ABSTRACT
The spread of the coronavirus since the end of 2019 turned the pandemic into the main global health challenge. One preventative measure has been social distancing, which requires physical distance to be maintained between people who are not members of the same household. The implementation of social distancing has impacted many aspects of daily life, especially learning, working, physical movement, and sports/recreational activities. In 2021, a study was conducted among residents of a low-cost apartment complex in Selangor, Malaysia to examine the social impacts of social distancing. Analysis of the data collected from a questionnaire survey revealed that for most respondents, social distancing affected the performance of their daily activities in most places. Of the seven (7) types of social activities examined, family life and neighbourhood/community relationships were less negatively affected in terms of quality of life. Meanwhile, their quality of life was reduced, especially in relation to sports/recreational activities and transportation/physical movement. Lifestyle changes or the new normal for the purpose of implementing social distancing for public/social activities should be studied further to reduce the negative social impact of this measure. © 2022 by MIP.
ABSTRACT
Ambient air in the urban area normally is more polluted than less developed areas. This is due to the concentration of urban activities, such as industrial, transportations and commercial or business activities. A study about the impact of urban land uses and activities on the levels of air pollutants in Malaysia’s most urbanised and most developed region that is Klang Valley was conducted. Data of Air Pollutant Index (API) and average concentration of selected air pollutants were used to analyse the ambient air quality of the selected five (5) cities or towns in Klang Valley. The air quality condition of the five (5) cities or towns were related to the land use distributions of the cities or towns with a purpose to understand the impact of land uses on the ambient air quality. Furthermore, the changes of ambient air quality before and after Movement Control Order (MCO) were analysed to examine the impact of human activity changes on the ambient air quality. The study found that a city or a town with more industrial and transportation land uses with fewer greens was more polluted than the area with less industrial and transportation land uses with more greens. However, this finding did not apply to all areas due to effect of winds on the distribution of air pollutants. Besides that, because of MCO, most people stayed at home with the mode of “work from home” that caused air pollutant levels in urban areas to decrease due to less urban activities. Nevertheless, there was a risk of an increase in air pollution levels in residential areas due to the concentration of activities, especially driving motor vehicles in residential areas. A recommendation is given to encourage “work from home” and reduce dependency on auto-mobile in residential areas in order to improve the air quality in urban areas. © 2020 Malaysian Institute Of Planners. All rights reserved.