The focus of this study is on the effects of urbanization on the intensity of the urban heat island, through a case study on the city of Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia. The study aims to identify whether there is a relationship between the level of urbanization and the intensity of the urban heat island of the city as well as to what extent this relationship goes. There are two methodologies followed in this study. Firstly, the methodology to study the urbanization process in KL by collecting data from secondary and primary sources of data and by reviewing the literature along with official documents. Secondly, there are two methodologies combined to study the horizontal nocturnal urban heat island of KL by using weather station networks method and traverses survey method. The parameters included for studying and measuring the levels of urbanization in the city are population density, traffic activity and land use change. Moreover, the three parameters are measured using traverses survey method; air temperature, relative humidity and wind speed levels. The study shows that, the level of urbanization is proportional to the values of temperature registered, while the temperature clearly varies from weekdays to weekends. The working days are relatively hot compare to non working days. Nevertheless, it is difficult to relate the relative humidity values only to working or non working days. The relative humidity can be related to green or non green areas, as well as to location and human activities among those specific areas. Furthermore, it is difficult to relate wind speed levels to the day of the week, while there is a strong relation between the wind speed levels and the location of the station. The further away the station from of KL city center, the higher the levels of wind speed. The study shows that, wind speed levels are inversely proportional to the level of urbanization of the city. The study indicates that, the increase in the intensity of the UHI of Kuala Lumpur City since 1985 reaches 1.5 o C. Furthermore, it shows that, the location of UHI nucleus has shifted from Chow Kit area in 1985 to Puduraya area (2004). The study concludes that, the intensity of the UHI of the city is proportional to the commercial, road and rail reserves land use and inversely proportional to the open space and recreational, residential, industrial, institutional, and agricultural/ fishery/ forest land use. Furthermore, the intensity of the UHI is also proportional to the population density, number of cars and motorcycles vehicles, while it is inversely proportional to public transport vehicles. Therefore, the study concludes that, the level of urbanization is directly proportional to the intensity of the UHI of Kuala Lumpur City.

In most of the mosques in the Islamic world, calligraphy is part and parcel of their interior design. The art of calligraphy that developed from Semitic alphabet reached the golden age during the Abbasid period. Besides calligraphy, the art of mosques’ decoration also combines the arabesque, geometry and vegetal patterns. Based on that there is no clear prohibition to decorate mosques, calligraphy and other ornamentation is allowed on condition that it is done with the intention of enhancing the respects and dignity of the mosque. Adopting the historical and descriptive research method, three mosques from Egypt and Turkey respectively and five mosques from Malaysia were chosen via purposive sampling. Cairo offers a fair overview of mosque styles since they have been influenced from many different ruling empires. In Turkey, a very important role in the calligraphy development was undoubtedly played by the encouragement and protection given by the Sultāns as verified by their magnificent mosques. In Malaysia, the interiors and exteriors of mosques also have wonderful examples of Islamic calligraphy, with local calligraphers sometimes working side by side with foreign calligraphers to ensure the best results. The Islamic Arts Museum (IAMM) Kuala Lumpur displays a special role in Islamic Arts and Architecture in Malaysia as there is a gallery dedicated to calligraphy and architecture. Jāwi script is considered to be an endangered script although there are still enthusiasts who exercise Jāwi for a limited purpose. The findings had answered all the research questions. The study that across a thousand years reveal that the Thulth script is evergreen and the most preferable style in mosques followed by Kūfī and Nasta‛līq. The most common theme of Qur’ānic inscriptions in mosques is the Shahādah, followed by themes that illustrate the relationship between man and the Creator, Muslim’s responsibilities and the role of mosque in their life.

The crisis of freshwater has been occurring in the world including Indonesia. Up to now, almost two-thirds of Jakarta’s inhabitants and other big cities of Indonesia still rely on the shallow groundwater individually as source of freshwater. The problem is that they always suffer from drought regularly due to the decreasing water table levels in their surroundings. Precisely, the problem relates with the absence of well-planned urban ecosystem. The condition of shallow groundwater is affected by related factors of population density, land use, and green space elements mainly the urban parks. Through the interpretation of the Qur’ānic verse (an-Naml: 60) and utilisation of the Zalewski’s ‘eco-hydrology’ concept that stresses the relationship between vegetation and hydrology, this study explores water conservation through urban park. The research method covers observation of the urban parks condition in Jakarta and measurement of the soil water status on roots zone beneath the vertical class of vegetation in Ragunan and Pondok Kopi Parks (2004-2005). The study concludes that urban park has ability and suitability to conserve water. The bigger the urban park is the better for water conservation purposes. Regarding with water status as well as roots zone volume of selected species, tree is more valuable for water conservation than shrub, grass, and bare land. Besides, the study introduces the interlinking parks model that connects to green space elements for improving urban ecosystem including groundwater properly. Hence, this study is useful to add the roles of urban landscape planning, water conservation, urban development policy and urban ecosystem. It is also academically worthy of support since it could help disseminate ideas on Islamisation of knowledge. Keywords: urban ecosystem, water conservation, ecohydrology, urban park, and roots zone.

