DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND BUILT ENVIRONMENTAL

THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MALAYSIA

KKKH 4284 SUSTAINABLE URBAN PLANNING
TASK 5: LOCAL AGENDA 21

STUDENT:
WAN TALHAH BIN WAN IBADULLAH
A133106
LECTURERS :
PROF. IR. DR. RIZA ATIQ ABDULLAH BIN O.K. RAHMAT
DR. MUHAMMAD NAZRI BIN BORHAN
PN. NORLIZA BT MOHD AKHIR



Local Agenda 21 is a local-government-led, community-wide, and participatory effort
to establish a comprehensive action strategy for environmental protection, economic
prosperity and community well-being in the local jurisdiction or area. This requires the
integration of planning and action across economic, social and environmental spheres. Key
elements are full community participation, assessment of current conditions, target setting for
achieving specific goals, monitoring and reporting. Local Agenda 21 is aimed at forging a
partnership between local authorities and the public they serve, so that they may work
together to plan and care for their surroundings within the context of sustainability. There are
six key elements according to the Local Agenda 21 Malaysia. Based on these elements, the
evaluation and suggestion are listed as below
Managing and improving the local authoritys own environmental performance.
The involvement of multiple agencies and departments in urban management had
made it difficult to coordinate many actions and in turn affects the effectiveness of those
actions. The various roles that are expected of these local authorities to attain a liveable city
with a high quality of living had put pressure on those authorities to acquire a strong
organisation. The pressure is left more intensely by small; and medium sized local authorities
that lack finance, manpower, skills and equipment in providing the expected services. The
challenges that been facing require the respective parties be more focused in undertaking
parties be more focused in undertaking each and every responsibility in urban development.
Good urban administration and management need to take into consideration the capability of
each local authority as each local authority as each differs in terms of manpower, skills and
financial capacity to provide good service for its population. The local authority, as the main
agency responsible to urban management, needs to update the administration and
management system to optimise its financial revenue including new sources, upgrade its
capacity to enable towns to become more competitive and viable, strengthen human resources
by employing skilled and experienced staff as well as expand the use of technology. The local
authority, as the main agency responsible to urban management, needs to update the
administration and management system to optimise its financial revenue including new
sources, upgrade its capacity to enable towns to become more competitive and viable,
strengthen human resources by employing skilled and experienced staff as well as expand the
use of technology.
Integrating sustainable development aims into the local authoritys policies and activity.
The sustainable development is less in these areas. The large number of private
vehicle ownership puts pressure on the capacity of the existing road network especially for
larger conurbations. The inefficient public transportation resulted in the tendency for the
urban population to opt for private vehicles instead of the public transport. In the long term,
this will have negative impact on the competitiveness and the attraction of those cities to
draw local and foreign investors. Rapid urban development has contributed to the degradation
of environmental quality especially the quality of water, air and noise. Many rivers which are
major sources of water have undergone degradation in water quality due to the pollution from
domestic waste, industrial effluents, suspended particulates from soil erosion and heavy metal
pollution from factories. Air pollution has also increased due to emission from motor
vehicles, industrial development and use of non- environmental friendly fuel sources.
Furthermore, increased human activities and high population density have also generated
noise pollution in urban areas. The development of an urban system needs to be based on
clear system of hierarchy so that the provision and distribution of facilities and infrastructure
will be more efficient, thus, preventing wastage of national resources. Urban development
needs to be carried out within a specified area to ensure urban sprawl is avoided. Towards
this end, land use development should be based on the adopted development plan and comply
with all policies, programmes and action plans proposed by the respective plan. Urban
development should be implemented in accordance with the principles of smart growth with
emphasis on redeveloping suitable areas especially in urban centres and brown field areas,
preserving green areas for recreational purpose and conserving environmentally sensitive
areas. This is to prevent development from encroaching upon agricultural and
environmentally sensitive areas, to promote the optimum usage of existing infrastructure and
to revive the attractiveness and liveliness of the urban centres.
Awareness raising and education.
Good access to high quality public, social and cultural facilities will contribute a great
deal to the improvement of the quality of life of the Citys residents. City Hall Kuala Lumpur
can provide good governance by recruiting the participation of residents in the improvement
of their living environment. The public participation should assist in achieving sustainable
development in optimal utilisation of available resources environment, should be promoted
and enhanced. The public should also be encouraged to adopt the 3R concept of Reduce,
Reuse, and Recycle. Such programmes can be organised at a neighbourhood level. The
policies that have been formulated and the guidelines to be drafted, shall form the basis for a
comprehensive framework to guide, control and manage new development and improvement
works in Kuala Lumpur.
Consulting and involving the general public.
All parties, in particular local authorities should be more innovative, transparent and
efficient in promoting urban development that is of quality, healthy, competitive and
progressive. The concept of eco-partnership, which places emphasis on the concerted efforts
of various stakeholders such as private enterprises, various government agencies and
community based and non governmental organisations (CBOs and NGOs) to carry out study
activities aimed at increasing public awareness on sustainable environment, should be
promoted and enhanced. Setting up a special environmental or local agenda 21 forum to
discuss and propose solutions to environmental problems that can be involve representatives
of group.
Partnerships.
Partnerships should have concrete value addition to the implementation process and
should be new that is, not merely reflect existing arrangements. Partnerships should bear in
mind the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development in their
design and implementation. Partnerships should be based on predictable and sustained
resources for their implementation include mobilizing new resources and, where relevant,
result in transfer of technology to and capacity building in, developing countries.
Measuring, monitoring and reporting on progress towards sustainability.
Those who choose to register their partnership should provide transparent,
participatory and credible information and reporting, focussing on their contribution to the
implementation of goals, objectives and targets of Local Agenda 21. Such reports, which
should be in writing, could also include an update of progress towards stated objectives,
lessons learned, identification of opportunities, problems, constraints and proposed solutions.
Registered partnerships should submit a regular report, preferably at least on a biennial basis.
The policies that have been formulated and the guidelines to be drafted, shall form the basis
for a comprehensive framework to guide, control and manage new development and
improvement works in Kuala Lumpur. In order to implement these measures, the
Environment Unit under the Health Department of City Hall Kuala Lumpur should be
strengthened to regulate and facilitate coordination with other stakeholders both inside and
outside City Hall Kuala Lumpur.
Many challenges faces the city of Kuala Lumpur in this new millennium,
transformation of Kuala Lumpur into a world class city and sustainability city will certainly
involve concerted efforts by all parties involved. In line with this, the importance of
governance and good governance is eminent in administration of developing city like Kuala
Lumpur.