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Open spaces are an important feature of any neighborhood since they serve as a hub for the community’s socio-cultural activities. According to the National Population Commission, 64% of the population in northern Nigeria lives in rural areas and utilizes outdoor spaces for their socio-cultural lives. The typology and ownership of rural open spaces in north-western Nigeria have become major concerns for their impact on its management. This research explores the typology and ownership of open space in rural areas within north-western Nigeria to adduce the challenges facing its role in sustaining the communities’ cultural values. Observation from five communities in the Batagarawa local government. The study discovered a subconscious classification of rural open spaces into the community and private open spaces, each with defined boundaries, and the study also identified relevant stakeholders. As a result, the study suggests that the government play a coordinating role in resolving any disagreements among stakeholders so that open spaces can be better identified and the cultural values of these open spaces can be preserved, and thus concludes that open space typology and ownership have become a critical concern in sustaining the roles of open spaces in northern Nigeria’s semi-arid region

Permanent urban forest reserves are aesthetic assets within cities. Consequently, their aesthetic quality must be continuously preserved and visually assessed. Even though numerous studies have utilized multiple variables to characterize visual aesthetics, they have lacked information on the importance and weightage of each variable, making it very challenging to assess this. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the relative weightage of the visual aesthetic variables for permanent urban forest reserves in Malaysia. We used a converging approach assessment method to determine the ranked preferences for the visual aesthetic variables of permanent urban forest reserves by selecting multiple variables based on public preferences and expert survey assessments of these. In addition, we utilized the converging approach results as a guide for the analytic hierarchy process in order to determine the weights of the visual aesthetic variables. We identified 14 variables, derived from six main variables, as multiple visual aesthetic variables for permanent urban forest reserves based on the content of photos taken by 12 public participants. The expert survey confirmed the validity of the classification of the variables and the importance of their linear sequencing. It was revealed that the greatest weight normalization (W = 10) was achieved from the variables “openness with city view”, “uniqueness of water with natural elements”, and “openness with water view”, while the least weight normalization (W = 1) was obtained from the variables “legibility with natural path”, “uniqueness with man-made elements”, and “uniqueness with natural elements”. Our findings provide a foundation for assessing the visual aesthetic quality of permanent urban forest reserves.

Aesthetic experience in a forest can typically be associated with attractive forest scenery that gives people a sense of visual pleasure. Characterized as a visual product based on people’s reactions towards various combinations of landscape settings, features, and objects, this type of natural visual pleasure may benefit people’s well-being, promotes natural and cultural heritage preservation, and encourages the growth of the eco-tourism industry. While most research on forest aesthetics focuses on non-urban settings, this study examines aesthetics in the context of urban forests. This study aims to systematically review landscape aesthetic assessment studies to propose a model for urban forests. We conducted a systematic review of research articles published from 2014 to 2020 by using three research journal databases, Science Direct, Scopus, and MDPI. In total, 55 research articles were identified and qualified for review based on the screening requirements. An additional 26 research articles were also included by using the snowball method to provide better understanding and outcomes for the study. The results were organized into these categories: definitions, benefits, philosophies, approaches, and variables for the aesthetic quality assessment in urban forest areas. In addition, we also found that aesthetic quality in urban forests is highly influenced by visual composition, visual sense, and visual conditions, which have also been proven to be important parts of forest functions and values that could contribute towards the preservation of urban green spaces.

Urban parks are inseparable part of green spaces that have been recognized for developing the surrounding environment’s quality. Aesthetic comprehension in Urban Pocket Parks, as an environment which contains various stimuli, is influenced by multi-sensory perception that includes the integration of non-visual (tactile, auditory and olfactory) and visual stimuli. As the current research’s objective was to determine the impact of multi-sensory on visual preferences, Structural Equations Model results on 16 Urban Pocket Parks in Tabriz, Iran, revealed that there was a significant relation between visual preferences and Sound (Human and Natural sounds), and Smell (Human-Body and Natural smells) stimuli, however, the influence of touch stimuli on visual preferences had not identified significant. As a consequence, evaluating the public experience of Natural Sound-Smell Stimuli and the Human-body Sound-Smell Stimuli are essential in designing urban pocket parks; accordingly, city planners and landscape architects can enhance users’ visual preferences by considering these stimuli.