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This study was conducted on Gombak River and its watershed. Gombak River is situated mainly in the Gombak District in Selangor state and its lower zone is situated in the Malaysian Capital Kuala Lumpur. The motivation of this study is to ensure sustainable development, which is essentially has effects on surface water quality as 97 per cent of Malaysia’s water supply is sourced from it; and to find a low-end alternative for water quality monitoring techniques, which are typically expensive and tedious. This will allow decision makers to plan safely to improve the quality of life while maintaining sustainable development. The main aim of this study was to identify a relationship between water quality and land use attributes through selecting the appropriate data generation methods and model building that can enable prediction and forecast of water quality index with high accuracy. This model coupled by the data generation method, could later be utilized as an important extension to major planning software in order to assist planners and decision makers to plan and decide safely for watersheds zones. The thesis examined the water quality of the river focusing on six water quality parameters, these were BOD, COD, AN, SS, pH, and DO in three monitoring stations as well as conducted laboratorial analysis in a fourth one. The data were then analyzed in order to understand its behavior and response to the activities within the watershed. The watershed of Gombak River was redefined using MapInfo from the recently updated coordinates of Gombak River, and the LU/LC data were extracted from the watershed for a discrete 20-years period. LU/LC data focused on five categories, these were build-up area, residential area, commercial area, industrial area and forest area. Methodologically, the thesis used a quantitative method of analysis such as ANN’s Back propagation algorithm in order to examine the correlation and magnitude of relationship between the chosen water quality and LU/LC indicators. The study introduced data generation method for the prediction and forecast of LU/LC data within the watershed. The method used exponential model equation, Lagrange model equation 3rd & fourth degree polynomial fit and saturation growth-rate model in order to generate the required data. In order define the relationship between water quality response and land use attributes, the study introduced the LA-WQI model. This model was developed by associating the appropriate loading factors to a set of sub indices. The loading factors were obtained based on peak factor theorem by assigning weights to different categories of land use indices. The model was applied on the average values of the percentages of land use every year, and was compared with average values of yearly actual and predicted WQI. The findings revealed that the water quality index of the three stations located along the Gombak River was deteriorating from upstream to downstream. Station 18 showed the highest fluctuation during the mentioned period. This is due to increasing number of ongoing development projects within this station. The mean WQI for monitoring stations along Gombak River, puts station 24 as clean river water, station 18 as slightly polluted and station 17 as polluted river water. ANN’s Back propagation algorithm was able to predict WQI with high accuracy at station 18 and 24. This high accuracy was due to the fact that the configured ANN was able to detect a direct relation between sub indices used and the water quality index; in this case the relationship was the DOE-WQI model. On the other hand, when land use parameters were trained, the differences between predicted WQI and actual WQI were slightly higher than that of trained with water quality variables. This is due to the continuous changes in chemistry of water quality variables which doesn’t indicate the actual water quality. However, the training yielded high correlation between average values of predicted and actual WQI. The findings also revealed that as the activities increased throughout the watershed, the values of WQI quality decreased accordingly. The accuracy of prediction of the proposed LA-WQI ranged from 94.3% to 99.3% between Actual DOE-WQI and LA-WQI for station 24 of Gombak River. The same approach was applied for station 18 at Gombak River. The results of predicted WQI obtained using LA-WQI, showed a continuous decrease of water quality. Prediction values of WQI for DOE, ANN and LA-WQI had an accuracy range of 97.9% to 99.5 %. In order to test the sensitivity of data generation method and the LA-WQI model, withheld data were used for the first time for validation. The results indicated high precision in the prediction and forecast of WQI. Generally, there is an appreciable effort to keep Malaysian rivers clean, however in order to achieve an accepted level of sustainability, all developmental schemes within a watershed vicinity should be conducted in accordance with a specific allocation of time and space which follows a certain model. This will help in producing more accurate forecasting of LU/LC sub-indices and hence WQI. Despite the high accuracy attained by the application of LA-WQI model on Gombak River; it has not yet been tested on other rivers due the limitation of the scope of this study. It is recommended that future studies should be able to further test the current model on a regional scale.

