Underutilized Park in Setapak

The thematic essay for the strategies to improve PAC public spaces

Kuala Lumpur’s parks have evolved to fulfil the needs of its multi-cultural urban communities and make the city a liveable place in enhancing the social engagement in community. Although the government have provided more parks in the city, the urban issues of underutilized parks still raising. The management and maintenanceof these tropical urban parks are currently under pressure as local authorities neglected to maintain the existing landscape and treated it as a secondary subject in Kuala Lumpur. Besides, lack of ethnic and enforcement among the public users degrade the cleanliness, aesthetic and user friendly of the parks are one of the significant reasons causing the residents of Kuala Lumpur not utilising the existing park anymore. The underutilized parks are also commonly caused by weak elements of urban design and unattractive facilities by the unserious developer and local authorities which led to low quality of urban parks. Therefore, this study is focused on investigating issues raised and suggesting recommendation for better improvement of the existing urban park in Taman Melati Park and Taman Setapak Playground at the residential area in the city of Kuala Lumpur. From the result of the study, it shows that there are multiple ways to enhance the quality of the park at the same time creating an ecologically sustainable landscape practice, solving the current social and environmental issues.

Keywords: Underutilised Park / Liveability / Open space quality / Urban Design Element / Sustainable / Kuala Lumpur

1.0 Introduction: The Underutilized Parks in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur

Underutilisation of parks concerns the park facilities that are not utilised to their fullest potential to benefit the users (Moulay et al. 2017). Although the government has set its aim in Structure Plan to create a safe, clean, offering a high level of climatic comfort and sense of well- being for the residents in Kuala Lumpur(City Planning Department, 2018), this phenomenon remains the popular social issue among the Malaysian. The way of providing the urban open spaces in residential area like Taman Melati Park and Taman Setapak Playground undeniable give a big significance to the liveability of the place. However, the current issues of unhygienic, unattractive planning and facilities, and low level of safety give the community a negative psychological and perceptual dimension (i.e. cognitive, affective, interpretative) towards these parks. Many park users are unwilling to utilise the park due to these poor urban design elements and management in result these potential social spaces being abandoned (Carmona et al. 2010).

Apart from the community underused the parks’ facilities to carry out social activities, the selected two parks are not being utilised to contribute the sustainable environment in Setapak. These parks were highly dependent on potable water for landscape maintenance at limited resource as the growing demand of water supply from the increasingly population at site. There is a possibility to achieve a more sustainable and informed practice by implementing the special feature of stormwater drainage design system, which may consequently reduce their dependency on potable water resource for irrigation, at the same time increasing habitat diversity and provide various function and benefits to the community (Roziya Ibrahim, 2016). Besides, it is undeniable that Malaysia is under climate change resulting in frequent severe flash floods at several places in Kuala Lumpur including Setapak. The stormwater utility design in the parks can also reduce and prevent the flood water level spill over the residential housing during monsoon season.

2.0 Issues of Taman Melati Park and Taman Setapak Playgroun Taman Melati Park and Taman Setapak Playground is a tiny urban open space in the city of residential zone that are accessible to the public within walkable distance from their residential. The parks are a shared places of residents used to enjoy outdoor recreational activities, sports and interact with the surrounding natural environment (Cohen et al.2016). The size of both parks is smaller than 4,000–12,000 m2. The community used to enjoy daily local life at the existing parks like children playing around the playground facilities, teenager carry out physical activities like jogging and playing football and elderly used to stroll along or gather at the parks after dinner.

However, there are some issues and factors affect the community to underutilised Taman Melati Park and Taman Setapak Playground in terms of cleanliness, destroyed and unattractive facilities. For instance, the parks often used by the people as a platform for gathering their household rubbish or old furniture to be sold. The problems are getting worse when people used to litter everywhere like throwing rubbish into the drainage after using the parks causing drainage blockage and leading flood when heavy rain.

Moreover, some of the Taman Setapak Playground facilities are under vandalised by the community and ended up it is not safe for children to play at there. Besides that, the facilities and hardscape such as permanent stone outdoor seating, park gym machine, playground facilities and pavement are being damaged and no longer look attractive and safe to the public community. These problems such as unhygienic park, damaged facilities, unattractive hardscape and landscape design could be led to uncomfortable places for people gathering at there hence it is not utilised by the community to carry out physical and mental activities.

