INDONESIA'S URBAN STUDIES

Book review: The Appearances of Memory by Abidin Kusno

2011-08-10T15:26:00.021-05:00

On May 26, 2010, I received an email from the editor of Pacific Affairs who invited me to review a new book titled The Appearances of Memory: Mnemonic Practices of Architecture and Urban Form in Indonesia. It's my pleasure to accept the invitation and about a week later I received the book and started reading it. While I was preparing the review of the book, I received similar email from the reviews editor of Planning Theory and I respectfully declined the invitation because I had agreed to review the book for Pacific Affairs.

The book was written by Professor Abidin Kusno, an Associate Professor at the Institute of Asian Research and the Canada Research Chair in Asian Urbanism and Culture at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

The review of The Appearances of Memory: Mnemonic Practices of Architecture and Urban Form in Indonesia has been published in Pacific Affairs 84(2): 399-401 in June 2011. I am pleased to share my review of this book in this blog as you can find below.

Indonesia, with a population of over 230 million making it the fourth-largest country in the world, has been experiencing rapid urbanization in the last two decades. This in turn has led to problems in various aspects of urban life in Indonesia, exacerbated by the economic crisis in 1997. The resignation of President Suharto in May 1998, following his failure to address the impact of the economic crisis, marked the end of his New Order regime and the beginning of profound social and political transformation in Indonesia, including its cities. The changes in the cities cannot be separated from the history of the country, which underwent a period of colonialism, a period of revolutionary struggle for independence, a period of authoritarian rule under Sukarno’s Guided Democracy and a thirty-two-year authoritarian period under Suharto’s New Order Regime.

The Appearances of Memory: Mnemonic Practices of Architecture and Urban Form in Indonesia offers new perspectives and interesting analysis of political cultures and the experience of urbanism in Indonesia, providing the reader with a better understanding of the complexity of urban problems in the country. Kusno’s main thesis posits that there have been connections between the built environment and political consciousness in Indonesian cities in the colonial and national periods. The book is organized into four thematic sections: governmentality, remembering and forgetting, reminiscences and mental nebulae. The chapters in the book are organized from the everyday present in the 2000s to the events of the colonial period. Those who are familiar with Kusno’s work will not find much new material in this book. Six out of nine chapters in the book have appeared elsewhere, many of which have been widely cited.

The book is a pleasure to read, stimulating and well conceived. A variety of figures in
the book also amply supplement the narrative. Kusno offers an intriguing analysis of urban issues in Indonesia from the combined disciplines of architecture, history and politics. Such analysis is unique and will contribute significantly to the literature of urban studies, not only in the Indonesian context but on a broader level. In this book, Kusno also coins such terms as nationalist urbanism (26), state modernism (94) and market modernism (94) which could apply to cities in other countries.

I found a lot of compelling discussions in the book, particularly those on Jakarta’s visual environments including the busway project, superblocks, kampongs, the street vendors, the preservation of Old Batavia, and the redevelopment of Glodok after the May 1998 riot. Drawing from those visual environments, this book reveals how the visual environments are well connected with the anxieties over the sense of change at different historical moments in Jakarta. Kusno clearly demonstrates the interplay between collective memories and the changing realm of the visual environment in the city.

Despite its many virtues, the book does not discuss the most important public visual environment in the city, particularly in Jakarta, which is green areas. As Jakarta’s population grows, its green areas shrink. The population in the city grew from 3.5 million in 1965 to more than 14 million in 2010, but in contrast the green areas have shrunk from 35 percent of Jakarta’s land area in 1965 to only 9.3 percent in 2009. New luxury homes, condominiums, shopping malls, hotels, commercial buildings and offices have proliferated over the last three decades. Many have been built at the expense of green areas. An analysis of the shrinking green areas in Jakarta would be a very compelling additional section to this book.

The busway project is one of the innovative ways in which the Jakarta administration has addressed the transportation problems in the city. This book offers a cultural politics analysis of the busway project and demonstrates how it interacts with the
political culture of the Jakarta administration, but fails to analyze the effectiveness of this project in alleviating transportation problems. This book offers an in-depth analysis of mosques and gatehouses during the colonial and postcolonial eras, but does not provide further discussion of Indonesian traditional piazzas (alun-alun) which are a unique component of Indonesian cities. A further analysis of alun-alun in both colonial and national periods would be an excellent additional section to this book.

My other regret is the subtitle of this book. The cases in this book were drawn primarily from Jakarta and a few cities in Java. Indonesia is a large country with over 17,000 islands and 300 distinctive ethnic groups, and it should not be represented by only Jakarta and a few cities in the island out of nine chapters in the book have appeared elsewhere, many of which have been widely cited.

Promoting Bike Lanes in Jakarta

2011-06-02T00:26:00.048-05:00

On May 22, 2011, Jakarta set a new milestone towards a healthier and more livable city. The Jakarta administration inaugurated the first Jakarta’s dedicated bicycle lane stretching 1.5 kilometers from Ayodia Park to Blok M in South Jakarta. Jakarta is late in promoting bicycle lanes. Jakarta has focused in promoting the use of cars by building more elevated inner city toll roads and ignored the importance of non-motorist trips in the city.

Jakarta's Traffic This Morning, originally uploaded by Chandra Marsono.

Many metropolitans in the world have developed dedicated bicycles lanes for years. Cities in developed countries, particularly in Europe, have integrated bicycle lanes into their transportation network systems. Those cities such as Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen and Barcelona have been developed as bike-friendly cities. Safe and extensive bike route networks, promotion of pro-cyclist policies, and a bike culture have taken places in those cities. Cyclists in those cities are not second class residents and can safely ride their bicycles as the main mode for their daily commute to their workplaces. Copenhagen is an example of European bike-friendly city where about a third of workforce in this city commute to the office by bike.

The inauguration of the first Jakarta’s dedicated bike lane stretching from Ayodia Park to Blok M should also be considered as a breakthrough in solutions for acute traffic congestions in Jakarta. The development of dedicated bicycle lanes is a good move from the Jakarta administration for promoting the use of bicycle as an alternative transportation mode. If the Jakarta city administration could encourage more motorists to shift to using bicycle to work, the city’s chronic traffic woes could be eventually reduced.

Bike Lane and Traffic Lights, originally uploaded by Mikael Colville-Andersen. Some Copenhageners on their way home in the afternoon, along the busiest boulevard in the capital, Hans Christian Andersen's Boulevard. Over 20,000 bikes a day on this stretch and this intersection is among the busiest in the kingdom. Notice the abundance of traffic lights, for extra safety. Cyclists here have three lights to look at. Helpful if you're stuck at the back of a queue of 50-75 bikes. You'll always be able to see one.

The first dedicated bike lane in Jakarta is only a small step in developing Jakarta as a bike-friendly city. There are many challenges for Jakarta to be a bike-friendly city. The Jakarta city administration needs to have a strong commitment to build more dedicated bike lanes and integrate them with the city transportation network system. Dedicated bike lanes should be part of the city transportation network system and designed to accommodate the need of residents’ mobility in the city. It is very essential to connect dedicated bike lanes with mass transportations including the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT).

It’s not easy to build more dedicated bike lanes if the Jakarta city administration still focuses on building more elevated inner-city toll roads as the solution of addressing the chronic traffic woes in Jakarta. It is also important to note that the first dedicated bike lane was not initiated by the Jakarta city administration but the Indonesian Bicycle Community (Komite Sepeda Indonesia) that donated as much as 500 million rupiahs to build the bike lane. The Jakarta city administration needs to change the mindset of the possible solution for the chronic traffic congestion in the city. The solution is not building more roads, but reducing the use of cars through improving and expanding the use of mass transportations and bicycles.

Another big challenge for bike lanes in Jakarta is the lack of law enforcement. The Jakarta city administration should strictly enforce the dedicated bike lanes for cyclists. The dedicated bike lane cannot be used as parking spots and a lane for motorcyclists. A few days after the inauguration of the bike lane stretching from Ayodia Park to Blok M, the lane was overwhelmed by private cars, pubic minivans and three-wheeled vehicles bajaj. A number of private cars were also parking in the lane (The Jakarta Post, 27 May 2011). Without strict law enforcement, the dedicated bike lane will not be an effective way to reduce the Jakarta’s traffic woes and will only be a failed initiative.

Velib' bikes, Paris, originally uploaded by the noggin_nogged.

Despite the challenges for bike lanes in Jakarta, the inauguration of the Jakarta’s first bike lane should be seen as a promising way of alleviating the acute traffic problems in Jakarta. I hope that the inauguration of the Jakarta’s first bike lane could be the milestone for the Jakarta city administration in changing the mindset of how to address the chronic traffic problems in Jakarta. It is not building more toll roads but reducing the use of cars through encouraging more motorists to shift to cyclists or mass transportation riders.

(This article was also reposted at Berburu Center on June 14, 2011 and at This Big City on October 17, 2011)

Jakarta Annual Flooding in February 2011

2011-02-28T19:32:00.013-05:00

Since I started this blog in January 2007, I have recorded all floods in Jakarta in this blog. Interestingly, the worst floods occured in Jakarta during the month of February when rainfall in Jakarta and other areas in Indonesia was at its highest and floods become a threat for residents.

INDONESIA/, originally uploaded by jtcemmadna.

In February 2007, the flood inundated about 70 per cent of the Jakarta's area. It killed at least 57 people and sent about 450,000 fleeing their homes. The city's hospitals struggled with an influx of patients suffering from diarrhoea, dengue and severe respiratory problems. The flood paralysed the centre of Indonesia's economy for several days and businesses claimed to lose about US$1 billion.

In February 2008, 37 of 267 subdistricts in Jakarta were inundated by more than 40 centimeters of water. Floodwaters caused public transportation, including the busway lines across Jakarta, to stop operations, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. The flood also inundated the Sedyatmo toll road to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which resulted in the cutting off the highway for a few days. Nearly 1,000 flights were delayed or diverted and 259 flights were canceled.

In February 2009, the floods inundated many parts of Jakarta including sub-districts Bidara Cina, Kampung Melayu, Cawang, Bukit Duri, Angke, Petamburan, Tanjung Priok, Kelapa Gading, Koja, Cilincing, Rawa Badak, Kamal Muara, and Kapuk Muara. These areas were inundated by between 10 and 50 centimeters of water. Floodwaters also caused lengthy traffic jams in many main streets in Jakarta.

In February 2010, the floods inundated more areas than the previous year’s floods despite a lower level of rainfall. The flood in February 2010 also killed at least 2 people and displaced more than 1,700 in Kampung Melayu, Bukit Duri and Bidaracina areas from overflowing Ciliwung river.

In February 2011, the worst flood inundated Jakarta on February 15, 2011 that caused severe flooding in the neighborhood of Jl. Gunung Sahari and a 50-centimeter-deep flood that submerged the main road connecting Mangga Dua Square and the Ancol amusement park. The flooding also affected TransJakarta buses bound for Ancol (The Jakarta Post, February 16, 2011).

The East Flood Canal project has been completed and reached the sea on December 31, 2009. This massive project was considered as the most feasible solution for preventing future floods in Jakarta, but it clearly cannot prevent the flooding entirely. Neither dredging the canals and rivers nor building new canals is a sustainable solution for preventing future flooding in Jakarta. The annual floods are strong evidence that Jakarta cannot sustainably accommodate its rapid growth.

Jakarta's skyline , originally uploaded by Deden Rukmana.

