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Abstract
There has been considerable interest in the research of sustainable cities in developing countries such as Malaysia. This paper will review urban residents' perceptions of the ways that sustainable cities are being planned and produced in Malaysia. In particular, this article analyses urban residents' perceptions of planners' roles in the context of diverse aspirations for sustainable cities. Data collected from in-depth interviews and survey revealed that the communication between urban residents and planners tends to be 'one way' and there are 'too many' unnecessary political intervention in planning for sustainable cities. Although public participation allows urban residents to participate in the planning process, the residents' opinions tend to be ignored as there is a minority but a powerful and affluent group that dominated the process. Our data also revealed that neighbourhood planning tends to include 'everything' under the umbrella of sustainability, but with little practical execution on the ground. Thus, we can conclude that the implementation of sustainable development is still a challenge in Malaysian cities.

AbstractLabour migration into Malaysia has increased rapidly in recent decades and this has affected Malaysia's government policy in managing migrants' movement. Interestingly, Malaysia has attracted a high degree of unskilled labour, accompanied by unabated rise of undocumented migrant workers. Mitigating undocumented migration is the main aim of Malaysia's labour migration policy and therefore the focus of Malaysian government. This has impacted on how enforcement agencies work out strategies. These agencies are the forefront of Malaysia's labour migration policy but they faced a number of challenges, such as documentation, finance and manpower capability, and political intervention, which impede their ability to optimize their capabilities in enforcing the Malaysian government labour migration policy. Resolving these challenges and moving towards a long‐term labour migration policy will benefit the Malaysian state, its citizens and the labour migrants.

AbstractEnclosed residential areas are proliferating in Malaysian cities, in common with many other parts of the world. The production of gated communities and guarded neighborhoods in Malaysia reveals the active role of the state in creating conditions that support enclosure and securitization of space. This article examines the role of governance in producing residential enclaves that reinforce segregation and fragment urban landscapes. Based on a study of gated communities in Malaysia, we argue that governments, corporations and citizen groups collaborate within a complex governance system that (re)produces enclosure. Neoliberal market principles fuse with ethnic politics, cultural predilections and economic imperatives to generate a socially and spatially fragmented urban landscape where security concerns dominate and where citizens culturally, physically and symbolically segregate themselves from others.