Sustainable Rural Housing Development in Sarawak: A Preliminary Conceptual Framework

Abstract

Sustainability practices within rural area housing development is relatively scarce. This may be due to insufficient financial support and focus by the local authorities. Some of the rural areas in the largest state of Malaysia, namely, Sarawak, are facing serious housing issues with limited supply of electricity and water, which in turn, creates low standard of living. This seems to imply on the unsustainable housing development. This paper reviewed the international sustainable development approach and the sustainable practices in Malaysia, in housing development. The initial review identified 40 sustainability-related housing indicators, which revealed a potential research area to ascertain different housing indicators for improving the living standards of the rural residents in Sarawak. This research could help to provide a more sustainable housing environment to improve residents' living standard, and possibly, to suggest a better efficient use of resources, that could help to improve the current government guidelines, for developing sustainable rural housing in Sarawak.