Developing cities in the world are facing the threat of rapid urbanization. Creating liveable neighborhood has become a new urban agenda for the coming decades. Public spaces, including neighborhood parks, play a significant role in improving the social life of a community since they are considered the backbone of the urban park systems. However, there are many underutilized parks. In the past, this issue was mainly considered in terms of physical and social attributes. Less attention was directed to the psychological attachment process of park users. This is due to the multifaceted, multidisciplinary, multidimensional, and multi-paradigmatic nature of research on place attachment, which has led to an accumulation of concepts and definitions. To this end, and within the growing influence of environmental psychology on urban design, the immensity and complexity of place attachment literature can be difficult to navigate and time-consuming. This paper reviews various conceptualisations of place attachment and use, the process of attachment towards places, and the behaviour commitment of users towards parks. This analysis provides further insight into the psychological process of park attachment to encourage holistic approach, underpin innovative concepts, deepen reflection on research paradigm, and guide empirical studies. The central message of this paper is that integrating the psychological aspect of place attachment in the place-making process will help transform values of places into a responsive social environment.

PurposeA public space is a place of significance when it fulfils the human need for social interaction and attachment. However, the scarcity of public spaces poses a challenge to support socialisation for people within a defined social and cultural group. The purpose of this paper is to explore the association between place attachment and social interaction within public spaces in the city centre of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Design/methodology/approachFace-to-face interviews with urban users were conducted to examine the users’ engagement in three main public spaces in the city and the significance of these spaces to everyday social interaction. Field observations were carried out to examine patterns of users’ activities and interactions.FindingsThe authors uncover a lack of multi-functional spaces to support diverse forms of interactions in the city. A street has an important function to generate activities. However, spaces for people to sit and stay remain scarce, and are in most cases consumed by extended commercial use and thus considered private. Opportunities for social interaction are very limited. The significance of the places relates strongly to commercial and tourism functions, and hence place attachment evolves around those activities. Participants associated their familiarity and engagement with interaction between familiar people, close ethnic relationships and business acquaintances.Practical implicationsThe authors argue that more robust and socially responsive public spaces should be reclaimed for the culturally diverse users.Social implicationsDevelopment of attachment through meaningful spaces for people to stay and interact could enhance the role of public spaces in the city.Originality/valueBy understanding the social meanings of places, particularly in a multi-cultural setting, a stronger basis for designing and managing urban places towards resiliency and social sustainability can be provided.

The number of malls in Malaysia has not only increased dramatically, but they have also been subject to continual expansion over the past few years. Despite this rate of expansion, there has not been enough attention paid to the quality of the spaces and interior landscaping of the malls on the basis of people’s preferences. This study aimed to bring out people’s preferences towards interior public spaces at shopping malls. Using a photo questionnaire, the results pointed to three major dimensions: the green dimension, the seating dimension, and the business dimension in open spaces of shopping malls where the green dimension received the highest preference. The green dimension includes water features, trees, plants, and shrubs. Moreover, legibility and coherence affected people’s preferences for open spaces in shopping malls. People did not prefer the business dimension to spending leisure times, involving business equipment in shopping malls. The study suggested that shopping malls should be designed as truly public spaces with ample public areas. Green elements and water features should be used more in shopping mall public places. Moreover, policy makers can expand the “shopping town” approach for people’s leisure in malls that should include characteristics such as rivers or waterfalls with a dynamic water flow, famous places, public libraries, gardens, town activities, and cultural activities.

Pedestrian bridges as urban infrastructurs, could play a critical role toimprove aesthetic qualityof urban areas. In Tehran, most of the pedestrian bridges are built in a similar structure regardles to the visual characteristics of their environments. However, many studies haveconfirmed the importance of harmony between aesthetic qualityof the bridges and their context. This study attempts to identify the role of context in aesthetic perception ofpedestrian bridges and to identify the visual attributes that affect the preferences through a photo-questionnaire survey. Therespondentswere 384 students from Tehran's universities and they were asked to rate 34 scenes of similar structure pedestrian bridges in different urban settings. Data were analyzed by using factor analysis to reveal preferences dimensions and the factors that may affect the preferences dimensions. In addition, the participants were asked their opinions regarding attributes that they perceived important for pedestian bridges aesthetic. Subsequently, a multiple regression analysis was employed to examine relationship between preferences and aesthetic attributes.The triagulation of results from preference dimensions and multiple regression analysis reviled the importance of visual attributes in setings of the pedestrian bridges and underlined the role of context in the aesthetic preferences of pedestrian bridges. These factors should be considered during planning and design processes in order to improve aesthetic qualities of pedestrian bridges in urban landscape.

