Searching for sustainable cities: residents’ perceptions on the implementation of sustainable cities in Malaysia

There has been considerable interest in the research of sustainable cities in developing countries such as Malaysia. This paper will review urban residents’ perceptions of the ways that sustainable cities are being planned and produced in Malaysia. In particular, this article analyses urban residents’ perceptions of planners’ roles in the context of diverse aspirations for sustainable cities. Data collected from in-depth interviews and survey revealed that the communication between urban residents and planners tends to be ‘one way’ and there are ‘too many’ unnecessary political intervention in planning for sustainable cities. Although public participation allows urban residents to participate in the planning process, the residents’ opinions tend to be ignored as there is a minority but a powerful and affluent group that dominated the process. Our data also revealed that neighbourhood planning tends to include ‘everything’ under the umbrella of sustainability, but with little practical execution on the ground. Thus, we can conclude that the implementation of sustainable development is still a challenge in Malaysian cities.