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Planners and researchers have realized that larger regional framework of urban areas are significant in assessing various inequality aspects in a developing country like India. The framework consists of heterogeneity in spatial and demographic aspects and in quality of socio-economic development levels as well. Against this background, the present paper has proposed a methodological framework to assess socio-economic inequality within Bangalore Urban Agglomeration (BUA) as governed by the composite set of Human Development Index (HDI) based indicators. Assessments are based on local data of dwellers' preferences on the indicators. On the whole, this paper has tried to establish the significance of application of HDI based indicators in an assessment of socio-economic inequality within BUA. Consequently, the paper has arrived at the need for improvement of comprehensive HDI governed basic public services, amenities, and advanced facilities, across all trans-urban-area levels to ensure a holistic development within BUA.

Built heritage of immense architectural, historical and cultural values constitute as one of the most dominant characteristics that contribute significantly to the identity of places. However, the built heritage in smaller towns and cities in Malaysia have been relatively neglected and overlooked. In addition to the role in identity development of heritage sites, a physical built environment or more generally the place has not received adequate attention in built environment literature. Therefore, this paper attempts to explore heritage place inventory as an important conservation tool for establishing the value of places, ultimately leading to their legal protection. A survey was conducted in Kampung Kepayang, a small town in the state of Perak, Malaysia, to discover valuable background information of the identified historic resources through heritage place inventory. A total of 50 pre and post-war buildings of varying styles, values and uses were identified as unique characteristics that influence the distinctiveness of the town. The paper ends with the conclusion that documenting historic places paves the way for establishment of the overall significance and importance of the place in the light of meaning, understanding, definition, and recognition of the cultural values they provide.

The focus of this paper is to unfold the implication of non-registration of land rights on the achievement of the poverty eradication and slum clearance targets of the United Nation's Millennium development goals in Nigeria. The paper is based on empirical survey of land holding in the outskirts of Ibadan city and the rural areas in Oyo State, of Nigeria. A case study research method was adopted and data were collected with the use of questionnaire survey and secondary data was also extracted from the state land registry office in respect of total cost of documentation of subsequent transaction on titled/registered land. The study found that ignorance and government insensitivity in addition to high cost and delay are among major constraints to land titling. Only a few opportune people can afford the land right formalization process and they do so when it becomes necessary. These unequivocally militate against the achievement of the poverty and slum eradication goals of the UN. The paper suggested simplification of the titling procedure, cost reduction, computerization and public enlightenment on the benefits of registered land right to facilitate efficient land right registration towards adequate housing for the citizenry.

In response to the urban shortage of affordable housing, this paper elaborates on research findings on potential solutions for alleviating the current housing crisis in Hong Kong. This research specifically investigates the opportunities and constraints inherent in transforming industrial warehouses into residential units, from urban planning and architectural perspectives. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, and it is currently facing an urgent call to provide adequate housing for its citizens. Although the Housing Authority is expending great effort to expedite public housing construction, finding an immediate solution to alleviate the current housing crisis remains doubtful as tremendous time and resources would be needed. At the same time, rapid urbanization in some industrial districts, such as Kwun Tong and Tsuen Wan, has left many old industrial buildings vacant. This paper proposes revitalizing selected abandoned industrial spaces and converting them into habitable units. In a larger sense, it proposes a theoretical framework for a sustainable methodology for urban revitalization and adaptive reuse. While focusing on developing an integrated strategy for converting specific old industrial districts into public housing, the ultimate goal of this research is to become a model for other old industrial districts and provide a new affordable housing solution.

As part of the regions that share lands and boundaries, Sarawak-Malaysia and Kalimantan Barat-Indonesia have respective characteristics in the borderlands treatment. This paper aims to explore and compare the border areas between two nations, ranging from the borderlands profiles, (tourism) development and planning, and their opportunities. Besides, this paper also wants to highlight tourism development as one of the strategies. This paper uses documentary research to seek 'text and context' by narratively describing and compiling the documents. From the discussion, it can be seen that both regions have different characteristics of conditions and problems. For tourism development, different approaches are also 'colored' with timing, momentum, and priorities; as influenced and supported by the national plans. Tourism in the borderlands is the impetus in which each regions has already been aware of this potential because of the traction of informal flow, accessibility, supply, and demand. Furthermore, we argue that if tourism has exist at the first place, in the future, by its backward linkages, it will encourage more physical and economic development and cooperation between nations.

This paper researches the possible representation of Orientalism and the spread of Middle Eastern inspired architecture in Indonesia, particularly in Dutch colonial practices in the 19th-century. It challenges the dominant opinion of the people that the Middle Eastern merchants in the East Indies were the only ones that introduced the use of kubah (dome) shape to mosque architecture in Indonesia. Consequently, this paper has two objectives: firstly, by looking at the historical relationship between religious architecture and colonial politics, especially in the construction of the Baiturrahman Mosque in Aceh and secondly, by considering Orientalism (besides those beliefs existing in Moslem communities) to be one of important intellectual agencies for mixing architectural cultural symbols. The socio-political narrative is analyzed in the context of an Indonesian-Islamic building typology and the relationship between space, people, power, and time. The research itself is based on literature searches specifically related to colonialism and orientalism, along with archive studies and field investigations, including interviews with related historical experts. In order to replace 'non-architectural' traditional roofs, which were considered as representing a less-developed civilization, Dutch political interests were instrumental in bringing the universally-styled Middle Eastern architectural elements into mosque architecture of the Netherland Indies. This political motivation ultimately led to the spread of kubah (dome) as an architectonic element in Indonesian mosque architecture throughout the archipelago, specifically in Sumatra.

