Benefits and Returns of Adopt-A-Park Programme in Kuala Lumpur

Abstract

A collaborative partnership between local authorities and corporate agencies in maintaining and managing urban public parks through the Adopt-A-Park Programme has become a standard approach throughout the United States and Europe. In the Malaysian context, this programme came into the limelight of the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) practices via the Greener Kuala Lumpur initiatives. Between 2012 and 2018, fifteen corporate agencies have shown their proactive involvement through corporate social responsibility (CSR) to beautify and maintain the urban green spaces in Kuala Lumpur via the park adoption programme which helped Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur / KL City Hall (DBKL) to manage its public parks effectively despite the limited budget. This paper aims to examine the benefits and returns of the Adopt-A-Park Programme at the Laman @ Eco Sky and the Metropolis Park to DBKL, park users and park adopters. Park users' satisfaction and allocations spent by the corporate adopters are analysed descriptively. Results show that while DBKL saved about RM24 million of the maintenance cost, 94% of the adopted park users are satisfied with the quality of the park. This programme should include more parks, especially in low-income communities.