Assessing Housing Design Sustainability Using Urban Fabric Indicators: A Case Study of Middle Range High Rise Housing Development at Bandar Perda

Abstract

A residential area is a vital element in human life. Therefore a residential area should be designed to create a balance between physical buildings, surrounding conditions, and residents. Nowadays, there is a lot of issues arises about sustainability of residential development in Malaysia mainly due to poor residential design that increases dependency on private vehicle, poor connectivity and encourages unhealthy live style. Although there are significant numbers of residential areas developed with sustainability concept is broadcasted as the key theme. However, the housing project is far from meeting the criteria for sustainable residential areas. This mainly due to the inability of a suitable measure to gauge the level of sustainability for residential design. Hence, this paper tried to investigate the sustainability of a mid-range high rise housing at Bandar Perda, Pulau Pinang using Sustainable Development Indicators (SDI) with urban fabric as the key components. The study applies a qualitative research method that applied observation and building inventory techniques used as key strategies to address the study objectives. The finding shows that Bandar Perda does fall short of achieving the sustainable values. Therefore proactive strategies by improving connectivity between areas should be considered. This study also found that indices of urban fabric are appropriate for measuring the sustainability of residential regions especially for medium range residential areas in Malaysia.