Khairiah Talha, a former president of the Malaysian Institute of Planners, said: “There are many good examples of urban development initiatives that can be emulated in other cities.”
She said apart from Singapore, “which has put in place the right policies and strategies for urban development”, Malaysia was the next best in terms of urban development among cities in Southeast Asia.
She said this in an interview with Next City, a nonprofit organistion that hopes to inspire social, economic and environmental change in cities through journalism and events around the world.
Next City did the interview as a preview to the 9th World Urban Forum (WUF9), in Kuala Lumpur from Feb 7 to 13 which will focus on the implementation of the United Nation’s New Urban Agenda. About 25,000 planners and others are expected to attend the WUF9.
Khairiah told Next City: “The Kuala Lumpur City Center, where the World Urban Forum will be held, is a compact, mixed-use, transit-oriented redevelopment home to the iconic Petronas Twin Towers and the KL Sentral train station. There are river beautification projects along Kuala Lumpur’s River of Life, the Melaka River, the Kucing Waterfront, and the Sungai Seget transformation in Johor Bahru.”
Public transportation, she said, had been expanded in the greater Kuala Lumpur area with commuter rail, light rail, metro, and bus tranport facilities.
“Free bus service is available in George Town, Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam, and Subang. There are increasing numbers of bicycle lanes and widening pedestrian footpaths in Penang, Kuala Lumpur, and nearby surrounding cities.”
She said cities were also reducing carbon emissions through increased landscaping and planting of trees, preservation of existing parks and forest reserves, and expansion of green spaces by imposing conditions on private developers to provide for more parks in their developments.
She added: “The growth of smart cities in most major cities in Malaysia is part of the national strategy. Many cities already have their smart city blueprint, such as Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, Johor Bahru, Petaling Jaya, George Town, Melaka. Many more are following suit.”
Cities in Malaysia, she said, “are making efforts to go digital with artificial intelligence and cloud computing capabilities.”
These are among the reasons why Malaysia is worth emulating by countries in the region.
The report notes that 50% of Malaysia’s 31 million population live in urban areas and that Malaysia represents a middle ground between the lesser and more developed countries of the region.
In terms of the number of city-dwellers, “highly urbanised” Malaysia was like the major East Asian economic powers of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, the report added, noting, however, that it still lagged behind these nations in terms of economic output.
“Malaysia may reflect the future of developing East Asian countries like Vietnam and Indonesia, from the financial hub of its capital, Kuala Lumpur, to the foreign-investment magnet of Johor Bahru,” the repot said.
In the interview Khairiah traced the beginnings of Malaysia’s urbanisation policy. She also noted that 75% of the country’s GDP was generated in cities and that 46% of the urban population are youth (15-40 years of age).