KL Park Festival 2025: So much to see and do

Chin Jian Wei | 13 October 2025

KL Park Festival (KLPF2025), the biennial celebration of nature and urban greenery, returns this Oct 17-26 to Taman Tasik Titiwangsa, thanks to Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL). The festival serves to remind city folk of the importance of parks to enrich the city, providing much-needed vitality in today’s urban landscape, as well as a space for people to engage in recreation, sports and leisure. The less obvious roles of parks also include flood mitigation, conserving wildlife and providing fresh air.

Dato' Seri Maimunah Mohd Sharif, the mayor of Kuala Lumpur (pic below) says: “It is an open invitation to celebrate our city’s green spaces, to promote urban sustainability and eco-conscious living. It helps to unite the diverse communities of Kuala Lumpur and the Asean nations. It is also a showcase of Malaysia’s creativity in art, culture and food. For 2025, the festival is guided by four themes, namely green living, cultural expression, community participation and innovation through nature.”

Her passion for sustainable living extends well beyond policy. “I have all the herbs in my garden — more than ten,” she shares with a smile. “At the Mayor’s Residence here in KL, I plant with help from my gardener. In my Kuala Pilah home, I plant vegetables, rear chickens, and even have a pond with ducks and fruit trees. When I was in Nairobi with the UN, I had nearly 350 chickens, rabbits and ducks! I want to encourage others to embrace urban farming, sustainability and organic living.”

It’s this personal commitment that underscores the spirit of the KLPF2025 – inspiring city dwellers to reconnect with nature, no matter how urban their surroundings.

This festival incorporates garden showcases and interactive programmes to bring together various sectors of the community, such as residents, government and corporate entities, as well as education institutions such as schools and universities.

This year, KLPF2025 will also host the Asean 2025 summit. Visitors can look forward to seeing different elements from the various Asean member countries incorporated into the garden showcases, including those celebrating the rich heritage of Malaysia. “The overarching theme is unity through diversity,” Dato’ Seri Maimunah says. “It reflects the richness of our region.”

Think City is a strategic partner to DBKL for KLPF2025. Daniel Lim, director of urban solutions at Think City says, “As part of this collaboration, we are co-promoting the festival and will be hosting a panel discussion on Oct 21 that explores the role of placemaking in green and public spaces. When we think about sustainability and resilience, we should look beyond parks alone. Greenery shouldn’t be confined within fixed boundaries – it should flow through our cities, intentionally integrated into streets, laneways, pocket parks, open spaces, even on walls and roofs of buildings.”

In total, 12 components have been planned for the festival, and they are as follows:

Mystical Titiwangsa is the centrepiece of the event, boasting an immersive experience that includes horticultural elements, cutting-edge visual technology and Malaysian folklore. See tales like Puteri Gunung Ledang and Si Tanggang come to life with immersive technology, enabling visitors to interact with the exhibit.

For more traditional fare, look no further than Malaysian Heritage Garden, a garden showcase comprising cultural and heritage gardens from different cities and states across the country, highlighting the unique traditions and beauty of different Malaysian regions. Similarly, the Asean Sculpture Gardens feature designers from across Malaysia and other Asean countries, utilising sculptures and other art installations to celebrate the heritage and creativity of our region.

Continuing the theme of gardens, Garden of Haven is a home garden showcase presented by the organiser and partners, highlighting a Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) approach to home gardening, showing how a garden can serve as an inseparable part of a home, combining both interior and exterior spaces.

“We want to promote and encourage the local community to take part – selling their products including vegetables, and other innovative products made from produce,” Maimunah adds.

The Asean Marketplace bazaar also takes pride of place, boasting over 100 stalls. These stalls have just about everything a curious visitor could want, including halal food, plants, and arts and crafts.

Other highlights include public open competitions such as KL Balcony Showdown and Environmental Arts. The former is focused on landscape and garden design in small balcony spaces, with participants provided with mock-up balcony spaces to showcase their designs and hopefully inspire other city dwellers. The latter contest is focused on large scale environmental art within a park setting. Three categories exist within this competition, comprising sculptures built on the ground, “suspended” in the air or in the water.

Young Expression is organised in collaboration with various universities, setting up a Student Village that supports various competitions, performances and activities for higher education students, giving them opportunities to demonstrate their talents and creativity in a fun and dynamic environment.

Community Garden, similarly, is a space set up for community-focused activities. Organised by Local Agenda 21 (LA21) and the Malaysian Arborist Association, Community Garden aims at public education in the fields of environmental awareness, tree care and urban gardening using interactive programs such as exhibitions, talks, competitions and sales.

More fun-loving visitors are also catered to with Outdoor Adventure, as the festival features thrilling outdoor activities such as glamping, water sports, and endurance sports. Visitors who prefer a more indoor experience will still find plenty to enjoy with traditional games, and even e-sports!

With Nature Spark, a host of local and international experts will also be in attendance to share their knowledge with the visitors in a series of seminars, talks, and forum discussions. Rhythm of Life, the final component, is a series of light art installations themed around Asean cultural diversity, strategically placed around the park grounds for visitors to share and celebrate through their pictures and social media.

Another highlight of the festival is undoubtedly the KL Genta Festival: Gendang dan Tarian. This is a must-see experience showcasing the variety of dance and rhythm across six Asean countries and four states in Malaysia, showing everyone the beauty of cross-cultural harmony. Similarly, the Asean Halal Food Fiesta looks to satisfy visitors’ gastronomic desires with halal dishes across the Asean region. Our neighbouring countries, such as Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand, are represented, while famous local hoteliers represent our nation’s delectable dishes.

In 2023, close to 150,000 people turned up for the inaugural park festival and this year Maimunah hopes that 250,000 will show up! “There will also be a satellite location. We wanted to connect other parts of the city with Taman Titiwangsa,” says Maimunah, referring to The Asean Unity Garden, now open at the Raintree Plaza, TRX until Oct 26. As part of the KLPF2025 Corridor – City in Bloom Showcase, the iconic shopping and financial district of TRX presents a unique blend of landscape, culture, and unity.

It is the hope of DBKL and all organisers that the KLPF2025 will help citizens gain a deeper appreciation for the green spaces of the city. Lim says, “Green spaces do more than provide environmental benefits such as cooling the city, improving air quality, mitigating floods and supporting biodiversity. They also build social resilience by fostering wellbeing, social cohesion and a stronger sense of belonging. When greenery is woven into the urban fabric, it becomes a continuous connector – for both people and wildlife – enhancing walkability, connectivity and quality of life. Ultimately, a sustainable and resilient city is one that’s liveable and loved.”

KLPF2025 will be open to the public from Oct 17-26, 9am – 11pm daily. Admission is free.

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