Sreetheran Maruthaveeran

Sreetheran Maruthaveeran
Universiti Putra Malaysia | UPM · Department of Landscape Architecture

PhD in Landscape Architecture and Planning, University of Copenhagen, DENMARK

About

56
Publications
74,807
Reads
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2,058
Citations
Introduction
I am a senior lecturer at the Department of Landscape Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). My particular interest lies in the field of urban forestry and urban greening. For the past 15 years I have involved in studies related to urban parks, urban forestry and environmental behavioural studies. I also like to experiment with visual methods such as photographs in my research. I am also a Certified Arborist (MY-0300A) under the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), USA.
Additional affiliations
July 2016 - December 2016
Universiti Putra Malaysia
Position
  • Professor (Associate)
June 2003 - present
Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM)
Position
  • Researcher
Education
June 2011 - May 2015
University of Copenhagen
Field of study
  • Urban Green Space Management
March 2001 - March 2002
University Putra Malaysia
Field of study
  • Urban Forestry
April 1997 - April 2000
Universiti of Malaysia Sabah
Field of study
  • Conservation Biology

Publications

Publications (56)
Article
Full-text available
Rapid global urbanization has made brownfield reuse a vital issue for sustainable urban development. However, the regeneration of brownfield landscapes is a complex and lengthy process that requires a combination of factors to be considered. Their landscape regeneration must be planned and prioritized to utilize brownfield sites and achieve positiv...
Article
Full-text available
Due to fast urbanisation, urban green space fragmentation has become a critical global concern. Nevertheless, understanding the planning and analysis of GI is deemed challenging. This paper examines the issue by focusing on Green Infrastructure (GI), a comprehensive strategy that provides viable answers. The foundation of the research relies on a m...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Community gardening is situated against the backdrop of the 'Bumi Hijau' campaign, which aims to foster urban agriculture engagement in Malaysia. It emerges as a vital practice that promotes inclusivity, diversity, and empowerment within urban areas. This study explores the experiences of community gardening among residents of Seri Perlis 2, a publ...
Article
City outdoor spaces, as significant venues for human activity, are closely related to city residents' quality of life and physical health. However, there is evidence that the lengthy and cold winters in city areas of cold regions—characterized by low temperatures, ice, snow, and chilling winds—have a profound negative impact on residents' participa...
Article
Various physical environmental factors influence the recreational experience of urban river corridors, and understanding visitors’ perceptions of these factors holds significant implications for promoting the health and well-being of urban residents. This study specifically focuses on the Hutuo River corridor in Shijiazhuang, China, and conducted a...
Article
Full-text available
Amidst rapid urbanization and escalating environmental degradation in China’s urban areas due to climate change, traditional drainage systems struggle to cope with rainfall, resulting in frequent flood disasters. In response, rain gardens have emerged as ecologically practical stormwater management solutions that integrate urban flood control with...
Chapter
Full-text available
Intense changes in urban land in cities worldwide are among the factors that contribute to diminishing forest land and biodiversity loss. Vegetative cover of diverse species and structures is crucial in ecosystem functions such as carbon storage, carbon sequestration, and stormwater attenuation. Conversely, rapid forest loss causes irreversible env...
Chapter
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The COVID-19 pandemic saw cities worldwide implementing various pandemic mitigation measures, including social and physical distancing, among others. However, these measures did not deter numerous public housing residents from continuing their participation in community gardening initiatives. This seemingly atypical behaviour sparked an interest in...
Chapter
Full-text available
Despite growing global interest, academic literature on community gardening remains sparse, especially for socio-economically marginalised populations. This also applies to Kuala Lumpur, where limited literature has explored socio-economically marginalised populations participating in community gardening. Building on this foundation, the study incl...
Article
Full-text available
River corridors, acknowledged as "blue-green infrastructure," have gained increasing attention due to their potential benefits on individual quality of life and social well-being in urban areas. However, there remains a lack of a comprehensive synthesis of evidence through a systematic literature review on the usage and associated constraints of ur...
Article
Full-text available
The research literature describes an intimate relationship between tree defects and vandalism behaviour. Decreased growth due to mechanical injury, reduced aesthetic features from tree part loss or modification, and increased hazards related to tree part weakness are among the impacts attributed to exposure to vandalism incidents. This study aimed...
Article
Full-text available
Urban vacant land availability offers revitalisation opportunities in the form of improving ecological functions. However, less is known about the available planning tools with which to mobilise this effort. Hence, this systematic review adopts ecological perspectives to explore planning tools to revitalise urban vacant land. The search strategy em...
Article
Full-text available
Kuala Lumpur (KL), a capital city of Malaysia has experienced significant development that has led to the fragmentation of urban green spaces. Even though green infrastructure (GI) may address the problem of green space fragmentation, there is a notable gap in the extent to which the existing policies and regulations support the development of GI i...
Article
Full-text available
Studies have shown that disadvantaged neighborhoods have fewer green spaces, resources, and facilities, resulting in residents facing more barriers to using green spaces. This study aims to quantify green space usage patterns and constraints in old residential neighborhoods in a large city in northern China. A questionnaire survey and semi-structur...