This paper investigates research agenda by the Malaysian real estate researchers (MRERs). This study adopts a deskwork approach by examining research papers published in leading real estate journals, both international and local and papers presented in main real estate conferences from 1997 to 2010. In addition, the number of research papers published and presented were also assessed from several main real estate research journals in the US, UK, Asia/Australia and Malaysia and conferences such as American Real Estate Society (ARES), European Real Estate Society (ERES), Pacific Rim Real Estate Society (PRRES), Asian Real Estate Society (AsRES) and local conference; International Real Estate Research Symposium (IRERS). The study indicates that the Malaysian real estate researchers (MRERs) have made a positive contribution to the global real estate research. Nevertheless, there is still more effort needed in order to compete in the global real estate research agenda. It is anticipated that this trend will change since the Malaysian government has emphasised on improving the quality of higher learning institutions' for which research and publication will be the main agenda. The contribution from MRERs will significantly improve Malaysian universities standing in global ranking.

The research investigated the causes and consequence of building collapse in Nigeria using historical data from 1974 to 2006 and also proffers appropriate solutions. Relevant books, seminar papers, workshop papers, articles, etc. were reviewed so as to examine the general view of individuals that have worked on similar study. Data for the study were obtained through historical data of past building collapse in Nigeria. The data were presented and analysed using tables, bar graphs, Pearson moment correlation coefficient (r) and linear regression analysis to generate a model. Sixty (60) buildings that collapsed in the country were gathered, upon which the analysis was carried out. The study revealed that poor maintenance culture, design error, poor quality of materials and workmanship, natural phenomenon and excessive loading contributed to about 7%, 15%, 52%, 7% and 20% respectively of building collapse in Nigeria with most of them being private residential buildings executed by indigenous contractors. The study finally recommended that Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) should increase their effort in sanitizing building materials in the market. More so, construction professionals should ensure proper supervision of workmen and efficient checking of materials before incorporation into building works.

This paper examines the design quality of People's Housing Project (Program Perumahan Rakyat or PPR) low cost high rise flats developed by the National Housing Department (Jabatan Perumahan Negara or JPN) in Kuala Lumpur since the 1998. Quality Function Deployment method is used as a tool to analyze the current status and to prioritize the demanded quality from the selected PPR low-cost high rise flats' users. The study revealed that factors in determining a quality low-cost high-rise flat arranged in descending degrees of importance are house safety, provision of public amenities, unit internal environment, maintenance and surrounding environment, location, sanitary fittings, unit size, type of house, material used, unit internal layout, quality of workmanship, structure of the house and appearance. A Quality Chart for PPR low-cost high-rise flats in Kuala Lumpur was presented. Authority (47 per cent) has the highest relative degree of importance in determining the quality of PPR flats, followed by Design Element (34 per cent) and Quality of Living (19 per cent). Accordingly, the success of the schemes relies strongly on effective control and enforcement by the authorities. However, it can be improved by tackling on the Design Element (Architectural), whereby a revised typical unit layout plan and typical details have been proposed at the last section of the paper.

The present paper attempts to establish a set of variables to find out the extent and levels of inequality in Human Development Indicators (HDIs) driven development based on a geographic delineation of Kolkata Urban Agglomeration (KUA). The study is based on the geographic delineation of the region of KUA. Given this background, it assesses health, education and economic scenario of the study area by variables of rates of mortality, literacy and working population, respectively. For the purpose of analysis, initially percentage distributions of variables over the study area have been computed and subsequently, assessed through Gini's Coefficient, which is an indicator of inequality in distribution over a geographic space. Then reviews of variations by virtue of spatial aggregation and disaggregation in the form of agglomerations of core vis-'-vis periphery, east bank versus west bank differentials have been presented. The analysis is supplemented by correlation studies. United Nations Development Program (UNDP) supports the fact that inequalities in development can be better addressed through assessment of qualitative indicators of Human Development Index. This very concept is also reflected in recent urban development researches conducted by organizations like Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER, 2010), National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER, 2009) and London School of Economics (LSE, 2009). The organizations suggest that the holistic objective of India's metropolitan development can be best approached if objectives of minimization of income based inequalities proceed in its multiple dimensions like Human Development Indicators (HDIs). The present paper attempts to meet such goals in the perspective of KUA.

The important of outdoor physical environment to the development of children can never be questioned, since children spend large amount of their time outdoor as compared to adults. Children are vulnerable to their conditions of the physical environment and its quality affects their overall behavior patterns. Children are well known to play everywhere and play with everything. But for urban children, their movement and their play opportunities are often restricted by traffic and unsafe environment. Today the provision of children outdoor play areas i.e children playgrounds or open spaces, has become integrated into the planning process in most of our residential development. How well it is furnished is an indication of the value that society places on children development. We are fortunate to have such services but are they conducive enough to cater the need for children or do they meet their expectations' This paper discusses the existing children outdoor facilities developed out of local planning practices. Do these facilities held the potential for our children's physical development' How would the children benefits from their playing environment' Are children happy with their play spaces or do parents concern about their children play opportunity' The paper examines the need to create a more conducive play space beyond the quantitative preferences and guidelines. It further highlights the need for community participation in creating a more functionalized playground.

