Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Urban Forestry & Urban Greening journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ufug Public preferences toward shopping mall interior landscape design in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Ahmad Hami a, ⁎ , Fazilah Fazle Moula b , Suhardi Bin Maulan c a University of Tabriz, Department of Landscape Engineering, 29 Bahman Boulevard, Tabriz, Iran b Universiti Putra Malaysia, Department of Landscape Architecture, Serdang, Malaysia c Universiti Putra Malaysia, Department of Landscape Architecture, Serdang, Malaysia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: CIM method Interior landscaping in shopping mall Open space in business environment Preference studies ABSTRACT The number of malls in Malaysia has not only increased dramatically, but they have also been subject to con- tinual expansion over the past few years. Despite this rate of expansion, there has not been enough attention paid to the quality of the spaces and interior landscaping of the malls on the basis of people’s preferences. This study aimed to bring out people’s preferences towards interior public spaces at shopping malls. Using a photo ques- tionnaire, the results pointed to three major dimensions: the green dimension, the seating dimension, and the business dimension in open spaces of shopping malls where the green dimension received the highest preference. The green dimension includes water features, trees, plants, and shrubs. Moreover, legibility and coherence af- fected people’s preferences for open spaces in shopping malls. People did not prefer the business dimension to spending leisure times, involving business equipment in shopping malls. The study suggested that shopping malls should be designed as truly public spaces with ample public areas. Green elements and water features should be used more in shopping mall public places. Moreover, policy makers can expand the “shopping town” approach for people’s leisure in malls that should include characteristics such as rivers or waterfalls with a dynamic water flow, famous places, public libraries, gardens, town activities, and cultural activities. 1. Introduction Social science researchers have paid significant attention to ex- ploring public opinion toward various aspects of urban residential areas, a case in point being urban public landscape areas. Public landscape areas are divided into: urban parks, streetscape, green belts, gardens, forest parks, and recreation areas. Shopping malls can be viewed as public spaces, needing scientific and appropriate insight to landscaping of their open spaces (Lekagul, 2002). In this spirit, it seems that the participation of public visitors is essential to better landscaping design for shopping mall centres. The number of shopping malls in Malaysia has been on the increase at an average annual rate of 7.0% (Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development and International Data Corporation, a.c.f. Ninth Malaysian Plan, 2006–2010). Even with this high expansion rate, there is not much available research regarding people’s preferences toward the quality and interior landscaping of the malls in Malaysia. What is noticeable in the current situation is that the majority of the malls do not consider people’s preferences in their premises. Spaces such as the atria, corridors, lobbies, and walkways have been utilized for business establishments which may prevent people from staying longer. It is necessary that people’s preferences toward the interior landscape of shopping malls be carefully studied. These pieces of information may have an impact on assisting the designer in creating an indoor func- tional space providing suitable amenities and a comfortable environ- ment for the visitors. This study attempts to provide valuable and ori- ginal information from patrons in order to design better shopping malls in the future. Thus, this article aims to identify people’s preferences towards interior public spaces landscaping at shopping malls in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2. Literature review In this part, previous research on people’s preferences toward shopping malls interior landscape is reviewed. In this regard, pre- ferences for open spaces in business environments and shopping malls are discussed accordingly. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2017.12.019 Received 27 April 2016; Received in revised form 24 October 2017; Accepted 30 December 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: hami@tabrizu.ac.ir (A. Hami), fz_fzm@yahoo.com (F.F. Moula), shdi@yahoo.com (S.B. Maulan). Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 30 (2018) 1–7 Available online 08 January 2018 1618-8667/ © 2018 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. T