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CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Conclusion of the Urban Sprawl in Seremban District
Previously on the chapter 4, several analyses based on indicators of urban sprawl
had been done to prove the existence of urban sprawl in Seremban District. Urban
sprawls are determine by looking at the population growth, changes in built up area
and major developments and all of these indicators seems were happened in
Seremban District.
Population growths in Seremban District by Mukim back in the 1990 were
concentrated at Mukim Bandar Seremban because there is location of the Seremban
City Centre and the core cities for Seremban District. Urban sprawl in Seremban
district is based on the evidence that have been identified. Urban sprawl is closely
related to the changes in population growth rates and population density. Seremban ,
experienced a low population growth rate in the city centre (Mukim Bandar
Seremban) compared to the suburban area with a high population growth rate such
as Mukim Setul, Mukim Ampangan , Mukim Rasah, Mukim Labu. But, the population
density in city centre (Mukim Bandar Seremban) is higher than suburban area. This
scenario is shown that annual growth rate of population in Mukim Bandar Seremban
is slower in the year 2000-2010 compare to other mukims. Population growth by
Mukims in Seremban District in the periods of 2000-2010 show that the population in
Mukim Bandar Seremban had increased very obviously while the population in the
urban fringe had increased to more than two times. The population distribution had
sprawl to the North and Northwest of city centre.

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For the second indicators of built up changes, most of built up area in Seremban
district is commercial, infrastructure and utilities and followed up by housing and
industrial. This trend from 1990 is continuing till 2010 as Commercial infrastructure
and utilities are dominating the built up areas. There shown Seremban District by
mukim had experienced Leapfrog sprawl as new development likes new commercial
area becomes the generator for development at the area. The built up changes in the
first 10 period of 1990-2000 has shown that development of new township of Nilai
had attracted Seremban city development to heading towards them. Besides that, the
development of Nilai also had sprawl to other mukim likes Labu, During this year, the
built up changes in Seremban District by mukim is more concentrated at Mukim Setul
and Mukim Labu . In 2000-2010, the built up changes in Seremban District are more
concentrated on the growth of industrial area at suburbs area likes Labu and Nilai
and the sprawl of urban area are heading towards them as it attracts new
development.
The third indicators of Major Developments have shown that major developments is
attracting sprawl to happen because it will create work and opportunities that attract
people to migrate there. The major development analyses conclude the
transportation, education institution, new township, industrial area and commercial
area. The location of these major developments in the suburban area has changed it
to developed area as new developments such as housing come later.

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5.2 Recommendations of Urban Sprawl Control in Seremban District
As urban sprawl is happening in Seremban district by mukims, some
recommendations to control the sprawl need to be taken to avoid the sprawl from
continuing and give negative impacts to the district.
5.2.1 Policies of Smart Growth
As stated in the theoretical studies, the sprawl can be control from the application of
Smart Growth concept (Scheffler, 2003). The Smart Growth concept has been
considered as planning vision for the future as it avoid the growth that are
inconsistent and incompatible neighbourhoods, commercial, industrial, transportation
options and quality of life resources. Ten principles of the smart growth according to
Kelsey (2007) are:
i. Mixed Land Uses Approach rather than homogenous land use
ii. Emphasized on Compact Building Design
iii. Provide Range of Housing Opportunities
iv. Create A Walkable Neighbourhoods
v. Sense of Places
vi. Preserve Open Space and Natural Beauty
vii. Community Involvement
viii. Direction of Development
ix. Provide Multiple Transportation Option
x. Cost Effectiveness
Beside that According to JPBD Perak has taken actions to halt sprawls by applying
smart growth concepts which are:
i. Encourage urban revitalization, urban renewal and developed land with
efficiently through conservation rural area and deIimitation of urban area,
focusing development on existing built areas and applied an integrated
approach to planning and management;

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ii. Encourage green infrastructure development for communities
iii. Create a complete and stabile communities through mixed and efficient land
use
iv. Developed land use with integrated public transport system
v. Build varieties type of affordable housing to create inclusive communities
vi. Using sources efficiently at urban area to ensure sustainable economy
development
vii. Using sources of urban economic efficiently by determine development
charges and other fees that reflect the actual cost of development
viii. Encourage smart growth in the development process through upgrading in
administrative system
From Kelsey (2007) and Department of Town and County Planning (JPBD) Perak
State control the sprawl, we can conclude that both of them are trying to applied high
density development and are going to using Smart Growth. From the eight principles
of smart growth, only several of principles that should be applied in the Seremban
district as it will solve the issue and problems that are found from the analysis
conducted in the chapter 4. The principles that are chosen to be applied in the
Seremban district are:
Table 5.1: The chosen Principles of Smart Growth to be applied in Seremban District
No Principles of Smart Growth Justification
1 Infill and brownfield
Redevelopment.
 Develop on the brownfield area
and infill development rather than
new development
2 Mixed land uses.  Concentrated mixed land uses
rather than homogenous zoning
development
3 Provide Multiple Transportation
Options.
 Connected the three districts and
in the urban centre itself
4. Urban Limit.  To protect Agricultural Land
 To established Urban Limit and
Provide City Boundary.