3.0 Underutilised Parks in term of Sustainability at Taman Melati Park and Taman Setapak Playground

Figure 3.0.1 Taman Melati Park and Taman Setapak Playground have provided some fews facilities but have not implement any stormwater retention strategies to enhance the sustainability for the parks, quality of surrounding community and the environment. Parks is one of the key indicators in contributing to sustainable city planning. The quality of the open space is not only depending on the level of liveability by measuring the frequency of the people come to the parks and their satisfaction to the quality of activities that could be done at the parks, but it is also considered an important role to give less impact to the surrounding environment and economic (Cohen et al.2016)., plus hopefully reduce the environmental issues such as possible flooding in Setapak during monsoon season. Nevertheless, both parks are lack of utilisation of the stormwater harvesting infrastructure systems to recycle the use of rainwater for irrigation or contribute to the community usage at the same time prevent possible flooding at the site. Thus, the value of both of the parks are significantly increased if it achieve a more sustainable, ecologically informed design and management practice without alienating park users, management, and maintenance staff.

4.0 Recommendation to Enhance the Quality and Value of Taman Melati Park and Taman Setapak Playground

Taman Melati Park and Taman Setapak Playground both are served the similar function to its surrounding residential community but they are still lack its value and liveability by observing the frequency of the public utilised the park to carry out various quality activities and how much contribution to the sustainability of the environment and community (Cohen et al.2016). Therefore, some recommendation for decision makers and research on the selected case studies also being explained to assist better ideation in urban design and upcoming Performing Art Centre design proposal to create more valuable and liveable mini parks and open spaces in PAC.

Recommendations:

4.1 Maintenance Management of Taman Melati Park and Taman Setapak Playground

Taman Melati Park and Taman Setapak Playground are provisioned and maintained by the local council (Kraft and Furlong, 2012). The maintenance management problem arises as the parks become less emphasized and treated as a secondary subject in a city. Therefore, local authorities or NGO should take initiatives to solved through the management and enforcement to enhance the current existing park situation for the community to maximise use of the parks. For example, the authority’s maintenance staffs should have good upkeep and refurbish the parks’ facilities by checking every week regularly according to schedule to ensure the public are safe and comfortable while relaxing and playing in the parks. Next, putting “stop littering” signboards and installing CCTV in the parks to trace the public fault behaviour like littering and vandalism or trying to do something to destroy the benefit of the parks will be given the serious fine as a warning. Moreover, the local authorities should design a full covered drainage instead of large void grating drainage or the uncovered drainage to prevent people throwing rubbish into it. Therefore, there is no blockage of drainage and no more occurring minor flood during heavy rain. Strategically setting up a specific colourful rubbish disposal space near the seating area and recreational facilities zone to increase the effectiveness of throwing rubbish from the public also another strategies.

5.0 Conclusion: Transform the Underutilised Park of Taman Melati Park and Taman Setapak Playground into a Valuable and Sustainable Public Space

The utilisation of Taman Melati Park and Taman Setapak Playground considered at low level. With reference to the above study, this is mainly caused by its quality of urban design elements are being neglected. The most critical problem that always occurs is the maintenance and management by the local authority, which could defect the quality of the parks such as design, layout, landscaping, sustainable material, facilities, and many more into consideration (Thomas, 2019). Besides, there is still lack of comfort and satisfaction of the existing facilities, programs, safety as well as unattractive landscape. In relation to this, some suggested recommendations are vital to upgrade the quality of public parks in term of its maintenance and management, attractiveness, urban intervention, facilities and program design and sustainable stormwater harvesting system strategies. As a result of this effort, it will enhance the liveability of the public park, its sustainable environment, and its role to the public as it could uplift the quality of life and benefit the society in many ways.

Next, there are some of the useful strategies that are possible to implement into future public space design in Performing Art Centre proposal after observing the issues and studying the methods to enhance it. First, the trench grate design which provide both functionality and visual aesthetically to the built environment can be designed in the garden proposal. Secondly, the outdoor green amphitheatre is suitable to proposed at the PAC as it is a public space that can accommodate many visitors to sits and enjoy at the parks or carry out any performances at the centre of the amphitheatre. Lastly, the sustainable strategies of the stormwater harvesting system can be applied in my PAC parks where all the rainwater is channel into the underground stormwater storage tank via monsoon drainage. Moreover, the sub-basement carpark can be designed as water catchment area so that during the monsoon season, all the rainwater gathers in the subbasement parking. As a result, Setapak will get away from the flood.

As conclusion, both Taman Melati Park and Taman Setapak Playground has the potential to be a successful social space that promotes positive mental growth of the society by encouraging society to maximise the utilisation of the parks and as a place that be a role model for practising the sustainable strategies in Kuala Lumpur if the local authorities and the society put efforts and pay attention to it.