Interestingly and not surprisingly, many Jakarta's residents have been used to flooding and have made it as part of their daily life as you can find in the following story from The Jakarta Post on January 5, 2011:

Two children chased each other cheerfully, splashing about in polluted water flowing through a small alley in Muara Angke, Pluit, in North Jakarta, while their mother watched television in their home nearby. Their mother, Carini, in an effort to stop water from flooding their home, had deployed a few sacks of charcoal as a barrier. After all, she made no bones about the floodwaters that regularly inundate her home. She and her family members had already made peace with the floods, she told The Jakarta Post.

“We even use floodwater to wash our clothes if the water looks clean,” she said. Carini knows by heart what time the water will start rising.

“Every day the water rises at 8 a.m. until around 10 or 11 p.m,” she said, adding that the water could at times be ankle-high.

Before she decided to elevate her home’s floor last year, floodwaters had been as much as 1 meter high. Carini has been living in the fishing village of Muara Angke for the past 12 years, and insists she will remain there in spite of the perennial inundation. Her home is where their livelihood is as her husband is a fisherman who sets sail from the seaside village.

Muara Angke is one of 27 sites in North Jakarta that are prone to tidal flooding, including Penjaringan, Kapuk Muara, Tanjung Priok and Ancol. The frequent flooding occurs because the elevation of the fishing village is slightly lower than sea level. Compounding the problem is the mounds of garbage that block the passage of water in nearby streams. Sumri, a food vendor at the nearby Muara Angke traditional market, said the aqueduct that channels tidewater was clogged with garbage.

“[The flooding] has never subsided. The best we can hope for is ankle-high flooding,” she said. Sumri said although she and her family were used to the flooding, it could be very disruptive at times, especially during bathing hours.

“My toilet is in the back of the house, so I have to pass the water every time I go there,” she said.

Subandi, Sumri’s brother-in-law who also lives in the home together with his wife and son, said the toilet was 30 meters away.

“To avoid any skin problems we always wash our feet after returning from the toilet,” he said.

Sumri said living so close to water also forced them to spend more on water. She buys clean water once every two days. “We need it for drinking and cooking.”

Despite the persistent garbage, the authorities have done little. “I can’t remember the last time the aqueduct was cleaned. The last time it was cleaned was when the head of the neighborhood initiated a cleanup,” Subandi said.

“I don’t think the subdistrict administration wants to do a cleaning job,” he said, laughing.

The lack of initiative from the local government has prompted residents to deal with the flooding on their own. On Jl. Cumi, an alley next to the Pluit Port that is regularly flooded, residents built an embankment from debris they collected to stop tidal water from flowing into their neighborhood.

The above story illustrates the responsiveness of the Jakarta's residents to flooding. They are the victims and also the "real solution" to the annual flooding in Jakarta. They are willing to sacrifice their life for finding the solution to the annual flooding. It's sad but this is what has been happening in Jakarta for years.

Planning theory derived from planning practices in Indonesia

2011-01-12T16:33:00.011-05:00

The gap between planning theory and practice has been identified for years (Alexander 1997; Brooks 2002; Sanyal 2002). Planning practice and planning theory have two distinctive communities of interest (Brook 2002). None of planning practitioners who participated in the survey conducted by MIT found planning theory useful when they grappled with conflicting interests (Rodwin and Sanyal 2000). Friedmann (2003) asserted that most planners go through their education without a clear understanding of planning theory.

The language of planning theory is abstract, esoteric and highly technical for most planning practitioners (Brook 2002). Most ideas of planning theory have not engaged planning practitioners constructively and planning theorists communicated their ideas to others who share their interests (Brooks 2002). It’s clear that we should bridge the theory and practice gap. Bridging the theory and practice gap is important because planning theory is fundamental to the planning profession. Planning practitioners need to understand the epistemological underpinnings of their actions. There is no planning practice without a theory about how planning ought to be practiced (Friedmann 2003).

In a more recent article, Friedmann (2008) identified three major ways of how planning theory can contribute to the advancement of planning practices. First, philosophical way that evolves humanist philosophy for planning and traces its implications for planning practice. Second, adaptation way that helps adapt planning practices to the real constraints including scale, complexity and time. Third, translation way that translates knowledge and ideas from other fields into the domain of planning.

There are four types of planning theory based on the basis of their intent (see Alexander 2003; Brook 2002 and Friedmann 2003). First, theories about planning that focus on its role in a particular milieu, i.e. community, nation or society and are based on empirical study or experience of practice. Second, theories for planning that propose models or strategies for planning practitioners to consider or use. Third, theories in planning that focus on the subject or objects of the planning undertaking. This type of theory is used in planning practices and is specific to its several specializations, i.e. community development, land use, transportation, environmental planning, etc. Fourth, theories of planning that address what is common to all planning specializations and explicate characteristics of planning practice.

Theories of planning are said to be irrelevant to planning practice (Friedmann 2003; 2008). Furthermore, Alexander (2003) argued that diversity of practices in planning and different types of planners in different contexts complicate the relevance of theories of planning for planning practice. The gap between planning practice and planning theory occurs specifically between planning practice and theories of planning.

Most planning theories were developed and extended within the context of Western liberal democracies. What is the relevance or the applicability of those planning theories to planning practice in different contexts is one of the most interesting theoretical and practical conundrums in planning. What about the gap between planning theory and planning practice in Indonesia? There has not been any study to investigate the gap between planning theory and practice in Indonesia, but I can assure that there is gap between planning theory and practice in Indonesia. Planning theory is also taught to students in the planning schools in Indonesia but I’m not sure the relevance of planning theory for planning practitioners in Indonesia.

This post attempts to bridge the gap between planning theories and practice in Indonesia. Needless to say, this is a daunting task. This is just the beginning of a long journey of bridging planning theories and planning practice in Indonesia.

I identify at least four articles about planning theory derived from planning practice in Indonesia. Beard (2002) developed covert planning for social transformation that was drawn from a longitudinal study of informal settlements along the Code River, Yogyakarta. A case study of a local youth group that planned and maintained library in the informal settlements along the Code River was used to illustrate the concept of covert planning that was defined as a “covert, incipient and incremental form of planning” (Beard 2002).

Drawing on the same study of informal settlement along the Code River, Yogyakarta, Beard (2003) extended radical planning in restrictive political environments. She used three local-level planning cases including the development of a health care clinic, the pavement project and the library project by residents in the informal settlements along the Code River to explain how the foundation for radical planning evolved in authoritarian contexts.

Hudalah et al (2010) explored ideas about communicative planning and capacity building in collective action. They combined political opportunity structure and Kingdon’s policy window and developed an agency-centered approach to opportunity. The extended ideas about communicative planning and capacity building were applied to two debates on development planning projects in the periurban area of North Bandung Area, Indonesia.

Hudalah et al (2011) extended the potential of policy networking as capacity building. They explained how a planning policy network is constructed and how it can improve the governance that faces spatial, social and institutional fragmentations. The debate on the road development proposal in North Bandung Area, Indonesia was used to illustrate their extended policy network as capacity building.

In addition to the articles about planning theories derived from planning practices in Indonesia, I will present ideas from Bambang S. Priyohadi (BSP), an Indonesian planner who has more than 30 years of planning experiences in the Department of Public Works and in the Province of Yogyakarta. BSP theorized his planning experiences in a thread of discussion in the Referensi list-serve. BSP argued that planning is a model of communication. Planning and policy executor are on the same side and expected to serve community and the nature on the other side.

BSP characterized planning in four ways including planning is an endless communication, planning is selling ideas, planning is constructing hopes and planning is sharing believes.

Planning is an endless communication. BSP argued that planning is a process that will still continue even when the plan is completed. Planning has not started when “the planning law or ordinances has been passed” or “the plan has been completed”. Planning will only end when the civilization is over. The discrepancies between the planned and the real conditions will likely occur and they are unpredictable. Using the unconditional cash transfer program (BLT), the disaster donation in Bantul and the development of agricultural areas in Samas-Pandansimo, BSP indicated unpredictable outcomes that were not identified in the plans. In the case of BLT, the outcomes are the panders (calo) who get personal advantages from the cash transfer coupons. One of unpredictable outcomes of the disaster donation in Bantul is the increase of motorcycle sales. The unexpected outcome of the success of development in Samas-Pandansimo is the increase of prostitute from about 60 to more than 500 in 3 years.

Planning is selling ideas. The presentation techniques have been learned by the planning practitioners from planning schools, but the planning practitioners also need to sell their ideas effectively. Selling an idea is not always about the excellent presentation technique but more importantly also about the right attitude and thought. BSP identified several factors to be considered in selling ideas effectively including customer language, understanding of the customer needs, communication techniques, communication intensity, and message clarity.

Planning is constructing hopes. Planners often consider their plans as the best representation of the community’s expectations. In fact, the plans are mostly created within the context of different sense of priority and the background of the planners. Planners are expected to meet the expectations or the hopes of the community.

Planning is sharing beliefs. Building trust is the important prerequisite in the planning process that is often neglected by the planners. Using his experience when working with residents of Ngawen in Gunung Kidul Regency, BSP was able to develop an effective mutual relationship with them and produce the expected results through sharing a very strong belief with them.

References:

Alexander, E.R. (1997). A mile of a millimeter: measuring the planning theory-practice gap. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 24(1): 3-6
Alexander, E.R. (2003). Response to ‘Why do planning theory?’ Planning Theory 2(3): 179-182
Beard, V.A. (2002). Covert planning for social transformation in Indonesia. Journal of Planning Education and Research 22(1): 15-25
Beard, V.A. (2003). Learning radical planning: the power of collective action. Planning Theory 2(1): 13-35
Brooks, M. (2002). Planning Theory for Practitioners. Chicago: APA Press.
Friedmann, J. (2003). Why do planning theory? Planning Theory 2(1): 7-10
Friedmann, J. (2008). The uses of planning theory: a bibliographic essay. Journal of Planning Education and Research 28: 247-257
Hudalah, D., Winarso, H., and Woltjer, J. (2010). Planning by opportunity: an analysis of periurban environmental conflict in Indonesia. Environment and Planning A 42(9): 2254-2269
Hudalah, D., Winarso, H., and Woltjer, J. (2011 forthcoming). Policy networking as capacity building: an analysis of regional road development conflict in Indonesia. Planning Theory
Rodwin, L. and Sanyal, B. (eds.). (2000). The Profession of City Planning. Rutgers, NJ: Center for Urban Policy Research
Sanyal, B. (2002). Globalization, ethical compromise and planning theory. Planning Theory 1(2): 116-123

Jakarta's city planning: What can we do and what can we expect?

2011-01-02T21:47:00.014-05:00

City planning can be defined as a systematic attempt and action in the public domain to shape the future of urban areas. City planners are expected to collect and analyze data about every aspect of a city, including transportation, the environment, natural resources, land use, housing and the community, as well as economic development, manufacturing, commercialization, tourism and historic preservation. After the data has been collected and analyzed, city planners work with city stakeholders, including residents, to determine the plans for the city. The plans are to guide present and future city growth in order to create a better place to live. This is also what we should expect from Jakarta’s city planning. We should expect Jakarta to become a better place to live.

We have witnessed a Jakarta plagued by two major problems in the last few years: traffic congestion and floods. Despite several programs to alleviate traffic congestion and flooding, the severity of traffic and flooding in parts of Jakarta has not decreased. This is strong evidence that previous Jakarta city planning has failed to create a better Jakarta for its residents.

Heart of Jakarta, originally uploaded by DocBudie ツ.

We need bold steps to plan the future of Jakarta in order to address the traffic congestion and flood problems. It is estimated Jakarta loses US$3 billion a year due to transport delays, and will have total traffic gridlock by 2014. The floods that inundate many parts of Jakarta every year also cause the loss of billions of dollars.