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i. Infill and Brownfield Redevelopment.
Seremban district of government should change its direction of development from
developed on the agricultural area to more concentrate on infill and brownfield area.
Although the development on agricultural area is the cheaper one in term of the cost
but brownfield and infill development will encourage the growth of urban area to
becomes more compact and not sprawl beyond his boundaries
This approach has been used in many developed countries like Japan, Singapore
and United States as one of the way to control sprawl and encourage compact
developments. Besides that, the benefit to be more concentrated on brownfield and
infill area is it can preserve open space and natural beauty because the conversion
of the green area for development purposes can be minimized. Redevelopment of
brownfield and infill area also has been seen as suitable approach for Seremban
district as majority of its land is built up by buildings area especially in mukim Bandar
Seremban and the land need to be preserved. Developments of brownfield and infill
also can revitalize the dull area at the cities and then transform them to more
attractive area by doing redevelopment or conservation. Revitalization will be more
concentrated at Mukim Bandar Seremban especially Seremban City as there are
many lies of historical building and heritage area which is the potential area for
tourism and economic activities.
The benefits of develop brownfield and infill area also can save the cost of
infrastructure and utilities provision as it goes to more on the compact design. It is
different if the new developments occur in the suburbs area because state
government will need to provide roads, water, electric supply and etc at the area and
next increase the development cost.
ii. Mixed Land Uses and Compact Building Design
The Seremban district should be applied mixed land uses and compact building
design approach rather than homogenous land uses especially in the dense area at

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Seremban City. Example of good mixed land uses approach can be seen in the
developed country likes Singapore where all of the development elements likes
residential, commercial, education and even working places are located within a walk
able distance in the neighborhood. The reason why Singapore can create mixed land
uses because they are more emphasized to developed vertically than horizontally
which is something a good point to be adapted and applied in the Seremban district.
The current development approach in Seremban district which is by zoning
development and horizontally is no longer suitable approach for future developments
as it encourage wasting of land, low density development and even create too much
dependent community on private vehicles. In addition of that, Mixed land uses and
compact building design will encourage high density development rather than low
density development which is the main reason for sprawl to happen.
The target area to applying Mixed Land Uses and Compact Building Design is in the
Seremban district, especially in high number of population increased area such as at
Mukims Bandar Seremban, Mukim Setul, Mukim Labu, Mukim Ampangan and Mukim
Rasah to prevent the sprawl getting serious. Mixed land uses can be achieved in
these areas if the government and municipal changes its development policy to make
sure the developer or planner follows the approach of mixed land use concept. The
example of what they can do is setting a minimum high density target of residents or
jobs per hectare in the city centre such as 400 residents or jobs per hectare in the
urban growth centres or 40 residential units or jobs per hectare in new “greenfield”
developments (suburban development on new lands) so that all of new development
will be in a high density and compact. Besides that, the provision related to allowable
uses likes building types, lot sizes, street width also need to be revised to make sure
the density and compactness of the urban area guarantees.
By applying mixed land uses for Seremban District, people also can move by walking
rather than use vehicles because the places can be reach within walk able distance.
An example of this situation is working people which they can only walk to restaurant
from their office to get lunch during the break time instead of driving. This situation
not only can minimize the traffic congested in the city centre during peak time but
even can avoid air pollution at city centre. Besides that, mixed land uses and
compact building design also will avoid too much cost for development because the

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provision of infrastructure and utilities are at minimum level. It means that, the cost of
development can be save through mixed land uses because homogenous land uses
encourage provision of many infrastructure and utilities because the elements of
development located far to each other compare to the mixed land uses.
The urban center is proposed as high density development zone by applying the
concept of compact city. Due to high land values in urban centers, infill development
is proposed on vacant land with development of high rise building and mix use of
building use. Currently, in the city center of Seremban, there is 7692.98 hectare of
the vacant land that have a good potential to develop towards the smart growth
concept in order to counter the urban sprawl phenomenon. In line with current
technology, mixed development can be implemented at the center city with a more
innovative concept development and inefficient use of space in the City. Examples of
mixed-use development as the concept is Shop Office Home Office (SOHO), where
commercial and housing could be combined in one building. It can promote a high
concentration of population in the city center for the provision of supported housing
and commercial. It also supports the walk able development where people can go
places on foot without the use of private vehicles.
This goal can be realized by offering certain incentives to the developer to draw in
developing urban centers. For example, such as discount of development fees,
increase at the plot ratio of development in appropriate area, flexibility in terms of
development conditions that does not interfere with the public interest.
iii. Provide Multiple Transportation Option (LRT)
Multiple transportation option is significant in urban development because it can
reduce traffic congestion and air pollution in the city. In the case of Seremban district,
there are only two transportation option which is bus and taxi and the provision of
them is not in the good condition. People are reluctant to use the public transport
because the public transport is not friendly user in the terms of the waiting place (bus
stop) the gap time between one bus to another bus is not efficient and etc. For the
taxi, it is not practical to use them for long distance places because the fare will be