Naturalistic landscapes in urban parks, despite their many benefits, often are perceived as being unsafe, and very little research has been conducted on this issue. Thus, the goal of this study was to determine the public’s concerns and perceptions of safety regarding naturalistic landscapes in urban parks. The study used a questionnaire survey that was completed by 360 participants in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The participants’ perceived safety (PS) in naturalistic landscapes in urban parks and concerns regarding threats were examined using statements that were scored on a five-point Likert-like scale. The results indicated that study participants felt safe in naturalistic landscapes in urban parks. The results also indicated that their concerns regarding crimes in urban parks were more significant than their concerns regarding the threat from wildlife. Participants’ PS was associated with their concerns regarding possible threats from other people (potential criminals) in such an environment, and their perception was related to their concerns regarding violent crime and social incivilities.

This study aims to provide an overview of the pocket parks in the city centre of Kuala Lumpur while identifying the characteristics of the pocket parks associated with the visitation and usage. This study also intends to identify the constraints that limit the use of pocket parks according to Malaysia context. A survey conducted among N=363 respondents consisting of pocket parks users and non-users are presented and discussed. Overall the pocket parks in Kuala Lumpur are used by the respondents to rest and reduce stress. This study concluded that slightly more women use the pocket parks than men and lack of time was the main constraint that limited the use of pocket parks in Kuala Lumpur. A higher majority of respondents also cited their willingness to use the pocket parks more often if changes were implemented to make the pocket park safer and more facilities were provided. The findings contribute to an understanding of the factors that influence the usability pattern and constraints that limit the usage of pocket parks in Kuala Lumpur. Further, a well-managed and maintained pocket park would create opportunities for all segments of the urban community to use the parks more often.

Challenges between urban development and heritage conservation are more critical in developing countries since new constructions threaten historic urban areas. On account of vast developments in urban areas, the so-called cultural heritage of cities, may tolerate irreversible damages, thus striking a balance is essential. The opinions of stakeholders could be a reliable reference in maintaining this balance. Therefore, the perception of the public should complement the expertise required in the conservation of historic urban areas and the development of adjacency. This paper outlines the findings of a study conducted to identify visual preferences of international tourists toward the historic centre of Kuala Lumpur as a way of passive participation. Thanks to environmental psychology and by means of an in-situ photograph-based survey, six visual preference dimensions were recognized that influence the perception of tourists towards the study area. In the current study, these dimensions are entitled visual chaos, urban greenery, roadside heritage, historic architecture, connectivity and modernity. Each one of these dimensions contains influential elements and features. “Content Identifying Method” carried out to identify the favourable and repulsive contents resulted in high or low preferability of each preference dimensions, respectively. It is concluded that, the surroundings of historic settings show the most neglect from conservation.

As a key national target, Malaysia has been trying to become a sustainable and developed country by 2020. In this way, social sustainability, one of the three pillars of sustainable development involves participation of all people and communities as well as their enjoyment of equal human rights. Based on World Health Organization (WHO), one billion disabled people with impairments live in the world. However, the social model of disability proposes that much more people are disabled due to environmental barriers. In this regard, the universal design concept has been implemented as a notion through which built environment is required to service all people with different range of abilities. Mosque buildings are the main religious spot for Muslim people and their most important community center that play a significant role in their daily lives. Accordingly, application of universal design in this built environment is crucial to cater wider range of users. Reviewing the relevant literatures, this article proposes the significance of the application of universal design as an exigency in mosque design process.

In the process of the economy’s transit into the post-industrial societies to reach sustainability, the tourism industry has been growing through the past half century and has become one of the fastest-growing and largest sectors in the economy. Stability of this source of income demands crucial attempts in diversifying attractiveness of destinations for the purpose of both attracting more visitors as well as increasing their length of stay. In this regard, historic urban heritage has a significant potential and is an important asset, capable of boosting heritage tourism. Rapid development in Malaysia, has resulted in the formation of a global, identical and new image for its cities, particularly, Kuala Lumpur. Urbanization also leads to the deterioration of the Kuala Lumpur historic urban areas so that, the identity and historic image of city is being dominated by modernity. Therefore, this capacity of attraction is being marginalized in competition with other sources of attraction. This paper reports the finding of a study in which reviewing the current literature in addition to analysing the tourism trend and statistics in Malaysia resulted in the conceptualization of a proposed idea. This idea suggests proper consideration for enhancing the capability of Kuala Lumpur historic urban heritage besides its other attractiveness in advocating the tourism industry.

