A qualitative exploration on the awareness and knowledge of stakeholders towards Urban Heat Island phenomenon in Greater Kuala Lumpur: Critical insights for urban policy implications

《A qualitative exploration on the awareness and knowledge of stakeholders towards Urban Heat Island phenomenon in Greater Kuala Lumpur: Critical insights for urban policy implications》

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关键字: Focus group discussion; Greater Kuala Lumpur; Sustainable city; Urban heat island; Urban management; Urban policy; MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES; THERMAL COMFORT; CLIMATE-CHANGE; GREEN ROOFS; CITIES; CITY; TEMPERATURE; INTENSITY; HEALTH; IMPACT

作者单位: [Ramakreshnan, Logaraj; Aghamohammadi, Nasrin; Fong, Chng Saun] Univ Malaya, Fac Med, Dept Social & Prevent Med, Ctr Occupat & Environm Hlth, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. [Ghaffarianhoseini, Amirhosein] Auckland Univ Technol, Sch Engn Comp & Math Sci, Dept Built Environm Engn, Auckland, New Zealand. [Wong, Li Ping] Univ Malaya, Fac Med, Dept Social & Prevent Med, Ctr Epidemiol & Evidence Based Practice, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. [Noor, Rafidah Md] Univ Malaya, Fac Comp Sci & Informat Technol, Dept Comp Syst & Technol, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. [Hanif, Noor Rosly; Abd Aziz, Wan Nor Azriyati Wan] Univ Malaya, Fac Built Environm, Dept Estate Management, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. [Sulaiman, Nik Meriam] Univ Malaya, Fac Engn, Dept Chem Engn, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. [Hassan, Norhaslina] Univ Malaya, Fac Arts & Social Sci, Dept Geog, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. Aghamohammadi, N (reprint author), Univ Malaya, Fac Med, Dept Social & Prevent Med, Ctr Occupat & Environm Hlth, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. E-Mail: nasrin@ummc.edu.my

摘要: Despite its notable role in the exacerbation of urban climate, Urban Heat Island (UHI) was poorly addressed, communicated and integrated into local urban policies of many developing countries. Such scenario often queried the level of UHI understanding amongst the key players who were involved in urban policy formulation. Hence, a qualitative study using Focus Group Discussions (FGD) was designed to investigate the awareness and knowledge level of stakeholders such as policy makers and practitioners in Greater Kuala Lumpur (GKL), an expanding socio-economic hub of a developing tropical country. The findings demonstrated a variable lack of awareness and knowledge about the concept of UHI, its status in GKL as well as organizational engagement in adaptation and mitigation initiatives among the study participants. Essentially, policy makers illustrated a facile awareness and knowledge towards UHI issues whereas practitioners displayed a more robust portfolio of factual understanding regarding the corresponding issues. In line with National Urbanization Policy's (NUP) aspiration to optimize urban developments that provide high quality of life, this study sheds some light on the exigency for UHI awareness creation and capacity building among the policy makers. This study also provides impactful prepositions for the articulation of necessary actions towards evidence-based urban policy formulation in future.