Many people believe the cause of traffic congestion is that roads don’t grow in conjunction with the increase in vehicle ownership. In Jakarta, vehicle ownership increases by 9 to 11 percent per year, but the growth of roads is less than 1 percent a year. But developing new roads is not the solution to traffic. When a new highway is built or a road is widened, it only alleviates traffic congestion for a short period of time. After a few years, any new highway fills with traffic that would not have existed if the highway had not been built. Such a phenomenon is called induced demand.

The viable solution for the traffic in Jakarta is to develop an integrated, reliable, accessible and affordable public transportation system. The poor public transportation system is the cause of the traffic congestion in Jakarta. Residents in Jakarta use their vehicles, either cars or motorcycles, as their primary transportation because the public transportation in Jakarta is unreliable, inaccessible and expensive. That’s why cars and motorcycles crowd Jakarta’s streets. In 2009, the number of modes of public transportation was only about 1.5 percent of the total number of vehicles in Jakarta.

The Jakarta administration failed to develop an integrated, reliable, accessible and affordable public transportation system and it caused the chronic traffic in Jakarta. Jakarta was late to develop a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT). For at least 20 years, the MRT proposal was discussed by the government and was seen as a possible bonanza for corrupt politicians and contractors before a $1.6 billion loan was secured from the Japanese International Corporation Agency in 2009.

Jakarta at Night, originally uploaded by Msbernal.

Other metropolitan cities in Southeast Asia that are smaller than Jakarta have developed their own MRTs for years, including Manila (1984), Singapore (1987), Kuala Lumpur (1995) and Bangkok (2004). The first track of the MRT project is expected to connect the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle and Kota in 2016. Jakarta needs to integrate this expensive project with the TransJakarta Busway, the public minibuses Metromini and Kopaja, public minivans and the city bus. The next step, which is critical for Jakarta’s success in easing traffic, is to convert car riders and motorcyclists into public transport riders and MRT riders.

In addition to developing the MRT, Jakarta needs to implement other innovative methods to ease traffic congestion, including electronic road pricing, shuttle services, carpool matching services, telecommuting, downzoning and better parking management in downtown areas. Jakarta also needs to develop more districts with a mix of land uses and an interconnected network of streets designed to encourage walking and bicycling.

Floods are not a new problem for Jakarta. Jakarta is hit by deadly floods every year. The annual floods inundate many parts of Jakarta and paralyze the center of Indonesia’s economy. The annual floods kill many people and cause thousands of Jakarta’s residents to flee their homes. In the last four years, the deadly annual floods occurred in the month of February when rainfall in Jakarta is at its highest.

In February 2010, annual flooding from the overflowing Ciliwung River killed at least two people and displaced more than 1,700 in the Kampung Melayu, Bukit Duri and Bidaracina areas. This year’s floods in Jakarta inundated more areas than last year’s floods, despite less rainfall and the completion of the East Flood Canal.

Panorama Jakarta, originally uploaded by diankarl (www.diankarlina.com).

More recently, thousands of commuters were stuck for hours in Jakarta’s gridlocked streets because of three hours of heavy rain that caused floods and paralyzed roads and train traffic on Oct. 25. At least two people were also killed by the flood.

The annual floods in Jakarta are strong evidence that Jakarta has not been able to sustainably accommodate its growth. Two centuries ago, the Dutch colonial government built a system of canals to protect the city’s population, which was then 500,000. Jakarta, which lies in a lowland area with 43 lakes and 13 rivers, relies on the canal system to prevent flooding.

Today, Jakarta is a megacity with a population of nearly 10 million within the city’s boundaries and more than four million in neighboring areas; yet, it still relies on the same canal system to avert flooding.

Rapid urbanization in Jakarta must be slowed. One possible way to reduce urbanization in Jakarta is to redistribute the central functions of Jakarta to other parts of the nation, and to strengthen other urban agglomerations in Indonesia to pull urban growth away from the capital.

Water catchment areas, green areas and wetlands that have been converted into urbanized areas need to be re-functionalized as non-urbanized areas. In the 1970s, green areas made up between 40 and 50 percent of Jakarta and have been shrinking ever since. Green areas in Jakarta in 2010 account for only 9.3 percent of the city’s area.

(This article also appeared at The Jakarta Post on December 20, 2010)

Concerted steps to disentangle Jakarta traffic congestions

2010-11-08T23:04:00.012-05:00

Many policies have been offered by the central government and the Jakarta city administration to disentangle the Jakarta chronic traffic congestions. Vice President Boediono, after the meeting with several ministers and the Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo on September 2, 2010, offered 17 policies to alleviate the Jakarta worsening congestion. Those policies include (1) the application of electronic road pricing (ERP), (2) the sterilization of Transjakarta lanes, (3) the improvement of on-street parking management, (4) multiyear contract for road maintenance, (5)the addition of two more Transjakarta routes by the end of 2010, (6) subsidies for natural gas usage by public transportation modes, (7) incentives for converting old minivans into new buses, (8) reactivation of commuter train routes in Jabodetabek, (9) punishment for illegal public transportations, (10)MRT, monorail and railroad access to the airport should be prioritized, (11) the creation of Transportation Authority of Jabodetabek, (12) the revision of the Integrated Transportation Master Plan of Jabodetabek, (13) the hastening of double tract project in Jakarta’s suburb areas, (14) development of the Jakarta inner-ring railroad, (15) the development of six new inner city toll road, (16) limitation of vehicles on the road, and (17) the provision of parking lots around Transjakarta stations and commuter train stations (The website of the Indonesian Vice President Office, September 2010). At the meeting, Vice President Boediono appointed the head of the Presidential Work Unit for Development Monitoring and Control (UKP4), Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, to head the team addressing the Jakarta’s transportation problems (The Jakarta Post, September 3, 2010).

In addition to the long list of policies from Vice President Boediono, the Jakarta city administration added some more policies to alleviate the traffic congestion in Jakarta including changing traffic regulations in some areas (The Jakarta Post, September 24, 2010), staggering office hours according to municipality (The Jakarta Post, November 3, 2010), and forming a task force to be deployed to traffic congestion hot spots (The Jakarta Post, November 6, 2010).

The development and expansion of mass transportations including MRT, monorail, Transjakarta, train to the airport and commuter trains in inner-city and suburbs of Jakarta, as recommended by Vice President Boediono, are the fundamental key to disentangle traffic congestions in Jakarta. Such developments should be prioritized and expedited. The traffic congestion management including the application of ERP, the traffic law enforcement and the deployment of task forces to traffic congestion hot spots will also support the effectiveness of mass transportation in alleviating the transportation problems in Jakarta.

The Jakarta Transportation Agency has planned to apply the ERP in major thoroughfares which currently use the three-in-one system (The Jakarta Post, September 23, 2010). The ERP is used to impose automatically a demand sensitive congestion toll when the congestion level in the restricted zone exceeds a preferred threshold level. Only drivers with the high value of their trips will pay the charge. As a result efficient use of the road and redistribution of trips spatially, temporarily and modally will occur (Albalate and Bel 2009; Goh 2002).

Jakarta needs to learn from the success of Singapore that has implemented the ERP since April 1998. The ERP in Singapore is the upgrade system of the previous congestion measure, Area Licensing Scheme (ALS) that was introduced in 1975. The implementation of ALS reduced the traffic by 45 percent during the morning peak and another 15 percent after the introduction of the ERP. One of the contributing factors to the success of the ERP implementation is the strong commitment of the Singaporean authorities to develop and expand public mass transportation alternatives (Albalate and Bel 2009). Other cities including London and Stockholm that have successfully implemented traffic congestion charging measures also have reliable, accessible and affordable public transportation alternatives.

Among the policies proposed by Vice President Boediono and the Jakarta city administration, I found two policies that could be counterproductive to the development and expansion of mass transportation system: the development of six new inner-city toll roads and the staggering office hours. Both policies could ease the traffic congestions in the short run, but could cause more traffic congestions in the long run. The policies will not encourage drivers to convert from their vehicles to mass transportation as their primary transportation modes. They will only undermine the efforts of developing the mass transportation system in Jakarta.

Alternatively, many possible policies could be implemented in Jakarta in order to alleviate the traffic congestion including shuttle services, carpool matching services, telecommuting and downzoning. Instead of staggering office hours, the Jakarta city administration should encourage private and public companies to expand their shuttle services and develop carpool matching services for their employees.

Telecommuting is a way to reduce commuting by using telecommunications technologies. Employees can work outside the traditional office at remote work locations including their homes. A study in the US shows that telecommuting can reduce commuting for about 10.4 percent of the labor force (Cullingworth and Caves 2009). Downzoning is a measure to reduce allowable development on land zoned for service, retail or commercial development. Such a measure is mostly directed to areas along busy streets to reduce traffic congestions.

In order to support the development and expansion of mass transportation system, Jakarta also needs to develop more multimodal transportation districts. Such districts provide a mix of land uses, an interconnected network of streets designed to encourage walking and bicycling, and appropriate densities and intensities of land uses within walking distance of transit stops (Cullingworth and Caves 2009).

Jakarta is estimated to lose $3 billion a year because of traffic congestions. Concerted steps are needed to reduce the Jakarta’s traffic woes. These steps must be implemented with a strong commitment to develop and expand an integrated, reliable, accessible and affordable mass transportation system in Jakarta.

(This article also appeared at The Jakarta Post on November 13, 2010)

References:

Albalate, Daniel and Bel, Gelma. (2009). What local policy makers should know about urban road charging: Lessons from worldwide experience. Public Administration Review 69(5): 962-975.
Cullingworth, Barry and Caves, Roger W. (2009). Planning in the USA: Policies, Issues and Processes. London and New York: Routledge.
Goh, Mark. (2002). Congestion management and electronic road pricing in Singapore. Journal of Transport Geography 10: 29-38.

Jakarta needs Metro to avoid traffic gridlock

2010-10-20T00:14:00.027-05:00

After reading the Economist magazine September 2010 issue, I realized that Jakarta had a new call: the largest city in the world without a metro. The Economist reported that the car ownerships in Jakarta have increased by 10-15 percent a year. Motorcycles are ubiquitous and can be acquired with a down payment of as little as $30. On the other hand, the growth rate of Jakarta’s road is less than 1 percent a year. The daily jams in Jakarta are getting worse. Jakarta is estimated to lose $3 billion a year due to transport delays and attain total traffic gridlock in 2014.

Metrominis used the busway lane in Jalan Urip Sumohardjo, Jatinegara, Jakarta

The acute traffic congestion in Jakarta has also prompted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to revisit the idea of capital relocation out of Jakarta. Relocating the capital out of Jakarta could reduce urbanization and the rate of car ownership in Jakarta and its surrounding areas, but it will not completely address the traffic congestion in Jakarta. Jakarta needs a fundamental change in the management of public transportation. The current public transportations have not been able to alleviate the acute traffic congestion in Jakarta. Jakarta now needs the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) or also popularly known as Metro to address its transportation problem.

Most metropolitan areas in the world with the population of over 10 millions have operated metros for years. New York City opened the first underground line of the subway in 1904 and the subway has been the backbone of New York City transportation system since then. Two major cities in Japan, Tokyo and Osaka built their metros in 1927 and 1933 respectively. The Tokyo Metro is the world’s most extensive rapid transit system with more than eight million passengers daily. The second largest city in the world, Mexico City, has built a metro since 1969 and now the Mexico City Metro is the second largest metro system in North America after the New York City subway. Two major cities in China, Beijing and Shanghai opened their metro systems in 1971 and 1995 respectively. Major cities in Southeast Asia which have fewer population than Jakarta have also had their metro systems for years, including Manila (1984), Singapore (1987), Kuala Lumpur (1995) and Bangkok (2004) (Wikipedia, 19 October 2010).

