MALAYSIAN URBAN FORUM 2019: MAKING SUSTAINABLE HOUSING AFFORDABLE


    
MALAYSIAN URBAN FORUM 2019
Network Session 9: MAKING ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE HOUSING AFFORDABLE
18th Feb. 2019, Monday, 10.30 - 11.30am KLCC Convention Centre, Hospitality Lounge 5

GENDER / FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE OF AFFORDABLE SUSTAINABLE HOUSING
Drawing on a feminist perspective, Yuenmei Wong will focus on the notion of Cities for All within the New Urban Agenda. How the problem of existing cities and housing evolved is presented in the historical context of Kajang, She critiques current housing practices that that lack sufficient emphasis on the provision of public spaces, diversity in housing types, high-density development, access to childcare, access to public transit, multi-use zoning, integration of different races and classes in the neighbourhood, communal facilities.

    
Yuenmei Wong, a Fulbright Fellow and Masters graduate from University of Maryland, is a feminist researcher. She was a consultant for a study of sexual minority in Kuala Lumpur, for the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development in 2006. In 2008, she received a research fellowship from Rockefeller Foundation to study underprivileged young women within the local context of urbanization and political Islam using urban ethnography. Her postgraduate research focused on the embodiment and materiality of the emerging networked society and digital cultures in the city.
REGULATORY HURDLES TO MAKING SUSTAINABLE HOUSING AFFORDABLE
Regulatory requirements, including artificial limits on development, zoning, planning, and other restrictions tend to increase the costs of residential development. Concerns include the indirect and often unpredictable costs that arise from State intervention in the land and housing market, direct costs associated with complying with building and design controls, time taken to secure approval, and fees and charges for administration, infrastructure etc. resulting in negative implications for the amount of new housing produced by the private sector, with flow on implications for affordability.

Dr Foo Chee Hung is from MKH Berhad. He is the manager of Product Research & Development and before that, Head of Research at CIDB. He his PhD (Urban Engineering) in The University of Tokyo. His research interest is in sustainability, affordable housing, green building, building quality assessment, Industrialized Building System (IBS), and urban ecosystem. He is a member of the Institution of Engineers Malaysia, GreenRE manager, and Certified MyCREST Qualified Professional Assessor, and REHDA’s Sub-Committee on Planning Policies and Standards.
MAKING SOCIALLY SUSTAINABLE HIGH RISE AFFORDABLE
A study comparing a “Honeycomb” sky-court alternative against an existing project in Cyberjaya demonstrated a 25% saving! Rearranging circulation, so that access to each apartment is through a 3-storey high sky court -with private and shared gardens - can eliminate the need for corridors, reduce cost substantially, and yet, can also promote a better neighbourhood environment.
    Mazlin Ghazali graduated from Welsh School of Architecture and set up Arkitek M. Ghazali in 1993. Since the year 2000, the firm has built up a substantial portfolio of housing projects comprising almost 12,000 units, all of which are in the affordable category and most using system construction methods. In that time, Arkitek M. Ghazali also did R&D work, resulting in the concept of “Honeycomb Housing” patented and commercialized with pioneer projects completed and more in the pipeline.