Proposal 2: Green Serene Hub

 By: NURUL KHALISAH BINTI MOHD SAHTAR, SITI NUR AZIRA BINTI CHE MAHDI and NURUL ATIFF BINTI MD TANUDIN

                                                                                             

INTRODUCTION:

Over the last decade, ‘liveability’ has become an increasingly popular term used in urban policy, mirroring an international trend. Liveable is defined as enhance of a community, and make it a desirable place to live.The various definitions of liveability, had the close relationship between liveability, health and sustainability as defined by M., Whitzman.

“Liveable communities are places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. They meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, are sensitive to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life. They are safe and inclusive, well planned, built and run, offer equality of opportunity and good services for all.”

WHAT IS MEANS BY GREEN SERENE HUB?

• Langkawi had lush of natural green landscapes.
• Serene means calm and peaceful in a liveable environment.
• As we will incorporated the element of wellness and liveable in Kuah Town that’s why we choose this as our concept name.

FINDINGS:

ISSUE 1: Not enough affordable housing for the local people

• ·    The percentage of housing is less than commercial area.

• ·     With a high percentage of B40 income group, it is hard for them to afford decent quality housing especially when there is a lack in supply for affordable housing in Pekan Kuah.

     ISSUE 2: Dilapidated buildings and rundown areas affect the visual quality of the town.

• There are abandoned commercial buildings and buildings in poor-condition that are not used anymore. 

• There are poorly maintained commercial buildings with damages and run-down wall paint .

• A slow economic growth in the region may lead to unused commercial or other buildings that does not generate income for the region.

• The hardscape and streetscape needs upgrading and softscape elements need to be added to provide shades as well as to enhance the aesthetic and visual quality of the town. 

• Archways around the town need to be upgraded in terms of its design and paint colour to be more attractive and create a sense welcoming. 

      ISSUE 3:  Lack of services and facilities to the public and visitors

• ·     Lack of public transportation such as bus.

•       Number of parking lot that has been proposed are not sufficient and cause people to park their car at the restricted area.

•       Lack of parking at Jetty Kuah also lead to traffic congestion.

•       Hotels, resorts, apartments and chalets is sufficient but there is insufficient parking spaces. 

• ·     Pedestrian walkways are not fully connected and there are cracks on some sections of the pedestrian paths.

•       Irregular waste disposal system  such as irregular garbage collection schedules, especially at night market sites.

•       Insufficient provision of public facilities. Like, educational facilities, health facilities and safety facilities in Kuah Town.

STUDY AREA:

The study area is located in Kuah town centre, Langkawi Island, Kedah where is located on the south-eastern part of Pulau Langkawi (Langkawi island), Kuah is the main town and the transit point for ferries from the mainland and Penang to anchor and it is under the administration of Tourism City of Langkawi Municipal Council. The study area is 810 Hectare which is 2001.6 Acre and it is a cluster of 99 islands on Andaman Sea in Malaysia and off the western coastline of Malaysia’s mainland, about 16.2 Nautica Mile from Kuala Perlis and 27.5 Nautica Mile from Kuala Kedah. The town has about 30,000 population in 2015 and it sits on reclaimed land. Kuah was once a fishing village before becoming Langkawi’s major commercial hub. The name "Kuah" is a Malay word meaning "gravy" and is associated with an ancient legend of two battling giants who overturned a gigantic pot of curry at the spot where the town now stands.

Figure 1:Site background of Pekan Kuah

Figure 1.2:Key Plan of the Study Area

Figure 1.3:Location Plan of the Study Area

Figure 1.4:Site Plan of the Study Area

VISION :Envisioned to be “Wellness and Liveable Integrated Kuah Town in 2035.

GOALS: Kuah as an integrated town that is liveable and healthy with a high quality of life for people to live,work,play,shop and gather.