The MRT would become the most expensive public projects in Jakarta’s history, but it is the answer to avoid the total traffic gridlock in Jakarta. For at least 20 years, the proposal of MRT in Jakarta has been discussed by the Jakarta city administration and the government of Indonesia. The activists and non-governmental watchdogs have seen the MRT proposal as a possible bonanza for corrupt politicians and contractors (Economist, 4 February 2010).

Acute traffic jams in Jakarta

Eventually, the government secured a $1.6 billion loan agreement with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2009 for funding the Jakarta's MRT project. Vice President Boediono has also asked the JICA to expedite the design and construction of MRT project to alleviate the traffic congestion in Jakarta. The final project designed was expected to be completed in 2011. The first tract of the MRT project was expected to connect the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle and Kota in 2016 (The Jakarta Post, 20 October 2010).

I would suggest two fundamental steps for the Jakarta city administration in order to effectively address the acute transportation problem in Jakarta. First, integrate the MRT project with the current public transportation modes including including the Transjakarta Busway, Metromini, Kopaja, Angkot, City Bus, and Mikrolet. The reliability, accessibility and affordability of the public transportation system should be improved for all levels of Jakarta residents. The development of public transportation system should also consider the needs of residents in the Jakarta’s hinterlands including Tangerang, Bekasi, Depok and Bogor.

Second, convert car riders and motorcyclists into public transport riders/MRT riders. This would be the critical key for the Jakarta's success in overcoming the traffic congestion. Without the conversion of car riders and motorcyclists into public transport riders/MRT riders, the traffic congestion in Jakarta would never be resolved and the MRT project would be an ineffective investment.

Metro in Montreal

The conversion of car riders and motorcyclists into public transport/MRT riders is not an easy thing to accomplish. A careful and comprehensive planning that involves various stakeholders is needed. The Jakarta city administration also needs to learn from the experience of the Transjakarta Busway operation particularly on how to effectively convert car riders into the Transjakarta Busway riders. Last but not least, the inconvenience of car riders and motorcyclists due to the acute traffic congestion in Jakarta could be considered as a great asset for converting them into public transport/MRT riders. The public transport and MRT system should offer reliable, accessible, punctual, comfortable, safe and affordable transportation modes in order for car riders and motorcyclists to leave their vehicles and ride public transport and/or MRT as their primary transportation modes.

(This article also appeared at The Jakarta Post on October 24, 2010)

Six elevated toll roads should be revisited

2010-08-28T22:59:00.011-05:00

The Jakarta city administration will start to build six elevated toll roads in 2011 after receiving the permits from the Ministry of Public Work. In the first phase, the city administration will build two elevated toll road connecting the west and the east sides of the city including the toll road of Semanan-Sunter and the toll road of Sunter-Pulogebang. Governor Fauzi Bowo argued that the two elevated toll road would smoothen the traffic flows in the inner city toll roads. The intercity drivers would have alternative route and could avoid the congested inner city toll roads.

lanes upon lanes, originally uploaded by Ian Riley.

The other four toll roads including Kampung Melayu-Kemayoran, Pasar Minggu-Casablanca, Kampung Melayu-Duri Pulo and Ulujami-Tanah Abang will be built in next three phases. The six elevated toll roads will add 67.74 kilometers to the Jakarta’s road length and will cost Rp. 40 million (US$ 4.4 billion). Are these new elevated toll roads going to reduce the traffic congestions in Jakarta? As many critics have said about these new toll roads, the new elevated toll roads will not alleviate the traffic congestions, but will even worsen the chronic transportation problems in Jakarta.

The traffic congestion in Jakarta can't be separated from the high growth rate of vehicle ownership -- 9 to 11 percent per year -- which is not supported by the growth of road development, which is only less than 1 percent per year. The development of new roads will never meet the high growth rate of vehicle ownership. A new highway or a widened road only alleviates traffic congestion for a short period of time. After a few years, any new highway fills with traffic that would not have existed if the highway had not been built. Similarly, any widened road fills with more traffic in just a few months. Such a phenomenon is called induced demand. Because of induced demand, neither building new roads nor widening roads are viable long-term solutions to traffic congestion.

Jakarta Traffic, originally uploaded by J_K_H.

The new toll roads will also undermine the efforts of developing the mass transportation system in Jakarta. The main idea of developing the mass transportation system including busway, monorail, and the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) projects in reducing the traffic congestion is to reduce the number of car riders and motorcyclists in the Jakarta’s streets. The car riders and motorcyclists are expected to use the mass transportation modes and reduce the burden of the Jakarta’s streets. The new toll road will attract car riders back to the Jakarta’s streets.

Not only will the elevated toll roads cause the induced demand and worsen traffic congestion, but also could jeopardize the livability of neighborhoods along the elevated the toll road. In many cities in other countries, such as Seoul, New Orleans, San Francisco and New York City, the elevated freeways caused the declining livability of neighborhoods along the elevated freeways. In many developed countries, we have seen the shift in urban planning from enhancing mobility toward promoting livability.

The Chonggyecheon freeway was completed in 1977 and was also used as a symbol of modernization and industrialization in South Korea after the Korean War. This elevated freeway was built above 5.8 kilometers creek flowing west to east through downtown Seoul. In 2000, the area was considered as the most crowded and noisy parts in the city of Seoul and became an eyesore of the city of Seoul. In July 2003, then-Seoul mayor, incumbent South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, launched a project to destroy the Chonggyecheon freeway, revitalize the surrounding area and restore the river flow. During the demolition process of the Chonggyecheon freeway, the Seoul city administration also developed public transportation systems, including Bus Rapid Transit lines. Today, the Chonggyecheon area has been revitalized and become one of the main tourist attraction areas in the city of Seoul.

Jakarta - City Traffic, originally uploaded by sungimann.

In 1973, New York City’s West Side elevated highway collapsed and was never repaired but replaced by a surface boulevard of West Avenue. Similarly, two elevated freeways in San Francisco, Embarcadero and Central Freeways, were badly damaged by the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. The San Francisco city administration decided not to rebuild the elevated freeways, but replaced them with surface boulevards. The conversion of elevated freeways in both New York City and San Francisco did not cause traffic havocs. The traffic switched to the boulevards, nearby street or mass transit (James and Norquist 2010). Furthermore, a team of researchers from the UC Berkeley (Cervero, Kang, and Shively 2009) found that the conversion of elevated Embarcadero and Central Freeways with boulevard has stimulated reinvestment in the neighborhoods along the freeways without seriously sacrificing transportation performance. More recently, the residents of New Orleans have decided not to rebuild the damaged elevated expressway caused by the Hurricane Katrina, but replace it with an oak-lined boulevard (James and Norquist 2010).

The conversion of elevated freeways to surface boulevards in Seoul, New York City, San Francisco or New Orleans is evidence of a paradigm shift from a focus on expediting the movement of automobile to a focus on increasing the livability of neighborhoods. The livability of neighborhoods should be prioritized over the increase of mobility. Jakarta needs to learn from what has happened in Seoul, New Orleans, San Francisco or New York City regarding the elevated freeways. Not only is the proposed six elevated toll road projects the solution for the traffic congestion in Jakarta, but also they could cause the decline of livability of neighborhoods along the elevated toll roads. The Jakarta city administration should revisit their decision to build the new elevated toll roads and instead they should focus their efforts on building mass transportation systems in alleviating transportation problems in Jakarta.

References:

Cervero, R., Kang, J., and Shively, K. (2009). From elevated freeways to surface boulevards: neighborhood and housing price impacts in San Francisco. Journal of Urbanism 2(1): 31-50
James, C. and Norquist, J. (2010). Tearing down an expressway to restore a community. http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2010/08/tearing_down_an_expressway_to.html

(This article also appeared at The Jakarta Post on September 4, 2010)

Urban Planning and Local Wisdom: The Shift toward Postmodernism and a New Urban Theory from Third World Cities

2010-06-08T13:30:00.006-05:00

[This post is my article that was presented at the Yogyakarta International Seminar organized by the Faculty of Cultural Science of Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta on January 27, 2010. The paper is also available in this link].

Abstract
Local wisdom is often held as the best solution to the challenges of urban planning that are increasingly getting more complex and obscure. The planning practice in the 21st century is facing greater challenges than that in the 20th century. Some of the challenges are the complexity of the problems and the elusiveness of solutions to those problems. This article discusses the importance of local wisdom in urban planning within the context of the shift from modernism to postmodernism and the emergence of a new urban theory rooted from cities in the developing countries including Indonesian cities.

Introduction

For decades, the practice of urban planning has been concerned with making public or political decisions more rational. Means-ends rationality was considered as a useful and effective concept in the planning practice. Most leading planning scholars (Altschuler, 1965; Blowers, 1986; Friedmann, 1987) agreed that planning is associated with rationality. Rational planning as a practice of modernist planning was perceived as efficient planning accommodating a process in which course of action selected rationally to maximize the attainment of the relevant ends. Rational process of selecting the best means to achieve some pre-determined ends based on assessment of the consequences of alternative solutions.

On the contrary, post modernists challenge the knowledge foundation of modernist planning practice and theory. They posit that the postmodern era characterized by fragmented power, distrust of government and experts, and incommensurable discourse are not suitable for the practice of modernist planning. Modernist planning that identifies a relation between means and ends in society needs to be justified in terms that are broader than mere self-interest. There is a need of greater and more explicit reliance on local wisdom and more people-centered.

The practice of urban planning in the developing countries including Indonesia has been dominated by two urban theories, the Chicago School of Urban Sociology and the Los Angeles School of Urban Geography. Both urban theories are rooted in the developed world. Planning practices are constantly borrowed and replicated across borders (Roy 2005). Planning practices that replicate both urban theories through the dichotomy of developed and developing countries become ubiquitous. This becomes a problem when such a replication is no longer relevant with the unique urban phenomenon in developing countries including in Indonesia.

The purpose of this article is to identify the importance of local wisdom which has often been held as the best solution to the challenges of urban planning within the context of the shift from modernism to postmodernism and the emergence of a new urban theory rooted from cities in the developing countries. Based on the importance of local wisdom, this paper concludes with suggestions of modification to urban planning practice.

Modernist Urban Planning

Urban planning can be defined as a systematic attempt and actions in the public domain to shape the future of urban areas. There are many ways for urban planners to shape the urban future as follows:

formulate policies to meet the needs of communities including social, economic, and physical needs and they develop the strategies to make these plans work
develop plans for land use patterns, housing needs, parks and recreation facilities, transportation systems, economic development, environmental protection and other aspects of the future
work with the public to develop a vision of the future and to build on that vision
function as mediator among conflicting community interests; they may also become facilitators using their professional judgment to help identify the best resolutions to the conflict
advise public officials and citizens in shaping the future design and manage the planning process and attract public to involve in the process.

A practice of modernist planning is the positivistic rational comprehensive planning model (Innes, 1997; Harper and Stein, 1995). This planning model was developed systematically to find the best process in which course of action selected rationally to maximize the attainment of the relevant ends. This planning model attempts to formulate rational process of selecting the best means to achieve some pre-determined ends, a way of choosing the correct answer based on assessment of the consequences of alternative solutions.