There are studies claiming that the use of greenways is highly influenced by personal, social, and physical attributes. Nonetheless, there is a lack of systemic reviews that have synthesized the evidence. This study systematically reviews the literature to gather evidence related to the types of attributes and constraints affecting the use of urban greenways. The literature reviewed was published between 2000 and 2018. The findings from the review could be assimilated into some recommendations for future researchers. The review adapted the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement guidelines in reporting systematic reviews and meta-analysis. Keywords linked to greenways and their constraints were researched by two independent reviewers. A total of 45 publications were published between 2000 and 2018 (N = 45) that met all the selection criteria for the systemic review. The studies were carried out in America, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Turkey, Japan, and China, with respondents ranging from 21 to 17,338. These studies were heterogeneous in their design, population, urban greenway assessment, and data. From the review, it was found that most studies concluded that the use of greenways was highly influenced by personal, social, and physical attributes. Weather and time of day also influenced users’ decision to use the urban greenways. Nevertheless, the factor of time was not highlighted in most of the studies. Following this, more studies are needed on the role of time of day (day or night). This review agrees that users’ decisions to use greenways are influenced by physical, social and personal attributes. More studies focusing on users’ choices and decisions to use greenways are necessary to provide sensible and practical ways of improving urban greenways based on the population’s preferences. Apart from that, more researches on the factor of time would be beneficial.

In the design process of open spaces within residential apartments, little attention is paid to children and their attitude to the environment is often ignored. Children, especially those who live in high-rise apartments, were found to have less connection with nature. Children supposedly need to engage in physical activities within outdoor areas, but urban planners, with the approval of managers or parents, must adequately design the open space for children. This paper initially reviews different research in this area. It consequently attempts to evaluate parental satisfaction regarding children's connectivity to open spaces as a dependent variable, and their preferences and perception of safety as independent variables. The research method is based on a questionnaire survey addressed to 261 parents and adults, in two localities in Tehran, Iran. The result of this research shows that parental attitude to open space has an effect on children's outdoor activities. Moreover, parents with young children express lower satisfaction to open spaces than those adults without young children. Families with children need open spaces in residential high-rise apartments for their siblings’ physical activities, and the designers should consider such an important need.

The expansion of urbanization leads to increases in urban populations and manmade constructions. Likewise, problems like changing local climates negatively affect urban heat islands and human outdoor thermal comfort. This paper is based on recent studies on the effects of green spaces and plants on the microclimate and thermal comfort of recent years. The topics studied included physical properties of plants, location and vegetation cover, planting densities and crown density, plant element, leaf type, planting patterns and arrangement, and Albedo. The results of the review revealed that several factors with effects on the cooling effect of plants have not received adequate attention in previous studies yet. These include the effects of patterns, arrangement of various plant species, different tree forms and shrubs, the distribution and connection of green space patches in the landscape, the direction of the planting rows in different wind conditions, among others. By the end of this review, suggestions could be made about what possible future studies could undertake to do by way of adopting more precise and comprehensive approaches to different characteristics of plants, different landscape patterns, and the effects of different arrangements of elements in terms of microclimate improvement.

Landfills are the common method of waste disposal. A closed landfill site can be an eyesore land and cause environmental hazardous impacts on surrounding areas. A sustainable solution for redevelopment of a closed landfill site, returns the land to an attractive and beneficial after-use. This study aim to identify potential sustainable solutions and factors in the redevelopment of closed landfill sites. The paper critically reviews the literature regarding vital understanding of the redevelopment process. The study also analyzed the successful landfill redevelopment projects in a wide range of time and locations to suggest the best end-use option. Additionally, the study offers an approach for integrating the social, economic and environmental benefits through the sustainable redevelopment solution contributing to the universal sustainable development and green built environment.

Knowledge about the environment is a key towards environmental sustainability. What is the best environmental education for children? This study aims to investigate children preferences for natural environment that should become the basis for environmental education. To measure preferences, photo-projective method is used to 17 children, aged in between 7-11 years old. They were brought to a park and asked to photographs preferred scenes, and were interviewed to clarify the scenes. Results of the study help us to understanding children preference for natural environment setting, which can be used to enhance environmental awareness and improve environmental educations programs for children.

SUMMARY. This study presents the relationship between ‘‘perceived restorative potential’’ (PRP) and ‘‘preference’’ for an environment with respect to their relationship with the restorative components outlined by attention restoration theory (ART) in two categories: urban built landscape (UBL) and urban natural landscape (UNL). In this experimental study, 120 participants from University Putra Malaysia (Serdang, Malaysia) rated four restorative components, the PRP and ‘‘preference’’ of 24 color slides depicting UBL and UNL scenes. The results showed that ‘‘preference’’ and PRP was moderately correlated in UNL and UBL. ‘‘Compatibility’’ was found to be the most influential variable among all the restorative components in explaining PRP and ‘‘preference’’ in both UNL and UBL. However, ‘‘fascination’’ appeared to be the second most significant predictor of ‘‘preference’’ in UNL, whereas ‘‘being away’’ was the second most significant predictor of PRP in UNL. Furthermore, ‘‘coherence’’ predicted ‘‘preference’’ but it did not predict PRP in UNL. ‘‘Being away’’ and ‘‘coherence’’ were distinct components of PRP and ‘‘preference’’ and of UNL and UBL.

