Implementing the Malaysian Heritage Garden as the Identity for National Landscape: Case Study in Putrajaya

Abstract

Nowadays, there are plentiful open parks operated for relaxation and entertainment in Malaysia. Putrajaya is one of the cities which have many public parks around. The aim of this study was to acquire the opinions of users regarding the needs of establishing "the Malaysian heritage garden concept" today. The main objective is to distinguish the factors that caused the implementation difficulties, and the initiatives that have been made to introduce this concept. Site observation and interview methods are used for collecting data. Respondents were selected using the simple random sampling technique among users of the public parks in Putrajaya and the experts of Malaysian Garden concept. The results revealed that the entire park design does not highlight the elements of the Malaysian Garden concept (the Malay Garden criteria’s). From the information gathered can be presumed that Putrajaya is yet not prepared to highlight the traditional elements in landscape design. Although, Putrajaya is the federal administrative center of the country, but still not able to accentuate the national identity.