The stages in rational planning including formulation of goals and objectives, identification and design of major alternatives for searching the goals, prediction of major sets of consequences that would be expected to follow upon adoption of each alternative, evaluation of consequences in relation to desired objectives and other important values, decision based on information provided in the preceding steps, implementation of this decision through appropriate institution, and feedback of actual program result and their assessment in light of the new decision situation have employed scientific method. Numerous scientific methods have been formulated to develop the stages in rational planning. Development of methods for each rational planning process was conducted by applying two methods of reasoning of deductive and inductive approaches.

Rationality has been extensively explored by many scholars such as Banfield, Friedmann, Mannheim, Weber, Simmie, and Faludi. Rationality is accepted in planning, since there is nothing wrong with rationality decisions after they have been formulated as long as the attempt is successful. Rational planning results in growth as a product, and the rational planning process may be viewed as a vehicle for the very process of growth. When the rational planning was used as primary planning paradigm, planning education was a matter of technical training, the focus was on the empirical and the quantitative (Harper and Stein, 1995).

Beauregard (1991), in his article entitled Without a Net: Modernist Planning and the Postmodern Abyss identifies the characteristics of modernist planning. He posits that (1) reality can be controlled and perfected, (2) the world is malleable because its internal logic can be discovered and manipulated, (3) planning is part of the struggle to make ourselves at home in a changing world., (4) planners involvement was as contributors to utilitarian understanding and not as people of action, (5) planners could claim a scientific and objective logic, (6) comprehensive solutions have a unitary logic, and (7) synthetic city allows planners to claim a privileged position in the realm of specialist.

Sandercock (1998) in her seminal book on post-modernism entitled Toward Cosmopolis: Planning for Multicultural Cities summarizes the modernist planning thought into five pillars include:

Planning –meaning city and regional planning- is concerned with making public/political decision more rational.
Planning is most effective when it is comprehensive.
Planning is both a science and an art, based on experience, but the emphasis is usually placed on the science. … Planning knowledge and expertise are thus grounded in positive science, with its propensity for quantitative modeling and analysis
Planning, as part of the modernization project, is a project of state-directed futures, with the state seen as possessing progressive, reformist tendencies, and as being separate from the economy.
Planning operates in ‘the public interest’ and planners’ education privileges them in being able to identify what that interest is. (Sandercock, 1998: 27).

Postmodernism

Postmodernism arose out of the peculiar confusion in the social science. This confusion has two distinct components: a concerted general attack on the legitimacy of social sciences and a renaissance in the specific realm of social theory (Dear, 1987: 368). The meanings of postmodernism are ambiguous since the meanings of modernism are frequently ambiguous.

Harper and Stein (1995) identify key themes of postmodernism which they believe are relevant to the planning domain –antifoundationalism, meaning and ambiguity, incommensurability, dualism of truth and reason, and plurality and difference. They argue that postmodernism is antifoundationalist in dispensing with universals as bases for truth and in rejecting claims of undisputed authority. Postmodernists make much of the ambiguity that follows from their antifoundationalism. They take ambiguity to mean the inability to fix a universal meaning to a concept.

Harper and Stein (1995) identify the danger of incommensurability in postmodernism arises not from acknowledging that there are competing goals or different views of justice and morality, but from relativizing these differences to particular communities without the possibility of their coming together. They assert that postmodernism rejects dualism and propose that pluralism should replace dualism. They posit that the way to deal with differences in postmodernism is not by presupposing incommensurable notions of rationality and truth, but by talking about them and attempting to reach consensus.

Innes (1997) identifies the post modern era that is characterized by fragmented power, distrust of government and experts, incommensurable discourse, and a new tribalism where groups celebrate their differences. Planning education must be able to enrich the body of knowledge in particular that of making connections among interests, public agencies, and profession and disciplines, between public and private sector and between government and the public. Innes (1997) posits that the planning educators need to develop new intellectual frameworks more suited to the post modern era. If we could do so, Innes (1997) believes that planning is better able to adapt to change than many other fields. The 21th century can be the century for the field of planning if the planning educator and practicing planner make it so.

Postmodernists Critique of Modernist Planning Practice

Rationality

The important premise of modernist planning is rationality. Planning seeks to bring order through reliance on rational decision making and emphasis on quantitative analysis, neutral expertise and the provision of answers for decision makers (Innes, 1995; Sandercock, 1998). When the rational planning model was seen as foundational, planning educator was primarily a matter of technical training. The focus of planning education was on the empirical and the quantitative coursework.

One reason for the growing influence of the postmodern approach to planning is the demise of the rational planning model. The foundation of scientific rationality has been undermined but nothing has taken its place (Harper and Stein, 1996). In the last two decades, using the premises of postmodernism, there were found some shortcomings of rational planning model, as follows:

Wicked problem; rational decision making is based on a faulty epistemology. Social problems are never solved, they are merely displaced by other problems.
The veil of time; how to deal with the future. Forecasting is difficult.
Pitfall in modeling, data analysis, optimization methods.
Attention and information are limited, and interests constrain feasible alternatives.
Goals are fuzzy, and criteria for evaluating consequences conflict with one another
Rationality omits a significant portion of the relevant universe of action and interaction, not account for pre-interactive decision making or deliberation.
Rationality has virtues as a guide for collecting and analyzing information, but in analyzing problems will see situations abstractly, narrowly, and superficially and will likely to fail to understand what social conditions mean to the people who live them.

Comprehensiveness

Comprehensiveness in a plan in which modernism claims as the way to interpret reality and exclusive insights into proper values and behavior was criticized by postmodernism. The claims of comprehensiveness, integrated and coordinated actions of multi-sectoral and multi-functional violate the complexity and contingency of social reality, and impose exclusionary perspective on individuals who are culturally diverse (Beauregard, 1991 ; Sandercock, 1998). For postmodernism, there are only multiple narratives, a multiplicity of language games that are locally determined, none of which can be reconciled across speakers and all of which must be allowed their existence (Beauregard, 1991: 193).

Sandercock (1998) argues that planning is no longer exclusively concerned with comprehensive, integrated, and coordinated action, but more negotiated, political, and focused planning. This in turn makes in less document-oriented and more people centered (Sandercock, 1998: 30).

Ways of knowing

Modernist planning hold that the authority of planners derives in large measure form a mastery of theory and knowledge in the social science. Thus, planning knowledge and expertise are grounded in positive science, with its propensity for quantitative modeling and analysis (Sandercock, 1998: 27).

Postmodernist perceives knowledge as inherently unstable that we only know the world through the argument about it. Thus, the knowledge is not necessarily a reliable guide to effective action. Increased understanding can only reveal differences, not set direction. To this extent, the important thing is not causality –cause and effect relations- but meaning.

Postmodernism is concerned with symbolic representations of action and behavior. Its task is to uncover the transmitted pattern of meaning by which men communicate, perpetuate and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life. (Beauregard, 1991). Language is a reflection of the attributes of a community. (Harper and Stein, 1996). Harper and Stein (1996) define community as “a social group whose members share common characteristics of heritage, beliefs, attitudes, hopes, history, culture, reflected in a common language” (p.418). Interpretation of what people do reflects their intentions, beliefs and hopes. Language cannot be separated from meaningful action.

Sandercock (1998) argues that local communities have experiental, grounded, contextual, intuitive knowledges, which are manifested through speech, songs, stories, and various visual forms rather than the more familiar kinds of planning sources such as census data, and simulation model. She suggests that planners have to learn to access these other ways of knowing

State directed vs. community-based

Modernist planning including rational planning, the incrementalist approach are classified as the social reform tradition (Friedmann, 1987). Planning is considered as a project of state directed futures. State is seen as reformist tendencies and as being separate from the economy. Planning in the social reform tradition acknowledges that there would be an inherent tendency to resist change that would give rise to conflict. However, modernist believes that these conflict situations are manageable and through rational decision making and that conflict creating situations can be eliminated or at least minimized and better managed. Modernist planning also believes that conflict can be avoided through appropriate intervention at the right time (Friedmann, 1987).

Postmodernist critique calls for community-based planning. It would replace modernist reliance on state-directed futures and top-down processes. From this perspective, citizens could dictate the agenda of the local government. Participation can lead to better public policy even if citizens bring their own narrow and selfish interest into politics. Through such selfish participation, the government is informed of these interests and pressured to respond. In this way, it produces public goods more closely attuned to citizen needs than it would if there were no participation (Verba, 1972). Verba identifies four modes of participation as alternative ways in which citizens can participate. They are voting and campaign activity which relate to electoral activity, and cooperative activity and citizen-initiated contacts which relate to non-electoral activity. The modes of participation are meaningfully different ways in which individual citizen tries to influence his government. They fit closely alternative systems of citizen-government interaction.
Public interest

The domain of planning in modernist paradigm operates in the public interest and planners seek to identify that interest within community. Planners attempt to present a public image of neutrality and planning policies based on positivist science. The notion of public interest comes from a frame of reference in liberal political theory in which disinterested experts objectively and rationally analyze a problem and arrive at a solution that is in the public interest. It assumed the ability of a certain chosen, well-educated group to stand outside social processes and decide what is best for everyone else (Sandercock, 1998: 197).

Sandercock (1998) argues that the construct of the public interest and community exclude difference. She suggests that we must acknowledge that there are multiple publics and that planning in this new multicultural arena requires a new kind of multicultural literacy (Sandercock, 1998: 30).

Urban Theories from the Developed World

Two urban theories, the Chicago School of Urban Sociology and the Los Angeles School of Urban Geography have dominated the discourse of urban development in developing countries, including in Indonesia. Both urban theories are based on phenomenon that occurred in urban cities in the United States. The Chicago School of Urban Sociology, which was developed in the early 1920s explain the development of the urban migration that is controlled by generating ecological patterns, such as invasion, survival, assimilated, adaptation and cooperation. The Los Angeles School of Urban Geography initiated in the late 1990s to explain the development of metropolitan Los Angeles in the postmodern era that emphasizes the importance of the capitalist economic and political globalization of the economy.

The dominance of both urban theories in the discourse of urban development influences the urban spatial planning in developing countries. Planning practices that replicate both urban theories through the dichotomy of developed and developing countries become ubiquitous. This becomes a problem when such a replication is no longer relevant with the unique urban phenomenon in developing countries, such as the informal sector.

Neither the Chicago School of Urban Sociology nor the Los Angeles School of Urban Geography can explain the unique urban phenomenon in developing countries, including the informal sector. Both urban theories are rooted from the developed world where the informal sectors or other unique urban phenomenon in developing countries are not commonly found. The local knowledge or local wisdom plays an important role in explaining the unique urban phenomenon in the developing worlds. The local knowledge or local wisdom can be an important factor in addressing any urban problems due to the unique urban phenomenon in the developing worlds.
The dominance of the Chicago and Los Angeles Schools in the practice of urban planning in Indonesia has contributed to the lack of spaces for the informal sectors in urban areas. The spaces in urban areas are dominated by the urban sectors that have high economic value and the spaces for the informal sectors are marginalized.

The application of local knowledge or local wisdom in understanding the phenomenon of street vendors will change our perspective on the existence of street vendors in urban areas. The street vendors are not the groups failed to enter the economic system in urban areas. They are one component of the urban economy that will benefit urban development. The application of local knowledge or local wisdom in the practice of urban planning will allocate more urban spaces for the street vendors and integrate it with the formal sectors.

