Greening our concrete jungles

Efforts are underway to have more green spaces in our towns and cities, with the aim of making Malaysia a beautiful garden nation.

SKYSCRAPERS, concrete pavements and metallic structures – all woven together with black ribbons of tarred roads.

As more towns transform into full-fledged cities, the Malaysian landscape is a growing palette of grey, black and silver.

But with the ongoing urbanisation, the National Landscape Department has a mission of its own: to balance our concrete jungles with more pockets of greenery in towns and cities nationwide.

And it’s not just to create something easy on the eyes.

Studies have shown that green links can help cool down the soaring temperatures in towns and cities by as much as 4°C, says the department’s deputy director-general (development) Rotina Mohd Daik.

Such green areas, including public parks and playgrounds, also reduce air pollution, absorbing carbon emissions in bustling cities.

“We want to create livable, sustainable and walkable cities where you can walk from place to place comfortably and safely while enjoying the scenery, reducing the need for motor vehicles.

“But one of the main problems that hinder people from walking is the sweltering heat. Nobody wants to go outside for too long,” she tells Sunday Star.

Ideally, for every 1,000 people, there should be 2ha of greenery – a size equivalent to about two foot- ball fields.

But Malaysia has some ways to go before this can be achieved.

Currently, with our population of 31 million, the ratio stands at only 0.6ha for every 1,000 people.

To meet the ideal scenario, Malaysia will need a total of 62,000ha of trees, shrubs, plants and other greenery.

Based on the department’s data, the country only has in total 18,485ha of green areas in 2017.

Nevertheless, this is an increase from the 16,713ha recorded in 2016.

And these green pockets are set to grow with the department’s ongoing efforts to re-create more natural landscapes.

“We are currently running a pilot project to create green spaces in five towns – Alor Setar, Tawau, Pekan, Batu Pahat and Bintulu.

“The programme involves coming up with green links in existing spaces between structures in cities, digging up areas to plant grass and lining sidewalks with trees,” Rotina explains.

The point of this is to connect nodes in cities such as bus stops, shopping malls and tourist areas with greenery to make walking a more enjoyable experience.

She says local authorities have been very encouraging and cooperative in the department’s efforts so far.

“If all local authorities can take green linkages into account in town planning, it would save us a lot of effort in re-creating such spaces,” she adds.

At present, a minimum 10% of an area to be developed must be allocated as a green space, such as public parks.

But Rotina hopes developers will voluntarily set aside larger areas to help conserve natural surroundings.

“The number of parks will increase every year as more land is opened for development because 10% of the area must be a green space. There has been a steady 5% to 10% increase in public parks annually since 2014.

“However, it would be better if each local authority can ensure 30% of the area under their purview is a green space,” she says.

Rotina elaborates that with more green areas, the public will have more opportunities to enjoy outdoor activities, encouraging children to go outside and play, instead of leading sedentary lifestyles.

Aside from creating green spaces, the department also aims to develop a unique landscape for each town, representing its own identity.

“We started such plans in 2013, where we incorporate each town’s character into a landscape masterplan.

“Currently, the landscape of each city isn’t very distinctive. So we want to look into a place’s character and interpret it.

“For example, the culture and way of life influences the landscape in states like Kelantan and Terengganu where the dominant feature is the coastline. This differs from Kedah, where it is influenced by rice fields,” Rotina explains.

She says the department wants to preserve and enhance such features to boost tourism and promote a sense of pride among locals for their town’s individuality.

On the incident of an uprooted tree in KLCC injuring two people, Rotina says the department makes an effort to preserve old trees but it has to be done under proper procedures.

“Local authorities need to inventorise the old trees they want to preserve in the areas under their purview.

“After that, they need to conduct maintenance and check if such trees are safety hazards.

“They have to inspect the structure of trees to see if they are healthy, if possible, every year,” she says.

Apart from that, the department is developing a garden nation index to measure how green our cities are for conducive urban living.

“Our research division is in the process of drafting it. It is expected to be ready by mid-2019.

“By then, we will be able to have a method to see which area is greener than others,” Rotina says.

She also hopes the landscape industry will be regulated so that it will be uniform throughout the country.