The meaning of Islamic Architecture has been subject to debate since many years. Therefore, this research attempts to give responses to mainly four questions. The first question concerns the existence of standards of aesthetics and aesthetics perception and evaluation. The second question considers the meaning of Islamic aesthetic in buildings. While the third question investigates the aesthetic components in Muslim buildings, and the fourth question is about the definition of the design elements that affect visual comfort in Muslim buildings. These questions were answered theory and case study researches. The theoretical research aims firstly to define the tools used to evaluate aesthetic perception and aesthetic judgment. Secondly, it aims to extract the principles and ethics of Islamic aesthetic innovation throughout a study of Qur´an and the tradition of the prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing be upon him. On the other hand, the case study research deals with aesthetic innovation practices through a descriptive and analytical study of significant Muslim historical masterpieces. In addition, for a much-detailed analysis the traditional city of Fez is chosen as case study. The research method adopted includes a building evaluation, an in-depth interview and a perception survey. The aim is mainly to define the design constants and variables. The research findings helped to draw a framework for Islamic innovation in buildings, which includes eight elements: four constants and four variables. The constants concern tawhid, the divine order, functionality and the alchemy of materials, while the four variables include wisdom and professional knowledge, habits, techniques, and forms. Thus any attempt of innovation regarding building in Muslim context must take onto consideration the above constants and variables.

Extant studies on the Hausa traditional houses dealt more with the physical aspects such as finishing, roofing, decoration and other socio cultural aspects. Although of necessity, there were occasional mentions of the influences of Islam on Hausa traditional architecture in some of these studies. However, these were implicit rather than explicit. This study investigated the impact of Islam on the form and architectural character of the urban Hausa traditional house in northern Nigeria using the kasar Katsina urban traditional house as a case study. Using the non-Muslim rural house as a baseline in the area, the study traces the house evolution in time series since the introduction of Islam. The study identified and explained how the Islamic built environment criteria from the Shari’ah sources were applied in the traditional house building process. Through an extensive field survey, a total of 212 house samples were documented and observed, 120 household heads were administered questionnaires, and 20 key informants were interviewed. Results of the data analysis shows thirty seven generic architectural characters, three Hausa traditional house prototypes based on the frequency occurrences of their architectural characters and six house typologies based on their Islamic criteria response. The quantitative data analysis used as supporting evidence, also shows that the urban Hausa traditional house positively responds to the socio-cultural and environmental needs of the occupants; which is an Islamic housing criteria. Conclusively, therefore, these findings indicated that as in the case of traditional houses in the Arabic –Islamic traditional cities, Islam is the key factor in the evolution, form and the architectural character of the urban Hausa traditional house, relegating climatic conditions, type of building materials and available technology as modifying factors.

The multicultural society in Malaysia is ingrained with the built up heritage of its early townships. Architectural details of traditional shophouses, which are the early urban settlements, are a rich mixture of Chinese, Indian, European and Malay cultures. The recent vintage of these built up heritages poses a threat to their existence. Rapid development and escalating market value increasingly replace these buildings with newer and higher-density structures. The current guidelines on redevelopment for traditional areas and buildings have been heavily biased on façade conservation, regardless of other aspects such as cultural merits. The rigidity of the guidelines, or lack of it as perceived by others, has resulted in conflicts and inconsistent redevelopment outcomes, not to mention inefficient implementation of development plans because the stakeholders, particularly the existing community, disagree with planned development for their areas. The aim of this research is to objectively evaluate stakeholders’ preferences in redevelopment decisions for traditional area. The subjective elements of multiple stakeholders’ different values and interests are explored using Multiple Criteria Analysis (MCA). MCA has been widely applied in various urban land use decision making as a structured approach to semi-structured decision problems. It is believed that the structured approach in MCA can be of a significant benefit towards a more constructive and transparent decision process. Eventually, it will lead to easier acceptance of development plans, thus more effective implementation of the plans. Using a relatively common MCA technique, the Analytical Hierarchy Process, stakeholders’ preferences on a set of criteria for redevelopment decision are derived and compared. It is found that homogeneity does not necessarily exist within and in between homogeneous groups. This study indirectly contributes to discovering the potential of MCA evaluation to increase transparency in redevelopment decision making process.