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OBJECTIVES:    

1. To design spaces that are meant to drive active living and healthy for wellness lifestyle in Kuah Town.
2. To define work spaces that are conducive for a life of work-play balance.
3. To establish a green corridor and element of wellness and liveable in Kuah Town.
4. To create integrated affordable housing in mixed-use centers throughout the town.

BENCHMARKING:

The City of Elmina

Embodies of wellness. Embrace the art of living well in the most significant development in Selangor Vision City, a township that is the catalyst for growth in the Guthrie Corridor. A township dedicated to wellness. Here in the City of Elmina, you’ll find everything you need to lead a balanced lifestyle, away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre.

Serenia City

A prime location that fulfills the lifestyle aspirations. This city aspire wellness through landscape that includes a central park, adventure park and community lakes. Besides that, it also aspire vibrancy through world class amenities ranging from premier shopping destinations. It also aspire connectivity through excellent road and air networks within the vicinity.

DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT

ELEMENTS OF WELLNESS AND LIVEABLE

•Physical wellness

•Occupational wellness

•Environmental wellness

•Emotional wellness

•Mental wellness

•Intellectual wellness

 

Physical Wellness    

•To design spaces that are meant to drive active  living and healthy eating for a wellness 

lifestyle.

Occupational Wellness

•To define work spaces that are conducive for a life of work-play balance. 

Community Wellness   

•To design spaces that encourage harmonious interaction among  the people. 

Environmental Wellness

• To create inspirational spaces that are filled with the beauty of nature. 

Emotional Wellness

•To define spaces that inspire positive attitudes  and an optimistic outlook on life. 

Mental Wellness

•To provide spaces that enable people to achieve  balance and harmony with people and 

themselves. 

Intellectual Wellness

•To provide spaces for people to be stimulated intellectually, learn and grow. 

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LIVEABILITY,

 HEALTH AND SUSTAINABILITY 

There is a close connection between the concepts of liveability and the social determinants 

of health. Taking the World Health Organization’s (WHO)’s expansive definition of health as a 

“state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of 

disease or infirmity”, health is understood to be determined by the social, economic, political, 

built and natural environments in which people live . The ‘social determinants of health’ is a 

term that encompasses these “circumstances in which people are born, grow up, live, work 

and age, and the systems put in place to deal with illness. Based on the work of 

Dahlgren and Whitehead , Barton and Grant have developed a diagram that represents 

the social determinants of health at the local, metropolitan and global scales. 

The concepts of healthy communities and liveability are inextricably linked, so the 

determinants of health and liveability are similar. However, there is little systematic research 

examining the relationship between different facets of health and specific environmental 

determinants , and the exact nature of the relationship between healthy neighbourhoods 

and liveability has not been determined. 

‘Sustainability’ and ‘sustainable development’ are also concepts that are closely aligned 

with health and liveability. Indeed, sustainability and sustainable development are sometimes 

used interchangeably with liveability in the literature. Like liveability, sustainability and 

sustainable development are encompassing terms with diverse and contested meanings. 

The most well-known definition of sustainable development is that proposed in the 

1987 Brundtland Report: “…development that meets the needs of the present without 

compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Broad 

notions of sustainable development incorporate the three pillars of social, economic and 

environmental sustainability, and are concerned with human wellbeing and the future of life 

and society . It is this broad notion of sustainable development that overlaps with many of 

the determinants of health and liveability. 

In recognition of the interdependence of liveability and the sustainability of the natural 

environment, many liveability indices now include a set of indicators that could also be 

regarded as environmental sustainability indicators (such as indicators of green space, water 

and air quality, local climate, toxins, and noise).  However, a complicating factor when using 

these indicators is that many aspects of environmental sustainability (e.g., quality of tap 

water) do not vary much between local neighbourhoods in relatively wealthy cities.

CONCEPT IDEAS:

 

BUBBLE DIAGRAM

 

 

   Figure 1.5: The bubble diagram of Green Serene Hub 

 

CONCEPT PLAN

Figure 1.6: Concept Plan

STRATEGIES AND IDEAS

Strategy 1:  To create integrated affordable housing in mixed-use centers throughout   

the town.

