nearest groceries stores Thus, in planning for more KR1M in the future, location should be taken into consideration to make it more accessible to the targeted group

Penilaian kebolehupayaan pejalan kaki di Tapak Warisan Dunia UNESCO: kajian kes di George Town, Pulau Pinang

Kebolehupayaan pejalan kaki merupakan salah satu elemen kelestarian yang dapat memberikan pelbagai manfaat termasuk kesihatan, ekonomi dan perancangan bandar. Di Malaysia, elemen ini adalah baru dan terhad di kawasan bandar metropolitan yang maju seperti Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, Bandaraya Johor Bahru dan Bandaraya George Town. Kini, kebolehupayaan pejalan kaki dijadikan sebagai mod pengangkutan aktif yang lestari. Tujuan kajian ini dijalankan adalah untuk mengukur dan menilai tahap indeks kebolehupayaan pejalan kaki yang dijalankan di tapak warisan dunia George Town, Pulau Pinang. Antara indikator dan data guna tanah yang digunakan adalah indeks campuran guna tanah (entropi), indeks perhubungan dan indeks nisbah bersih perniagaan (tanah komersial). Indikator ini dianalisis, dinilai dan diintergrasikan dengan aplikasi Sistem Maklumat Geografi untuk penghasilan peta indeks kebolehupayaan pejalan kaki. Bagi mendapatkan penilaian indeks kebolehupayaan pejalan kaki yang jitu, kaedah pengesahan di lapangan dijalankan dengan kaedah temubual di setiap lokasi tertentu. Hasil dapatan kajian ini mendapati kawasan kajian mempunyai skor tahap kebolehupayaan pejalan kaki yang tinggi, memudahkan pengguna ke sesuatu destinasi dan menjadikan aktiviti berjalan kaki sebagai mod pengangkutan yang lestari. Kesimpulannya, kebolehupayaan pejalan kaki yang baik dapat mengurangkan kesesakan lalu lintas dan meningkatkan aktiviti pelancongan sedia ada

Urban spatial growth model as a tool to plan for sustainable urban future

Much has been said about planning for sustainable urban future. However, it is difficult to find practical and workable solution to ensure the sustainability of urban development. Malaysia for example, is one of the most urbanized countries in East Asia, however; Kuala Lumpur urban area is one of the largest in the region as measured by area but the least dense in East Asia. This is due to the expansion of urban area is not properly controlled. The aim of this paper is to propose an urban growth boundary as a planning mechanism to plan for sustainable urban development. Taking the George Town Conurbation as the study area, this paper demonstrated the application of spatial temporal model of urban growth that can simulate future urban spatial growth. Land use data obtained from the Federal Department of Town and Country Planning (FDTCP) will be used as sources of the data. The model will be developed using ArcGIS software and simulated using Idrisi Kilimanjaro software. Then, based on land demand and land suitability, future urban spatial growth will be planned within urban growth boundary. Such as approach allows land demand to be allocated in a sustainable manner. The model will be useful in planning for future urban spatial growth

Identifying factors influencing urban spatial growth for the George Town conurbation

Urban growth, which caused spatial land use and land cover changes has affected various physical environment, social, and economic activities. Thus, in order to understand the dynamic process of urban spatial growth, researchers throughout the world have implemented diverse approaches, where spatial models have been developed to predict and simulate future urban growth. Those models were developed based on the driving forces that stimulate urban spatial growth. Therefore, in ensuring reliable models to be developed will be able to forecast future changes and their potential environmental effects, the driving forces must be identified. The objective of this paper is to identify possible driving forces that promote urban spatial growth of the George Town Conurbation. The study was conducted based on reviewing recent publications in journals and an on-line survey. An on-line survey was generated and distributed to academicians and urban planners to identify factors influencing urban spatial growth and their weights. The findings indicated that distance to public amenities, cheap housing price, and distance to the workplace are among factors that are important determinants of urban development. The results provide valuable insights in modelling urban growth in future research

ACCESSIBILITY OF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES TO THE POOR IN THE NORTHERN REGION OF PENINSULAR MALAYSIA: A SOCIO-SPATIAL PERSPECTIVE

In development discourse, the role of education is instrumental to assist the poor to break away from the vicious cycle of poverty. As a result, equipping a nation’s citizenry with adequate education and knowledge will ensure their ability to be self-sufficient in terms of securing gainful employment and subsequently escape the vagaries of poverty. However, in both developed and developing countries alike, the supply and concentration of educational services and amenities in terms of their location, accessibility and quality tend to be biased towards urban centres as they are unevenly distributed between urban and rural settings. Concomitant to that, incidences of poverty will incline to occur and perpetuate in places and spaces that still lack such fundamental educational services and amenities. In turn, this situation will question the extent upon which a nation’s educational aspirations, learning opportunities and knowledge development initiatives are underscored by contemporary development philosophies like “Inclusive Education” as well as “Education for All.” Arguably, for a nation to be considered as fully developed, it will require equitable access of educational opportunities and fair distribution of educational amenities to citizens from all strata of society, especially the poor, deprived and marginalised regardless of location. Against this backdrop, this study aims to examine the location, concentration and distribution of education institutions vis-à-vis incidences of poverty in the Northern Region of Peninsular Malaysia. The study used Geographic Information System (GIS) and spatial analysis to map the spatial distribution and identify distribution of higher education institutions in the Northern Region of Peninsular Malaysia. The results indicated that some areas with high concentration of poor population have low accessibility to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The findings from this paper will contribute towards shaping pragmatic educational planning and development policies in Malaysia.Keywords: educational services, poverty, Malaysia, socio-spatial perspectiv