Building refurbishment is an important sector in the Malaysian construction industry. The increase the number of building renovations, alterations, extensions and extensive repair works contributed to the high demand for refurbishment projects. However, refurbishment projects are more difficult to manage compared to new-built, due to uncertainty factors inherent in the projects. Therefore, this paper identifies factors that contributed to uncertainty and shows how it affects design performance of refurbishment projects. This paper was also extended to the used of coordination devices to improve design performance from the effect of uncertainty in the projects. Partial-correlation technique was used in data analysis to check any significant moderate effects of coordination devices to control the negative effect of uncertainty on design performance of refurbishment projects. Four (4) coordination devices involved in the partial-correlation tests. The results concluded that the use of lateral relations and architect’s characteristics are most likely reducing the uncertainty of client attributes towards design completeness before work started on site.

The paper presents the results of a study on internal design of Malaysian mosques from a typological way of research. Specifically it will look at the form and spatial variety which leads to the functionality of interior space. Orientation of mosques is taken into serious consideration because the prostration activity for Muslims is performed while facing the 'qibla' towards the Ka'bah in Mecca, where the unity of the religion can be seen during the congregational prayers. Apart from that, this typoiogical research will also show clearly the evolution of mosque architecture from the beginning of Islamic embracement in Malaysia. From there, classification of types of mosque design will be defined by analyzing the inner spatial composition and not just by looking at the external built forms. As a result, it is hoped that this paper will help innovate design solutions to the mosque designers and to Muslims who will be using the facility . The typological index produced in this paper will help the present and future generation to learn history through the trend of mosques design evaluation that is shown in the classified images.

The process of imaging for city marketing purposes has the implication on culture, conservation and heritage. City marketing, especially in the European context, has been examined in interdisciplinary literature with special focus on imaging for tourism. Little is reported about the imaging of those cities' ex-colonies in the East. The Historic City of Georgetown in Penang, dubbed 'the City of Living Culture', has been gearing her development towards living up to the image. This paper examines the imaging of the Historic City of Georgetown for heritage tourism and city marketing tool by the public agencies involved. A short introduction to city marketing, imaging and heritage tourism is offered due to sparse literature in the built environment literature and to serve as a foundation to the main discourse of this paper. The bulk of this paper discusses the conservation of heritage as image dimensions in the marketing of Georgetown. We submitted that Georgetown has successfully utilised and capitalised on its cultural diversity and tangible heritage based on its colonial legacy to promote the city as evidenced by its recent inscription into UNESCO's World Heritage Site list. Nonetheless, building and maintaining the synergy between the government, the private sector and the people is essential for the city's heritage tourism industry.

The Bilbao Effect incorporates itself into numerous iconic buildings and grand design s of international architects such as Frank Gehry, Santiago Calatrava, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, Phillip Cox and Toyo Ito who exploit curvilinear forms as their architectural language .Throughout the world, major events such as the Olympic Games have catalysed the implementation of curvilinear architecture while in Malaysia, the development of Putrajaya has provided opportunity for iconic forms, expressed in curvilinearity. The paper focuses on the current scenario of curvilinear architecture in Malaysia and its posit ion in the international arena. It strives to answer the question of 'How far have Malaysian architects gone in implementing curvilinear architecture?' This is done by first formulating a 'Taxonomy of Rigid Curvilinear Architectural Forms' based on the works of renowned international architects. The taxonomy constitutes the instrument for gauging the position of Malaysian architects. This is achieved by having the works of local architects mapped on to the taxonomy. The research findings indicate that the international architects have advanced by leaps and bounds ahead of their Malaysian counterparts in implementing curvilinear architecture. Several recommendations are proposed in order to narrow this gap .The paper focuses on column-free, rigid and permanent buildings completed from 1990 onwards .

A good pedestrian network around the campus should be accessible and friendly for all users including disabled persons. The environment should offer some activity nodes to ensure that the learning and working in campus is more pleasant. The paper will clarify the importance of collaborative development among various professionals and organisations in order to achieve a 'barrier-free built environment', focusing on the University of Malaya as a case study. It will share experience on the education of inclusive design for students who will become professionals and responsible in implementing the legislation relating to safety, accessibility and usability of the built environment. As the objective is the issue of educating relevant professionals, it will introduce methods in teaching professionals as a strategy to advocate a 'barrier-free built environment'. The paper will also illustrate the efforts done in encouraging the agenda which have been implemented around the case study.

Orientation is one of the important factors in building design to use daylight and ‎conserve energy. Well-orientated buildings maximise daylight reception through ‎building facades and reduce the need for artificial lighting. Reasonable daylighting usage in office buildings is an important part of an architect’s designing process, which leads to lesser electricity consumption as well as providing a visual and thermal comfort for the occupants. Orientation is an important factor in passive design strategies. This paper focuses on the orientation effect on daylighting into office rooms. The research method of this study was simulation which is performed on a hypothetical model on a 25 storey high-rise office building in Malaysia. All simulations were carried out in the IES-VE software that uses RADIANCE program for illuminance calculations. To evaluate the daylight in various conditions, a new index SAZ was introduced which assesses daylight factor (DF) and absolute Lux. Results showed similar SAZ in CIE overcast sky in various orientations; whereas, in sunny sky due to sun path in Malaysia, different results showed northern and southern rooms have the best illuminance distribution. However, the similar window form and size in four orientations lead to more energy consumption for artificial lighting and cooling loads.

