37º IAHS World Congress on Housing: - Universidad de Cantabria

XXXVII <strong>IAHS</strong><strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> on HousingOctober 26 – 29, 2010, Santander, SpainCODE: 642LOW-COST, HIGH-RISE URBAN HOUSING IN KUALALUMPUR, MALAYSIA: AVOIDING THE RISK OF FUTURESLUMSAMR AminuddinSchool of Architecture, Universiti MalayaMalaysia.asrulmahjuddin@um.edu.mySchool of Architecture, Universiti of NottinghamUnited Kingdom.laxamra@nottingham.ac.ukKey words: urban housing, low cost high rise, sustainability, environmental assessmentAbstractThe developments of low cost high-rise housing have been perceived as the best possibleanswer to provide immediate, affordable housing for urban residents in Malaysia. In KualaLumpur 32, 400 units of low cost were planned to be constructed between the year 2006-10and mostly in clusters of blocks within the urban area. With the vast number of unitsproposed, lay the risk of little attention or consideration given to future impacts, both sociallyand environmentally, this demonstrate little or no commitment of a high quality public realm.This paper will review the current development of low-cost high-rise residential buildings inthe Malaysia capital city of Kuala Lumpur. It will explore the theoretical aspects of buildinglow-cost high-rise housing exploring the relationship between theory and practice. Whilst theneed to build a large number of affordable housing units remain. This paper will suggest thatthe design and planning to address this need may require different approaches as KualaLumpur develops in the 21st century and beyond. Thus the paper will address a proposal andstrategic approach to this provision related policy.37º <strong>IAHS</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> On Housing Science 259