This research focuses on attaining energy efficiency practice in the households in Bauchi, Nigeria so as to reduce the energy demand on the central power supply of the nation, and as well attain energy security. Preliminary studies towards understanding the phenomenon of energy efficiency in residential buildings has given rise to background issues of architecture (housing design), appliances/services efficiency (technology) and human behaviour (housing occupants) in the utilization of energy. This implies that, there is the need to attain energy-efficient housing design practice, energy-efficient services/appliances and conditioned human behaviour so as to adequately address the prevailing energy-inefficient housing situation in Nigerian towns. The objectives of this study therefore, are to determine the present levels of energy efficiency practice in terms of housing design, appliances in use and occupant behaviour. To accomplish this, the `mixed-methods` research approach was adopted so as to utilize the strengths of both qualitative and quantitative methods; and also to increase the depth of understanding the investigation can yield (Creswell & Plan Clark, 2007; Berg, 2007). Based on this, interview of housing stakeholders and household residents; together with a case study of twelve (12) selected housing units (housing evaluation and appliances inventory) were conducted as part of the qualitative method. Meanwhile, questionnaire administration on stakeholders and household residents form the quantitative aspect. Both descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were employed for the quantitative study while content analysis was conducted for the qualitative study. However, the focus of research is on the behavioural aspect of energy use; as such, there is the hypothesis that · human behaviour in household energy use is influenced by the level of awareness, education and social status of the individual. The result of the Spearman`s rho correlation coefficients on this hypothesis has indicated significant levels of relationship between the dependent variable of human behaviour ( energy efficiency practice) and the independent variables of awareness, education and social status. Finally, the research findings have revealed a low level of energy efficiency consideration in housing design practice; a very low level of appliances efficiency; and a much low level of energy efficiency practice by the household residents in Bauchi. Based on this result; and the reviewed theoretical analyses, a strategic scheme of energy efficiency practice to be realized by the government and housing stakeholders is proffered for the residential building sector of Bauchi town. The success of this research venture can be applied to other urban towns in Nigeria that are commonly experiencing energy efficiency problems.

Loss of world heritage sites due to massive earthquake, building erosion, human activity, natural disaster, et cetera has been central issues of cultural heritage sites preservation and documentation to safeguard these places of cultural importance for future generations. As such, many research and development projects using digital media, particularly using three-dimensional reconstruction, have been done to acquire and preserve the cultural information and architectural documentation of these heritage sites. However, little is found on disseminating these masterpieces using virtual reality technology for public knowledge and hence there is lacking of user evaluation being undertaken to gauge user responses in real-world use. The central aim of this thesis is to evaluate virtual reality for cultural heritage sites in real-world use. Thus, the objectives of this thesis are as follows: (i) to determine the user requirements of virtual reality for cultural heritage sites in real-world use, (ii) to design and develop a prototype of virtual reality application for cultural heritage sites, and (iii) to evaluate the effectiveness of the developed virtual reality application for cultural heritage sites in the context of Malaysian museums. This study adapts the Design Science Research Methodology, which emphasizes on the need for constructive research methods that allow the disciplined, rigorous and transparent building of a virtual reality application as outcomes and to distinguish the work from an ordinary practice of developing an application. According to user requirements gathered from expert interviews, a virtual reality prototype for architectural heritage was designed and developed. During the development stages, three exp~t reviews were conducted to inform the design. A functional virtual reality prototype was then evaluated by visitors in two museums and students in a laboratory setting. Data collection techniques include quasi-experiment, observation, and post-interview. Usability results were satisfactory for virtual reality, however, observation revealed visitors had difficulties in navigation using two input devices. Presence results were significant for field of view and sense of scale and factors contributing to presence were identified from user responses. For leamability, the user evaluation revealed that by using the virtual reality, visitors were able to capture architectural elements and social interaction that leads to meaning-making in museums has taken place. Comparisons between virtual reality and video and the Web were also discussed. User responses suggest that VR was preferred mainly due to its self-control navigational capabilities and its visual realism which both giving them sense of presence in that cultural heritage site. The thesis provides an empirical evidence of virtual reality in architectural heritage learning in terms of usability, presence, and learnability. Besides, this thesis has proven that virtual reality can technically preserve the architectural elements of a cultural heritage site. This thesis also provides lists of user requirements from perspectives of experts and the general public to assist future virtualreality_foLarchitecturaLheritageJearning development projects.