Article
Full-text available
Landscape preference and cognition are essential in determining the external environment’s subjective reflections. Although much research has been conducted on landscape preferences, there is still a lack of information on landscape perceptions and preferences among residents of disadvantaged neighbourhoods, especially in Chinese cities. Taking old...
Chapter
The concept of urban forestry emerged in the 1960s in North America, however in most Asian countries including Malaysia, this concept arrived in the 1980s or perhaps even later. Taking the concept of urban forestry and arboriculture into real-world practice in Malaysia was brought by the Twinning Programme: Multipurpose Forestry in a Changing Socie...
Article
Unlabelled: The special issue presents international experiences with COVID-19 in the years 2020 and 2021 on outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism. To set the scene, a bibliometric and qualitative analysis illustrates and clusters recent publications on COVID-19. Against this background contributions from Japan, China, Brazil, Indonesia, Aus...
Article
Neighborhood green space is closely related to the lives of every city dweller. However, some evidence showed that residents in disadvantaged neighborhoods do not fully use the green space due to quality, safety, and distance issues. Therefore, it is essential to understand how disadvantaged groups interact and use green space in these communities....
Article
Full-text available
Kuala Lumpur (KL) is experiencing rapid development leading to urban green space fragmentation. Green infrastructure (GI) could be the answer to the fragmented green space issue. Nevertheless, how policies and legislations contribute to the spatial establishment of GI in KL remains unclear. Thus, the policies and regulations governing GI establishm...
Conference Paper
Kuala Lumpur (KL) undergoes significant development since Malaysia independence. Thus, the green spaces in KL are under increasing pressure of decreasing, which leads to fragmentation. Nevertheless, there is a question on how to do Green Infrastructure (GI) planning in KL spatially to solve this problem? The study outlines the conceptual framework...
Article
Full-text available
Kuala Lumpur (KL) undergoes significant development since Malaysia independence. Thus, the green spaces in KL are under increasing pressure of decreasing, which lead to fragmentation. Nevertheless, there is a question on how to do Green Infrastructure (GI) planning in KL spatially to solve this problem? The study outlines the conceptual framework o...
Article
Green infrastructure (GI) is a pivotal multifunctional approach for urban green spaces fragmentation problem. The green space fragmentation issue has increasingly caught worldwide researchers’ critical attention. However, researchers face challenges in understanding GI analysis and planning. Only limited research exists on GI analysis and planning...
Chapter
Urban green infrastructure (UGI) aims to strategically develop green and blue space networks that contribute to human health and wellbeing, urban sustainability and climate resilience. However, evidence on UGI research and application in the cities of the Global South is limited. An overview of the development of UGI in the three regions of Latin A...
Article
This study aimed to investigate women’s preferred activities and elements of private green spaces in informal settlements of Kabul city. This study was conducted in three of the 22 police districts (PDs) of Kabul city, which included 400 women. The women were selected using a non-probability sampling technique of convenience sampling. A survey was...
Article
This paper presents a summary of empirical evidence drawn from a literature review on the factors contributing to people using the pocket parks. Initial findings indicate that pocket parks play a significant role by providing access to nature for individuals living in urban areas. This paper provides an evidence-based approach to the usage and bene...
Book
This book discusses several topics regarding different vocabularies, such as sacred architecture, heritage buildings, open spaces, landmarks, and street escapes, all of which have a direct influence on the city form. The city form is also affected by the indirect impact of the citizens themselves, for example their culture, which in turn depends on...
Book
This book explains how learning from past mistakes in urban design can help to enhance sustainable cities and how the principles of Green Urbanism can yield more resilient urban settlements. Environmental design is a fundamental principle in shaping cities. However, environmental challenges like increased resource consumption, water degradation and...
Article
Green outdoor environment (GOE) is a dynamic infrastructure to an urban area and part of the city’s ecosystem. Although numerous studies have been carried out on GOE, there is still a lack of information on GOE and its relationship in term of usability by office employees. The objectives of the study are to investigate the usage and constraints ass...
Article
This study aims to provide an overview of the pocket parks in the city centre of Kuala Lumpur while identifying the characteristics of the pocket parks associated with the visitation and usage. This study also intends to identify the constraints that limit the use of pocket parks according to Malaysia context. A survey conducted among N=363 respond...
Article
Full-text available
Private green spaces are considered an important part of urban greenery. However, the extent of private green spaces in an informal city like Kabul is unknown. To this end, this study has mapped out the private green spaces in the informal settlements of Kabul city. A Geographic Information System (GIS)-supervised image classification technique was...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The results show that explosion and terror activities (Mean = 4.21, Sd = 1.05) and lack of public green spaces in the area (Mean = 3.94, Sd = 1.18) are the two biggest reasons for women not going to public green spaces. Looking at the severe security situation in Kabul city, the results are aligned with previous literature pointing out safety as th...
Article
Full-text available