Figure 1.7 : Affordable houses

Source:http://rientkc.blogspot.com/2014/01/flexity-concept-affordable-housing.html?m=1

• To provide a new village enclave of affordable houses.
• New ideas that can provide a new communities that had lifestyle according to a new  wave of trend.
• Undevelopment and existing of housing area which is located near to the Jalan Ayer Hangat, Kuah will be develop as a new development to locate the new affordable houses.
• These will caters a need of a low income family to lives in a new village enclave that consist of affordable houses.

Strategy 2: To establish a green corridor and element of wellness and liveable In Kuah Town.

Figure 1.8 : The proposed of Kuah Green Lane

Figure 1.9: Pedestrian walkway design

Source:https://montgomeryplanning.org/planning/communities/area-2/rock-spring-and-white-flint-2-design-guidelines/

• Create a green connection pathway and lanes.
• Provide connections between walking, bicycling.
• Establish a non-motorized network
• More of pedestrians and bikes, less for cars.
• The new pedestrian and cycling lanes will be located at Dataran Lang, Taman Lagenda and Taman CHOGM.
• Establish a green alignment area for shade and recreation areas.
• Create attractive landscapes that can impact tourist attractions throughout the town.

Strategy 3: To rejuvenate existing parks and recreational area.

Figure 2: Public Spaces in Memphis,USA

Source:https://www.pps.org/places

Figure 2.1: Public Spaces in Memphis,USA

Source:https://www.pps.org/places

Figure 2.2: Public Spaces in Paley Park,USA

Source:https://www.pps.org/places

•     The Lagenda Park and the CHOGM Park are considered to be one of the major parks in Pekan Kuah. These two major parks already had existing amenities and facilities such as children’s playground, public toilets, jogging track, ponds and etc.

•     The proposal is more focused on how to create an attractive green spaces to attract more people and tourists to came to the Lagenda Park.

• The rejuvenate of these parks will consist of adds more of tree shades to avoid hot weather, public sitting areas so that they can take a moment to relax and enjoy the greenery view of environment and children play areas.    

Strategy 4: To define work spaces that are conducive for a life of work-play balance.

Figure 2.3: Commercial Buildings

Source:https://www.pps.org/places

• Rejuvenate buildings in Jalan Mutiara as it had poor conditions of the buildings.

• This business hub will all be united in one buildings so that it will be strategically be placed in one place only.

• Business hub to create job opportunities for people who lives in Kuah Town.

• Introduce the new Business Support Centre and Central park to promote work-life balance.

• Create potential businesses include retail tourism, logistics hubs and business centres. 

Strategy 5: To rejuvenate existing back lanes of commercial areas in Jalan Mutiara.

Figure 2.4: Back Lanes in Vancouver, Canada

Source:https://www.pps.org/places

Figure 2.5: Mural painting in Colombia

Source:https://www.pps.org/places

• Although it is already quite developed, there are still a lot of in-between spaces that can still be built on.
• The back lanes of commercial areas in Jalan Mutiara are filthy and had uninviting nature.
• Creates motorcycle bays, tree planting to increase greenery around the street and installing closed-circuit television cameras to enhance security.
• The back lane improvement was to improve connectivity, as many of the back alleys were unused and blocked. These changes would make people become happy, bring people to those areas and would benefit the businesses in Jalan Mutiara as well.The idea here is to turn negative back lane spaces into positive public spaces, leveraging on the existing space to increase the productivity of existing space.

STRATEGY 6: To design spaces that are meant to drive active living and healthy for wellness lifestyle in Kuah Town.

