World Habitat Day is an annual observance, rather than a celebration, of recognising the basic human rights to adequate shelter and encouraging actions from the grassroots level towards ending poverty housing. It is observed on the first Monday of October and this year, it falls on 5 October 2015.
For Malaysian-level observance, my managing director has volunteered to host the forum session that would run for two consecutive days on 5 & 6 October. The event was mainly spearheaded by the Ministry of Urban Well Being, Housing and Local Government (KPKT). At first, there were confusions over the attendance of the minister in charge of this ministry as rumour has it that he may not be around to officiate the observance. But he eventually came and I chose to stay away from the official opening ceremony of the event.
So, what is this World Habitat Day about? You can read it further from this website, UrbanOctober.org.For me, this is the first time I get myself involve in such a event and it was quite an eye opener for me. However, I feel all the speakers who presented their papers during the plenary session were a bunch of hypocrites, except for some who had done real projects. They put up rosy statements, lofty targets and noble visions, but at the end of the day, it's all about dollar and cents.
As usual, the terms 'green', 'carbon footprint' and 'sustainability' hog the limelight but I have to commended Serina Hijjaz for putting it spot on. Sustainability is about restoration. As we all aware, the sustainability circles consist of 3 elements, namely Environment, Economy and Social, arranged side-by-side. I would call that a classic sustainability model. However, in reality, the economic aspect of sustainability would always be prioritise over other elements.
I think, one topic that seems to elude discussion is the very essence of our cause for observance, namely housing and affordability. As I state earlier and I stand by my conviction, Malaysian planners generally seem to be out of touch. So do the private developers and government. This day is just a special day set aside for planners to have a sense of belonging in the fraternity of professionals, something to call our own.
