CRITERIA AND ATTRIBUTES FOR THE 20-MINUTE CITY CONCEPT (KP20M) IN BALIK PULAU, PULAU PINANG

Abstract

This article reports on the progress of a community project that involves Universiti Sains Malaysia, PLANMalaysia, Penang Disaster Management Committee and local community organisations. The purpose of this project is to measure the suitability of this neighbourhood in Balik Pulau that qualifies to be considered as a pilot project that is able to achieve a level comparable to the pilot project in Melbourne, Australia. This 20-Minute City project aims to assess the attributes and criteria, examine the study area’s preparedness to address disaster based on the assessed attributes and criteria, and strengthen the resilience of the study area via practising locally mould 20-Minute City attributes and criteria. This is done by looking at the use of space (spatial) and capacity (public facilities, infrastructure, buildings & other land use categories) based on the needs of existing communities. 20-Minute City Concept was initially brought forward to promote the idea of living locally – people can meet most of their needs within a 20-minute walk from home. COVID-19 has abruptly tweaked living locally into living sustainably, where the profound COVID-19 destructive effect has accelerated the necessity of developing a community that is resilient to risk. The study area technically has 20-Minute City’s attributes and criteria; however, they are yet to be fully assessed on its readiness aspect. This study is appropriately done now to see this concept potentially incorporated in some Malaysia development policies, especially after the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic since this new city concept has become a new trend of new neighbourhood norm. Understanding the feasibility of these attributes and criteria will help in planning an effective disaster management plan which then creates a resilient and competitive community towards understanding distances and features as being practised in the 20-minute neighbourhoods in Australia.