The phenomenon of climate change heralds distinctive challenges for sub-Saharan Africa’s urban areas, with economic, social, and health impacts, and severe effects on housing and infrastructure. This study examined climate-change induced vulnerabilities including the urban housing crisis and homelessness in the context of Lagos mega-city, Nigeria, with a view to defining the potential lessons to learn from the Asian urban experience. The study conducted case-study analyses of Lagos and the Asian urban experience, highlighting the megacity-related vulnerabilities. It identified gender and aging as key factors in understanding vulnerability. Lessons from Asia relate to: the conscious policy-linkage of urban demographic expansion and economic growth; synergy between formal and informal sectors; urban densification through compact, mixed-land use development; broad-based urbanization; metropolitan expansion; pursuit of slum-free cities; prominence of housing in national policies; pro-poor financial frameworks; and extensive adoption of mitigation and adaptation strategies in the coastal conurbations. The paper concluded on the critical role of urban governance in reducing vulnerability, the need for greater multi-disciplinary stakeholders’ collaboration and partnership, and the expediency of fitting adaptation strategies and resilience responses to specific needs, capacities and priorities of impact groups. These could enhance the transformation of mega-cities into more adaptable and resilient urban systems.

Higher education institutions face immediate pressure to preserve existing building facilities within the campuses and enhance the capacity of their higher education system to address growing demands of an increasing influx of students and academic activities. There is no doubt that dilapidated and unhealthy buildings in a decaying environment depresses the quality of life and contributes in some measure to antisocial behaviours. The buildings of higher education institutions in Nigeria only receive top management attention when there is a problem. Hence, the paper assessed the building maintenance management practices of 6 higher institutions available (2 universities, 2 polytechnics and 2 colleges of education) in Niger State. This was done by interviewing the Directors of Works of the 6 institutions using a structured interview method. The study revealed that there was no maintenance manual in any of the Works Department of the higher education institution, no user satisfaction survey has ever been conducted and none of the institutions had a computerised maintenance management system (CMMS) in place. In addition to these, corrective maintenance was mostly adopted and there was inadequate staffing of the field operatives. All these shortcomings might be responsible for the backlog of maintenance work experienced in the institutions studied. A proactive maintenance system should be put in place, CMMS should be adopted to enhance effective maintenance work, and top management should be enlightened on the imperative of maintenance among other issues competing for funds within the institutions and be more flexible in allocation of resources to enhance maintenance works.

The resettlement plan in war-torn cities is one of the most important objectives after conflict, as the ultimate goal is to repatriate immigrants and establish an ordinary life for residents. The resettlement plan plays a significant role in the reconstruction of urban areas in the post-war situation. This paper firstly review the literature on post-war resettlement process, then explore the resettlement strategy in the urban area of Khorram-Shahr as the most important war-torn city in Iran. The discussions are based on the results of a sequential mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) research exploring the persistent urban problems and local peoples' expectations in damaged neighbourhoods. The findings of this study reveal the most important strategies for resettlement in the post-war city to be considered by urban planners and authorities.

Housing standard for disabled people is a new dimension in quality of life. To the disabled people who are housebound, the house is the central focus of their existence. Over the last ten years, more focused studies have been conducted on the relationship between housing and people with disabilities. This paper reveals the needs of universal design in housing for disabled people and policies that can be improved. The main focus is on housing design for people with disabilities that begins with an overview on housing needs concept, theory and model, and followed by the topics on housing crisis for disabled people. These reviews looked at the existing literatures on universal design in residential remodeling including the principles of universal design, housing features, design, space and accessibility. It concludes by providing housing strategy for people with disabilities including disabled rights, information and advocacy from various countries.

This paper reviews the literature on commercial property index construction methodology. Alongside this, index construction methodology employed by various organizations in producing existing commercial property indices is also discussed. The aim of the review is to identify the best possible methodology option to adopt in developing Kuala Lumpur Office Price Index (KL - OPI). Among the Asean countries, Singapore is the only country in this region that produces retail and office price index. In the case of Malaysia, this is the first study of this nature in the country, which outcome would be useful indicator for the industry. Having reviewed the existing methodologies of commercial property indices, it is best to model KL-OPI by adopting the hedonic price method

Chinese architecture is one of the most prevailing architectural styles in Peninsular Malaysia, which is inspired from architectural specimens in Mainland China. It can be stated that the Chinese structures in the Peninsula are variations of Chinese architecture in Mainland China since the Chinese builders in this area have faced the long journey of migration, assimilation and integration with new culture and environment. This paper intends to focus on this architecture, its various typology and characteristics, and comprehend it in deeper levels by providing comparison between this architectural style in Peninsular Malaysia and Mainland China. To achieve this goal, this article applied Historical-Comparative Research method, during which a variety of evidence concerning classical Chinese architecture in Mainland China as well as Peninsular Malaysia was compared and interpreted. Findings in this article show that Chinese architecture in Peninsular Malaysia mainly follows Southern China's architectural style, whilst Northern China's architectural influence is perceivable in the later stage of its development.

Value management (VM) practices have been expanded and became a well-received technique globally. Organisations are now progressing towards a better implementation of VM and should be assessing their strengths and weaknesses in order to move forward competitively. There is a need to benchmark the existing VM practices to reflect their maturing levels which is currently not available. This paper outlines the concept of Value Management Maturity Model (VM3') as a structured plan of maturity and performance growth for businesses. It proposes five levels of maturity and each level has its own criteria or attributes to be achieved before progressing to a higher level. The framework for VM3' has been developed based on the review of literatures related to VM and maturity models (MM). Data is collected through questionnaire surveys to organisations that have implemented VM methodology. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted to select individuals involved in implementing VM. The questions were developed to achieve the research objectives; investigating the current implementation of VM and, exploring the organisation's MM knowledge and practices. However, this research was limited to VM implementation in the Malaysian government's projects and programmes. VM3' introduces a new paradigm in VM as it provides a rating method for capabilities or performance. It is advocated that this VM3' framework is still being refined in the advance stage in order to provide a comprehensive and well accepted method to provide ratings for organisations' maturity.