Figure 2.6: Public Areas in New York

Source:https://www.pps.org/places

Figure 2.7: Public Areas in New York

Source:https://www.pps.org/places

Figure 2.8: Elmina Green Park

Source:https://www.simedarbyproperty.com/city-of-elmina

• Lush greenery and safe neighbourhood in Kuah Town.
• Recreational amenities such as an outdoor amphitheatre and open lawns to inspire and calm the mind.
• There is so much to look forward to propose lake park is equipped to support healthy lifestyles, with dedicated and state-of-the-art outdoor gym systems.
• This lake park will let the kids run free, both on the field and at the playground. People can stroll along the stepped terraces and rest their eyes on lush green surroundings.

SCHEMATIC PLAN

Figure 2.9: Schematic Plan for new development areas in Serenia Business Park 

Figure 3: Detail Proposal Layout for new development in Serenia Business Park

For Green Serene Hub, new development proposals will be focused on wellness and liveable, so there will be a new developments such as the Serenia Business Park with an area of 7.23 hectares.

Figure 3.1: Schematic Plan for new development of affordable houses in Serenia Enclave at Jalan Ayer Hangat

Figure 3.2: Detailed Proposal Layout for new development in Serenia Enclave at Jalan Ayer Hangat

The Green Serene Hub objectives are to create integrated affordable housing in mixed-use centers throughout the town. In Jalan Ayer Hangat, it already had existing commercial and facilities.This is a strategic places to do a new development as it near to the existing commercial and facilities. This Serenia Enclave had an area of 6.38 hectares.

Figure 3.3: Schematic Plan for rehabilitation in Taman Lagenda

Figure 3.4: Schematic Plan for rehabilitation in Jalan Ayer Hangat

MASTERPLAN FOR OVERALL SITE

 Figure 3.5: Masterplan for overall site

DETAILED PROPOSAL

1) New development (Serenia Business Park)

Figure 3.6 : Masterplan of the proposed area for Serenia Business Park

Figure 3.7: Ilustration for Serenia Business Park

Figure 3.8: Illustration for pedestrian walkway in Serenia Business Park

Figure 3.9: Illustration for commercial hubs near to the Serenia Business Park

Figure 4: Ilustration for lake(1.47 acre) in Serenia Business Park

Figure 4.1: Ilustration for Hotel(1.38 acre) near to the Serenia Business Park

Introduction

• The Serenia Business Park will be consists of infinite possibilities as well as graceful meeting of form and function. Located near to the existing developement, that filled with native existing trees, mixed with some new ornamental planting that provide a place to lounge and relax. Our 17.92 acre, lake park is equipped to support healthy lifestyles, with dedicated state-of-the-art outdoor gym systems. Take the exercise routine to the next level at the outdoor Cross System Gym. Let the kids run free, both on the field and at the playground. Stroll along the stepped terraces and rest your eyes on lush green surroundings.

      Components

• Hotel
• Commercial hubs
• Pedestrian and bicycle path
• Recreation Park
• Amphitheater
• Picnic Bench
• Decorative Fence & Signage
• Cross System Gym

     Benefits:

•  Create a green park that integrate to its natural settings and adapt to the urban areas.
•  Drive active living and healthy for wellness lifestyle in Kuah Town.
•  Encourage harmonious interaction among the people.
•  Foster mutual respect and strengthen family values.

     Reasons and justification:

• Located near to the seas, this proposed site will be act as a new landmark to the visitors to support navigation and give directions at one spot.

• Variety of planting (existing and proposed) attracts wild life such as birds and insects that promotes interaction of human with green environment.

