INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

ASSIGNMENT 1 AUP 6130 PLANNING PRACTICE AND

MANAGEMENT

ASSOC. PROF. DR. MOHD ZIN MOHAMED

NUR NABILA AHMAD AZAM

G 1016160

What is planning?

Urban planning

Planning in general, which often goes by the name of urban planning or city and regional

planning, is the process of organising, managing, and regulating the use of lands and their resources to

meet the socio-economic development of the country while safeguarding the environment. Planning is

used to meet people’s needs in the most efficient and sustainable way while taking into account the

land’s natural capacities.It is a dynamic profession that works to improve the welfare of people and the

communities by creating more convenient, equitable, healthful, efficient, and attractive places for

present and future generations. Planning will help to shape cities, smaller communities, and even rural

areas. Planning also help to determine how communities will grow and how it will adjust to change.

Defining planning is always a challenge. As clarified by Keeble (1959), "town and country

planning is not an easy subject to define". He further explained, planning as, "the art and science of

ordering the use of land and the character and siting of buildings and communication routes so as to

secure the maximum practicable degree of economy, convenience and beauty". Moreover, as claimed

by Gleeson and Low (2000), the meaning of planning is different in terms of times and places. It is also

an intricate and constantly evolving concept, which is a reflection of its historical response to prevailing

environmental, economic and socio-cultural challenges (Thompson, 2007).

Typically, when we are talking about planning, the first thing that we'll be thinking of is land use

matter. It is true that planning and land use are closely related each other as we need a land (space) to

develop an area. Planning is a broad subject, it does not only deal with land use.It deals with many fields

such as transportation, housing, commercial, health, urban design, neighbourhood development,

environment, disaster prevention, tourism and many more. As we can see, since planning is covering

many fields, it will be involved with many issues. That is the reason why most of the planning issues are

correlated each other. If one problem occurs, it involves with other sector. For example, problem in

transportation, it does not stand alone, it is related with environmental issues such as pollution. It

relates in terms of the impact from the transportation to the environment.

Generally, in planning, there are two elements which underlie the planning system which are

development plans and development control as been mentioned by Dumashie (2001). Development

plan system acts to set out the guidance frameworks and the policy-based plans. For instance, in

Malaysia the planning is based on National Development Plans which consists of National Physical Plan,

State Structure Plan, Local Plan and Special Area Plan. Meanwhile, development control system acts as a

regulator which regulates the development and use of land in the public interest. Usually, development

control is closely related with laws and legislations. These two principals play important roles to help

planners in planning and controlling development in any cities, states or countries. It shows how

important planning not only for the growth of the nation, but also in making a liveable and sustainable

nation.

When we are talking about planning, there are a lot issues will be aroused.For instance, issue in

environment sector which is pollution. Pollution defined as the introduction of contaminants into a

natural environment which causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem - air, land,

or water. Pollution is not a new planning issue. It is one of the non-stop issues which already happened

since years ago. There are two types of pollutions which have been highlighted frequently, air pollution

and water pollution.

Air pollution

Generally, any substance which people introduce into the atmosphere that has damaging effects

on living things and the environment is considered air pollution. As mentioned by Raven and Berg

(2004), the two main human sources of primary air pollutants are transportation which came from

mobile sources and industries, from stationary sources.Automobiles release significant quantities of

nitrogen oxides, carbon oxides, particulate matter, and hydrocarbons as a result of the combustion of

gasoline. Although diesel engines in trucks, buses, trains, and ships consume less fuel than other types of

combustion engines, they produce more air pollution. Meanwhile, electric power plants and other

industrial facilities, known as stationary sources, emit most of the particulate matter and sulfur oxides.

They also emit sizable amounts of nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and carbon oxides. The combustion of

fossil fuels, especially coal, is responsible for most of these emissions. The top three industrial sources of

toxic air pollutants are the chemical industry, the metals industry, and the paper industry.

There are several solutions which planners can contribute in overcoming air pollution issue.

