Sustainable Green City Labelled Penang South Islands to be Built Around Malaysia

The pandemic has made us realise the fact that nature can replenish itself without much help even now. Aiming to develop a state of co-existence between humans and nature, Malaysia’s Penang state government has partnered with Bjarke Ingels Group for creating the Penang South Islands.

As per plan, the Penang South Islands will cover a total of 4,500 acres of land, which will be built to reflect the government’s Penang2030 initiative. The initiative will aid in improving the quality of life by encouraging locals to take up greener tasks. Comprising of a total of three islands, labelled Mangroves, Channels and Laguna, the city will be a great representation of Malaysian culture with a modern twist. It will include roughly 2.86 miles of beaches, 15.53 miles of waterfront and 600 acres of parks.

The rising trend of tourism amid increasing urbanisation has led to various land developments in Penang, thereby disturbing the local habitats. The new city will be designed as ‘urban lilypads’ of three different islands. Each island will be self-sufficient and easily accessible via different modes of transportation.

Since the city will be built to promote sustainable co-existence between people and nature, it will help to cover up the damages that Malaysia has suffered due to over tourism in the past few years. Aiming to amalgamate technology with sustainability, the channels between Penang South Islands will have a 500-acre ‘digital park’ to integrate virtual reality and robotics into everyday use. With a car-free space, these islands will be a vision of future.

Besides these government agendas, several private developers are also working to promote the idea of sustainable living among Malaysians. For instance, a Malaysian township developer -Gamuda Land is planning to lead the charge in green innovation within communities. The developer has been involved in creating living environments since 1995.

The developer aims to create a 90-acre Wetlands Forest Park in its Gamuda Cove township that will serve as a recreational and conservation zone.

With the advent of the pandemic, people have become increasingly focused at working towards sustainability and climate change. Development of such green cities will help the country to boost domestic tourism without compromising on maintaining the country’s natural beauty. Also, it will help the community to deal with the problems associated with over tourism and avoid them in future.