Modifications to Urban Planning Practice

In light of postmodernist critique of the knowledge foundations of modernist planning practice and theory and the inappropriateness of the two urban theories rooted from the developed world in the developing countries, I would argue that some suggestion will likely enhance urban planning practice in the 21st century in the developing countries, particularly in Indonesia that characterized by fragmented power, distrust of government and experts, and incommensurable discourse, as follows:

Planning needs greater and more explicit reliance on local wisdom rather than means-end rationality.
Planning needs to move form top-down processes to community-based planning, geared to community empowerment.
Planning needs to deconstruct the public interest and community and acknowledge there are multiple publics and thus planning requires a new kind of multicultural literacy.
Planning needs to embrace plurality and difference. The post-modern critique calls for planner to abandon the belief that there is absolute truth or a unitary public interest.

References:

Altchuler, Alan. (1965). The goals of comprehensive planning. The City Planning
Process: 299-332.
Beauregard, Robert A. (1989). Between modernity and
postmodernity: the ambiguous position of U.S. planning. In Readings in Planning
Theory. Scott Campbell and Susan S. Fainstein (Eds.). Malden: Blackwell
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Beauregard, Robert A. (1991). Without a net: Modernist planning
and the postmodern abyss. Journal of Planning Education and Research 10(3):
189-194.
Blower, A. (1986). Town Planning: Paradoxes and Prospects. The
Planner.
Dalton, L.C. (2001). Weaving the fabric of planning as education.
Journal of Planning Education and Research 20(4): 423-436.
Dalton, Linda C. (1986). Why the rational paradigm persists: the resistance of professional
education and practice to alternative forms of planning. Journal of Planning
Education and Research 5: 147-153.
Dear, Michael J. (1986). Postmodernism and planning. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 4: 367-384.
Friedmann, John. (1987). Planning in the Public Domain: From Knowledge to
Action. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Harper, T.L., and Stein, S.M. (1995). Out of the postmodern abyss: Preserving the rationale for liberal planning. Journal of Planning Education and Research 14(4): 233-244.
Harper, T.L., and Stein, S.M. (1996). Postmodernist planning theory: The
incommensurability premise. In Explorations in Planning Theory. Seymour J.
Mandelbaum, Luigi Mazza, and Robert W. Burchell (Eds.). Rutgers: Center for
Urban Policy Research.
Healey, Patsy. (1997). Collaborative Planning: Shaping Places in Fragmented Society. UBC Press
Innes, J. (1997). The planners’ century. Journal of Planning Education and Research 16(3): 227-228
Roy, Ananya. (2005). Urban Informality: Toward an Epistemology of Planning.
Journal of the American Planning Association 71(2): 147-158
Sandercock, Leonie. (1998). Towards Cosmopolis: Planning for Multicultural Cities. London: John Wiley and Sons.
Verba, Sydney, and Norman Nie. 1972. Participation in America: Political Democracy and Social Equity. New York: Harper and Row

Citarum floods and urban planning

2010-04-12T22:02:00.014-05:00

We are deeply saddened by the overflow of Citarum River that inundated the Southern Bandung and the City and Regency of Karawang a few weeks ago. The material losses from the floods could reach trillions of rupiah due to the potential losses in various agricultural activities, wetlands, fishery, textile industry and power plants.

Sungai Citarum Indonesia dianugerahkan Sungai Terbersih Di Dunia, originally uploaded by omaQ.org & Red Frame Memories.

In the aftermath of Citarum floods, West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan proposed to the central government a number of ways for preventing the recurrence of similar disasters in the future including the construction of 22 dams, the normalization of the Citarum River and its tributaries and the dredging 9 Citarum river. West Java Government also recommended the prohibition of deforestation, moratorium on conversion of water catchment areas, the control of river bank areas, and seasonal agricultural restrictions on the slopes more than 30 degrees.

In the long run, the propasals from the Governor of West Java will not sustainable if they are not supported by sustainable urban planning that considers the ecological and environmental balance in the broader context. The conversion of water catchment areas and forests into agricultural areas is also a result of unsustainable urban planning.

The Citarum river basin has an area of 718,268 hectares and covers eight cities and districts in the West Java Province including Bandung City, Bandung Regency, Cimahi City, Sumedang Regency, Cianjur Regency, Purwakarta Regency, Karawang Regency, and Bogor Regency. The eight cities and regencies are an area that experienced a high level of urbanization. High level of urbanization in the urban areas in the Citarum river basin is one of the factors that need to be strongly considered for preventing the occurence of Citarum flood in the future.

Anakku, originally uploaded by enhaka92.

The link between high levels of urbanization with the conversion of forest areas is explained by the land-use model initially proposed by Von Thunen and later developed by Ernest Burgess. This classical model explains how the market determines land use in many different locations. Based on this theory, agricultural areas or seasonal wetlands located on the outskirts of town and forest areas that have a cheaper land lease will be located farther from the city. This theory also explains the process of succession to land due to development of the urban area.

Bandung City, Bandung Regency, Sumedang Regency and Cimahi City are included in the Bandung Metropolitan area which has a high level of urbanization. Meanwhile, the Regencies of Bogor, Cianjur, Karawang, and Purwakarta are the suburbs of Jakarta that have a high level of the conversion agricultural lands to urban areas. The high level of urbanization in Jakarta and Bandung Metropolitan megapolitan has resulted in the increased demand for urban land for accommodating population growth and the development of urban sectors such as industry and services.

Without strict restrictions on the expansion of urban areas, the conversion of agricultural land into residential areas or industrial areas in the suburbs will continue to happen. The conversion of agricultural land in the suburbs will also have an impact on conversions that occur in water catchment areas and forests. Farmers who previously worked on his land on the outskirts of the city will look for his new farm to water catchment areas and forests. Such a process of land succession will continue in line with the urbanization rate, except where restrictions on the expansion of urban areas is applied.

Many states in the United States have imposed restrictions on urban areas so as not to expand to agricultural areas or other environmentally sensitive areas. Policies such as growth management or urban containment has been proven to limit the growth of urban areas and protect agricultural and forest areas. Although this policy in the short term will impact negatively on the provision of affordable housing but in the long term this policy will be more sustainable.

Evacuate , originally uploaded by Neng Dew.

The pressures due to the high urbanization rate in urban areas in the Citarum river basin should be limited and should not interfere with the preservation of the upstream area of Citarum river basin. The development of urban areas in the Citarum river basin should be restricted and not allowed to convert agricultural land to urban areas. The preservation of agricultural land in the suburbs will indirectly reduce pressure on the forest conversion in the upstream area of Citarum river basin. In the long term, it will result in the environmental sustainability in the Citarum watershed and will prevent the floods from happening in the future.

Jakarta Annual Flooding in February 2010

2010-03-02T21:36:00.010-05:00

I have written on the floods in Jakarta every year since 2007 when the worst flood in memory inundated about 70 percent of the city, killed at least 57 people and sent about 450,000 fleeing their houses. In 2008, the floods inundated 37 out of 267 sub-districts in Jakarta by more than 40 centimeters of water. The Sedyatmo toll road to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport was inundated and nearly 1,000 flights were delayed or diverted and 259 flights were cancelled.

Motorists fought against flood, originally uploaded by Deden Rukmana.

Last year, the level of rainfall in Jakarta was higher than that in 2008 and was about the same as in 2007, but the floods inundated only a few areas by more than 40 centimeters of water. The relative mildness of the 2009 floods was in part a result of the effectiveness of several strategic measures including dredging the river, reinforcing the Pluit, Sunter and Riario dams and the development of East Flood Canal.

Interestingly, this year’s floods in Jakarta inundated more areas than last year’s floods despite a lower level of rainfall. This year’s flood also killed at least 2 people and displaced more than 1,700 in Kampung Melayu, Bukit Duri and Bidaracina areas from overflowing Ciliwung river (The Jakarta Post, February 13, 2010 and February 20, 2010).

In the aftermath of the annual floods in Jakarta, which always occurred in the month of February, the government has been always focusing on releasing floodwater as fast as possible into the sea, particularly on the development of the East Flood Canal. The project was launched in the aftermath of the major floods in 2002 and has progressed very slowly due to the complicated process of land acquisitions. The project finally reached the sea on December 31, 2009, but there are still unfinished works in several spots. In the aftermath of this year’s flood, the government planned to connect Ciliwung River to Cipinang River which is now attached to the East Flood Canal.

The East Flood Canal has been considered as the most feasible solution for preventing future floods in Jakarta, but it clearly cannot prevent the flooding entirely. The East Flood Canal, along with dredging the rivers to enable water to flow properly, is only able to mitigate the impact of the flooding. We have also witnessed an effective flood warning system in this year’s floods in mitigating the impact of the floods.

Road of flood, originally uploaded by Deden Rukmana.

As I have written in the last three years, the annual floods Jakarta are strong evidence that Jakarta cannot sustainably accommodate its growth. For many years, new homes, commercials and office buildings have proliferated in Jakarta and many of them have converted water catchment areas, green areas and wetlands. Jakarta is poised to grow faster than any other urban areas in Indonesia but cannot find suitable lands for its growth.

Jakarta needs bold moves for preventing future flooding. Rapid urbanization in Jakarta must be reduced. A possible way of reducing urbanization in Jakarta is to redistribute the central functions of Jakarta to other parts of the nation and strengthen other urban agglomerations in Indonesia to pull urban growth away from Jakarta. The idea of Indonesian capital relocation out of Jakarta needs to be strongly reconsidered.

Water catchment areas, green areas and wetlands that have been converted into urbanized areas need to be re-functionalized as non-urbanized areas. An exemplary model of this reconversion is a decision of the Jakarta administration to convert 27 gas stations in five districts in Jakarta into green areas in November 2009. The closure of these gas stations will add another 10,505 square meters of green areas in Jakarta. This is a bold move of the Jakarta administration in expanding the green areas in Jakarta. Such a move needs to be replicated and expanded to other areas in Jakarta. Currently, green areas in Jakarta account for less than 10 percent of the city’s area, far below the target of 30 percent set by the Spatial Planning Law 26/2007.

The 2030 Jakarta spatial plan, an important and comprehensive document for shaping the next 20 years of Jakarta, is now in the making. The bold move of expanding the green areas in Jakarta needs to be strongly considered in the 2030 Jakarta spatial plan. The cost of converting urbanized areas into green areas will be expensive, but such a sacrifice is needed for the future of Jakarta, including preventing future floods.

(This article also appeared at The Jakarta Post on March 20, 2010)

The flawed planning process of the 2030 Jakarta spatial plan

2010-02-03T13:06:00.017-05:00

Jakarta's skyline , originally uploaded by Deden Rukmana.

The Jakarta administration has been preparing the 2030 Jakarta spatial plan, an important and comprehensive document for shaping the future of Jakarta, since February 2008. A team consisting of many experts in urban planning and development was appointed for preparing an academic draft of the 2030 Jakarta spatial plan. A variety of ways to seeking input from residents and stakeholders have been conducted from April 2009 to October 2009 including road shows to the districts, technical consultations with related institutions in the national and provincial levels and focus group discussions in six districts in Jakarta. A website was also launched in December 2009 to publicize the 2030 Jakarta spatial plan and seek input from public. Is the planning process of the 2030 Jakarta spatial plan sufficient to produce a valid plan for shaping Jakarta in the next 20 years?

The objections to the 2030 Jakarta spatial plan from several organizations in Jakarta are the answer of the above question. The 2030 Jakarta spatial plan is not a valid plan yet. WALHI (The Indonesian Forum for Environment) and 28 other NGOs in Jakarta opposed the 2030 Jakarta spatial plan and will offer an alternative plan to be submitted to the City Council. They formed an alliance called Jaringan Masyarakat Sipil untuk Tata Ruang Jakarta 2030 (the network of civil society for the 2030 Jakarta spatial plan) and argued that the Jakarta 2030 spatial plan pays less attention to the poor people and the environmental sustainability. The Citizens Coalition for Jakarta 2030, an organization formed in December 2009 by several concerned Jakarta residents, also raised objections to the planning process of the 2030 Jakarta spatial plan including the lack of citizen participation. The coalition has held several public discussions, launched a website and a group in Facebook and conducted public opinion surveys to aggressively seek input from residents.

