Nur Afeeya Fatihah bt Muhammad Fadzli

Assalamualaikum..its has been such a long period i didn't update this blog..today i just want to share something that had happen with myself. it was about my pregnancy..every women would be happy on their first pregnancy..so do I..it was so wonderful moment in my life which is in 2015..i was in my final semester in MSc Housing (USM)..as a part time student, alhamdulillah I can manage between study, family and working..my due date suppose to be in April 2016 (can't remember the exact date, around 13th april maybe)..

but all the happiness and all my hopes at that time was gone..GONE!! Allah had taken back my lovely daughter when she was 32weeks in my my tummy..ALLAHUAKBAR..no one knows my feeling at that time..no one can understand what i was thinking about..no one can make me smile anymore at the moment..NO ONE..everyone trying to comfort n motivate me but i keep crying day by day..yes, i feel ashamed to ALLAH, i'm so weak..i never be as weak as what i had going through now.. this is the biggest test in my life..please forgive me ya Allah coz being so down n keep questioning for the test that u had given..i'm not a good servants..at the age of 26, i need to go through all this and for me it is not fair (stupid thought)..i keep asking why me??why my other friends can enjoy their wonderful moment of being a mother and raise up their children?WHY WHY WHY?i can't think rationally at that time..not just that, the most saddest moment is i had to go through confinement period without my baby..



to be continued...insya ALLAH, when i have a strength to write again..

Gated Communities

gated community is a form of residential community which surrounded by perimeter of walls and fences..it is usually consist of small residential streets and include various shared ammenties.. gated community will increase a safety level within the area. 

According to Town and Planning Department, there are four types of gated communities in Malaysia, namely:

1- Elite community

2-Lifestyle Community

3-Security Zone Community

4- Security zone community and lifestyle

elite communities is occupied by the upper-class income group of people..lifestyle community consist of retirement communities, leisure communities and suburban 'new towns'..security zone community is the most popular types in which it offers a housing development that surrounded by fences or gates. it is usually provided with guard services. security zone community and lifestyle usually developed within a city centre. it focus on both security aspect and provision of lifestyle facilities for the residents..

people usually choose this type of neighbourhood because of security features provided..however, for me, it is not 100% guaranty that this type of community is secured..in addition, this type of communities also will produce a gap between an elite group with the other community in the area.. living in a separated area will limit the interaction and communication between a gated communities and the outside gated community...

Greening City

greening city is what we have to do in order to support for a sustainable development..we need to produce a city which are liveable and sustainable city..even if the city is well developed with both infrastructure and facilities provided, it is a need to consider on green city concept.. it is because, as the world temperature nowadays keep increasing, it is important to plant more trees in the city..trees can help to reduce the city temperature by give a shading to the building..

According to Akbari et al., (2001),the loss of vegetation means a loss of cooling in urban areas. Indeed, vegetation plays an essential role in preventing the build-up of heat through the process of evapotranspiration and shading of the ground and buildings. During the natural process of evapotranspiration of water vapor, the ambient air is cooled, releasing part of its heat to allow evaporation.

in addition, natural soils in the city also commonly are replaced with the artificial pavement such as asphalt and concrete..this action will lead to the the higher temperature of the city because the soil cannot absorb the heat that produced in the city..

therefore, in order to avoid Urban Heat Island phenomenon, more trees need to be planted in the city..instead of using a block pavement, just used a natural soil and grass..

Sustainable Community Planning in Tourism

All tourism activities need to be sustainable..Sustainable tourism ( is defined as tourism that respects both local people and traveller, cultural heritage and the environment.. it seeks to provide people with an exciting and educational holiday that is also benefit to the people of the host country..(UNESCO)

tourism can also cause its share of problem like other forms of development..such as social dislocation, loss of cultural heritage, economic dependence and ecological degradation..

sustainable community is one of the main aspect in order to produce a sustainable tourism..it can be created by ecological footprint concept..environmental indicator which is also used to determine sustainability in lifestyle..in addition, changes in lifestyle also can create a sustainable community..it is either anthropocentric or ecocentric..anthropocentric is a people who believe there is a solution to save a problem, just ignores about being sustainable..but ecocentric is a people who tend or behave sustainably..

the argument of Sustainable tourism is the concept is still novel, controversial and ill-defined..however for me, if we can behave in sustainable manner in a large scale, we can lead to sustainable life..

GREEN BUILDING INDEX (GBI)

'GO GREEN'..new trend of being sustainable..everyone as talking about green..Green building, green roof, green technology..why?because we are towards making the world sustainable..Green Building is the practice of creating structure s and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building’s life cycle from sitting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and deconstruction (Wikipedia, 2010). It is also known as green construction or sustainable building.. having a sustainable or Green building will able to sustain and improve the quality of human life whilst maintaining the capacity of the ecosystem at local and global levels.

The Green Building Index (GBI) is Malaysia’s industry recognised green rating tool for buildings to promote sustainability in the built environment and raise awareness of these issues among relevant stakeholders such as developers, architects, and contractors.

The rating system for all 4 building categories is as follows:

>86 points - Platinum
76 to 85- Gold
66 to 75- Silver
50 to 65- Certified

The points indicated in brackets in the next section depend upon the building category.


GBI not only applicable for new building only..it can be done even through an existing building..for example, a KOMTAR building in Penang (a study done by Dr Sharifah, my lecturer)..such a surprising cost will involve..it cost almost RM 19 million in order to turn this building to be a green building..

yes, it is not possible for every building in Malaysia to have the GBI rating, but again, it involved a large amount of money..

CORAL BLEACHING

i'm quite surprising on this topic presented by my friends, Nurul Hidayah..this topic was interesting to me because i never noticed about it before..i'm just understood that being sustainable is just protecting a green environment, without realized that 'blue environment' also need to be considered..coral bleaching is one of the event that occurred due to warmer water temperature..Small increases in temperature, especially prolonged exposure will cause stress to the system. In situations of stress the coral releases its photosynthetic pigments, which results in “bleaching” of the corals. Unless the factor causing the stress is removed and the algae can return, the coral dies (Jessica,A.,2003).

According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, warmest water temperature can result in coral bleaching. when water is too warm, corals will expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues  causing the coral to turn completely white..this is called coral bleaching.. when a coral bleaches, it is not dead..corals can survive a bleaching event, but hey are under more stress and are subject to mortality..

therefore, it is important to safe our environment in order to control on the temperature of the surrounding..by controlling the air temperature, this coral bleaching phenomenon can be reduced..

Traffic Impact Assessment for Sustainable Development

this topic is quite interesting since I'm not really familiar with this term of Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA)..what I am usually heard is about Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)..Traffic can be defined as on road traffic but inclusive of public transport and pedestrian.. TIA is a step or process of development..any kind of development need to conduct TIA.. it is because to give an assessment of the impact of the proposed development..it is include an access on how many traffic going in and out of the area..TIA purpose is to discover problems and issues due to generated traffic from proposed new development..TIA also suggest mitigation measures or actions to be taken to reduce or eliminate problem and issue identified..

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TIA is important in order to determine the transportation and traffic impact of a proposed land development. TIA not only can be applied for new development, but also can be use for existing development. For me TIA benefits all..why? because by conducting TIA, we can reduce negative impact creted by the development..