PUBLIC AWARENESS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF URBAN FOREST PARKS IN KOTA KINABALU CITY, SABAH

Kota Kinabalu City has several urban parks, which has become the centre of urban green space. However the function of the urban park is still not fully recognized. In addition, the enlightenment concept of urban forestry is still unclear in view of the public. This study aims to provide an assessment of the functions of each park in the city of Kota Kinabalu via public perception. Furthermore, it also aims to identify on public awareness about urban forestry concept. There are eight parks that were selected as the location of the study. The Parks comprise ofpublic and pocket parks that are maintained solely by the Kota Kinabalu City Hall. The sampling method used in this study is convenience sampling with questionnaires involving 160 respondents, of whom the target group are the park visitors. The results of the study show a total of 153 (95.6%) respondents agreed that each park has distinct and separated functions. It also shows that urban parks such as Prince Philip Public Park, Teluk Likas Park, Tun Fuad Stephen Public Park, and Ujana Rimba Public Park have recreation as the main function, meanwhile Tugu Petagas Public Park, Kampung Air Pocket Park, and Lintasan Deasoka Pocket Park have aesthetic as the main function, whilst the Signal Hill Park is found to serve as soil erosion control. In addition, a total of 123 (76.9%) of respondents understood the concept of urban forestry as planning and management of trees in urban area. As a conclusion, recreation and aesthetic are the main functions for all of the selected urban parks in the city of Kota Kinabalu city. Besides that, it is found that most of the public are aware of the existence ofurban forest concept in the city of Kota Kinabalu.