Landfill redevelopment and adequate open space provision: A win-win approach in Malaysian urban development

A win-win approach is needed in developing new resources, the ex-landfill in particular, to meet the space requirement of urban planning. Former landfill is potentially the best alternative for providing such urban public open spaces in Malaysia. Using information from the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, this article reviews the approach used to redevelop former landfills as an alternative strategy to provide adequate open spaces in the context of sustainable urban development planning in Malaysia. The National Urban Policy, through action plans DPN6 and DPN9 insists on the development of former landfills into public parks but space adequacy and compliance with planning standards have proved to be the main challenges. Therefore, a win-win strategy must be conceived and implemented to redevelop the ex-landfills into urban public parks in Malaysia. Using this approach it is estimated that by 2020 a total of 179 landfills with an area of 450 hectares could be developed as open spaces in various forms of urban public facilities.