RESIDENTS’ PREFERENCES ON ATTRIBUTES OF URBAN AIR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN PETALING JAYA, SELANGOR, MALAYSIA

Abstract

Petaling Jaya, as a core hub of the Klang Valley and a leading development centre in Selangor, has a heavy carbon footprint from mobile sources. As a result, this study identifies residents’ attitudes toward air emissions, their preferences for improvement, and measures the marginal importance of the attributes for improving urban air quality. 300 residents from four zones; Seksyen, SS, PJU, and PJS were selected using stratified and systematic random sampling method. They were evaluated on their attitudes using a Likert scale and preferences using a discrete choice experiment. According to descriptive analysis, respondents favour driving to using public transportation, but their overall attitude toward mitigating air emissions is favourable. Residents embraced an increase of 70% in carpooling initiative participation, 70% in indoor planting programme participation, four low emission zones, and six electric buses, according to the results of a random parameter logit model for the choice experiment. Based on 194,205 households, the marginal willingness to pay the value in PJ was calculated to be about RM33/household/month to RM6, 408,765.00/month in 2019. Residents would place a higher priority on environmental concerns if air quality improved. As a result, attempts to increase air quality may function as a benchmark for all urban cities.