Civil & Structural Department

Faculty of Engineering & Built Environment

The National University of Malaysia

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KKKH 4284
SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT
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LOCAL AGENDA 21
Evaluation & Suggestion on Town Planning





NAME : SITI NURLIYANA BINTI ABDUL HASIF
MATRIC NO. : A132529
LECTURER : PROF. IR. DR. RIZA ATIQ ABDULLAH BIN O.K. RAHMAT

1.0 PROBLEM STATEMENT
You are given a task by the mayor of your hometown to evaluate and give suggestion on how
to plan the town in accordance with Local Agenda 21. Write a brief report on your evaluation
and suggestion.

2.0 INTRODUCTION
Sustainable development is based on the idea that the quality of peoples lives and the state
of a community is affected by a combination of economic, social and environmental factors.
Meanwhile Local Agenda 21 is the strategy and action programme for implementing
development at a local level. To ensure an effective change, Local Agenda 21 should be
developed in close liaison with local communities along with governmental and non-
governmental organisations. The guideline identifies that population, consumption and
technology are the primary driving forces of environmental change and proposes what needs
to be done to reduce wasteful and inefficient consumption patterns in some parts of the world
while carefully managing natural resources. To further explain the concepts, the guideline
goes to continue that to encourage an increase in sustainable development in other countries,
some other parts of the world will need to cut back on wasteful consumption. This offers an
opportunity to balance consumption, population and life-supporting capacity. Options and
solutions for combating the degradation of the land, air and water as well as conserving the
forests and the diversity of life-forms are provided. Local Agenda 21 also states that there are
roles for every party involved ranging from the government, business people, women, youth
and children. It also enforces that being sustainable does not mean that business are shunned.
On the contrary, sustainable development is the way to prevent poverty and environmental
destruction.

3.0 BACKGROUND OF PROPOSED SITE
The proposed site for this particular evaluation is the capital of Kedah, Alor Setar. Alor Setar
is located 93 kilometres north of Penang and 45 km from Malaysia's border with Thailand. Its
location along the main travel route from Malaysia to Thailand has long made it a major
transportation hub in the northern Malay Peninsula. At present, the city covers a land area of
666 km2, which is occupied by more than 300,000 thousand inhabitants (as per the 2010
census). At the local government level, Alor Setar is administered by the Alor Setar City
Council.

Alor Setar features a tropical rainforest climate under the Kppen climate classification. Alor
Setar has a very lengthy wet season. As is common in several regions with this climate,
precipitation is seen even during the short dry season. Temperatures are relatively consistent
throughout the course of the year, with average high temperatures around 32 degrees Celsius
and average low temperatures around 23 degrees Celsius. Alor Setar sees on average roughly
2300 mm of precipitation per year.


4.0 LOCAL AGENDA 21
Local Agenda 21 (LA21) is a programme to forge partnership between Local Authority,
privatesector and the local communities that serve to work together, to plan and care for their
surroundings towards sustainable development. The programme is based on Agenda 21
which is global action plan towards development for 21st Century resulting from Earth
Summit at Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in June 1992.

THE OBJECTIVES OF LOCAL AGENDA 21 PROGRAMME
1. To expose the local community and private sectors to the sustainable development issues.
2. To clarify the roles of sustainable development are our responsibility.
3. To conclude that the strategies and LA21 action plans are based on local
sustainabledevelopment issues.
4. To implement the LA21 action plan in the form of sustainable development projects.

4.1 LOCAL AGENDA 21 IN MALAYSIA
The pilot programme aims at promoting sustainable development at the local level by
creating and strengthening participation between local authorities, local communities
and the private sector.

4.2 ANALYSING MALAYSIA LA 21
There are 5 elements in Malaysia LA21 project:
1. Formation of Partnership
2. Community based Issues Analysis
3. Action Plan
4. Implementation and monitoring
5. Evaluation & feed back

4.3 SUGGESTION ON PLANNING
1. Managing and improving the local authority's own environmental performance
Corporate commitment
Staff training and awareness raising
Environmental management systems
Environmental budgeting
Policy integration across sectors
2. Integrating sustainable development aims into the local authority's policies and
activities
Green housekeeping
Land use planning
Transport policies and programmes
Economic development
Tendering and purchase/provider splits
Housing services
Tourism and visitor strategies
Health strategies
Welfare, equal opportunities and poverty strategies
Explicitly 'environmental' services
3. Awareness raising and education
Support for environmental education
Awareness-raising events
Visits and talks
Support for voluntary groups
Publication of local information
Press releases
Initiatives to encourage behaviour change and practical action
4. Consulting and involving the general public
Public consultation processes
Forums
Focus groups
Feedback mechanisms
5. Partnerships
Meetings, workshops and conferences
Working groups/advisory groups
Rounds Tables
Environment City Model
Partnership initiatives
Developing-world partnerships and support

6. Measuring monitoring and reporting on progress towards sustainability
Environmental monitoring
Local state of the environment reporting
Sustainability indicators Targets Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
Strategic environmental assessment


4.4 CHALLEGES IMPLEMENTING LA 21 IN MALAYSIA
1. The lack of private sector participation
- Afraid of financial contribution
- Pressures on business such as profitability, health and safety, and product
quality.
2. The missing linkage: The need to strengthen the NGOS and CBOS in LA21
- Unclear and vague policy of the participation of NGOs in sustainable
development activities
- Over involvement of certain groups such as the environmental groups
and underrepresentation of certain groups.
- Community based organizations (such as Residents Associations) have a
restricted membership and also lack of funding.
3. Financing LA21
- Budget deficits and have difficulties to commit themselves to long term
sustainable development projects.
- Development projects do not provide immediate economic returns.
4. Inter-agency Relationships
- Lack of a holistic approach to implementing LA21 within the councils. (e.g.:
Most of the LA21 processes are linked to the departments of planning within
the council)
- Such practice lead to a serious misunderstanding of Agenda 21 and its
structural demands.
5. Unwillingness to act appropriately.
6. Inability to act (weak, lack of funding and professional competence, hampered by
inappropriate legal, regulatory and financial framework)
7. Inefficiency (poor or weak infrastructure and service provision)
8. Official standards are unrealistic based on level of investment, funding and other
resources. (staffs and capacity building)


5.0 CONCLUSION
The success and impact of LA21 seems to be relying on the work of a few key dedicated
people either in the councils or members of the public, rather than a widespread and deep
commitment from every stakeholder. LA 21 also suffers from the weakness of local councils.
So, without a strengthening of the local government, it is likely that implementation of LA21
will continue to fail to deliver it aspirations (Hardev, 2008).