This research evaluates residents’ perception of satisfaction with slum upgrading in Kampung Improvement Program (KIP) five (5) neighbourhoods, Jakarta, Indonesia. It identifies relevant macro and microscopic residential factors that contribute subjective well-being of Physical (water supply and sanitation), social (user status in society and behaviour), and economic (cost, willingness to pay, and management) variables which were analysed systematically. Based on person-environment congruity theory of residential satisfaction with physical and social environments, a mix quantitative and qualitative research method was applied in a cluster sample population of 400 residents. The research result suggests higher satisfaction with social than physical environment. Despite lack of regular supply of safe water and sanitation, residents are comfortable with their respective social settings. Social interaction and attachment are rated high by residents due to their linkage with demographic variables of household size, level of education and residents’ length of stay in the environment. There is a significant difference in the satisfaction level between the five KIP neighbourhoods. The research findings qualitatively indicate that the variables of the home or house, environment, and management components of residential neighbourhood actually affected user satisfaction of the research sites. The findings further showed that while the home and environmental components of housing were satisfactory to the KIP dwellers, the management constituent seems to be below residents’ expectations. Comparatively, qualitative data analysis indicate that both physical and social factors of a residential environment impact positively on personal and environmental quality of residents.In conclusion, residents’ satisfaction with KIP neighbourhoods qualitatively correlates with their dwelling environment, access to portable water supply, environmental sanitation, and the social environment. In line with post positivist epistemology, there convergence of data sources on lack established relationship or difference between user satisfaction and physical attributes of KIP environment; and a strong correlation with social setting. These results are particularly timely for policymaking, literature and implementation of physical developmental action plans. This implies that settlement upgrading as an urban development strategy globally, though laudable, pose environmental challenges of satisfying the urban poor of the case study area.

Plan outputs are the material objects that are tangible and provided as a result of the implementation of a development plan. They often act as precursor to achieving plan outcomes. Therefore, it is important to monitor the performance of plan in delivering its outputs so that the prospect of achieving its outcomes remains high. However, present state structure plan monitoring programmes focus mostly on monitoring land use change and not plan output delivery. The absence of output monitoring reduces the usefulness of the programmes and contributes to under-provision of outputs, especially public facilities and open spaces. This study proposes that state structure plan monitoring programmes must include mechanism to enable outputs delivery to be monitored. However, outputs requirement are dynamically linked to the number of population. Thus, any mechanism employed to monitor outputs delivery must be able to deal with this dynamic relationship between outputs and population. Hence, the aim of this study is to develop a dynamic model for monitoring state structure plan outputs delivery, and to analyse the model’s ability in performing this task. To this end, a dynamic model for monitoring selected outputs is developed using STELLA software and applied on the Selangor State Structure Plan. The model consists of several non-spatial sub-models which are population, housing, schools and open spaces sub-models. The sub-models are linked to one another to reflect the dynamics of outputs requirement. Base year stock data and present stock data for the State of Selangor are keyed in into the model. The model also underwent several refinements in order to overcome the problem of unavailability of some data. The model is then used to run simulations to measure outputs conformity to plan’s target and outputs gap to existing stock. The model simulation results show that the model can be used successfully to monitor the delivery of the selected outputs. At the same time, they also show that the Selangor State Structure Plan has performed poorly in delivering the selected outputs where outputs delivery has not conform to the plan’s targets. The model simulations also show that these non-conformances will remain by the end of the plan’s planning period. Nevertheless, the model’s definition of non-conformance is rather rigid, with any deviation of outputs delivery from the plan’s targets is considered as outright non-conformance. Future studies may look further in classifying the magnitude of the deviation into several degrees of conformity. Additionally, future studies may also look into the integration of the model with spatial based plan monitoring programmes, especially those that are GIS-based in nature.

Numerous studies have been undertaken on residential satisfaction (RS) and residential preference (RP); this is because of the importance of these constructs. This study assesses the RS and RP of the Muslim Hausa (Kano, Nigeria) and Muslim Malay (Kuala Lumpur) residing in public low-cost housing. It also compares between the two (2) Muslim groups on their RP. It is believed that even though the Hausa and the Malay are Muslims their RP will vary. Five hundred (500) questionnaires were administered to Hausas and Malays of selected low-cost housing in both Kano and Kuala Lumpur (KL). The concept of RS was measured on four (4) environments; dwelling environment, neighbourhood environment, management services, and social-cultural environment. RP was assessed on four (4) main components; the residence, the neighbourhood, socio-cultural factors and socio-economic factors. The RS and RP variables used in the questionnaire were derived from extant literature on RS and RP respectively. This was done by collating all the variables used in the previous studies and selecting the ones that are applicable in Kano and Kuala Lumpur. Data was analyzed using SPSS through descriptive, and Pearson’s r for demographic characteristics, t-tests for comparisons, satisfaction and preference indexes, habitability indexes (HI) and importance indexes (IMI) for RS and RP. Findings indicate that the respondents in Kuala Lumpur are generally more satisfied with the low-cost housing provided compared to the Kano respondents, the habitability indexes in Kuala Lumpur was; low on the dwelling environment, medium on the neighbourhood and management services and high on the socio-cultural environment. On the contrary, all the four (4) RS environments had low habitability indexes in Kano. With regards to RP, the four components of RP had high importance indexes in Kuala Lumpur as opposed to Kano where they were low. Comparison between the Hausa and Malay respondents on their RP shows that they differed significantly on all the fifteen (15) RP variables. With regards to RS their level of satisfaction was similar on all the twenty six (26) RS variables examined, with the exception of the variables: size of bedroom, number of bedroom, location of living room, location of kitchen, frequency of crime, and level of noise. Therefore, the location of future low-cost housing in both locations should be in a secure and peaceful neighbourhood. Furthermore, proper attention should be accorded to the size of bedroom and units should be built with more number of rooms to cater for larger families this is in order to improve the quality of life and general well being of the residents.