The objections to the 2030 Jakarta spatial plan illustrate that the planning practice in the 21st century is facing greater challenges than that in the 20th century. Ten years ago or even 25 years ago, there were very few objections to the spatial plans from the residents when the Jakarta administration prepared the 2005-2010 and the 1985-2005 Jakarta spatial plans. The planning practice in the 21st century is dealing with pluralism and communities characterized by fragmented power and distrust of government and experts.

Pejaten Timur, originally uploaded by Deden Rukmana.

The planning practice in plural communities is no longer exclusively concerned with comprehensive, integrated, and coordinated action, but more negotiated, political, and focused planning. This in turn makes in less document-oriented and more people centered. In the 21st century, there are only multiple narratives, a multiplicity of language games that are locally determined, none of which can be reconciled across speakers and all of which must be allowed their existence. The knowledge is not necessarily a reliable guide to effective action. Increased understanding can only reveal differences, not set direction. To this extent, the important thing is not causality –cause and effect relations- but meaning.

Local communities have experimental, grounded, contextual, intuitive knowledge, which are manifested through speech, songs, stories, and various visual forms rather than the more familiar kinds of planning sources such as census data, and simulation model. Planners in the 21st century have to learn to access these other ways of knowing.

The planning practice in the 21st century calls for community-based planning. It would replace the reliance on state-directed futures and top-down processes. Citizen participation can lead to better public policy. Through such selfish participation, the government is informed of these interests and pressured to respond. In this way, it produces public goods more closely attuned to citizen needs than it would if there were no participation.

In many American cities, a comprehensive plan is prepared in more than 3 years. There is a visioning, a process by which a community defines the future it wants through an extensive public involvement. Many communities develop a vision at the beginning of the planning process and the citizen input becomes meaningful. Stakeholders should have faith in the value of public dialogue. The extensive public involvement can include broad-based advisory committees, community-wide public opinion survey, town hall meetings, information in mass media including TV, radio, and newspaper, community leadership training, public hearing, and information through the internet. Visioning can add to the cost of the planning process, but it can serve as a catalyst that can bring city residents together to discuss about their future in new ways.

Motorcycles, originally uploaded by Deden Rukmana.

Indonesian cities could learn from the American cities to involve more city resident inputs in the making of comprehensive plans. Public involvement in a comprehensive plan is not an easy task, but it is not impossible to accomplish. The academic draft of the 2030 spatial plan that has been prepared by the experts in nearly two years but lacks public involvement should be revisited. The Jakarta administration needs to be more actively seeking input from the residents. The City Council should not rush to pass the draft of the 2030 spatial plan into law. The objections from the NGOs and social organizations must be heard and taken into consideration for the revisions of the 2030 Jakarta spatial plan.

(This article also appeared at The Jakarta Post on February 6, 2010; was reposted at Koalisi Warga untuk Jakarta 2030)

Climate Change and Urban Development

2009-12-18T22:03:00.011-05:00

Welcome-to-the-Greenhouse, originally uploaded by mix's.

This post is an English version of my article published in the Indonesian newspaper of Kompas on Tuesday, December 15, 2009.

The attention to climate change and global warming is now on the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark on December 7-18, 2009. This conference is expected to reach a new agreement on decreasing global emissions of greenhouse gases after the ending of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.

As one of the tropical countries with large forest areas, Indonesia is expected to play an important role in absorbing the emissions of carbon dioxide that cause the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Transtoto Handadhari (Kompas, December 7, 2009) reported that Indonesian forests have the carbon dioxide absorption as many as 25,733 billion tons excluding peat forests and dry lands. The government of Indonesia set a target of reducing the carbon emissions by 26 percent in 2020 through many ways including the expansion of new forests as much as a half hectare per year, the expansion of community forests about 4 million hectares, and the decrease of hot spots about 20 percent.

The decrease of carbon dioxide emissions for addressing the global warming is not only the responsility of those who work in forests, but also that of all citizens. Urban residents play also an important role in decreasing the carbon dioxide emissions. Human activities that use fossil fuel are a big contributor in the global warming. Increasing the efficiency of electricity uses such as lighting, cooling or the uses of electronic tools and recycling are some ways that can be offered to address the global warming.

Copenhagen UN Climate Change Conference, originally uploaded by United Nations Photo.

Urban Green Areas

Urban development can be also aimed at addressing the global warming. Urban green areas are often sacrificed in urban developments in order to keep up with the fast-growth of urban population. Jakarta, for instance, in 1965 had green areas as much as 30% of the total Jakarta areas, and the proportion of green areas has been decreasing to 9.3% in 2009. The decrease of green areas also occurs in most Indonesian cities. Green areas are an important component of urban development, not only to create a city more beautiful and greener, but also to absorb carbon dioxide from human activities particularly transportation.

Green areas can also play a role of mitigating the impact of climate change such as floods and the rise of sea level. Green areas can be water catchment areas for preventing floods. In metropolitan areas, such as Jakarta, the area vulnerability to global warming will be even higher due to the land subsidence that is caused by extensive underground water exploitation.

The expansion of green areas should be one of the urban development priorities in in Indonesia. The ideal of green areas in urban areas is 30% of the total urban area as stipulated in the Spatial Planning Law 26/2007. This number is not easy, but is not impossible to achieve either. Lately, the Jakarta administration closed 27 gas stations located in green areas and converted them into green areas. Such a decision demonstrates a strong commitment from the Jakarta administration to expand green areas and can be followed by other cities in Indonesia or even in the world.

Mass Transit and Urban Sprawl

Urban development in metropolitan areas such as Jakarta needs to develop mass transit such as subway and monorail. The current public transportations such as busway and other public transportations need to expand the services and integrate with the needs and affordability of residents. Converting private vehicles to mass transits or other public transportation will reduce the use of fossil fuel. The decrease of fuel usage per capita in transportation will significantly reduce the carbon emission.

Planet Jakarta, originally uploaded by diankarl **will visit you soon**.

Urban planners need to avoid urban sprawl. Urban sprawl is not efficient, not only in the infrastructure provision but also in the fuel consumption. Urban sprawl will result in a longer commute distance for residents and consume more fuel. Urban areas should be planned as a compact city. Suburban areas should be directed as a self-sustained areas and it will reduce trips of suburban residents to inner-city areas.

Restoring Green Areas in Jakarta

2009-11-26T01:17:00.009-05:00

New Style Gas Station, originally uploaded by cyberlucky.

On November 8, 2009 Jakarta’s Governor Fauzi Bowo closed and locked a gas station located on Jl. Jendral Sudirman to symbolically close down 27 gas stations and convert the areas into green spaces. The Jakarta Parks and Cemetery Agency announced that the 27 gas stations will be closed by the end of the year and the closure of these gas stations will add another 10,505 square meters of green areas in Jakarta (The Jakarta Post, November 11, 2009).

The conversion of gas stations into green areas is to meet the target for green areas in Jakarta stipulated in the Jakarta spatial plan 2000-2010 to cover 13.94 percent of Jakarta's total 63,744 hectares by 2010. In 1965, green areas made up more than 35 percent of Jakarta and have been shrinking ever since. Currently, green areas in Jakarta account for only 9.3 percent of the city's area, far below the target of 30 percent set by the Spatial Planning Law 26/2007.

I commend Governor Fauzi Bowo and his city administration for converting gas stations into green areas because of two main reasons. First, the conversion of gas stations into green areas is a good precedent for implementing spatial plans. Over the years, the spatial plan seems to be a legal document that is not fully enforced and implemented. The 27 gas stations are located in the areas designated as green areas in the Jakarta spatial plans 1965-1985, 1985-2005 and 2000-2010. For many years, the city conceded to the powerful owners of the gas stations and could not enforce and implement the spatial plans. In March 2008, the city proposed the plan of the gas stations conversion but it was rejected by the Jakarta City Council. This year, the city resubmitted the proposal and it was approved by the newly elected Jakarta City Council.

city (4)1, originally uploaded by budibudz.

Second, we must put a stop to disappearing green areas in Jakarta. Green areas are an important urban element that can help make cities self-sustainable and more livable. Annual floods in Jakarta indicate an urgency for green areas in the capital, because they absorb rainwater and help to avert flooding. New homes, condominiums, malls, hotels and commercial and office buildings have proliferated in Jakarta over the last three decades. These new developments have come at the cost of green areas and have decreased water catchment areas, making the city more prone to floods. Not only will the conversion of gas stations into green areas add the green areas but also contribute in preventing annual floods in Jakarta.

The cost of closing down and converting each gas station was around Rp. 75 million and I would argue that the benefit of the conversion of gas station into green areas will be much more than Rp. 75 million over the years. In addition to reducing the risk of floods, the new green areas will beautify and make Jakarta more livable. I would also suggest that the green areas that are close to residential areas be designed as recreation parks. The recreation parks will serve as a mode to build healthy, strong and vibrant neighborhoods and it will benefit the city even more. The conversion of these gas stations into green areas will also restrain the increasing city's carbon dioxide levels. The green areas can serve act as sponges for such pollutants.

In sum, the decision of the Jakarta’s administration to close down the gas stations and convert them into green areas in order to comply with the Jakarta spatial plan is a good move and should be appreciated. Not only will this decision become a good precedent for implementing the spatial plans in Jakarta or even in other areas in Indonesia, but also will provide a lot of benefits for the city and its residents.

(This article also appeared at The Jakarta Post on December 12, 2009; was reposted at Creative Cities ; was cited at Treehugger and at Reflection on Auckland Planning )

A city without social justice: Jakarta needs more green space, but not the expense of the poor

2009-10-19T09:28:00.010-05:00

This post was published in Inside Indonesia, an Australian magazine, in the October-December 2009 edition. Following is the link to the article:
http://insideindonesia.org/content/view/1246/47/

DSC01412, originally uploaded by Luis XII.

In case of the link is not available, I copied the article as you can find below. Thank you.

A city without social justice: Jakarta needs more green space, but not the expense of the poor

Jakarta is not only Indonesia’s capital and most dynamic city, it is also beset with a plethora of 21st century urban problems. As its population grows, its green spaces shrink. In the first half of the twentieth century Batavia, colonial capital of the Netherlands East Indies, was a small urban area with approximately 150,000 residents. Batavia has become Jakarta, Indonesia’s megacity of 14 million.

Green spaces in the city have shrunk along with this leap in population. As recently as 1965, green areas made up more than 35 per cent of Jakarta’s land area. Currently, they account for only 9.3 per cent, far below the target of 30 per cent set by Law No 26 of 2007 on Spatial Planning.

Shrinking green areas
As Jakarta is certain to continue to grow, the city’s master plan to protect remaining green spaces and add some more, especially along riversides, offer some hope. The city’s current 2000-2010 master plan aims to achieve green areas (legally defined as areas where plants can grow) of 13.94 per cent of the total city area. This is an excellent goal, but it is modest when we compare it to similar plans in the past. The 1965-1985 master plan, for example, planned for green areas covering 27.6 per cent of Jakarta’s land area. In part, these plans are simply catching up with reality. New luxury homes, condominiums, shopping malls, hotels, commercial buildings and offices have proliferated in Jakarta over the last three decades. Many have been built at the expense of green areas and have paved over water catchment areas, making the city more prone to floods.

