The determinant factors of rooftop as urban farming in high rise residential building: case study at George Town, Penang / Nur Hayati Hashim

The world‟s population in urban areas has rapidly grown since 1950 where 30 per cent
of the population is in urban areas and the number is projected to grow to 66 per cent
by the year 2050.Consequently, the population growth in urban areas leads to the
demand for housing in these big cities. A marked increase in building densities occurs
and this is indicative of the high values of the land. As more buildings are constructed,
the urban area becomes compact and green space is being replaced by concrete
jungles. Due to the limitation of the green space on the ground, it is shifted onto
rooftops. Thus, the concept of green roof has the potential to be innovated into rooftop
urban farming as an alternative in food production. Rooftop urban farming is one of
the significant urban food productions in the urban area which contributes to food
security. This research presents the ideas in implementing urban farming on the
rooftop areas. The emergence of urban farming in handling urban problems mainly in
food production is one of the methods in the initiative to develop a sustainable
environment. However, the concern is to investigate an alternative way for urban
dwellers to achieve resilience through urban farming. The researcher aims to identify
the potential of utilizing rooftops for the residents to self-produce food (individually)
and implement urban farming (cumulatively), in the high-rise residential building
areas. Furthermore, the research objectives for this study are i) to investigate the
potential space of rooftop areas as urban farming in high rise residential buildings and
ii) to identify the determinant factors for the residents to be involved in rooftop urban
farming in high rise residential building. The case study areas are more specifically
located in Seksyen 5, George Town, Penang. The selection of building was focused on
the residents‟ condominiums which is Kristal Height Condominium and Greenlane
Height Block A. The method was to investigate the potential to implement urban
farming on the rooftop areas. This study adopted a quantitative method using the
questionnaires to conduct a survey. 300 sets of questionnaires were distributed to the
residents in these high-rise residential condominiums. However, only 274 sets were
returned to be analyses. The collected data were then compiled using the Software
Package for Social Science (SPSS). The analysis carries out through SPSS are the
reliability test, descriptive analysis, and Spearman Rho correlation analysis. Findings
showed that the availability of space is a significant factor in the implementation of
rooftop urban farming. While for the findings on the determinant factors for the
residents to get involved in rooftop urban farming in high-rise residential building, the
most significant are the support factors followed by the human factors; natural factors;
factors in the availability of time; interest factor; the knowledge or understanding
factors and the involvement factor. Finally, the implementation of rooftop urban
farming in these areas has the potential to be developed based on the findings from
this research.