34 research papers on sustainable city development efforts in M'sia published under MSCP

BANGI: Thirty-four research papers on sustainable city development efforts in Malaysia have been published under Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia's (UTM) Malaysia Sustainable Cities Programme (MSCP).
Program Manager for MSCP, Selmah Goldberg said the five-year programme since 2014 is to study and document sustainable city development efforts in Malaysia.
Under the programme, Selmah said, visiting scholars selected from around the world would conduct and develop research findings into the instructional material to enhance sustainable cities development in the country.
"MIT chose to collaborate with UTM in the programme as Malaysia is an exemplary role model for developing countries which has advanced in commitment to sustainable development efforts.
"We are interested to understand more about Malaysia's sustainable development efforts.
"We hope the research papers published under MSCP that are posted on our website can contribute to improvement in other cities," she told Bernama when met at a luncheon hosted by the Secretary-General of Malaysia's Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry, Datuk Seri Zaini Ujang.
MSCP was initiated by Zaini who was the vice-chancellor of UMT then and Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning, MIT and MIT Co-Director of MSCP, Dr Lawrence Susskind.
Among the research, themes include climate change, renewable energy, energy mix, low carbon development, ecosystem conservation, water supply, green building index, urban regeneration, traffic, flooding, tourism, cultural heritage, social entrepreneurship, migrant workers and socially responsible real estate development.
For 2018, Selmah said seven visiting scholars would visit cities in the country like Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Pahang, George Town (Penang), Kuching (Sarawak) and Johor Bahru for about four months to conduct research in Malaysia before returning to MIT to develop research findings.
Under the MIT-UTM MSCP, Selmah said a group of 10 to 15 students from MIT and UTM will participate in a two-week practicum in Malaysia.
Under the Practicum programme, she said the students would produce an annual Research Agenda that would be identified as well as formulate new research agendas that offer guidance to visiting scholars the following year.
Meanwhile, Doctoral Student, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT, Jungwoo Chun said the MIT team was also conducting research on Malaysia's progress to reduce carbon emissions for a cleaner environment.
He said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak had said that the Malaysian government is committed to reduce carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 and be fully carbon neutral by 2050.
"We want to see Malaysia's progress so far in reducing carbon emissions. Maybe, based on our analysis, we could propose possible recommendations to help Malaysia to achieve the goal.
"Now, the younger Malaysians are very much favourable for a greener Malaysia. There is a strong will from them. Therefore, new initiatives are needed to position Malaysia towards a developed country with a greener environment," he said.
Meanwhile, Zaini said the research team comprising town planning scholars, led by Susskind, sought to find a model of a sustainable city especially from a developing country like Malaysia.
"They are very interested in Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur which are relatively new (cities). We can start from zero with proper planning to become a sustainable city. That's why the team is here," he said.
Zaini added that "Malaysia is not far" from achieving its goal of having sustainable cities but needed to 'settle' issues on public transportation. — Bernama