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expensive and burden the passenger. Therefore new transportation option should be
provided in Seremban district likes LRT which not only connected to 8 mukims but
also will be used in the city centre.
The target area for LRT stop included of Seremban City, Nilai city and Labu
(Integrated Transport Terminal),Senawang, Rantau , Sungai Gadut city. All of these
areas are selected because it is the important area for employment nodes, higher
density residential and higher density commercial. Besides that, based on the current
land use, there are also vacant lands in these areas which can be develop for LRT
Stops. The new Integrated Transport Terminal will be located at Seremban City
because the location is strategic which at the centre between Nilai city and Rantau
City.
LRT is expected to receive overwhelming response from the people because it is not
only has cheaper fares, but also can avoid them from facing traffic congestion in the
city of Seremban. However, this LRT should be provide integrated with the land use
to make sure it gives fully benefit to the people. The LRT stop should locate at the
strategic location such as next to education institution, shopping complex, or
hospitals so that people can only walk after they use LRT. This is important to make
sure people are not dependent on their private vehicle to move and reduce the usage
of private vehicles in the city centre. In addition of that, air pollution can be decrease
and people healthiness also will be more secure.
iv. Urban Limit
Introduce the physical boundary as urban limit is one ways to ensure urban sprawl is
not occur. With implements of this urban limit, urban sprawl can be prevented
because the development can only be developed inside the boundaries that
have been determined. This action may save the natural environment such as
agricultural land and preserve the land from development without control. In addition,
it would protect the land that been used as agriculture because with the boundary
any development is prohibited to developed at this area. Besides to save agricultural
land, urban limit is also protecting natural environment such as green areas, forest

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and catchment areas. By protecting natural environment, this can solve the disaster
such ad flood and landslides. For Seremban district, Mukim Lenggeng and Mukim
Labu should applied this method to preserve their agricultural land from the
unbalanced developments. For information, agricultural land in Seremban district is
50,939.67 hectare in year 2010.
For the conclusion, this urban limit is to balance the built up area with the green
areas. This purpose to balance development that growth rapidly with population, to
ensure that development is not to high
5.2.2 Encourage Nucleus, High Rise Development in the Core City by
Giving an Incentive
1. Focus on vertical development rather than horizontal development.
2. This policy to maximize the use of land and to attract high population to the inner
city.
3. This policy can benefit stakeholder and the community by reducing the
infrastructure cost, energy use especially in travelling by private transportation.
4. Encourage people to live in inner city
5. High value of properties
6. Reducing rate of travelling to work place.
7. To make livable activity inside the city area.
8. To increase and generate economy by those people who live in inner city area.
9. Increase the focusing development in inner city and reduce the suburban
development in order to counter the urban sprawl.
Nucleus and high rise developmentshould be applied in Seremban district to
minimize the effect of urban sprawl. This development will operate by identified the
development concentration area based on their hierarchy and for Seremban district
the chosen area are Seremban City, Senawang City Nilai City and Labu City.
Seremban City still becomes the most concentration development area as it is Sub
Regional Centre and the capital while Nilai ,Senawang and Labu will be developed
accordance to its functions as Commercial and industrial Centre.

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By concentrating development in the certain area and limited of urban development,
the sprawl can be minimized and the invasion of agricultural area also can be
avoided. Besides that, the provision of infrastructure and utilities also can be done in
efficient way and save the development cost. In the way to make sure the
development at these major growth centres are not exceed their limit, the buffer zone
which consist of green area or agricultural area will be adopted. Although this
concept is encourage nucleus development, but corridor development in the high
potential area needs to be allow and the supervision will be done to make sure it is
not encourage sprawl to occur.
5.3 Conclusion
After analyses on sprawl are conducted, it can be found that sprawl also occurred in
the second Metropolitan cities of Seremban district. However, the sprawl is not in a
serious condition compared to Metropolitan cities like Klang Valley, Penang or Johor
Bahru. Eventhough the sprawl is still not serious, but prevention method should be
applied before it getting serious. The method that can be applied such as Smart
Growth Policies or encourage nucleus development to halt the sprawl. The sprawl
needs to be stop as it brings more negative effect than the positive effect.

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