Abstract Landscapes of parks may contribute an important function in the urban park with a wide range of benefits. However, there is a lack of understanding of the public‘ preferences for parks‘ landscape functions and benefits in middle-east countries such as Iran. About 275 park users were interviewed using photo-questionnaire in Tabriz, Iran usi...
Poster
This study explores the usability pattern of 3 pocket parks in Kuala Lumpur by studying the characteristic, motivations to visit and the constraints in using these parks.
Conference Paper
Research has proven that urban green spaces are beneficial to support healthy lifestyle. However densification among larger cities including Kuala Lumpur has resulted in the conversion of open spaces to pave way for development; limiting the access to green spaces for human activity, restoration and recreation. Small public urban green spaces or po...
Article
Full-text available
The understanding of cross-cultural upon park usage is vital to be enhanced among public since findings that been discovered in the Western context are not own any similarities with the Asian context. In fact, it has been in a long run for the Western nations to primarily contextualized and conceptualized much on the literature of park usage. This...
Article
Full-text available
Although there are many positive benefits gained from green areas, it is possible that people also have a negative perception towards such areas. Previous studies have shown that natural areas are sometimes perceived as scary, disgusting and uncomfortable when the sites are more densely vegetated, particularly when the vegetation is not apparently...
Research
Full-text available
This PhD thesis studies the topic of perceived fear of crime in urban green spaces in a Malaysian context. The research, at the interface between the fields of urban forestry and green space management, landscape architecture and environmental psychology, was based in Denmark and Malaysia and conducted between 2011 and 2014. Although fear of crime...
Article
This study was conducted to determine the attributes which evoke 'fear of crime' and to determine the defensive behaviour among the urban park users. Findings are based on qualitative studies undertaken in the city of Kuala Lumpur among the park and non-park users (N=19) by means of semi-structured in-depth interviews. The interview consists of res...
Article
Studies have pointed at the negative side of urban green spaces in terms of evoking fear of crime. Howeverresearch on fear-provoking attributes suggests that there usually is no single attribute that influencesfear but that rather a combination of attributes prevails. The aim of the paper is to systematically reviewthose attributes that evoke fear...
Article
Full-text available
There is growing recognition of urban areas as hosts for innovative ways to conserve and promote biodiversity. Parks, as one specific type of urban green space, constitute particularly important biodiversity hotspots in the cityscape. We reviewed empirical findings on the species richness in urban parks across all species groups that have been stud...
Article
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Recent findings have demonstrated that nature and green spaces contribute to public health by for example reducing stress and mental disorders, and by imporving life quality and self-reported health. Indirect health effects are conveyed by providing opportunities for physical activity, by reducing health inequalities, and by increasing social cohes...
Article
Full-text available
Tree planting programs in Malaysia have progressed as planned. However, the subsequent management of the street trees, particularly at Kuala Lumpur City Hall, is not well undertaken due to inadequate information for management and maintenance purposes. There has never been a systematic tree survey conducted to inventory street trees in Kuala Lumpur...
Article
Full-text available
In rapidly developing countries such as Malaysia, the importance of urban greenspaces is recognized, but due to rapid industrialization and urbanization, maintaining and developing greenspace is a major challenge. This paper analyzes the status of urban greenspace policy, planning, and management in Malaysia. For this purpose, information was colle...
Article
Full-text available
Trees have been playing important roles in our lives for centuries; however, too often, city councils in Malaysia are unaware about the consequences of a tree failure such as property damage and personal injury. Identifying hazardous trees and taking appropriate corrective actions can protect property and save lives. A study was conducted to identi...
Article
Full-text available
In the excitement of transforming Malaysia as Garden Nation through planting trees and establishing public parks around the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, special attention should be given particularly in providing a safe urban environment. This is in line with the National Urbanisation Policy and Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan 2020. However, this...
Book
Full-text available
An essential handbook for tree workers, arborists, park managers, designers, landscape architects, policy makers, practitioners, students and other individuals who are directly involved in urban forestry and landscape management. This book is published as an aid to identify the indicators to evaluate hazardous trees and the elements in hazard tree...
Article
Full-text available
Recreation forest is a popular setting for outdoor recreation in Selangor, Malaysia. In the recreation forest, hazardous trees in this setting can be associated with risks in which the manager of the forest needs to give serious attention. A study was conducted to identify the criteria and indicators in evaluating hazardous trees in these forests....
Article
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This paper discusses the contribution of the Kuala Lumpur Structure Plans 1984 and 2020 towards the development of green networks. It examines Kuala Lumpur City as a case study. A continuous network of open spaces was envisaged by the Kuala Lumpur Structural Plan 1984 that would link the major open spaces together with rivers and drain reserves. Ne...
Article
Full-text available
The greening of urban Malaysia has focused primarily on beautification and has mainly been the province of horticulturists, landscapers, nursery workers, town planners and architects, with negligible inputs from foresters. From a historical perspective, the development falls loosely into three phases: the initiation of greening prior to independenc...

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