The powerful rhetoric of western housing literature examining the effects of regulations on housing provision has had a major influence on the housing policies of developing countries. The mainstream literature adopts neo-classical econometric modelling as the main approach in understanding how housing provision is affected by regulations. Oftentimes, such analyses would reach an unfavourable conclusion regarding the inflationary and restrictive effects of regulations and consequently call for deregulation. Nevertheless, the research approach in the mainstream literature has overlooked the roles and behaviours of housing agents involved in the actual creation of urban landscapes. In other words, these actors and their social interactions within the regulatory environment have been put in the proverbial 'black box'. Aiming to obtain deeper understanding on the effects of housing regulations, other researchers have proposed an alternative approach that opens this processual 'black box' to explain, rather than generalise the effects of regulations. Using institutionalism as the basis for analysis, this second group of literature provides a deeper explanatory analysis of housing regulations. This paper's contribution to existing literature lies not only in the systematic review of relevant housing regulation literature, but also in suggesting an alternative approach to understand the effects of housing regulation.

Passive design concepts as a strategy for achieving energy efficiency as well as optimum indoor thermal comfort in workspaces are being increasingly applied with the increased awareness of Green Buildings. The challenging task for the building designers in the hot-humid tropics is the provision of indoor thermal comfort for the occupants of the building while reducing energy consumption in the office spaces. Acoustic quality is also an important element in ensuring a healthy working environment. One of the aims of a green building is to minimise its impact on health and performance of the occupants of the building. This has been emphasized in most green building rating systems under requirements for Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), highlighting the four main points for achieving an improved indoor environment, viz., indoor air quality, acoustics, visual comfort (lighting) and thermal comfort. Although acoustics was mentioned in the IEQ criteria, according to previous surveys and studies acoustic quality in green buildings are not improving. Acoustics performance is bound to be relegated unless it is considered early in design stage. This paper makes an attempt at how green building design strategies contribute to the degradation of acoustical environment in green office buildings. The design strategies implemented to cater for green building requirements such as provision of natural ventilation, daylight, reduction of finishes and office layout leads to an unintended decrease in the acoustical quality. This needs to be addressed and corrected by the building professionals.

The Features of the Chinese wood frame buildings are same in character from dynasty to dynasty. The study concentrates on 9 Chinese wood frame buildings from Tang to Yuan dynasty and tries to relate these buildings with the text described in a building manual book published in Song dynasty Yingzao fashi. The features of some buildings match with the text described in the book some do not. But on the other hand Liang Sicheng, scholar of Chinese architecture in his book claimed that Chinese wood frame architecture has a unique system of characteristics (Liang, 1984). The system of wood frame Chinese architecture did not change but the proportion of the features has changed in different dynasty. The aim of the paper is to compare the features of the buildings those have been studied according to Yingzao fashi with Liang's observation on the change of building style in different periods.

The current dispute resolution procedures available in the Malaysian construction industry are mainly litigation and arbitration. In addition, the alternative dispute resolutions (ADR), namely mediation and adjudication, have also been introduced as the other methods for resolving disputes. The objective of this study is to examine the current practice of dispute resolution and ADR available in the Malaysian construction industry. The aim of this paper is two-fold: to report the current practice of dispute resolution and ADR, and identify the attributes of successful implementation of both mechanisms based on the perceptions of the Malaysian construction industry players. From the jurisprudence point of view, this study looks into the law as it is, in relation to the current practice of dispute resolution and ADR, by showing how those findings can be used to explain why improvement is needed to promote a successful and well received dispute resolution and ADR, and what lessons can be learnt, towards the formulation of a more viable methods for the Malaysian construction industry. NVivo software has been used to manage and organise the complete interview transcripts and facilitate the data analysis process for this study. Literature review reveals a continuous development of dispute resolution and ADR in the Malaysian construction industry, while, globally the industry has not only embraced ADR but also spearheaded the development of innovative forms of dispute avoidance mechanism. The findings of interviews show that locally, apart from litigation, the common types of ADR are arbitration, mediation and ad hoc mechanism. The findings also lead to the discovery of the following attributes: faster, less procedural, cost effective and enforceable; regulation and government's support; professionalism and ethic; training; and facility, that may promote a successful implementation of dispute resolution and ADR in Malaysia.

Nowadays, even though many new construction techniques have been introduced, masonry has got its own importance in building industry. Masonry structures fail miserably under lateral loading conditions like earth quakes and impact loads. The occurrence of recent earthquakes in India and in different parts of the world have highlighted that most of the loss of human lives and damage to property have been due to the collapse of masonry structures. Though an earthquake could not be prevented, the loss of life and property could be minimized, if necessary steps could be taken to reduce the damages on the existing masonry structures. This paper investigates the application ofNonlinear Seismic Analysis of a masonry building using ANSYS software and check the efficacy of retrofit measuresto protect the existing building.

The low income group (LIG) housing is one of the contemporary challenges of most developing countries and it is assuming to be 'perpetual' problem in some of these countries. This paper explores the Malaysian housing policies on its meticulous implementation and how the pragmatism aspect of such policies improve significantly the housing affordability and accessibility to the majority of the LIG in the country. The study built upon multiple data sources. These sources include empirical data collected through structured and semi-structured questionnaires administered to the household respondents and stakeholder agencies respectively. In addition, published literature and periodicals were reviewed. The five low-cost housing estates in Kuala Lumpur, a Federal Territory of Malaysia, were selected to serve as case study, in order to enrich the study. The findings of the study show that the majority of the beneficiaries of low-cost housing programmes fall within the principal target of LIG and much contribution has been made to the cohort housing. The study also provides evidence that is contrary to path dependent policies. In particular, the Malaysian housing policies adoption of pragmatic and all inclusive role of the government, provide institutional support for a well functional housing delivery to the LIG not only in Kuala Lumpur, but for the entire country.

