More often than not, neighbourhoods in Malaysia have been designed more for practicality rather than anything else. In many places, especially in the big cities, there isn’t a lot of parks and green spaces within neighbourhoods that encourage people to exercise and live healthy, or even take evening walks. This is an especially pressing problem in places that have a lot of middle class apartments and flats.

The congestion of high density neighbourhoods can also sometimes lead to sanitation and rubbish issues. This can lead to an increase of diseases, for example dengue. Rubbish and things like overgrown grass can discouraged people from going out, and also discourage children from playing and getting the outdoor exercise they need.

Despite this, it is not impossible to have cleaner, greener and healthier neighbourhood. If you live in such a neighbourhood, these are some suggestions on how you can help:

• Get your neighbours together and organize a ‘gotong royong’ to clean up one weekend. Approach the management or head of the flats resident’s organization and they’ll be more than happy to back you.

• Get in some volunteer artists to paint murals on the walls. You are giving them a canvas for their work and legitimate street artists will be more than happy to have a canvas.

• Get together and plant trees around the buildings

• Write to your local council and gather signatures to petition for a bicycle lane and bicycle parking spaces in and around your apartments. If possible, ask for a proper jogging track or walking path to be segmented as well.

• Ask your apartment management to consider a ‘no cars’ day or ‘car free’ hours in the compound to reduce noise and harmful emissions.

• Consider having an art park or art corner in your neighbourhood where local artists can contribute their artworks. Alternatively, you can get the residents themselves to contribute artwork like sculptures, paintings and the like, and hang it or display it all over the building.

• Set up a small community centre where the young and old alike can play board games, have a go at the foosball table, or read books from a small library. The community centre can also be a place to educate and train residents on health matters.

Research has shown time and time again that upgrading and uplifting the appearance of a neighbourhood has a significant impact on its community, including decreasing crime and gangsterism amongst its youth. Therefore, it should be the initiative of every community to ensure that their residences stay clean, green and beautiful.