Land use Planning System and Housing Development Process in Malaysia

47 In the model, an application for planning permission is stated as one of the important events that need to be undertaken before the preparation of development programme. The comprehensiveness of the model, however, is debated by Gore and Nicholson (1991) and Healey (1992). Gore and Nicholson (1991) argues that a series of land development stages do not reflect the true nature of most events in the land development process. They also argued that the imposition of a rigid sequence, which hinders the identification of any relationships between events in different stages was not fully explored by the model.

Healey (1992) similarly argues that Ratcliffe’s linear model had failed to address the diversity and flexibility that characterises most of the land development investment. The reason is that the actual sequence of events in the development process is subjected to considerable differences of roles, interests and strategies of various actors. These differences and variety of agents’ behaviour were not fully incorporated in the model. As a result, the model tends to neglect the cyclical nature of the land development process and omit the complexity of agents’ behaviour.

In the development pipe-line model, Barrett et al. (1978) considers the cyclical nature and the interactive aspects of the development process. Within the model, activities and decisions are grouped into three sets of events, i.e. development pressure and prospects, development feasibility and implementation. The model also illustrates a series of external factors which influence the efficiency and capacity of each event (Figure 2.7).

Activity in the development pipeline begins only when it is triggered by broader economic, political and demographic factors. Economic growth, taxation incentive and the impact upon land requirements of long-term trends in population growth, household formation and associated factors, may all create development pressure and prospects (Adams, 1994). At this stage, the development process may face possible problems in relation to sources and financial arrangements, early physical and infrastructural difficulties, environment and cultural values and overall demand and supply of the proposed development (Ismail, 1999).