Abstract

Our objectives in writing this book were to pull together the themes of research that have been ongoing in the School of Housing Building and Planning in the Universiti Sains Malaysia. The main themes investigate the systems that form the inputs and outputs of resources that move to, from and within the built environment. By extrapolating our knowledge of these systems we can begin to predict the long-term effects that the built environment has on our society and eco-system. It also begins to identify those changes that may be required if we are to improve current systems that will irreversibly damage the environment unless there is intervention.

Buildings and cities need an input of energy for transport, commerce, tourism, industry and housing. If cities are the engines of growth they require fuel to sustain that growth. Cities also require an input of knowledge as well as commodities. This fuels innovation and skills that lead to economic success. With economic success comes the input of people, from foreign investors to rural migrants. With the input of people and investment comes the need for new buildings and the conservation of existing buildings. This, in turn, requires an input of both building materials and the knowledge of manufacturing and assembling them efficiently and effectively.

Outputs from the built environment include the ecological damage caused by development. Poorly designed urban landscapes cause flooding, pollution of rivers and ‘heat islands’. The growing affluence of some sectors of society has resulted in outputs of ever increasing quantities of waste products. Urban sprawl has also become an output as the more affluent classes and ‘superstores’ migrate to the periphery of the city in a symbol of inequality. Airborne pollution is also an output that is rapidly increasing with both the quantity and type of fuel consumption. There are also the outputs of poverty and inequality visible in squatter settlements and low cost housing.