Even as the travellers and scholars across the globe are renewing their interests in heritage architecture and natural wonders of the world, the World Heritage Sites (WHS) are searching for a universally applicable solution to optimise their management while conforming to the guidelines of UNESCO, which has so far inscribed 936 sites after evaluating their heritage value in terms of their ability to contribute to the social, cultural, and economic development of the global society. Thus in its attempt to provide the above said management solution, this study explored the essential management elements of WHSs and conducted a theoretical test involving Alhambra Palace, Spain as the case study, to ascertain whether High-Performance Management System (HPWS), an SHRM management tool can optimise the WHS management by exploiting its essential management elements. The outcome of the same confirmed its efficacy, which the study used as its hypothesis and tested the same by conducting a questionnaire survey among appropriate audience. The outcome of the survey answered the research questions of the study, which substantiated the hypothesis and helped this study to arrive at a conclusion that HPWS could optimise the WHS management irrespective of its geopolitical, and socioeconomic, and cultural standing.

Contemporary Islamic architecture is created from the process of interaction between the authenticity of Muslim heritage with technology, in addition to meeting the progress of the continuous humanitarian requirements in architecture. However, the dilemma of the contemporary architectural translation of this interaction resides in focusing on the mere formation of Islamic architecture and copying its traditional elements, without investigating its essence. In consequence, contemporary Islamic architecture is being driven to a state of rigidity, and it is being deprived from its spirit and vitality. Thus, in order to rid contemporary Islamic architecture of this situation, and to highlight the depth of Islamic architecture and its essence, this study presents a new process of forming the architectural correlation that depends on the relations between the continuity of technology and the stability of the essence of Islamic architecture, through its static valuable combination. The guidelines and the proposed process of forming in this study have been investigated in three stages, namely investigating the philosophical indications of continuity and stability, investigating their combined values in term of Islamization, and investigating it in term of moderation and in term of the common human product. Whereas, the second stage grasped five values of continuity and stability through analysing traditional and contemporary case studies (Value of Privacy, Spirituality, Coexistence with Nature, Transparency and the value of accumulation or motion). While the third stage represents the process of converting these values into architectural relations with their artistic and philosophical indications through architectural examples that can be considered sources of the proposed relations. This study presents philosophical guidelines of contemporary Islamic architecture. In addition, it redefines the relations of continuity and stability, the essence of Islamic architecture, and redefines the philosophical and architectural combined formation of continuity and stability.

The aim of this research is to investigate using both quantitative and qualitative methods, how adaptability are acquired and what factors are important to programme the architectural panel in order to enhance adaptability of industrialized housing in Malaysia. The previous studies show the gap between design standard and user‟s need for industrialized housing in Malaysia is still exists. The problems identified are related to the architectural design and its adaptability as well as modification over the life-cycle of the house. Thus the research focuses on the concept of support and infill to increase design quality and users‟ satisfaction in the house. Adaptability in a broader sense includes innovative participatory process for a better means of personalization of the home. However, renovation and extension works are currently limited in industrialized housing. The preliminary study shows that the adaptable design depends on the varying factors such as form and function of architectural panel and attitude of the users. The method used in this study was based on the assumption that the degree of quality of industrialized housing in Malaysia could be improved by architectural programming towards adaptability as Japan had done in their experimental housing of NEXT21 in Osaka. Therefore, the case study on adaptability was carried out at Japan to identify the criteria of adaptability to be applied into industrialized housing in Malaysia. Consequently, the case study on industrialized housing was carried out in Malaysia to identify the Performance Index of Satisfaction (PIS) of the users. Data for case study were retrieved from a review of documents as well as information of the projects, questionnaires survey, and observation. Nowadays in Malaysia, there are many building systems which providing a large variety of architectural precast panel component. The findings confirmed that the architectural panel could contribute for the improvement of adaptability by formulating Architectural Programming. The programming is supports by Adaptability Model from quantitative analysis (user‟s satisfaction for internal spaces), and qualitative analysis (form and function of architectural panel) of that space. Finally, the innovative solution of programming for architectural panel in industrialized housing and other recommendations for architects regarding adaptability complete the thesis.

