Faizul Abdullah

Evaluating the suitability of urban farming programme case study: Ipoh City

Urban agriculture can be defined as the growing of plants and livestock production within and around cities. This study was conducted to identify the suitability and the needs of urban agriculture activity in Ipoh City. In Ipoh City, there are many lands that were unsuitable for development especially on hillside, river reserve and ex-mining land. Apart from that, in Old Town area at Ipoh City Centre, there are many commercial buildings that were left idle without any activity. The urban farming program has been seen as the alternative way to optimize the use of land. This study includes data gathering by interview with officers in Ipoh City Council, urban farming owners and the public members who live in surrounding urban farming area to get their opinion about urban agriculture. The observation survey includes the suitability aspect of land use, the building condition of swiflet farming, and location of urban agriculture. The findings of this study were divided into four main aspects which are physical aspects, neighboring owners, environmental and economic aspects to evaluate the suitability of agriculture programme in urban area.

Social Capital and Quality of Life in Multi-storey Housing Neighbourhood Community

Social capital is a valuable asset with positive consequences on societal well-being, strengthen neighbourhood and increase the quality of life. The objective of this paper is to analyse a few dimensions of social capital in the multi-storey housing neighbourhoods community with household questionnaires survey of 797 samples. The findings demonstrated the bonding of social capital according to four dimensions. Different neighbourhoods in a different locality with the diversity of its people, and surrounding developments have influenced the pattern of social capital. Social capital in these community creates positive social values that contributes to increasing the quality of life.