Sports facilities development towards sustainable community: A case study of Kuala Lumpur

摘要

Sports and sports facilities development have improved rapidly over the past years in Malaysia. However, such improvements are inadequate compared to the overalluddevelopment of sports at international level. In recent years sport is getting more and more influential and it will continue to grow in importance, even for developingudcountries. Increase in the amount of public money being spent on sports facilities, at the same time, increase in the number of sports facilities as well as increasinglyudimportance of sustainability necessitate demand to investigate issues surrounding sports facilities development especially in Kuala Lumpur as the regional and nationaludcentre for sporting activities. The long-term benefits to cities and local communities need to achieve more initiative by decision-makers. However, sustainability is moreudimportant for sports facilities due to requirement of huge money for construction, ancillary needs and constant maintenance costs. This research aims to examine theudeffectiveness and intangible benefits of sports facilities in Kuala Lumpur through residents' perceptions. Four case studies each selected from one of the four managingudzones of sports facilities developed by Kuala Lumpur City Hall provide information for this research. The research able to rank the case studies based on residents'udperception towards their attitude about facilities and programmes, using of the facilities, and respondents’ willingness to pay. The paper argues that the sportsudfacilities could only have limited impacts on residents which need to improve and increase the impacts for further development.