Life Cycle Cost (LCC) is an economic assessment technique that produces outputs, which will give useful cost information to the clients, cost estimators and researchers in facilitating them to make better decision in the process of determining the most optimum total ownership costs of an asset over an anticipated life or in comparing the most cost-effective of mutually exclusive alternatives. The availability, accessibility, currency and reliability of cost data used as inputs in LCC analysis is of paramount importance that should be emphasized in the estimation to produce reliable LCC outputs. The aim of this research is to enhance quality of LCC outputs through the enhancement of quality data input requirements. There are different kinds of data inputs used in LCC analysis; however this research only focuses on cost data inputs of building LCC. This research seeks to achieve the following objectives; (i). to establish the background, evolution and the present practice of LCC with specific reference to its practice in the construction industry, (ii). to assess cost data used as inputs in the practice of LCC, (iii). to develop and propose strategies in relation to the practice of LCC focusing on data inputs, (iv) to develop, evaluate, validate and test protocol which provide procedures on how cost data as inputs of LCC could be made more available, accessible, current and reliable into the process of producing reliable LCC outputs in the Malaysian construction industry. The methodology employed comprises a literature review, modified Delphi and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The literature study has found that one of the major hurdles in carrying out the LCC analysis is lack of current and reliable data. In addition, commentators pointed out that there is a very important need to give greater emphasis on the quality of data used as inputs in LCC analysis to ensure reliability in LCC analysis can be achieved. Furthermore, the literature study has found the practice of LCC analysis in the Malaysian construction industry has been relatively limited however; it has gone through the process of evolution. The results of modified Delphi show all the panellists have the same opinion that there is limited availability and inaccessibility of current and reliable cost data inputs of LCC in the Malaysian construction industry. In addition, the modified Delphi study has generated consensus regarding the most appropriate strategies that could be proposed to make the data more available, accessible, current and reliable as inputs into the process of producing reliable LCC analysis. Looking at the proposed strategies, there is an overwhelming requirement for a clear procedure to be prepared on the acquisition of cost data inputs in purposely to enhance quality data input requirements of LCC. Hence, a protocol of LCC data input requirements process that comprises a flow chart, step by step procedures and remarks was developed, evaluated, validated and tested in this research using FGD approach to provide robust procedures on how the cost data could be made more available, accessible, current and reliable as inputs into the process of producing reliable LCC outputs in the Malaysian construction industry.

The objective of the research is to investigate the local people’s perception on the social, economic and environmental impacts of the Iskandar Malaysia development region. The Iskandar Malaysia development region was established in 2006 with the introduction of a new single authority known as the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA). This authority is governed by the statutory IRDA Act of 2007 with a new proposed master plan named Comprehensive Development Plan and Iskandar Malaysia development blueprints for the region. The literature review highlighted that the implementation of regional economic strategies in Malaysia has been successful in achieving development and economic growth objectives. However, there exists doubts that most regional developments shaped by this top-down approach may be susceptible to the conflict of wealth distribution between the urban and rural areas. Data from 916 respondents was gathered through a structured questionnaire to help answer the research questions. Additionally, content analysis from literature review was used to confirm and validate the findings derived from the questionnaire survey. Simultaneously, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the local authorities and development agencies involved in the planning and development of the Iskandar Malaysia Development region. These triangulation methods aimed at enriching and providing a thick description of the data. In essence, the study found that socio-economic backgrounds such as age, gender and income explained the variation in respondents’ perception towards the development impact in the Iskandar Malaysia Development region. Findings also showed that respondents lacked the necessary awareness about, and active participations in Iskandar Malaysia’s organisational background and development implementation schemes. This is needed in order to quantify any impact and feed the perceptions’ estimators into the Structural Equation Modelling, an important knowledge contribution of this work. This study concluded that although public participation has been long inculcated in the development of planning practices since the establishment of the Town and Country Planning Act 172 (Act 1976), the development of Iskandar Malaysia in 2006 has not been fully realized as propagated by the Act 172. Essentially, the findings are in line with the practices of Malaysian top-down government directive approach. Hence, public participation is imperative to the success of national and regional planning and development in Malaysia.

