Page 21 - Asia Speaks

the resilient cities’ campaign to prompt emulation nationwide (Omairi Hashim, 2018). Their selections are as unique as their Urbanic natures in which Malacca, for instance, is declared as a world heritage site and committed efforts are progressing to maintain its heritage status by making it a resilient city against all forces that sort to deny its one-of-its-kind existence.
Being a historic maritime city, the disasters and challenges faced by Malacca include rainfall flooding, disease outbreak, land dissipation, unreliable transportation system, air pollution, ageing population, rising sea level and coastal flooding (100 Resilient Cities, 2017). Despite these, shocking to realize that the biggest challenge faced by Malacca is traffic congestion all due to a good reason as a popular tourist destination, particularly during the weekend, public and school holidays (Syakir Amir Abdul Rahman, Mariana Mohamed Osman, Syariah Bachok & Mansor Ibrahim, 2017). Along with it, transport and industrial emission have also brought air pollution asphyxiating the congestion even more. Malacca’s urban seaward reclamation and coastal development have brought consequences associated with coastal erosion, flash flood, and land dissipation and depleting environmental resources (Syakir Amir Abdul Rahman, Mariana Mohamed Osman, Syahriah Bachok & Mansor Ibrahim, 2014).
Malacca's first sustainability initiative began with the Malacca Declaration on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in 2011. DRR was endorsed by the state government with the main objective to incorporate climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, promote community involvement and build resilience at the local level (Jamaludin & Sulaiman, 2018). City resilience
focuses on improving the city’s performance in the face of multiple hazards, rather than preventing or mitigating the loss of assets due to specific events. Malacca has demonstrated progressive engagement as a resilient city by adapting and coordinating policies and initiatives from the national to the state levels. In spite of the series of governmental initiatives, the need for a Resilient City Framework is paramount that ultimately integrates the urban system in a holistic manner encompassing governance, health and wellbeing, economic and social stability, and sustainable infrastructure and environment. It is anticipated that such a framework would guide Malacca to assess the extent of their resilience, ascertain areas of weaknesses and possible improvements to rectify plans in enhancing the city’s resiliency.
Reference
100 Resilient Cities. (28 July 2017). Malacca's Resilience Challenge. Retrieved from https:// www.100resilientcities.org/: https://www.100resilientcities.org/cities/Malacca/
Jamaludin, I. S., & Sulaiman, N. (2018). MALAYSIA RESILIENT INITIATIVES: CASE STUDY OF MALACCA INTO RESILIENT CITY. Journal of the Malaysian Institute of Planners, 15-24.
Martin-Moreau, M., & Menascé, D. (2018). Urban resilience: introducing this issue and summarizing the discussions. The Journal of Field Actions, 6-11.
Meerow, S., Newell, J. P., & Stults, M. (2016). Defining urban resilience: A review. Landscape and Urban Planning, 38-49.
Omairi Hashim. (2018). MAKING CITIES RESILIENT: THE MALAYSIAN EXPERIENCE. Putrajaya: City Planning Putrajaya Corporation.
Romero-Lankao, P., Gnatz, D. M., Wilhelmi, O., & Hayden, M. (2016). Urban Sustainability and Resilience: From Theory to Practice. Sustainability, 1-19.
Syakir Amir Abdul Rahman, Mariana Mohamed Osman, Syahriah Bachok & Mansor Ibrahim. (2014). Understanding tourists' profile and preference of tourists' destination choice:
A case study in Malacca World Heritage City. Planning Malaysia, 81-94.
Syakir Amir Abdul Rahman, Mariana Mohamed Osman, Syariah Bachok & Mansor Ibrahim. (2017). Socio-demographic variation on tourism expenditure in Malacca UNESCO World Heritage Area. Advanced Science Letters, 2958-2961.
UNESCO. (14 February 2018). Building urban resilience through integrated water management and disaster risk reduction. Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org/: https:// en.unesco.org/news/building-urban-resilience-through-integrated-water-management- and-disaster-risk-reduction
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