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Connecting urban solutions
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For the first time in human history, the majority of the world’s
talents population now lives in urban areas. Urban sustainability is thus the
“Good qualities issue facing the world today. But how does an existing city become a
of both parts can green city? YG looks at a German-supported project in Malaysia
add up to one spawning green solutions for a more livable city.
greater outcome”
The Goethe-Institut Malaysia, the Advertisment
University of Malaya’s Department of
Architecture and their partners are
working to develop a new
generation of architects and city
planners. With the Green Affordable
Residential Challenge (Green ARC)
project and contest, they aim to
educate the general public, promote LINK TIPS
future professionals, highlight
affordable sustainable construction, A portal for Germany:
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, (cc) flickr user
and provide opportunities for deutschland.de
phalinn
student training.

Nowhere is the world more urban than in Asia, home to 11 of the world’s 21
megacities of more than 10 million inhabitants each. The UN’s Department of
Economic and Social Affairs predicts an additional five megacities in Asia by
2025.

According to the World Green Building Council, building and construction

Discover Germany:
account for 33 percent of CO2 emissions, 30-50 percent of the world’s energy
consumption and 40-50 percent of raw material use. Even more alarming, discover-germany.diplo.de
cities in Asia are predicted to contribute more than 50 percent of global
greenhouse gas emissions from now until 2027 according to the Asian
Development Bank’s report “Managing Asian Cities.”

To slow this alarming trend, the Malaysian Green Building Index (GBI) – the
only green rating tool for the tropical zones besides Singapore’s GREENMARK –
was conceived. Officially launched May 21, 2009, the GBI incorporates The initiative "Schools:
international best practices in environmental design and performance, while Partners of the future" aims
considering Malaysia’s tropical climate, environmental and development to establish a network of at
context, and social needs. least 1,500 partner schools
spanning the globe.
Raising awareness for small things to become big
pasch-net.de
“In a tropical climate like Malaysia, buildings
used to be built on an open floor plan and the A website offering lots of
air flow helped to keep them cool,” explains Ati information for international
Ariffin, Senior Lecturer at the University of students in Germany.
Malaya’s Department of Architecture whose
internationale-studierende.de
students are tasked with designing projects for
the Green ARC. “People looked outside for ideas
that were not always suited to their climate.
They wanted to wear long shirts and ties rather
than lighter clothing, and now we cannot live
without air conditioning.”

To engage the public’s participation in creating

better cities, the Green ARC holds international
seminars bringing together students, experts and those who want to learn
more about the future of green architecture.

For the Goethe-Institut Malaysia, the Green ARC is part of their larger regional
outreach explains its director, Volker Wolf, “The city, the metropolis, the
enormous urban changes in world cities in recent years, all of this is a global
issue, a key issue for the German Foreign Office, the Goethe-Institut, the
German Academic Exchange Service and many other German intermediary
organizations.”

Ariffin, who’s traveled to Germany to see the use of green applications and
where she tells me she drove a concept car, admits her region lags behind in
this area, but says experts like her have the benefit of “looking to western
countries for assistance, but also to learn from their mistakes.”

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Young Germany: The Green ARC: German support for sustainable u... http://www.young-germany.de/university-education/university-educ...

Implementing green solutions in a major way is challenging for developing

nations with so many priorities, however, Ariffin is confident that “small things
can become big when individuals get involved.” She works with her students to
promote interdisciplinary thinking and challenges them to research ideas being
implemented in countries like Germany and ask, “How suitable is this for
Malaysia?”

She mentions rainwater harvesting as just one solution not effectively used -
Malaysia experiences frequent downpours which could be used to cool down
buildings instead of air conditioning. “If we as the experts are able to bring up
these ideas and move them forward, then the country will move forward as
well,” she believes. “But I tell my students that these ideas for the future must
come from them.”

An affordable green prototype

Green ideas are becoming

more sought after in the
region. According to Wolf,
“Green architecture moves
the local scene. The media,
press, radio and television are
full of prominent actors
promoting it, government
leaders pushing for it, as well
as the Malaysian Institute of
Architects (PAM), the
company Sime Darby and the Real Estate and Housing Development
Association (REHDA)."

For the Green ARC contest, students of advanced architecture, housing,

building, planning and related disciplines are asked to design affordable
residential housing in a central urban area. The designs must also include
social infrastructure like playgrounds, parks or sports facilities and take into
account the Malaysian GBI. The contest is open to full-time students enrolled
in advanced degree or advanced diploma level courses at Malaysian
institutions.

Students have until November 5 to submit their entries, after which a jury of
experts – one each from Germany and France, an emeritus professor and a
representative from the GBI and REHDA – will judge the entries. An award
ceremony will be held December 3 and the winner will have his or her design
built by Sime Darby Property, which also constructed the prize-winning Idea
House prototype.

German industry an impetus for green development

German industry is also engaged in promoting and using green technologies in

the region. According to Alexander Stedtfeld, executive director of the
Malaysian-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MGCC) who’s been
working in Asia since 1994, German businesses are well suited to meet these
needs.

Thalheim-based photovoltaic manufacturer Q-Cells has operations in Malaysia

producing for western countries. For their part, OSRAM Germany has opened a
modern LED chip production facility in the state of Penang. Since early 2010,
they've been working with the Malaysian government on a pilot project for
energy efficient public lighting.

And the MGCC itself recently

took a delegation of more than
30 Malaysians from
government, companies and
institutions to Germany where
they visited among other
things the country’s green city
of Freiburg and the Renewable
Academy Training Center in
Berlin (RENAC) for technical
transfer and know-how.

Bayer also has a worldwide

program for young environmental entrepreneurs where they invite young
people to come up with ideas and proposals for environmentally friendly
initiatives with an annual competition. The winners travel to Germany where
they learn about these technologies on-site.

In all, Stedtfeld says that the Chamber’s engagement is comprehensive, “We

are involved institutionally and on the policy side, and our companies are

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Young Germany: The Green ARC: German support for sustainable u... http://www.young-germany.de/university-education/university-educ...

active here and we do training. We are also always interested in mediating

between universities and companies, universities and research institutes. We
are very much into this network – locally and with Germany.”

Angela Boskovitch

www.goethe.de/ins/my/kua/enindex.htm

ahkmalaysiablog.de

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