Planners can promote buffering and landscape standards in planning an area, city or town. They can use

their expertise in separating some land uses to protect certain groups. Planners can help to reduce air

pollution by creating ordinances and overlay districts that focus on polluting uses. In addition, the role of

planners isto manage the spatial organization of cities for efficient allocation of urban infrastructure and

land use. It means that the shape of a city and distribution pattern of land use somehow affects air

quality and its health impact. The urban shape determines locations of emission sources and where

people spend their time, as well as emission levels by influencing the amount of polluting activities.

Thus, urban planning can improve air quality in the long run by strategic location of polluting sources

and exposed population, and encouraging a city structure that would minimize pollution emissions and

build-up.

The second type of pollution is water pollution. According to Raven and Berg (2004), water

pollution consists of any physical or chemical change in water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans and

groundwater)that adversely affect the health of humans and other organisms. Water pollution is a

global problem that varies in magnitude and type of pollutant from one region to another.Water

pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without

adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds. In general, there are two types of pollution source

which are point source pollution and non-point source pollution. Point source pollutants lend

themselves to effective control more readily than non-point source pollutants. According to

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), nonpoint source pollution is a major cause of water pollution. It

is much more difficult and expensive to control than point source pollution. It is because point source

pollution can be detected from where they came compared to nonpoint source pollution where we

cannot locate the exact source of pollution.

Water pollution

There are some approaches can be made by planners in controlling and unraveling water

pollution issue. Firstly is through legislation. As been practiced in United States, the polluters will be

imposed penalties. In Japan also use the similar way whereby the polluters have to pay for the cleanup.

By practicing those, somehow it can reduce the air pollution. Besides, planners also can play their roles

in controlling the water pollution issues by designing a plan wisely. For instance, in order to prevent

people from using the river as dumping area, planners can create a lively river which can prevent people

from dumping their trash into the river. When the surrounding river is lively, it will not only create a

beautiful environment, it will also bring the sensitivity to people from dumping their trash into the river.

Planners also can put a buffer between the residential and river in order to control people from

polluting the river.

The second issue in planning is landslides. A landslide is a geological phenomenon which

includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rock falls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris

flows. It can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments. The causes of landslide can be divided

into four factors which are geological, morphological, physical and human factor. Human factor is the

one that is closely related in planning field because it is something that is done by human and it can also

be controlled by people, planner specifically. Human factor which is human activities consists of

excavation, mining, deforestation, quarrying, land use change and many more.

Landslides in Malaysia

Landslide issue is not a new issue in Malaysia. There are several landslide tragedies which had

happened in Malaysia since years back. The most noted tragedy that threatens human life, building and

infrastructures in Malaysia history is the Highland Tower tragedy at Hulu Kelang in December 1993.

From the landslides investigations reports, it is shown that landslides were caused mainly by failures of

the retaining wall and other combinations factor like lack of maintenance, less coordination during

construction stage and design problem. We already know that, the risk is too high to develop any

construction such as housing on the hillside area due to the area which falls under environmental

sensitive area. But still, people want to develop and reside on that area and tend to forget that the

hillside is the most sensitive zone, since the area is prone to landslides. There are several reasons why

the hillside area being developed. According to Farisham Abu Samah (2007):

“Impressive views, good ventilation and better natural lightings are the leading factors that

make hillside housing a very interesting and exclusive area. The hilly and sloppy terrain

combined with the creativity of a designer resulted with interesting architecture. The

exclusiveness of the architectural design are enhanced with the resort style, making it look elite

and resulted with people to lived and own properties in these area. This factor contributes to

the increased of property value of the hillside area.”

Over the years, many case studies have proven that the mass removal of large trees and

vegetation has a drastic increase on the probability of landslides occurring (Heiken, 1997). The

developments on the hillside urge the developer to cut down many trees and other vegetation in

realizing their dreams. That is the point where the landslides were started. There are quite a number of

landslide disasters which happened due to hillside development. For instance, the most significant

tragedy that threatens human life, building and infrastructures is the highland tower tragedy at the Hulu

Kelang. The highland tower tragic tragedy happened in December 1993 followed by a number of tragic

episodes that are deadly.

