Craving gains and claiming “green” by cutting greens? An exploratory analysis of greenfield housing developments in Iskandar Malaysia

Housing developments constructed in Nusajaya for the Iskandar Malaysia (IM) project, a massive green urban project in Malaysia, are analyzed here as an example of urban greenwashing. To empirically study this argument, this study uses a combination of quantitative techniques: semi-content analysis, remote sensing, and geographical information systems. Empirical findings from the analysis suggest that greenfield housing developments (GHDs) in Nusajaya benefit from relatively higher sale prices when they employ deceptive green claims. In addition, the empirical study observes that GHDs with deceptive green claims show higher levels of vegetation loss on their construction sites. Green GHDs in Nusajaya deserve critical scholarly attention to elaborate the “craving gains and claiming ‘green’ by cutting greens” relationship that today’s large-scale green urbanization potentially entails. Such critical studies about green discourses in urban projects contribute to the development of genuinely sustainable urban societies.