2) New development (Serenia Enclave in Jalan Ayer Hangat)

Figure 4.2: Masterplan of the proposed areas for affordable houses in Jalan Ayer Hangat

Figure 4.3: Ilustration for affordable houses

Figure 4.4: Pedestrian walkway in a proposed site area

Figure 4.5 :Ilustration for 4.32 acre of sport centre

Figure 4.6: Community Park near to the proposed area for affordable houses

   Introduction

• Serenia Enclave is an integrated affordable housing (20'x65') in mixed-use centers throughout the town.
• This new integrated affordable houses are located in proposed site at Jalan Ayer Hangat as it had existing commercial and new development facilities such as sport centre(4.32 acre) that are located near to this new development of  proposed site area, these will caters a need of a low income family to lives in a new village enclave that consist of affordable houses.
• This new proposed areas for affordable houses consist of 2.66 acre and had 71 units of affordable houses.                                       

  3) Rehabilitation in Taman Lagenda

• This Taman Lagenda is at 3.46-hectare, had existing linear of  green garden planned,developed, operated, funded and maintained through (community/ government) and voluntary efforts.

Effect of the rehabilitation in Taman Lagenda:

1.Social

• Encourage harmonious interaction among the people.
• Foster mutual respect and strengthen family values. 

     2.Economy

• Can increase the revenue as it will become a centre of attraction after doing some redevelopment.    

     3. Environment

• Create inspirational spaces that are filled with the beauty of nature.                           

Ilustration of rehabilitation in Taman Lagenda

Figure 4.7: Masterplan of the Rehabilitation in Taman Lagenda 

Figure 4.8: Masterplan for the bicycle lane from Dataran Helang to Jalan Ayer Hangat 

(10.6 km)

Figure 4.9: Bicycle lane from Dataran Helang to Jalan Ayer Hangat

Source: https://travelguide.michelin.com/europe/sweden/stockholm-county/stockholm/reportage/sweden-stockholm-model-green-city

Figure 5: Before the rehabilitation in Taman Lagenda

Figure 5.1:After the rehabilitation in Taman Lagenda

             

4) Rehabilitation in Jalan Mutiara

Figure 5.2: Location of the rehabilitation areas at Jalan Mutiara

Figure 5.3: Commercial buildings in Jalan Mutiara before the rehabilitation

Figure 5.4: Ilustration of commercial buildings in Jalan Mutiara after the rehabilitation

• The act or process of making possible a compatible use for a property through  repair, alterations, and additions while preserving those portions or features which convey its historical, cultural, or architectural values.

• Commercial buildings at Jalan Mutiara is one of the abandoned and had poor condition of buildings in Kuah Town.

•  As a result, the approach that can be taken is to remodel the commercial buildings and improve the building façade such as repainting the walls, and decorating the yard.

Process of Rehabilitation

                    

                                  Figure 5.5:The process of rehabilitation

Advantages of the rehabilitation

                          

                                   Figure 5.6: The advantages of the rehabilitation

THE IMPACT OF DEVELOPMENT

                                                   

Economy

• Can increase the revenue of the town as it will become a centre of attraction after doing some redevelopment.  
• Attract people to visit as this Green Serene Hub had created a new sense of life to people.

Social

• Encourage harmonious interaction among the people.

• Foster mutual respect and strengthen family values. 

Environment

• Promote a healthy lifestyle with lush of natural green lanscapes
• A new town that create a peace of mind for people who came to visit at this town.                                                          

CONCLUSION

Green Serene Hub will become an integrated town as it dedicated to create a healthy lifestyle so that people can lives in a harmonic and liveable environment. Here in the Green Serene Hub, you’ll find everything you need to lead a balanced lifestyle, away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre. With the new business hub that will be created, it is expected to create more job opportunities for the people.  

REFERENCES

Clark, G. 2015. Review of the IDB Program for Cities and Urban Environments and the Future Role of the Emerging and Sustainable Cities (ESC) Initiative. Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank.

Cox, D., et al., Developing and using local community wellbeing indicators: Learning from the experience of Community Indicators Victoria. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 2010. 45(1): p. 71-88. 

McKinsey Global Institute. 2011. Building Globally Competitive Cities: The Key to Latin

American Growth. 

Planning Institute of Australia, Liveable communities: How the Commonwealth can foster sustainable cities and regions, 2004, Planning Institute of Australia.