Planners can play their roles in controlling this issue from happening in the future. For instance,

implementation of hillside policy is one of the ways to prevent the natural disaster from happened. The

hillside policy, Classes 3 and 4 development, for hillslopes of 25° and above will not budge from the

policy which was intended to protect sensitive landscapes and preserve green lungs and catchment

areas. This policy can help to protect the environmental sensitive area. Meanwhile, for the existing

developed area on the hillside, it is the job of the planner to supervise the area to ensure the area is safe

to reside and the development does not give harm to the environment. Besides, the owners of the

building themselves have to do the maintenance regularly. This landslide disaster might continuously

happen in the future if there is no action and supervision from the authorities in controlling the hillside

development.

Transportation in Malaysia

The third planning issue is concerning about the transportation system. Every years, population

is increasing rapidly especially in urban area. For instance, the estimated population of Kuala Lumpur in

the city for 2010 was 1.8 million.Given its low population density, remote residential areas, and the

government's emphasis on promoting Proton, the national car, it's no surprise that Kuala Lumpur is one

of the most car-dependent cities in the world. Public transportation in this city of nearly two million

people comprise only 20 percent of total motorized travel as compared to 62 percent in Manila

(population: 10.2 million) and 80 percent in Hong Kong (population: 6.5 million). As a result, it has

increased the road congestion and street-level pollution.

The government’s initiative to ease the federal capital’s gridlock by building highways and

flyovers does not help the situation since it only transfers traffic from one place to another. Some civil

engineer also commented that Malaysia needed to focus less on building more highways and subsidizing

fuel costs to improve the traffic congestion problems it was facing in its urban centres. The amount of

allocation and fuel subsidy over the years was more than sufficient to build a comprehensive public

transport. The existing LRT, Monorail and KTM lines do help to resolve some of the traffic woes yet there

is still plenty of room for improvement, especially in terms of integrating both the systems.

Despite the current lines in place, the use of public transport in the KL metropolitan areas has

dropped from 34% in 1985 to 20% in 1997 and 18% in 2009. Unreliable bus service, inadequate rail

coverage, poor connectivity, lack of integration, stations in low demand areas and congestion are just

some of the reasons behind the low public transport use. Due to that reasons, people prefer to drive

their own vehicles rather than using public transportation which somehow led to the increasing number

of cars are on the road. There are too many private cars congesting the roads.

In order to counter this congestion and traffic jam problems, the planner can play their roles by

encouraging people to use public transport. For instance, planners can provide a good service of public

transportation system which can attract users to choose the public transport instead of driving their

own cars. In the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP), Malaysia government has come out with an idea by

announcing a new Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system. By having a good public transportation system, it is

hoped that the public will be more interested to use the service and consequently it can help to counter

the traffic congestion problem and to reduce the traffic problems in Kuala Lumpur. Besides that, it can

also enhance the quality life of people by having such a good service.

The next issue is about species extinction. Extinction, the death of a species, occurs when the

last individual member of a species dies. Extinction is an irreversible loss. It can never reappear once it

has extinct. The data from World Conservation Union (WCU, also known as International Union for

Conservation of Nature, IUCN) claimed that 784 extinctions have been recorded since the year 1500 (to

the year 2004) while based on the global assessment of all known species, some 31, 12 and 20% of

known amphibian, bird and mammal species, respectively are listed by the IIUCN as under threat

currently. Most species facing extinction today are endangered because of destruction, fragmentation

or degradation of habitats by human activities. People demolish or alter habitats when they build roads,

parking lots, bridges and buildings. People also clear forests to grow crops or graze domestic animals

and log forests for timber. Therefore, whenever humans invade an area, the habitats of many organisms

are disrupted or destroyed, which can contribute to their extinction. Scientists generally agree that the

single greatest threat to biological diversity is loss of habitat.

According to Sodhi, Brook, Bradshaw, C. J. A. (2009), extinctions rates have soared over the past

few hundred years, largely as a result of accelerated habitat destruction-due to the human activities,

logging. It currently ranked as the most important cause of species extinction worldwide. It is a process

of environmental change important in evolution and conservation biology. In the simplest terms, when a

habitat is destroyed, the plants, animals, and other organisms that occupied the habitat have a reduced

carrying capacity so that population decline and extinction becomes more likely. In fact, due to those

human activities, the rain forest cover has been reduced to 55% of the original area, and the rate of loss

of these forests is increasing at an alarming rate. For instance, the rate of loss of these forests was

