CAMPUS WALKABILITY IN MALAYSIAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES : A CASE-STUDY OF UNIVERSITI MALAYA

Universities are important innovation hubs for sustainable development. As universities worldwide are striving to provide conducive living and learning environments for their students and staff, the mobility of campus users is one of the challenges that have to be overcome immediately. In order to understand the issues of campus mobility, this study was conducted to evaluate a component of mobility, i.e. its walkability features and potential. The location of this study was in Universiti Malaya. We divided the study in two stages: 1. Students’ surveys to find out their perceptions on the features, potential and policy on walkability. 2. Direct observations and measurements of the existing walkability conditions (vehicular and pedestrian circulation and the street elements that constitute a walkable environment). The main findings were as follows: Most students perceived the overall walkability environment at UM did not give them a positive walking experience on campus. Street elements that are user-friendly were found to be lacking although there existed some positive ones, e.g. traffic calming devices especially at pedestrian crossing area. Although this is a case study of UM, we feel that the issues are of general interest to other university campuses, especially those located in major cities and having the same organizational structure. We would therefore recommend university management to conduct periodical campus walkability evaluation and to take the user’s perceptions seriously so as to provide better adaptation solutions to their campus sustainability projects. Keyword: Walkability, pedestrian-friendly, campus planning Liow Ken Keat, Naziaty Mohd Yaacob & Nor Rasidah Hashim Campus Walkability in Malaysian Public Universities: A Case-Study of University of Malaya © 2016 by MIP 102 INTRODUCTION Universities worldwide are pledging to provide conducive living and learning environments for their students and staff, and so the mobility of campus users is a challenge that many large universities must address as part of their sustainable campus initiatives. Campus walkability is an important component of campus mobility because these users need to have access to a network of connected, direct and easy to follow routes, linking the hostel, faculties, green spaces, public transport stops and other facilities that will enhance their campus experience, which is based on safety, functionality, pleasure and learning (Banning, 1993; Strange & Banning, 2001; Makki et al., 2012). Walking is commonly associated with many benefits, ranging from reducing air pollution, traffic congestion, solving obesity and other health problems encouraging neighbourly interactions and making the urban environment a more enjoyable and safer place to live (Emery & Crump, 2003). There is sufficient evidence on the link between built environment and walking (Handy, 2005). University administrators including the campus planners must therefore continually monitor the built environment attributes that make up a pedestrian-friendly environment, as well as taking into account the campus community’s opinions on how to improve walkability on campus. The main goal when measuring walkability on a university campus is to advance healthy living, lower emissions and improve sustainable transportation (Angelidis et al., 2014). Walkability is a key component in a sustainable transportation network, and provides social benefits as well as benefits to human health, economic stability, and environmental protection (Lewis, 2004; Park, 2008). In order to understand the level of campus walkability and its relationship with the environment, we have conducted this study in Universiti Malaya, as a case study of a large, well-established Malaysian public university. Universiti Malaya has embarked on creating a better walking environment by constructing better pathways in certain parts of the campus, e.g. the paths around the lake and the area near the main administrative buildings, however, walking paths at many faculties seem to be lacking in proper upgrading and maintenance work (authors’ observation). Our basic assumption is that Malaysian public universities have financial, policy or planning constraints that might slow down or hinder the implementation of a walkable campus concept, therefore this study will hopefully reveal some of the problems. