IF PENANG WANTS to maintain its status as one of the most liveable cities in the region, investing in quality green spaces is a given path to take—they have multiple co-benefits, from acting as places of respite to encouraging physical activity, while offering natural habitats for other living things. It is also well established that proximity to nature has a positive effect on mental health; one study suggests that a 90-minute nature walk reduces depression.[1] One other benefit that is gaining attention is the impact of greening on climate-induced urban heat, which is becoming a growing concern in Malaysia.
There are multiple international and local benchmarks to decide the appropriate level of green space. These include standards such as dedicating 10% of total area into green space based on square metres per capita. The benchmark for green space per capita in Malaysia (set by PlanMalaysia) is 20m2 per person. In Penang, this figure is 8.3m2 per person. In 2021, Cecil Konijnendijk from the Nature Based Solutions Institute[2] proposed the 3-30-300 rule, which states:
“Everybody should be able to see three large trees from their home, live in a neighbourhood with at least 30% tree canopy (or vegetation) cover and be no more than 300metres from the nearest public green space that allows for multiple recreational activities.”
Who can disagree with this as an aspiration? As a metric, this captures the mental health, physical health and climate values of urban green space, while retaining a level of simplicity that anyone can understand and relate to. It also moves us beyond an aggregated measure (e.g. square metres per person) to a more localised view, which considers real life experiences in different neighbourhoods in different parts of a given district.
