Ugly Stories @ PJ

Participating in the development process by providing feedback and comments is commendable, but rejecting in total any form of physical development project even though it is justified for bringing in net positive impacts is unacceptable.

However, this is happening on the street everyday.

Sustainable Living

I have an interesting question about individuals take on sustainability.

I noticed that household do not mind to spend thousand dollars to install water filter system in their house as many do not feel safe of using the piped water. Many have no confident on the quality of water supply. They are willing to spend for their own health and safety, and of course sustainability.

I am wondered if similar principle is applied beyond their house compound. For example, spend more time and money disposing their rubbish at source. Buying a composting machine to turn the waste into compost or to create the waste water before discharging into the drain and river. While everyone foresee a problem of keeping own compound dirty and untidy or not to have clean stuff coming in, nobody has actually bothered about dirty things of flowing outside their house. For instance, we never bother about how our rubbish is treated and dumped to. We do not even want to know that waste water or grease flowing out from our kitchen is polluting the river.

So, it is matter of reverting our principle to good use. It is matter of treating the environment in our surrounding to the same treatment that we expect to receive for ourselves in our home. It is about basic right that we would like to enjoy with the condition that others are not affecting from enjoying the same right.

It is about sustainable development.

Sustainable Community - People Centric

Last week I was invited to a forum organised by ASLI to share my thought on the creation of sustainable community through proper town planning under the platform of Local Agenda 21. While I agree that many planners and developers have come out with great idea of developing a township with good living environment, safety measurement, incorporating the natural environment features and of course accessibility and top tip infrastructure provision. To me, essentially these are features for getting premium pricing and first step of creating a sustainable neighbourhood area. A fine environment does not necessary mean a sustainable environment if the carbon footprint, food consumption, waste generation and others are rather high. In other words, we are talking about preparing the hardware for sustainability.

Sustainable community can only be achieved if the stakeholders especially the residents are practicing sustainable lifestyle. No point of providing recycling bin in the neighbourhood if the residents are not practicing 3R principle. Similarly no point of having solar energy supply if the residents do not see the need for saving energy. Ultimately, people at the centric of development is the one to decide whether we are creating a sustainable community or not.

So the question is how to create a sustainable community? To me, first of all, community must have a vision that agreed and shared by all. Followed by a strategic action plan and next of course to DO it. Without a common vision, it is difficult for all stakeholders come together and champion for a common good cause. The business sector might look for profit as bottom line, the residents would like to see more green and harmony rather than business activities. All these differences can only solve with a platform to thrash it out. Local Agenda 21 provides the necessary ingredient. As a platform for partnership, participation to achieve sustainable development, Local Agenda 21 will be able to cater to the need and desires of various stakeholders.

While the players in construction and property sector are providing the hardware for creating sustainable community, it is the PEOPLE who will decide its objectives be met.

Community Self Help

What will you do without resources needed? Will you give up your idea of doing something without the required resources? Will you start implementing your idea only if resources are available? Many people will not do anything unless resources are available. It proved me wrong after visiting few residents groups in conjunction with the PJ Sustainable Community Award evaluation process last week.

Through self help programme, they managed to construct their own community hall and office. Proactively to set up a fund for helping the members in need of financial and kind assistance. All these have been done because they believe it is right thing to do and many of them share the same believe. I think it is lacking in our community development simply because no such common vision was created for a community. I personally witnessed the up and down of a residents group. A residents group was established due to development pressure but dissolved later as the issue was solved. Issue-based community group is very vulnerable compared to vision driven group as the issue is normally required short term solution.

Thereby, for the purpose of sustainability, we should encourage vision-based community groups to establish. For that to happen, a community plan as guidance would be of great help. We should engage every residents to voice their opinion on their neighbourhood and the future that they envision to have for themselves or children. Once they agree to the actions they have identified and agree to undertake, the chances for these actions to realise is greater and, of course to success is better.

Sustainable Community is created over years of trying, adapting and adopting. No short cut is available. It is no harm of being innovative.

Personal Social Responsibility

Social responsibility is about own responsibility towards the surrounding environment. It is the way how an individual treats his living environment, his fellow country man, his family, his work place, his nature, his school, his park, his drains, his house and etc. It is all about treating others like what he expects others to treat him. For example, if we anticipate respect from others, then we should have respected others first. Similarly, if we would like to see a beautiful and clean environment, we ourselves should refrain from creating more rubbish.

