Heavy metals were emitted from motor vehicles and industries as part of the effects of rapid urbanization. This study aims to measure the heavy metal concentrations (Cu, Fe, Zn, Pb, Mn, Cr) at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah using transplanted lichen. Samples of Usnea misaminensis were transplanted to the environment of the urban area. The lichen was collected from Mt. Kinabalu Park which is a remote area. Fifteen sampling stations were selected and transplanted lichens were exposed to heavy metals in those stations for about 4-6 weeks. Exposed lichens were analyzed using the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to determine the concentration of heavy metals in each sample. One-way ANOVA also has been used to test whether there is significant variation between heavy metals concentration at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The result showed that iron (Fe) has the highest concentration with 84.43 μg/g and chromium (Cr) has the lowest concentration with 0.66 μg/g. A statistical One-way ANOVA test showed that there is a significant variation between heavy metal frequency with P-value is 0.0000 < 0.05. A Tukey test also revealed that Fe has significantly higher concentration compare to the others. These findings prove that the increasing number of motor vehicles will also elevate the concentration of heavy metals in the atmosphere. Transplanted lichen can be the alternative approach in assessing air pollution in Malaysia’s urban area. lichen, air pollution, urban ecosystem, applied ecology, environmental management, Malaysia