Public perception and acceptance of the sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS) in housing schemes in Malaysia.

A study conducted by The Department of Environment Malaysia shows that there is an increase in numbers of polluted rivers. One problem is said to be due to indiscriminate dumping of wastes into the rivers. This phenomenon adversely affects the drainage capacities of rivers which then leads to more frequent occurrences of floods as well as an increase in the intensity of the floods. The issues are critical since 97% of the total water use originates from rivers. In Malaysia, 40-60% of water use comes from the domestic domain. Domestic wastewater gives an impact on the quality of water. Public involvement is very important in order to control the current water situation as public contributions to water issues are very significant. In daily activities, the public pollutes the drainage runoff unconsciously. Increasing urban population causes a massive impact on human activities, especially in a developing country like Malaysia. In Malaysia, urbanization has a lot of advantages for the economic sector. Therefore, development needs to be carried out in order to provide a range of facilities for the population. On the other hand, living in comfortable and convenient spaces has persuaded many people to renovate their houses. This then results in an increase in the number of impervious areas because housing developers only have to comply with providing 10% of open space. Developers usually choose to maximise the built-up areas to take full advantage of land use and this situation has resulted in an increase in surface run-off. This is in fact a major cause of flash floods. Natural filtration devices have been incorporated in Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) as a means of imitating natural hydrological processes. They are found to be more effective compared to the conventional drainage system, and delay filtration and run-off of surface water. SUDS not only improve the technical approaches of a drainage system, but also assists in `Best Management Practices' (BMPs). This includes management and maintenance together with better daily water usage. However, to assist the success of SUDS, public participation should be encouraged. The wider public and all stakeholders should have a better understanding of SUDS in order to allow them to get a clearer idea of their potential role. Improvement in the education system, frequent updates on information and training for maintenance workers are some of the actions that might influence the implementation of SUDS in Malaysia

Barrier free campus landscape for students with disabilities

This paper discusses the theoretical aspects of disability and its relationship to campus planning. It presents the theoretical frameworks consist of the definition of disability and people with disabilities (PwDs); types of disabilities in built environment which cover issues and challenges faced by disabled peoples; outdoor spaces of campus planning and outdoor campus environment from the aspects of landscape design. This paper focuses on the barrier free campus landscape design in campus planning and reviews the needs of Student with Disabilities (SwDs) as part of PwDs in terms of their accessibility, safety, usability, and integrated design, in order to create a barrier free campus environment. The paper provides a platform to discover the needs of the disabled students, especially in the campus environment, based on the type of disabilities

The Green Building Index (GBI) on landscape architecture scope of works

The Green Building Index (GBI) is a green rating system introduced by the Pertubuhan Arkitek Malaysia (PAM) to evaluate the performance of building across a broad range of environmental considerations. Apart from evaluating the building’s performance, the landscape design aspect has become a major part and parcel from the overall GBI assessment through the criteria of open spaces, landscaping and heat island effect. The paper is intend to highlight the review on the relationship of the GBI with the landscape architecture scope of works as well as the important roles played by the landscape architects from the Islamic point of view. It is hoped that this paper may possibly be an added knowledge about the GBI and the landscape architecture field and also as the key indicator towards enhancing the urban environment sustainability in the aspect of technology

The Green Building Index (GBI): an innovation in landscape architecture

This paper presents a review of the Green Building Index as a new innovation in landscape architecture scope of works. The Green Building Index (GBI) is a green rating system introduced by the Pertubuhan Arkitek Malaysia (PAM) to evaluate the performance of building across a broad range of environmental considerations. Apart from evaluating the building’s performance, the landscape design aspect has become a major part and parcel from the overall GBI assessment through the criteria of open spaces, landscaping and heat island effect. The paper is intend to highlight the important role played by the landscape architects to conserve natural area, encourage restoration of the habitat as well as maximise the ecodiversity through native and adaptive vegetation. It is hoped that GBI may possibly be a new innovation and added-value to espouse landscape architecture field as a leading role together with the architecture and other components in built environment industry

The concepts of planning and design in sustainable stormwater management

Stormwater management requires general ideas and principles known as the “concept” to ensure the success of planning and design. In addition, the concept requires an understanding of the hydrology cycle as a basis of knowledge, which provides a mechanism to synthesize the knowledge of the hydrology cycle with the idea of planning and designing for stormwater management. Thus, this research aims to synthesize the concepts of stormwater management with that of the hydrology cycle as the environmental sustainability factor. Two objectives have been established: (i) to identify the concepts of planning and designing of stormwater management; and (ii) to analyse the relationship of the identified concepts with the hydrology cycle. In this qualitative research, three methods of data collection have been used: online journals, forum discussions and e-mail interviews. The collected data were analysed using five steps of descriptive comparative analysis. The results show eleven concepts: conservation of the watershed, compact urban form, retention of stormwater on site, treatment train, green network, harvesting and reuse of rainwater, redevelopment, streetscape ecosystem and restoration. The concepts are listed according to seven hydrology cycles – interception, infiltration, surface runoff, depression storage, evapotranspiration, groundwater flow and interflow. The hydrology cycle becomes the environmental sustainability factor for the identified concepts, as the goal of stormwater management is to replicate the process of the hydrology cycle to ensure the effectiveness of the concepts