This study attempted to determine people’s visual preference for urban landscapes in Malaysia. In an experimental study, 120 students from three departments in Universiti Putra Malaysia rated 4 predictors of preference (Coherence, complexity, legibility and mystery) and a criterion variable (preference) of 24 color slides depicting urban built landscape (UBL) and urban natural landscape (UNL) scenes. The results of this study showed that the mean preference and the four predictor ratings were significantly higher for UNL than UBL and it confirmed the role of urban nature in urban landscapes. Also, the results showed that all the predictors of preference could explain a large amount of variance in preference, except for “legibility” in UBL. “Mystery” and “complexity” are found to be the most influential predictors of preference in both categories. Furthermore, “coherence” in UNL notably predicts more preference than in UBL. However, knowledge about preferences and the characteristics of urban landscapes contributes to the designing of an enjoyable environment by designers or planners, and to the decision makers who manage the landscape settings for their users. Key words: Preference, urban landscape, visual preference, predictors of preference.

The rising need for social interaction is evident particularly in urban areas due to a stressful urban life and social isolation. In residential areas, neighborhood parks have an important function in supporting social integration and social bonding. Nevertheless, studies have indicated that these parks are not fully utilized for the benefits of residents which could be due to the lack of parks’ legibility. This paper investigates the interrelationship between park utilization and legibility of three neighborhood parks within new residential developments in Malaysia. The research findings are based on field observations and a questionnaire survey conducted with 387 residents of the areas. Results indicate a significant correlation between park utilization and park legibility, implying the potential for social interactions among residents within a legible park setting. The level of the park visual obstruction and the clarity of its structure were found to be strongly linked with park utilization and the intensity of outdoor activities. However, certain critical physical characteristics including the critical density of population and gated neighborhoods may decrease the positive effect of park’s legibility. The findings inform the crucial role of legible environment in the design and planning of neighborhood parks to afford socially responsive public spaces thus enhances the social life of urban dwellers.

Arguments surrounding the epistemology, as well as practical manifestation of various typologies of public participation are enormous. This highlights not only the fluid and complex nature of the concept but also how strongly tied it is to time and place. While the typology of public participation is often viewed from the perspective of engagement levels, this paper uses a dual perspective approach to discuss the various forms of participation from the perspective of both engagement levels and motives, to that of specific contextual applications. The paper also draws from the practical experiences of planners in Malaysia and Nigeria to examine the relationship between evaluation approaches for public participation and the successes of participatory processes in planning projects. The perceived contribution of participatory mechanisms to a project’s success is found to be inadequate in explaining the technique’s contribution to the overall success of planning projects. Also, the motivation of (ex-ante) evaluation is more a determinant of the project success than the focus of evaluation. There is therefore a need for coherent frameworks to integrate previous evaluation experiences in to subsequent policy guides to improve further evaluation efforts as well as planning projects.

Proper designs usually come from a sound concept, though some of Malaysian landscape design projects are carried out by disregarding its conceptual development. Therefore, concepts are not well defined and well-tied to their site context which results in the final design products are rendered useless and misused. Although there are several models by Motloch (2001), Milburn and Brown (2003), and Faizi and Khakzand (2007) which show the process of design, there isn’t any practical study that determines the way of considering this process in Malaysian landscape designers. The sample size for this study consists of eight professionals with more than 10 years of working experience. The researcher used in-depth interviews and focus groups to collect data from selected respondents who were chosen from Malaysian professional landscape designers through purposeful sampling. The participants were asked to draw a diagram, which is the preferable way for designers to present their thoughts. The Malaysian landscape designers’ understanding about the concept and its interaction with the influential factors such as social-cultural aspect, aesthetic, art and material in the landscape design process are investigated, through analyzing the sketches which are drawn by the respondents. In addition, the probable limitations which designer has to deal with are recognized through comparing the Malaysian landscape designers’ sketches with previous presented models. This study explores landscape designers understanding of importance and position of design concept in the landscape design process through analyzing its different steps. The output of the study aims to theoretically and practically enhance the position and importance of the design concept in the landscape design process. Correspondingly, more admirable, successful, and meaningful landscape designs will be resulted through considering the provided concept development model for being applied in landscape design process.