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study Location Established in 1962 and built in its present location in Kuala Lumpur, Universiti Malaya (UM) is the oldest public university in Malaysia. As a public university, PLANNING MALAYSIA Sustainable Urban Development 103 © 2016 by MIP UM’s annual student enrolment is high, situated on a vast campus (309 ha) and its management structure is typical of a large organization, as well as its unique location in the middle of Kuala Lumpur city. There are 12 residential colleges and more than 10 learning centres in the university (Figure 1). In 2014, the number of first year students enrolling at UM was 2895, and these students were given residential accommodation in their respective colleges based on their chosen programmes of study (Registration Admissions and Records Section of Universiti Malaya, 2014). The university campus is accessible to the public on most days as the KL, PJ and Damansara gates are opened during the day. Besides the university buses that ferry students and staff around the campus, the RapidBus (public transportation) services along the main road (around the lake) by entering/exiting the KL gate to the nearby Universiti LRT station. Figure 1: Map of Universiti Malaya campus showing the locations of residential colleges, learning centres (faculties / academies) and administrative buildings. Special features shown are; PJ and KL gates (star), lake (blue) and forested hilly area (green). Source: Universiti Malaya Liow Ken Keat, Naziaty Mohd Yaacob & Nor Rasidah Hashim Campus Walkability in Malaysian Public Universities: A Case-Study of University of Malaya © 2016 by MIP 104 The data for this study was collected using two methods, as described below. 1. Opinion survey of students living on campus. A total of 224 First Year students living in eleven residential colleges participated in this survey, which was conducted from 27 October 2014 until 12 November 2014. The participants in the survey were asked closedand open-ended questions regarding the following topics: i. Five walkability indicators (Sidewalk width, Sidewalk Maintenance, Streetscape, Shading Devices, Vehicle-emitted pollution). ii. Walking experience from their colleges to the faculties based on a scale of 1 (best) to 5 (worst) in five different aspects: safety, security, comfort, convenience, and interestingness. iii. Their opinion on the University No-Car policy of prohibiting first year students to drive cars on campus. This policy was implemented in 2009 in order to promote a green campus. 2. Ground truthing of street elements. During our field work, we used the direct observation technique of measuring and recording the presence (or quantity) or lack of; and evaluated the conditions of the street elements that are important indicators of campus walkability. The direct observation and measurement technique follows the Malaysian Standard of MS 1184:2014 (Malaysian Standards, 2014). The existing conditions were also compared with best practices elsewhere for suggestions on improvement. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 1. Opinion survey of students living on campus The questionnaire survey of students living on campus yielded the following findings. Firstly, based on a list of five walkability indicators, most respondents perceived the overall walkability environment in Universiti Malaya as being constituted of poor features and conditions (Table 1). Sidewalks, which are important walkability features, were not wide enough to allow for comfortable walking especially when one needs to pass each other and/or overtake another pedestrian. The lack of shaded areas along most of the sidewalks might have contributed to the streetscape being dull as well. The noise and fumes emitted by vehicles moving very close to the pedestrians would further negatively affect the walkability experience. PLANNING MALAYSIA Sustainable Urban Development 105 © 2016 by MIP Table 1: Participants responses towards five walkability indicators. Secondly, when considering the factors of safety, security, comfort, convenience and interestingness, the students gave poor ratings as evidenced by the low total scores of 794 and above being far from the best score of 224 (Table 2). Table 2: Total rating of five walkability aspects by 224 respondents (all five aspects received poor total rating). The rating for a respondent’s walking experience is scored on a 1-5 scale (1 being best; 5 worst); all 224 respondents’ scores for each walkability aspect were then pooled to obtain its total score. Several examples of the students’ expressed opinions on such poor walking experience are shared here. Student A cited long distance from the residential college to and from the faculty as being the primary hindrance of walking. On top of that, the poor bus transportation made using a private vehicle seemed a convenient alternative. The two negative aspects of distance and public transportation are indicative of the wider problem of planning, management and even finance. The problem of bus transportation in UM has been mentioned in other studies as well (Mohd Zulhanif et al., 2011; Rugayah et al., 2013). This also leads to questions relating to policy on walkability for the campus (see policy topic below). "My college is located so far from my faculty and it is impossible for me to walk. The bus service is so poor. It is either buses are too few or they are not following the schedule. So I cannot just rely on my foot. Car is more convenient for me. " (Student A) i. Sidewalk width Sufficient 59 students (26%) Insufficient 165 students (74%) ii. Sidewalk Maintenance Well-maintai