Most open air museums were established to preserve and present a threatened aspect of regional or national culture and to help forge a sense of identity and achievement. Britain's open air museums have aroused controversy among both museum professionals and building conservationists. They have been praised for spearheading innovative and vivacious approaches towards heritage interpretation and saving neglected buildings, while some have criticised them for inconsistent standards of conservation especially for taking buildings out of their original settings. Such architectural issues were strongly debated in the 1970s, while recent debates focus on popular approaches towards attracting the public to the past. This paper describes the evolution of open air museums in Britain, their contribution in conserving unloved buildings and how they have become an increasingly competitive tourist attraction. Observations and lessons learned from interviews and visit to two open air museums in South East England provides some insight about the importance of such museums. Operated as registered charity organisations, they have played significant roles not only in saving various buildings and structures from demolition but also in helping visitors to appreciate the rich heritage of these regions.

This paper discusses the adjustment techniques applied by valuers in determining the market value of the property. There are several types of adjustment techniques that can be applied in comparison method such as summative percentage, dollar percentage, add and/or subtract percentage, and proper base adjustments. In order to investigate the most preferred adjustment techniques applied by valuers in Malaysia as well as the elements of adjustment, a questionnaire survey is conducted that involves valuers from government and private sectors as respondents. The research reveals that the most preferred adjustment technique among valuers in Malaysia is the summative percentage method with the sequence of adjustment based on the ranking order of tenure, date of transaction, location, physical characteristics, economic, land use and zoning, quantum, topography, and financial terms. This study benefits the profession of real estate especially to practising valuers in Malaysia.

The indoor climate is one of the most important factors contributing to climate-induced damage to the building materials and cultural collections of a monumental building. The Dutch monumental building - Amerongen Castle, and the collections housed in it show severe deterioration caused by inappropriate historical indoor environment. Assessments of the indoor climate, especially on the room temperature and relative humidity, are necessary to analyze the causes and impacts of climate change. As the building was flooded in year 1993 and 1996, extra attention is paid to investigate the effects of flooding to it. This pilot study was aimed to identify the buildup linkages between the known past, historical data on indoor environment and indoor climate performance in the building through simulation based-prediction. This paper focuses on the methodology of indoor climate investigation from the past to the current situation. A hypothesis was developed on backcasting-based prediction simulation which can be used to identify the accepted historical indoor climate where during those times there probably was no damage to the building and the collection. A simulation method based on heat, air and moisture transport is used with the HAMBase program. The computer model representing the Grand Salon of Amerongen Castle was calibrated by comparing real measurements to simulation results. It shows that the differences were only to the minimum of -1.8C and maximum of 3.2C. The data for the historical outdoor weather files was obtained by interpolating outdoor ancient climatology constructed by MATLAB. Based on archival research, indoor thermal history was gathered as input for the profiles used in simulation. Further, the calibrated computer model can be used to simulate past indoor climate and investigate the process of the deterioration of the room and the collections mainly due to the fluctuation of indoor temperature and relative humidity. At the end, the climate related damages of the building from the past to current situation can be described and documented.

Rapid physical development in a residential area will deteriorate living environment of the residents especially if it takes place haphazardly without applying adequate planning guidelines. It will, eventually, exert more pressure on physical infrastructure of the area. As a result, residents of the area will be subjected to dissatisfaction on the present supporting infrastructure as the demand exceeds the supply. Evidently, it may lead to poor living conditions of the area, which ultimately slow the progressiveness of the society to achieve the quality of living standards. This paper investigates residents' perceptions on present living environmental setting at Taman Melati residential area in Kuala Lumpur. Questionnaire survey was administered to determine the perceptions of the residents on physical environmental parameters such as air, noise, streetlight illuminance, and traffic volume. The level of satisfaction of the residents on the living environment had showed nearly 64% of the respondents expressed 'satisfied strongly' or 'satisfied'. The level of willingness of the residents to stay further continuously at Taman Melati indicates about 56% of the respondents expressed 'strongly willing' or 'willing'. It is also seen that the overall satisfaction level of the residents on the living environment was high albeit satisfaction level on individual physical environmental parameters was low.

Only a limited amount of research has been reported on factors influencing office building occupation decision among tenants within the centre of Kuala Lumpur. In this paper, a comprehensive set of factors that may influence occupation decisions by tenants in office buildings in Kuala Lumpur is first identified through the search of existing literature. Results are then presented of a Delphi study that investigates the views of the panel of experts who had dealt with office building tenants in Kuala Lumpur in relation to factors influencing occupation decisions. The top five important factors identified by the panel are rental rate, security and access control, responsible management and maintenance team, car park provision/accessibility, and building image/identity. With the given responses, the results will then be used in the study to determine the relative importance of the factors and sub-factors across the different categories of office building tenants in Kuala Lumpur.

This paper describes the results of an investigation on the challenges confronting valuers in dealing with the assessment of compensation for Orang Asli native land (OANL). In Malaysia, valuers are often ambivalent about assessing the worth of Orang Asli property rights; this is because the conventional valuation toolkits are 'ill-equipped' to cope with the multi-faceted issues involved in valuing such lands. Orang Asli view the worth of their lands from a multitude of dimensions (spiritual, cultural, communal and economic), and this often takes the value consideration far beyond that contemplated by private registered land owners. The study also looks into the compensation for native titles in o the r countries and draw s local parallel to the problem. The key issues that have been identified include the valuation approaches; land rights; monetary and nonmonetary compensation; leg al framework and; negotiation for compensation. These lead to the recommendation that the compensation issue for Orang Asli native land is need of a legislative reform .