Waqf is defined as the act of charity where the donors sustain their property from personal use and share it for the benefits of the public. In Malaysia, the administration and management of waqf land lay under each State Islamic Religious Councils (SIRCs) that acted as legal trustees of waqf land. The SIRCs faces several issues that encompass waqf land development, thus reflect the weaknesses in the administration systems that need an immediate attention. Currently, there are no standard administration and management aspects that guided the SIRCs. The aim of this thesis is to formulate an evaluation framework for the administration and management that is adopted from land administration evaluation framework. The evaluation framework can serve as self evaluation for the SIRC or to the monitoring agency such as the Department of Waqf, Zakah and Hajj (JAWHAR) in order to improve the waqf land administration which eventually, can result in standardised waqf land administration and management throughout Malaysia. The study comprises two methodologies for triangulation and validity purposes. The first one is a content analysis of the literature reviews to identify the waqf administration and management strategies that will be used as evaluation tools. The second method is the analysis of selected case studies that adopts the land administration evaluation framework in order to come out with refined evaluation aspects. The findings from content analysis revealed current and innovative strategies in the administration of waqf land. Meanwhile, analyses of case studies revealed significant strategies practiced by the selected SIRCs that worth emulated by other SIRCs. Both findings are incorporated into a comprehensive waqf land administration evaluation framework. The final stage is to quantify the evaluation aspects by using Goal Achievement Matrix approach. The quantified evaluation framework calculates the score of the selected case studies. The result from the evaluation serves as a great reflection to waqf institutions, where the religious councils will have a better idea on their strength and weaknesses as well as their opportunity and threat from the evaluation framework. Additionally, the proposed evaluation framework provides solutions to the problems since the evaluation aspects listed from the sets of strategies are to improve waqf land administration. Hence, hopefully the evaluation framework contributes to the betterment of waqf land administration and management.

As Islam is the nation`s official religion, the government of Malaysia strives to adopt Islamic image in Malaysia`s built environment. Yet, given Malaysia`s heterogeneous society, are Islamic concepts been implemented correctly and appropriately in the construction of Malaysia`s built environment? Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop the definition of Islamic built environment in Malaysia by sieving through the interpretation of Malaysian public opinion shapers referred as ‘experts’ in this study. The ‘experts’ are defined as those who are relevant as a Malaysian opinion shapers or related in the design process including (1) public and political figures or administrators, (2) professionals, (3) academicians and (4) Islamic scholars, from the variety of races and religion in Malaysian heterogeneous society. This study has employed descriptive and survey-based research designs rooted in qualitative research paradigms with two research techniques (1) Delphi Method and (2) Media Content analysis. The first research method used structured and semi-structured interviews for primary data collection. The second method used the Media Content analysis as supporting data collection. This study fulfilled the aims and objectives of the research by obtain firstly, a definition of ‘Islamic built environment’ that is in accords to the situation in Malaysia. The study has defined an appropriated ‘Islamic built environment’ in Malaysia is a correlation between the (3) three elements with the six (6) main themes and ten (10) indicators. The first elements are; a situation or setting that encompasses the combination of created elements (spaces, places and structures), secondly, the implementation of Islamic ideology to serve human needs and values and third, the concept considers the suitability of people`s lifestyle (both Muslim and non-Muslim) by symbolizing spiritually and physically the essence of Islam. The six main theme are; T1- Associated with Local context, T2- Avoid Political Agenda, T3- Created by Spiritual and Values of Islam, T4- Translation of ‘Tauhid, Jannah and Jamaah’, T5- Not for Branding and T6- Escape from Identity Conflict. The second finding is a framework of indicator of factors that make an environment truly Islamic. The ten indicators are; Tolerance, Natural Environment, Social Need and Human Comfort, Religious Identity, Order, Economic, Hygiene, Jannah, and Safety. The third finding is the level of satisfaction with comment on problems and shortcomings of the implementation of the existing ‘Islamic built environment’ happening in Malaysia. Fourth, recommendations for improving efforts towards implementation of existing ‘Islamic built environment’ and finally the fifth a comparative study between the opinion of the ‘experts’. The findings of this study hopefully will be beneficial to Malaysian administrators, developers and designers because it’s provided a fair and representative definition of Islamic Built Environment in Malaysia as derived from selected Malaysian opinion shapers. It is congruent with the nature of Malaysian heterogeneous society and with Malaysian current agenda of 1 Malaysia and the concept of Islamic moderation.