Hazlina Hamdan

HOUSING AND TRANSPORT EXPENDITURE: AN ASSESSMENT OF LOCATION HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

In every country, the ability to own a house is vital for the housing market. During the past five years, housing prices in the urban area in Malaysia are becoming severely unaffordable. Housing affordability ensures that housing provided is affordable for every income groups, especially the low and middle income group. The measurement of housing affordability uses household income and housing cost but disregards transportation expenditure which is a substantial amount of household expenditure. Location of housing influences transportation expenditure. The research determines the Location Housing Affordability for the low and middle income group in an urban area. This study quantitatively examines Putra Height as one of the mature residential neighbourhoods in Selangor as well as due to the availability of public transit in the area. Housing affordability and transportation affordability create an integrated Location Housing Affordability Index. Data analysis utilizes the measurement of Location Housing Affordability Index. The findings showed that Location Housing Affordability Index recognizes location as influential factor to housing affordability of 179 respondents from low and middle income group. The findings also suggested that the houses in the urban area were seriously unaffordable for the low and middle income groups. The contribution of the research is the emphasis on location as a part of housing affordability measurement.

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.

Street as Public Space - Measuring Street Life of Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur has envisioning in becoming World Class City by the year 2020. Essential elements of form and function of the urban environment are streets. Streets showcase the community and connect people. Its one of the most comfortable social environment that provides aesthetical and interaction pleasure for everyone. Classified as main shopping streets in the local Kuala Lumpur urban design guidelines, Jalan Masjid India (JMI) has its uniqueness of shopping experience and social interaction. This conceptual paper will study the physical and cultural characteristics of the street that will generate the street character by mapping its original characters. The findings will focus on strengthening the methodology applied to promote improvements in evaluating it as a great public space. Results will also contribute to understanding the overall site context, the street connectivity, and urban dynamics. This paper is part of a larger study that addresses on transforming the sociability of public space.