Sustenance of the human race has put an immense pressure on our planet Earth in terms of sustainability of natural resources. The greenhouse effect and the ozone hole are the two most threatening effects of pollution. Constructions of buildings as well as materials contribute to a large percentage to this pollution. Again every material used in the building industry has its source in the Earth. In general the low energy materials will be least polluting. The conventionally used building materials like bricks, cement, steel, timber, plastics, glass etc. usually involve huge transportation costs and also manufacturing processes which are detriment al to the environment. On the other hand the demand for new buildings as well as the cost of building construction is growing a tremendous pace. We have to search for alternative materials which are energy efficient, environment friendly and economical like our traditional building materials - mud walls and thatch roofs. Of all the alternatives available to us which lead the way to sustainability, building with earth has been an ancient and accepted practice among communities all over the world. It is estimated that the construction and the operation of buildings is responsible for around half of all glob al C02 emissions, thereby contributing the largest single source attributable to climate change. Earthen construction has been, is and will continue to be a reality. Stabilised rammed earth walls can be used as a building integrated source of passive cooling technique. A huge population in Indi a lives in the rural areas where there has been a growing trend in shifting towards brick and concrete constructions in search for social status. Even a small percentage can lead to massive increase in glob l C02 emissions if the trend is not checked at this point. This papers looks into the current scenario and hence the corresponding responsibility on architects, planners and policy makers to bring in technology reforms; the green way of thinking' which will see a better and safer tomorrow.

In spite of so many varieties of form and detail of construction found in Southeast Asian vernacular buildings, there are some recurring features and shared characteristics that bind them together. The vast territories in which this phenomenon exists, known as the "Austronesian world", does not include Japan. Howev er, there is an intriguing resemblance between the architectural style of Japanese vernacular heritage of the earlier period with that of Austronesia. This paper is an attempt to explain the relation between the two using the findings of studies by archaeological, linguistic, sociological and anthropological experts based on the link between culture, language and vernacular architecture.

Tropical climates are thermally uncomfortable and are mostly unhealthy to the occupants of the modern skyscrapers. The temperatures are usually on the hot side coupled with high relative humidity. The population living in the tropics, especially in Malaysia, is getting affluent and can afford air-conditioning their residences and offices. This leads to increased electricity consumption in the buildings. However, switching off the air-conditioning is not an option for the modern buildings as it would affect the health of the people and their productivity. This paper proposes innovative indoor units that will contribute to energy conservation by utilising principles of partial air-conditioning. The outdoor units could be utilised for clothes drying or for providing hot water to the occupants of the building. This will successfully address the issues on sustainable building technologies and techniques. It will lead to considerable savings in energy consumption in buildings in the tropical climate.

This paper attempts to study the impact of built environment on the immediate surroundings and nearby places in a metropolitan city of North India. The relationship of built environment with travel behaviour is studied on the basis of empirical studies. Impact of treatment plants, emissions from domestic and industrial sources, vehicles and sewerage, etc., has been studied in the study area. The consequences and ill-effects in nearby places have also been studied, based on secondary data. Various development and planning issues are discussed. There is an immediate need to adopt the concept of ecological city and to take appropriate re medial measures to achieve sustainability.

Some developed countries have drawn lip construction-specific statutory security of payment acts/legislations typically known as Construction Contracts Act to eliminate poor payment practices and to assist continuous uninterrupted construction works. Malaysia too cannot pretend not to have these problems. This paper presents findings of a study conducted amongst Malaysian contractors with the aims to determine the seriousness of late and non- payment problems; to identify the main causes and effects of late and non-payment; and to identify ways to sustain the payment flows in the Malaysian construction industry. The study focused on contractual payments from the paymaster (government or private) to the contractors. The main factors for late and nonpayment in the construction industry identified from the study include: delay in certification, paymaster's poor financial management, local culture/attitude, pay master's failure to implement good governance in business, underpayment of certified amounts by the pay master and the use of 'pay when paid' clauses in contracts. The research findings show that late and non-payment can create cash flow problems, stress and financial hardship on the contractors. Amongst the most appropriate solutions to overcome the problem of late and non-payment faced by local contractors include: a right to regular periodic payment, a right to a defined time frame (or payment and a right to a speedy dispute resolution mechanism. Promptness of submitting, processing, issuing interim payment certificates and honouring the certificates are extremely important issues in relation to progress payment claims. Perhaps, an increased sense of professionalism in construction industry could overcome some of the problems related to late and non- payment issues.

The entire Himalayan range is highly prone to earthquake s and the latest Kashmir earthquake (October 08, 2005) has once again drawn our attention to the highly vulnerable Himalayan settlements. Narcndranagar block of the Himalayan state of Uttaranchal lies in seismic zone IV of the seismic zoning map of India. Like in other hilly areas Narendranagar block also witnessed the traditional practice of house construction being replaced by modern construction materials and practices without the knowledge of earthquake resistant techniques rendering the present buildings more vulnerable to earthquakes. The objective of this paper is to assess the vulnerability of the buildings so that corrective measures can be taken to minimize the destruction during future earthquakes. Types of buildings observed in the entire block with different combinations of materials and their earthquake behaviours are explained. The existing structures are grouped into vulnerability categories Vl , V2 and V3 as per the descriptions provided in the MSK (Medvedev - Sponheaer - Karnik) Intensity Scale. Damage estimation for a hypothetical earthquake is carried out for the Narcndranagar block. Conclusions and recommendations suggesting use of such studies in all earth quake prone areas of the Trans Himalayan region arc provided.

