car-free is only possible if you have 1) forward-looking urban planning from the get-go 2) public transportation that support said urban planning. This unfortunately takes at least a decade or two.

Local governments are still very obsessed with approving super high-density buildings and never consider the amount of traffic that’s going to cause and how people are going to move around.

re human walkability - construction of footpaths, building pedestrian crossings at every junction, and perhaps construct wombat crossings, shared-zone and enforced speed limit around populated area could also work which are all very easy to do with enough political will and should be the bare minimum.

I could also comment about the fact Federation of Malaysia is too centralised when it comes to planning, funding and construction of public infrastructure, including public transport. All the states are too dependent on Putrajaya for funding, which is tragic for local public transportation. It’s very different compared to US or Australia whereby each state is free to pursue their own respective public transportation policy with minimal federal government input as they could raise significant tax revenue to fund their own projects.