doubled during the period 1979-1989, and about 1.8% of the remaining forests are disappearing every

year. This leads every year to loss of 0.2 to 0.3% of all species occurring in the forests at a particular

time. In other words, if two million species are confined to the forests alone, 4000 species will be lost

every year due to deforestation. This means, if there are 20 million species available in forests, as the

current estimates indicate, about 40,000 species will be lost every year. Among these, if there are

endemic species restricted to a particular area, the clearing of a single habitat or mountain ridge may

lead to immediate extinction of the species. Therefore, it is estimated that if the current rate of clearing

the forests and other habitats continued, 25% or more of the total species on the Earth could be

eliminated within 50 years.

In addition, unregulated hunting, which also called overhunting, was a factor contributing to the

extinction of certain species in the past but now strictly controlled in most countries. The passenger

pigeon was one of the most common birds in North America in the early in the early 1800s, but a

century of overhunting resulted in its extinction in the early 1900s. Illegal commercial hunting endangers

many larger animals such as tiger and cheetah whose beautiful furs are quite valuable.Besides,

overexploitation also will lead to the disturbance of ecosystem. As we know, everything in this world is

part of an ecosystem. If one of species is extinct, it will affect another species. The loss of the top of the

chain means that there's something wrong with the entire ecosystem. For example, overfishing from the

human activities will lead to the extinction of the fisheries. Recently, stocks have collapsed in nearly

one-third of sea fisheries, and the rate of decline is accelerating. The international team of researchers

says fishery decline is closely tied to a broader loss of marine biodiversity. As we know, industrialized

fishing has contributed importantly to mass extinction due to repeatedly failed attempts at limiting the

fishing. A new global study concludes that 90 percent of all large fishes have disappeared from the

world’s oceans in the past half century, which is the devastating result of industrial fishing. According to

the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (2010):

"About 80 percent of the world marine fish stocks for which assessment information is available

are fully exploited or overexploited. Fish stocks assessed since 1977 have experienced an 11%

decline in total biomass globally, with considerable regional variation. The average maximum

size of fish caught declined by 22% since 1959 globally for all assessed communities. There is

also an increasing trend of stock collapses over time, with 14% of assessed stocks collapsed in

2007."

From the above situation, we can see how human activities without control can contribute to

the destruction of environment. There are numerous solutions which planners can use to overcome the

species extinction issues. One of the solutions is planners can establish a policy which can control and

put a limit to the extracting of the natural resources. For instance, there are fisheries policies of the

European Union which called the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which sets quotas for which member

states are allowed to catch what amounts of each type of fish. Scientific research has shown that fishing

stocks were in decline long before the policy came into being (Black, 2010). Therefore, this CFP was

created to manage fish stocks for the European Union as a whole.

Besides that, exploitation of endangered species can also be controlled through law and

legislations. In 1973 the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was passed in the United States, authorizing the

Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to protect endangered and threatened species in the United States and

abroad (Raven and Berg, 2004). The ESA conducts a detailed study of a species to determine if it should

be listed as endangered or threatened. The ESA provides legal protection to listed species so that their

danger of extinction is reduced. This act makes it illegal to sell or buy any product made from an

endangered or threatened species. This solution should be practiced in all over the globe so that the

species will be protected from facing extinction.

Besides that, there are also fisheries policies of the European Union which called the Common

Fisheries Policy (CFP), which sets quotas for which member states are allowed to catch what amounts of

each type of fish. Scientific research has shown that fishing stocks were in decline long before the policy

came into being (Black, 2010). Therefore, this CFP was created to manage fish stocks for the European

Union as a whole. There is also convention at the international level which is called Convention on

International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES),which went into effect in

1975. 160 countries have participated in the convention. CITES bans hunting, capturing and selling of

endangered or threatened species and regulates trade of organisms listed as potentially threatened.

Furthermore, consciousness of both the public and legislators must be increased so that they

understand the importance of biological diversity. A political commitment to protect organisms is

necessary because no immediate or short-term economic benefit is obtained from conserving species.

This commitment must take place at all political levels, from local to international. Law making alone will

not ensure the protection of organisms without strong public support. Thus, increasing public awareness

of the benefits of biological diversity is critical.