However, it is easy said than done. Practicing what we pledge is always a difficult task to do as many claimed. Some time people might think that with money and resources, we can do some damage and then rectify it. For example, Residents always say they made the payment for local authority to engage contractor to collect rubbish and therefore it is all right for them to generate rubbish without any limit. If we observe personal social responsibility in total, then this mentality of "paying others to repay our sin" will go against the principle of sustainability.

While many argue that corporate must practice greater social responsibility and rightly so, every individual should have started first. To me, it is no point of kept asking private sector to contribute more to the society without reciprocal by doing the same as an individual.

Challenge of Facilities Provision in Strata Building

While strata titled buildings are built to optimise the scarcity of land supply, the design should have ease the problem of creating disunity and inconvenience to the cohabitants. For example, the placing of facilities and common properties should have taken into consideration the accessibility, connectivity and social behaviour of the residents.

However, some planning design has overlooked this aspect. I realised this after visiting the low cost house in Desa Mentari last week. Under the development project of Desa Mentari, 8 blocks of residential houses with few hundred units each were built. Each block is equipped with different type of facilities. For example, Block 8 is built with a community hall, Block 7 is to cater for underprivileged people, Block 2 with prayer room and etc. The assumption is every resident is entitled to the facilities, and rightly so. Nevertheless, due to the management of strata titled building and distance as well as socio-cultural background of residents, many of the common facilities have been kept exclusively for the use of residents from that particular block. Other claimed inconvenience or improper to enjoy the facilities.

As a result, different block residents groups are asking to build facilities for their own. For example, community hall, prayer room, children play area and etc. This creates tremendous pressure to the Authority and other agencies.

If this phenomena is not checked properly and to incorporate in the planning design stage, I afraid the same will occur in time to come. Planning for the strata titled project especially the low and medium cost development projects should have considered the provision of common facilities, quantitative and qualitatively.

Ugly Stories @ PJ

Requesting facilities be provided within walking distance from the neighbourhood is commendable, but prefer to have the facilities elsewhere instead of fronting own house is unacceptable.

However, this is happening on the street everyday.

Ugly Stories @ PJ

Enforcing laws and orders strictly without fear and favour is commendable, but keeping an eye closed for own wrong doing is unacceptable. For example, enforcer parks his car at the restricted area; Authority is hanging banner on the trees which is not allowed;

However, this is happening on the street everyday

Sustainable Community

I am in the process preparing of a paper entitled creating a sustainable community through proper town planning and property development under the concept of Local Agenda 21. While researching on the relevant topics, I found that many residential areas with premium pricing share some common features. These include safe environment, freehold land, good infrastructure and facilities, quality maintenance and management, strategic location, connectivity and accessibility as well as greenery. These are extinguished physical aspects that provide good return of investment to the buyers and also creating a quality and fine living environment for the residents.

The question is do we classify them a sustainable community. To me, yes partly but not all. While a fine community can have good and efficient service delivery, it does not necessary qualify the community as a sustainable community. I am saying this as the community might be an over consumption and wastage society. They might have kept the neighbourhood clean and tidy by transferring all rubbish to other area for disposal. They can afford to pay the water bill without considering to save the water consumption or to harvest rain water for gardening. They will enjoy eating foreign fruit stuff rather than sourcing it locally with lower carbon footprint.

In summary, although many planners and developers will like to brand their design and properties as green as they can say it, or at time misquoted as sustainability, the ultimate achievement for sustainable development will fall back to the behaviour of its cohabitants. Until change of consumption pattern, passionate about environment and thankful to the depleted resources is taking place, the objective of creating a sustainable community is yet to achieve.

Accessibility vs Maintenance

For creating a barrier free environment, use of lift for accessibility in a multi storey building is essential. Many office complexes big and small do provide this facility. This, however does not guarantee full accessibility if the lift is not in good condition. For example, if there is only one lift in an office block and unfortunately the lift was out of service and waiting for repair, how are we going to ensure free mobility for the people with disabilities? I do not realise the extend of this possibility until yesterday evening.

We were having a meeting in the second floor of MBPJ HQ and waiting patiently for a disabled member to attend the meeting. We wondered why was he so late knowing that he is always puncture for meeting. We only realised that he was unable to reach us from ground floor as the lift was out of service minutes ago. We cannot do anything to make the lift function again in short period or neither to shift the meeting venue to ground floor. At the end of the day, the disabled member has to leave the meeting before even able to participate in the discussion.

I realise that providing facilities alone is not sufficient if maintenance culture is not upkeep. No point of having wonderful and thoughtful planning without sustaining its usefulness when it is needed the most. In this respect, good maintenance culture is not only about cost saving and keeping good visual, but also to protect the interest of users. And in this case, the basic right of underprivileged group.