Building maintenance in conservation of old buildings is one of the approaches applied within the built environment of Malaysia. For instance, it is realised that these old buildings contribute an important significance to our nation's priceless heritage and unique historical development. However, most of these buildings' maintenance is influenced by related problems that affect the overall building conservation approach. Therefore, these old buildings face problems which greatly affect their overall condition and performance: building structure; building appearance and aesthetic; building materials and building character. In most critical situations, there is a greater possibility that we could lose the cultural significance and heritage values of these old buildings through ignoring the related problems. This paper tries to identify the related problems, reveal the findings and discuss suitable approaches to conserving these old buildings.

Making green spaces accessible to as many people as possible is now mainstream thinking in planning, design and management. Green spaces call be internal or external, integrated or separated with building. The purpose of this paper is to investigate and identify the characteristics in creating green spaces for the disabled persons' to enjoy. This research is dedicated specially for those with sensory disabilities, i.e. visually impaired' persons.The research will focus on issues and constraints that seem to impede their basic necessity, which is a barrier to them in enjoying the green spaces alongside their sighted peers. However, this research can also be applied to other users such as children, elderly people, pregnant women and parent with strollers. An example of a case study selected is the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) Park, where the author will explore the objectives and design principles of the Park. The findings are intended to provide recommendation on appropriate design criteria for the visually impaired persons in helping to maintain and manage green spaces. This is also to provide general information on different type of plants, highlighting their value and use in design as advised by landscape architects.

Architecture teaching involves not only the teaching of art and aesthetics but also the science of building. With the increased use of high-rise construction, intelligent building features as well as the use of Building Services to make the buildings habitable, it becomes imperative that the students of architecture understand and appreciate the complexities of the engineering systems to make the buildings sustainable and energy efficient. The process of Architecture design starts with the sketch design by the architect. At this point, many major decisions are being made with respect to the orientation, fenestration, service cores, environmental control systems etc. These preliminary design decisions would affect the overall energy efficiency of the building as such. It is thus necessary for the architecture student to comprehend and assimilate advanced building technologies. This paper presents a novel approach adopted in the Department of Architecture at the University of Malaya, commencing from the academic session 2005-2006 for the teaching of Advanced Building Technology to Year 4 students.

In the competitive and uncertain environment of the construction industry, the ability to deliver end products with the required quality, schedule and budget is vital to the survival of any construction-related firm. Before embarking on any project, realistic planning and, consequently, a control procedure must be in place to enable the parties to manage the project with sufficient degree of authority and certainty. This paper addresses issues associated with the implementation of project planning and control, identificati on of impacts in the implementation of project planning and the critical success factors of project planning. A questionnaire survey was conducted on construction professionals and contractors involved in the running of construction projects. The survey results showed that common problems associated with the project planning and control are the lack of experienced staff and poor coordination by the contractor. During site operation, a delay in decision making aggravates the effect of poor planning and control and much of the effect of project planning rests on the pro-activeness of experienced staff. The positive impact associated with proper planning and control is the high probability of finishing the project on time while the negative impact is that it is a time-consuming and costly process. The critical success factors identified from the survey are Excellent Teamwork and Experienced Team.

This paper highlights the results of a questionnaire survey amongst contractors and contracting consultants in a growing economy. The survey was intended to explore the problems that the employees think might affect the quality of construction works. Thirteen factors known to have some bearing on the quality of construction have been identified through literature and were used as a basis for the survey. The findings of the survey revealed that there is a need to focus on the human factors in addressing the quality issue. The four most problematic factors indicated by the respondents are lack of information, time constraint, lack of teamwork and poor communication. The results indicated the importance of a unified force; an enhanced coordination flow and improved teamwork are required to achieve the project quality objectives. A quality system will not succeed unless both the technical and humanistic aspects are addressed. These are some of the challenges that construction-related organisations must address to continually improve their quality of products and services to be able to compete aggressively in an environment where the quality requirements are always rising.

The built environment is an integral part of the infrastructure necessary for survival. The environmental sustainability of our future generations is being scrutinised by the people responsible for the higher education. The role of higher education in creating a more environmentally sustainable future is undeniable. The aim would be to train the professionals to be environmentally literate. These issues present a challenge to the educationist as well as to the students of the Built Environment, to reconcile the environmental aspects as part of the built environment. The focus of the paper is mainly on the teaching approaches specifically on the integration of environmental sustainability issues into the subjects offered. This relates to the development of the student's awareness, perceptions of environmental sustainability and to the issues at stake with the intention to set a structured inte gration of environmental sustainability, through subjects related to the various aspects of the built environment education. These issues are in congruence with the publications of the new criteria for the validation of the courses in Built Environment, which contains newly articulated demands for students to have an understanding of the natural world and of the impact of their designs on the environment as well as on the humans.

Valuation involves the analyses of various input data to produce an estimated value. Since each input is itself often an estimate, there is an element of uncertainty in the input. This leads to uncertainty in the resultant output value. It is argued that a valuation must also convey information on the uncertainty, so as to be more meaningful and informative to the user. The Monte Carlo simulation technique can generate the information on uncertainty and is therefore potentially useful to valuation. This paper reports on the investigation that has been conducted to apply Monte Carlo simulation technique in mineral valuation, more specifically, in the valuation of a quarry concession.