Designing Kinder Cities: Dr. Yong Adilah’s Mission to Make Urban Mobility Safer and More Inclusive
- UM Research
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Dr. Yong 'Adilah Binti Shamsul Harumain
Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Built Environment
Area of Expertise:
Transportation Planning and Mobility Related Studies (transportation Planning, Mobility, Urban Planning, Women Mobility and Safe City for Children)
Across the world, cities are rethinking what it means to be truly inclusive. Urban mobility once viewed primarily through the lens of efficiency and infrastructure is now being redefined around people: their safety, comfort, and access to opportunity. This shift is especially urgent for those who have historically been left behind women, children, the elderly, and the differently abled.
Putting People at the Centre of Mobility
For Dr. Yong Adilah Shamsul Harumain, these issues are at the heart of her research. A Senior Lecturer at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Malaya, she believes that mobility is not merely about movement. “Mobility is not just about movement; it is about access, dignity, and opportunity,” she says.
“Mobility is not just about movement; it is about access, dignity, and opportunity – says Dr. Yong Adilah.
Dr. Adilah wears many hats at the Centre for Sustainable Planning & Real Estate (SUPRE), and at the Smart Mobility Centre of Excellence, and Coordinator of the Dual PhD Programme at Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Malaya. Her research focuses on urban transportation planning, women’s and children’s mobility, safe city design, and disaster management, including the planning of Temporary Relief Centres (TRCs). She addresses access and safety inequities for vulnerable users, promotes active travel uptake, and practical design responses for resilience. “I blend transport planning with human-centred design translating research on women, children and elderly into real community projects (e.g., Hentian Komuniti) and policy advice,” she shares.
From Japan to Malaysia: Shaping Inclusive Urban Solutions
Her interest in transport and community-centered planning began during her doctoral studies in Utsunomiya University, Japan, where she was deeply influenced by the country’s people-centered approach to urban design. “Training and exposure in Japan seeing people-centered transport, safety, and resilience embedded in daily life, shaped my path,” she says. She fondly remembers her PhD supervisor, Professor Akinori Morimoto, who influenced her systems view of transport and resilience.
Returning to Malaysia, Dr. Adilah began exploring how these ideas could be adapted to local contexts. Early in her career, she worked on heritage-mobility in Taiping, which evolved into one of her proudest achievements: introducing the concept of Machinoeki, or “Hentian Komuniti,” to Malaysia. First implemented in Taiping between 2016 and 2017, the Hentian Komuniti serves as a community mobility hub, where pedestrians can plan their journey around the city.
Asked about the biggest misconceptions people have about mobility, she replied “That transport planning is purely technical; in truth, it is social, cultural, and behavioural and must be designed that way.” She also shared that every day “small trips” (to school, markets, clinics) often reveal the biggest structural barriers and the smartest fixes.
Towards Safer, Smarter, More Inclusive Cities
Besides that, Dr. Adilah has served as the Principal Investigator (PI) for a project titled “Building Psychological Resilience in Women Leaders: Strengthening Support Systems in Malaysian and Indonesian Universities” funded by the British Council and SEAMEO Rihed, with an amount of RM31,586.24 over 5 months. The goal of this project was to explore women’s leadership roles in university, as well as the challenges and issues faced by academicians and non-academicians, such as imposter syndrome and self-doubt.
“Our main key outcomes were that it is common for women leaders to have certain barriers as well as imposter syndrome, and that peer support and programs in the university will be able to support them to be a leader or a better leader,” she said.
“Leadership is not just about leading but also about empathy, about bringing people together with you into an organization. This project will improve women leadership and increase gender equality in leadership in Malaysia and Indonesian universities.”– says Dr. Yong Adilah.
Dr. Adilah has worked with government bodies such as the Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, Majlis Perbandaran Taiping and Majlis Bandaraya Kuantan, as well as universities including Fukui University, Keio University, Utsunomiya University, Universitas Indonesia, Universitas Gadjah Mada, the University of the West of England in Bristol, Coventry University, and the University of Illinois. Her networks also extend to industries such as Uber (where she handled first/last-mile studies) and the National Audit Department where she has conducted audits.
Her expertise is increasingly sought in policymaking and advisory roles. She was on the PTKL2040 Hearing Committee, has advised and consulted the National Audit Department on Klang Valley Land Public Transportation System, and has provided input to ministries and local councils on mobility, flood and disaster management topics. She is also an active voice in public discourse, contributing regularly to media outlets such as Berita Harian, Astro Awani, and Harian Metro, and has appeared Selamat Pagi Malaysia (TV1).
Despite her many responsibilities, Dr. Adilah remains deeply connected to the human stories behind her research. “Knowing that safer, more dignified mobility for women, children, and elders uplifts families and neighbourhoods that’s what motivates me to keep going in my field,” she says.
Looking ahead, Dr Adilah plans to continue her work on disaster-mobility and TRC, child-friendly and safe routes to school, and neighbourhood hubs (Hentian Komuniti). She is open to strategic collaborators from agencies, councils, as well as technology partners. Her long-term vision is clear: cities where independent, safe mobility is the norm especially for the most vulnerable and where planning honours both culture and community “I build bridges between people and places, making cities kinder for the most vulnerable,” she says about her career. With her commitment to safe city design and women’s and children’s mobility, Dr. Yong Adilah Shamsul Harumain stands at the forefront of a movement to make Malaysian cities safer, smarter, and more inclusive.
#WomenMobility #SafeCityForChildren #HentianKomuniti #InclusiveMobility #ChildFriendlyCities #CommunityMobility #WalkableCities #UniversitiMalaya
Researcher featured:
Dr. Yong 'Adilah Binti Shamsul Harumain
Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Malaya
For inquiries, please contact:
T: +603-79676811
Author:
Farah Hannan Abd Nasir
A PhD student from the Physics Department who’s eager to blend science and storytelling - my goal is to make science relatable and exciting for everyone. When I’m not researching organic electronics, I enjoy playing the viola and painting with watercolours.
Copyedit:
Siti Farhana Bajunid Shakeeb Arsalaan Bajunid, Assistant Registrar, UM
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