BY DATUK STEWART LABROOY

'The city is not merely a repository of pleasures. It is the stage on which we fight our battles, where we act out the drama of our own lives. It can enhance or corrode our ability to cope with everyday challenges. It can steal our autonomy or give us the freedom to thrive. It can offer a navigable environment, or it can create a series of impossible gauntlets that wear us down daily. The messages encoded in architecture and systems can foster a sense of mastery or helplessness.' - Charles Montgomery, Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design

THERE is no denying it that Kuala Lumpur is bent on building the most amazing number of new towers in the coming years. In a recent article in The Star, Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Seri Ahmad Phesal Talib described these new towers as “Towers of Excellence”. The structures with a collective gross development value running into billions of ringgit will be built at various locations in the city centre and are set to change the city’s skyline in the most dramatic way possible.

What are these 'Towers of Excellence'?
Well, several areas have been identified for these new towering skyscrapers – near the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), the Bukit Bintang City Centre (BBCC), Jalan Ampang, Kampung Baru, Jalan Kuching, Brickfields and Bangsar.

High-rise towers between 60- and 65- storey high have been approved for development at Jalan Stonor and Jalan Conlay near the Petronas Twin Towers. They will eclipse the height of the current developments in the city. Other areas mentioned are Jalan Ampang, where a 60-storey tower has been approved at the location where the former mansion, Bok House, used to stand.

So what is this lifestyle and more importantly what are the Integrated Lifestyle Developments?
The Collins English Dictionary defines "lifestyle" as a set of attitudes, habits or possessions associated with a particular person or group. Your lifestyle can be healthy or unhealthy based on your food choices, activity level and behaviour. A positive lifestyle can bring you happiness, while a negative lifestyle can lead to sadness, illness and depression.

I believe lifestyle choices are made in order to achieve happiness. People make lifestyle choices to be physically fit – they may want access to a gym or be able to take their dogs for a walk around the neighbourhood. Or, they may want to have a healthy dietary lifestyle – access to fresh organic produce or healthy food choices are important. Others may want a "green" lifestyle and look for accommodation which has a green agenda – recycled waste management, energy efficient appliances and lighting and services. Lifestyle may also include views on politics, religion, health, intimacy and culture.

So when we do a “lifestyle development” how many of these issues are taken into consideration?

What are lifestyle integrated developments then?
I think the term “lifestyle” is a loosely used term in modern-day marketing blurb. I find it particularly amusing as I subscribe to the view that I have a life and not a lifestyle. However the more enlightened architects realise that urbanisation of cities are here to stay as people are tired of spending a good part of their lives stuck in traffic jams in the city as they try to make their way home.

But here is the problem. Most people who commute to the city prefer to live in the city but can’t afford to.

They are forced to move further and further from the cities to find homes they can afford.

In order to address the traffic woes, our planners have turned their attention to the idea of counteracting suburban expansion with targeted, concentrated urban development, marked by mid- to high-rise multi-tenant buildings with structured or centrally located parking. The benefits of high-density development have been widely touted, and include reduced congestion and vehicle emissions, smaller ecological footprints and long-term economic sustainability with mixed-used buildings housing multiple tenants. These benefits though promising are far from guaranteed.

In doing so, we must make these projects “socially sustainable”. A city’s productive capacity may not be the determining factor in its competitiveness but rather the city’s ability to be socially sustainable. What impact will these increased densities that we tout as solutions have on the community, specifically asking the question “is high density development socially sustainable?”

Socially sustainable development requires us to look deeper. The purpose of progress is to improve quality of life, which can be defined as the degree to which societies provide living conditions conducive to health and well-being (physical, mental, social and spiritual). Quality of life is both subjective and objective, is much a matter of how people feel about their lives as about the physical conditions in which they live –that is where lifestyle and accommodation converge.

Key elements of what an integrated lifestyle development should be to be socially sustainable:

It should promote both density and diversity
A dense project without a diverse mix of multi-use tenants is counterproductive. Providing multiple living and work places in close proximity reduces time wasted while commuting in and out of traffic.

It should incorporate multiple price points
Developers should consciously accommodate price points to attract the widest audience and provide a viable alternative to the seemingly low-cost allure of suburban sprawl.

It should have options for public transport
Proximity to LRTs, MRTs, rail networks, major highways and bus services should be an important part of high-rise developments, especially if they are located away from the city’s business district.

It should incorporate features that residents will find useful
If I ever lived in a condominium, I would like the building to have utilities and services that would make my life easier. Among them are:

• Proximity to a gym or an in-house facility is an important part of a resident’s life.
• It must have great spaces to relax, have a place for children to play that is within walking distance or be near public parkland.
• Great coffee houses and restaurants within or in close proximity to the premises make for a great way to start and end the day.
• A maid service should be offered as part of the development. Today, getting a live-in maid is impossible for the owner of studio or two-bedroom apartments being offered in the market. Maids are expensive and difficult to hire, not to mention the rising cost and the new apartment designs don’t feature a maid’s room.
• A concierge service for residents of the building that could offer dedicated laundry services (wash and iron) and technical services (fixing stuff) for residents.
• A daycare centre within or near the development for young families where both parents are working would be a huge benefit for residents.
• Proximity to a self-storage facility where we can store our “stuff” as new condominium designs have very little storage space.
• And lastly, common entertainment areas in the development – where residents can hold parties without the constraint of space.

The development should be near happening places – accessibility to entertainment and food outlets after working hours is becoming more important to the new workforce. Their lifestyle choices centre on accessibility to a more dynamic social landscape. What is encouraging is that some of the top-tier developers are starting to offer some of these features in their developments, bringing us closer to what an integrated development should be. To stay ahead of the competition, developers should continue to look at expanding the features of their future developments.

In conclusion, with these strategies, high-density integrated lifestyle developments can be a valuable tool for overcoming the harmful environmental and social effects of suburban sprawl, and promoting a style of development that makes a positive impact on social sustainability. At the end of the day, we have to get involved in building homes and not houses, communities and not townships and creating diversity so people from all walks of life can interact easily. You only have to look at the great cities of this world such as Melbourne, London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, which are high on the happy index, to see a living testimony of what an integrated lifestyle means to its residents.

>> Datuk Stewart LaBrooy is the Chairman of Malaysian REIT Managers Association.