Lastly, the most serious problem facing the world’s forests is deforestation which is the

temporary or permanent clearance of large expanses of forest for agriculture or other uses. The World

Commission on Forests, formed following the Earth Summit in 1992, released its first report in 1999

after 3 years of research and public hearings around the world (Raven and Berg, 2004). It concluded that

Earth’s forests are shrinking each year by 15million hectares.From the report, it clearly shows the

rapidity of forests’ loss as development getting more and more every year throughout the world. From

Raven and Berg (2004), the causes of the forest destruction include expansion of agriculture,

construction of roads in forests, tree harvests, and fires caused by drought and land clearing practices.

When forests are converted to other land uses, they no longer make valuable contributions to the

environment or to the people who depend on them. For example, forest destruction, particularly in the

tropics, it threatens not only the animals, but it also threatens indigenous people whose cultural and

physical survival depends on the forests.

Deforestation

As we know, deforestation will affect many other problems. As been mentioned before,

deforestation is one of the causes of the extinction of many species. Many tropical species, in particular,

have very limited ranges within a forest, so they are especially vulnerable to habitat modification and

destruction. Migratory species, including birds and butterflies, also suffer from deforestation.

Deforestation made those species loss their habitat. Moreover, deforestation also may contribute to an

increase in global temperature by causing a release of carbon originally stored in the trees into the

atmosphere as carbon dioxide, which enables the air to retain heat. Likewise, one of ways to control

deforestation is through laws and legislation. The authorities should put a limit for any development in

cutting down the trees. The establishment of policy regarding the Besides, planners also can promote to

the architect to design a sustainable building which can be blend with the surrounding which is not

necessarily to cut down a lot of trees. For instance, the building which called ‘falling water’, designed by

American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, is a good example of

a building which blends with the surrounding. The home was built partly over a waterfall on Bear Run in

the Mill Run section of Stewart Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, in the Laurel Highlands of the

Allegheny Mountains. Instead of destroying the environment to construct any building, the house is

carefully designed to blend with the context. This example should be suggested to all designers to

integrate design with the nature instead of cutting down a lot of trees and cause the deforestation from

happening.

Conclusion

As a conclusion, planners play vital roles in reducing land-use conflicts, conserve critical

ecosystems, protect and manage environmentally sensitive habitats, restore degraded conservation

areas, and ultimately, ensure a healthy and safe life for the human. From those issues and their impacts

towards the environment, we can clearly see how human activities without control can threaten the life

of the living creatures and condition of the world. This is where planning comes in. It is the roles of the

planners to plan and control every single development on this earth so that, human will not go beyond

the limits and the natural resources can be conserved and preserved for the future

generations.Nevertheless, all the efforts that have been made by the planners will be useless and

meaningless if the community did not involve and support the efforts that have been made by the

planners and authorities. Actually, it is not only the job of planners in controlling the development and

solving the planning issues. Those attempts cannot be accomplished if there is noparticipation from the

public including governments, business people, trade unions, scientists, teachers, indigenous people,

women, youth and children. When everyone involves in overcoming the planning issues, then it will

ensure that human will be more sensitive towards the environment and not go beyond the limits and

therefore the natural resources can still be enjoyed by the future generations.

References

Keeble L. (1959). Principles and Practice of Town and Country Planning, 2nd (edn.). The Estate Gazette,

London.

Gleeson B. & Low, N. (2000). Australian Urban Planning: New Challenges, New Agendas, Australia, BPA

Print Group, Sydney.

Raven, Peter and Berg, Linda (2004), Environment, Fourth Edition. John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Thompson, S. (2007). What is Planning? In Thompson, S. (ed.), Planning Australia: An Overview of Urban

and Regional Planning. Cambridge University Press, New York.

Sodhi, N. S., Brook, B. W., Bradshaw, C. J. A. (2009). Causes and consequences of species extinctions. In

The Princeton Guide to Ecology (ed Levin, S. A.), pp. 514-520. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New

Jersey.

Abu Samah, FarishamLandslides In The Hillside Development In The HuluKlang, Klang Valley.(2007).

UniversitiTeknologi Malaysia.

Black, Richard (2010)."'Profound' decline in fish stocks shown in UK records".BBC News.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10096649.stm.