Systems thinking guides a community building journey in Malaysian public housing

ABSTRACTMalaysia’s urban poor have been successfully rehoused in high-rise buildings during the country’s rapid development. However, quality of life and livelihoods in these complexes are deteriorating, widening inequalities. Considering housing as a complex system, this case study designed an iterative place-based community-building initiative with residents, covering multiple dimensions. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated residents’ vulnerabilities, from job losses to food security. In turn, the programme restructured to meet residents’ emerging needs, adjusting existing plans. Surprisingly, pandemic-related programme changes also had positive outcomes. We share insights for methodology, implementation, scalability, policy implications, evaluation, and funding from a praxis perspective.KEYWORDS: Public housinghealth inequitiesMalaysia NoteThink City Sdn Bhd is an impact organisation seeking to make cities more liveable, environmentally and socially resilient and sustainable. From neighbourhood to national scale, Think City designs and delivers programmes around housing, safety, climate change, urban data to culture-based urban regeneration and heritage conservation via its co-investment and partnership approach (www.thinkcity.com.my).AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank the extensive network of partners who made this programme possible. This includes the community at PPR Kg Baru Hicom for driving the programme with their creativity and commitment; key collaborators such as PERWACOM as critical facilitators, PHSSB, MBI and other authorities for providing the necessary support and guidance; and all other partners for K2K and Rights To The City (R2C).Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).GeolocationThe geographical location mentioned in this paper is Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.Additional informationFundingThe work was supported by the Citi Foundation via CAF America [ID#G-ISC-20207598]; CIMB Bank; PNSB Construction Sdn Bhd.Notes on contributorsUta DietrichUta Dietrich is passionate about urban health, balancing the health of people, city and planet. Her career in Australia, Asia and now Europe has spanned practice, policy, education and research. Over the past 10 years she has applied a human development lens to urban rejuvenation with specific focus on vulnerable communities, public housing and climate & health as Director Social Resilience at Think City in Kuala Lumpur. Most recently Uta has joined the Centre of Expertise – Perspective in Health at Avans University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands.Aishwariya Krishna KumarAishwariya Krishna Kumar has a varied background, with stints in refugee agencies, investments, and urban regeneration, complemented by an education in Economics and Political Science. She has spent 6 years working on urban resilience in Kuala Lumpur, understanding women’s safety, homelessness, and public housing. She enjoys gaining in-depth knowledge on diverse communities and systems– and combining theory and on-ground practice for long-term impact. Having now completed her masters, she is pivoting into environmental action, tackling plastic pollution in rivers and oceans.Shahridan FaiezShahridan Faiez is a practitioner and thinker in sustainable development. He was a senior social development specialist at the World Bank for more than a decade where he designed and implemented sustainability projects in the Africa and Europe and Central Asia regions. He later joined Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund. In Malaysia he helped found Think City and developed the K2K program focusing on the urban poor in public housing. He also provides public policy and strategy advice to local and central governments, private corporations and to multilateral development organisations.