Sustainable Township and Sustainable Home: Public Perceptions

Sustainable Townships and Homes (STSH) have become a trend in a number of countries throughout the world. However, being a developing country, Malaysia faces significant challenges in implementing the STSH idea. One of the challenges would be public support for sustainable development for new townships. Previous research has mostly focused on the framework for implementing STSH without taking into account public perceptions and expectations. Thus, this study determines public knowledge, awareness, as well as their perceptions and expectations of the STSH towards the environment and sustainability. A survey questionnaire was administered randomly to the public in Malaysia using convenience sampling. Feedback from 144 respondents indicates their good level of awareness of sustainable and smart living concepts. This awareness is reflected in their knowledge of the advantages of sustainable and smart living in terms of energy-saving, an improvement in the quality of the built environment in creating better places for people to live, and in terms of environmental protection. In general, they have an awareness of the use of energy-efficient and certified appliances, and these matters are echoed by their strong interest in living in STSH. The ranking based on the Relative Important Index (RII) revealed that the public’s most preferred sustainable home features are solar systems, energy-saving appliances, water-saving devices, and rainwater harvesting systems. In addition, the public perceives and expects that a sustainable township should include efficient building arrangements, smart building layout, and the provision of green areas in a township with sustainable and smart home features. It is evident that this study suggests that the public is currently aware of sustainable development in Malaysia. Thus, this study provides a valuable reference for a future property development project to provide better service based on public satisfaction and feedback.