A Preliminary Sustainable Housing Development Framework for Rural Areas in Sarawak, Malaysia

Abstract

The Malaysian National Housing Policy 2018-2025 proposed different housing development strategies, specifically focusing on the urban areas, with relatively little investigation on housing development in rural areas. This research investigates the challenges of incorporating sustainability features into housing and strategies to moving forward which leads to the development of a preliminary sustainable housing framework in rural areas. Semi-structured interview was conducted with 13 rural area residents’ representatives and suppliers of housing materials who have more than ten years of experience in Sarawak. Content analysis was employed to analyse the collected data to further develop a framework related to sustainable housing development in rural areas. The proposed framework was validated with six experts who have 10-20 years of experience in rural areas through questionnaire. The findings revealed that accessibility issues, such as lack of proper transportation, and residents’ financial capacity, hindered sustainable housing development, as the houses in Sarawak rural areas are mostly built by the residents. A preliminary framework that includes collaboration between government, suppliers of housing materials, contractors and residents, was proposed for improving housing conditions in rural areas to ensure the durability of the traditional timber house as well as the newly constructed houses with bricks and cement. This research could assist the government in identifying residents’ housing needs, improving housing conditions and hence, enhancing residents’ quality of life.