Annual floods in Jakarta point to an urgent need to protect existing green
areas in the capital – and to create new ones.

Not surprisingly, annual floods are becoming more severe, and more deadly. The worst flood in memory occurred in February 2007, inundating about 70 per cent of the city. It killed at least 57 people and sent some 450,000 fleeing their homes. In the aftermath of the flood, Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar put the blame on excessive construction of residential and commercial buildings, which now cover many of the city’s former green areas.

Annual floods in Jakarta point to an urgent need to protect existing green areas in the capital – and to create new ones. Green areas absorb rainwater and thus help prevent flooding. Green areas also help make cities more sustainable and livable.

Canal - Jakarta, originally uploaded by pyjama.

Clearing out the poor
As part of its master plan, Jakarta’s administration has planned to expand the city’s green areas to nearly 14 percent of the city’s area by next year. However, even this modest expansion will come at the expense of some of Jakarta’s most powerless residents. Often, when the city government creates new green spaces it does so by evicting the city’s poor residents and operators of informal sector businesses.

For example, the restoration of Ayodia Park (on Jalan Barito in South Jakarta) led to evictions of fish and flower traders in January 2008. Many of the traders had run their businesses in that area for more than 20 years, yet Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo argued that the vendors were there illegally and had no right to the land. In February 2008, the city administration evicted ceramics sellers from beneath a highway overpass in Rawasari, Central Jakarta, in order to expand green spaces. It did the same to about 1400 families who had lived for years in Kampung Bayam (North Jakarta) in August 2008. In this case the aim was to restore the 66 hectare BMW Park (BMW in this case stands for Bersih, Manusiawi, dan Wibawa – Clean, Humane, and Esteemed). The Kampung Bayam eviction turned into a melee as many squatters, mostly women and children, resisted officers’ efforts to remove them.

While Jakarta authorities often use force to ‘free’ land used by the city’s poor, they lack the courage to prevent construction of the condominiums, malls, hotels and commercial or offices that developers and the rich build in designated green areas in blatant violation of the city’s spatial plans. The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI) counted numerous Jakarta developments that converted green areas into malls and other commercial buildings, in violation of Jakarta’s spatial plan. WALHI’s May 2009 report identified these illegal developments in Kelapa Gading, Pantai Kapuk, Sunter, Senayan, and Tomang. Governor Fauzi Bowo told the media in February 2008 that it would not be realistic to demolish such buildings to restore green spaces.

The authorities often use force to ‘free’ land used by the city’s poor, but they
lack the courage to prevent construction of condominiums, malls, hotels,
commercial buildings and offices

Jakarta now has about 60 mid-size and large shopping malls. According to the Urban Poor Consortium (http://www.urbanpoor.or.id/ ), a Jakarta advocacy organisation, only about 500,000 Jakarta residents can afford to shop in those malls. The malls do not serve Jakarta’s poor, who outnumber Jakarta’s mall-shopping rich by seven-to-one.

Social injustice
Not only has the Jakarta government failed to prevent the loss of existing green spaces to malls and commercial buildings, influential commercial interests have also scuttled plans to re-establish green spaces. For example, in March 2008, Jakarta’s City Council rejected the Jakarta Parks Agency’s plan to create green spaces in place of 29 gas stations, caving in to the demands of the politically powerful gas station owners.

The city administration deserves support for planning to create additional green spaces.But it should not do so by mistreating poor people and the informal sector. It seems that Jakarta politicians find it easier to expand green areas by demolishing poor residents’ homes and forcing informal sector workers off public space, than by preventing, stopping, or demolishing developments that benefit only the wealthy.

Deden Rukmana (rukmanad@savannahstate.edu) is assistant professor and coordinator of the graduate program in Urban Studies and Planning at Savannah State University, USA. He publishes Indonesia’s Urban Studies (http://indonesiaurbanstudies.blogspot.com/ )

This blog in the GPEIG Newsletter

2009-09-18T16:20:00.010-05:00

amazing, originally uploaded by BESTPHOTO.

In the early September 2009, I received an email from Dr. Vinit Mukhija, an associate professor of urban planning at UCLA who is also a co-chair of GPEIG, that invited me to submit a story about this blog for the GPEIG newsletter. I was certainly delighted to accept the invitation and submitted a description about the blog and my reflection on blogosphere two weeks later to him.

GPEIG stands for Global Planning Educators Interest Group and is an interest group under the ACSP (Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning). The mission of GPEIG is to foster global perspective in planning education and research. This link provides more information about GPEIG.

Following is the story about this blog in the GPEIG newsletter that can also be found in this link.

I am honored to share my blog of Indonesia’s Urban Studies with the readers of
the GPEIG newsletter. The blog, located at http://indonesiaurbanstudies.blogspot.com/ was created in January 2007. As mentioned in the first post of my blog, the purpose of this blog is to contribute to the advancement of urban studies and planning in Indonesia, and was inspired by the success of Randall Crane’s blog of Urban Planning Research.

My blog includes a wide-ranging collection of reflections and essays about urban issues in Indonesia, including poverty, informal sector, transportation, land uses, spatial planning, urban primacy and global warming. My reflections are primarily focused on the current urban issues in Jakarta and are based on my regular reading of two Indonesian newspapers, Kompas and The Jakarta Post. Most news stories in both newspapers are about Jakarta, and a few stories are about other cities in Indonesia. That’s why my blog posts are mainly about Jakarta.

Several urban issues in Jakarta are discussed in my blog, including the banning of
motorcyclists from Jakarta’s main roads, extortion by thugs of street vendors, an upscale neighborhood’s resistance against a new busway corridor plan, the Jakarta City Council’s rejection of a plan of converting gas stations into green areas and the change of the school start time. The blog also includes the reflections of the last three years of annual floods that inundated Jakarta. Interestingly, the floods always occurred in the first week of February. The blog documents the impacts of the flood each year and government efforts at preventing the floods. These posts were also submitted to and run by The Jakarta Post in its Op-Ed sections.
The blog also presents a number of essays including the history of urbanization and
suburbanization in Jakarta, the dominance of Jakarta in Indonesia’s economy,
urban planning and the informal sectors in developing countries, challenges of the planning profession in Indonesia, and a book review of Christopher Silver’s Planning the Megacity: Jakarta in the Twentieth Century.

Nearly 50,000 visitors have come to my blog and most of them are via Google. Many visitors also came from other websites and blogs that have a link to my blog, including the ACSP’s website. A number of students from many parts of the world contact me after visiting my blog for a variety of reasons, including asking further questions or for detailed data, asking for data sources in Indonesia, asking for definitions of urban terms, asking me to review their work on Indonesia, or simply for appreciating my work. In addition to students, a journalist of Singapore’s The Straits Times and a Norwegian journalist contacted me for their stories of Jakarta. I was also invited by the editors of an Australian magazine and several Indonesian newsletters to submit stories about urban issues in Indonesia. All these invitations and interviews came to me through visits to my blog.

Furthermore, I can trace from where and how long the visitors visit my blog. They come from countries all over the world, including countries in Africa and South America. I am amazed by their interest in Indonesia’s urban issues, and hope that my blog contributes to their interests.

When I started nearly three years ago, I never expected to get what I have accomplished with my blog today. We can witness the power of the Web in building and shaping our society. The world is now directed by the citizens of the new digital democracy. Blogging is a good way for scholars to be a part of this new world of digital democracy. I have learned from my blog that the voice of scholars in the blogosphere is well-respected and appreciated. The blog audiences have a lot of choices to read and they find the voice of scholars worth reading.

Envisioning City without Cars

2009-05-15T21:43:00.011-05:00

Traffic congestion is one of the chronic problems in most Indonesian cities and this problem is getting worse year by year. The growth of road developments in Indonesian cities is much slower than the growth rate of vehicle ownership. In Jakarta, for example, the growth rate of vehicle ownership is 9 to 11 percent per year but the growth of road developments is only less than 1 percent per year.

Setiabudi Macet 1, originally uploaded by susiloadhy.

When a new highway was built or a road was widened, it will only solve the traffic congestion for a short period of time. After a few years, the new highway will fill with traffic that would not have existed if the highway had not been built. Similarly, the widened road fills with more traffic in a few months. Such phenomenon is called induced demand. Because of the induced demand, neither building new roads nor widening roads are the long-lasting solution to traffic congestion.

There are several possible solutions to eradicate traffic congestion problems and one of them is the reduction of private vehicle uses. I read an article in the New York Times (May 12, 2009) on a suburb town without cars in Germany with great interest. Streets in this upscale town are completely car-free except the main thoroughfare and a few streets on on edge of the town. The residents of this town are still allowed to own cars, but parking is relegated to two large garages at the edge of the development.

The Vauban town, is located on the outskirt of Freiburg, near the French and Swiss borders and home to 5,500 residents. The residents are heavily dependent on the tram to downtown Freiburg and many of them take to car-sharing when longer excursions are needed. Seventy percent of Vauban's families have no cars. They do a lot of walking and biking to shops, banks, restaurants, schools and other destinations that are interspersed among homes. The town is long and relatively narrow and provides an easy walking access to the tram for every home.

Creating places with more compact design, more accessible to public transportation and less driving is the envision of urban planners in the 21st century. The Vauban town is an exemplar of the 21st century urban design in response to the threats of greenhouse gas emission and global warming and the dwindling oil supply.

I could argue that the Vauban's urban design is the extention of the New Urbanism. The New Urbanism is a school of urban design arose in the U.S. in the early 1980s. This school of urban design promotes several key principles including walkability and connectivity, mixed land uses, and high density. There have been many the New Urbanist towns in several countries, but cars still fill the streets of these towns.

The Vauban town provides an example of the possibility of creating city without cars. The walkable and mixed-land-uses urban design, easy access to public transportation and excellent public transportation system as demonstrated in the Vauban town are the components for creating city without cars.

Cars are still a luxury item for many Indonesian families. Many urban residents, particularly those live in kampung kota, do not own cars and are used to living without cars. Streets (gang) in Indonesia's kampung kota are too narrow for cars and the residents are used to walking and biking to their destinations. Kampung kotas are located in the center of urban areas and relatively accessible to public transportations. In reference to the New Urbanism concept, the Indonesia's kampung kota has implemented the principles of walkability and high density.

Indonesian planners need to appreciate the existence of kampung kota in terms of lacking driving needs. Kampung kota residents will be less likely to have a demand for cars when their neighborhoods are accessible to public transportations and the streets in their neighborhoods remain narrow. Kampung kota residents need to remain lack of driving needs for reducing the car ownership rate in urban areas.

For new developments in suburb areas, Indonesian planners can emulate the success of the Vauban town. Driving needs are profoundly affected by the urban design and the high access to public transportation. It makes sense to envision and is not all impossible to create a city without cars.

(This article also appeared at The Jakarta Post on June 2, 2009)

The Collapse of Situ Gintung Dam and Poor Enforcement of Spatial Plans

2009-04-01T13:19:00.008-05:00

The Situ Gintung dam in Cireundeu, Tangerang broke on March 27, 2009 and killed at least 99 people (Kompas April 1, 2009) and still counting since there are about 100 people reportedly missing. The dam was built during Dutch colonial rule to contain water from the Pesanggrahan River. Several investigations have been conducted to identify the culprit of the of the Situ Gintung collapse. The Indonesia Technology Application and Research Agency (BPPT) revealed piping in the body of the dam (Kompas April 1, 2009). The piping allowed water infiltration into the capillary breaks that caused the dam collapse. The piping was identified in the month of December 2008.

Situ Gintung Tragedy -another-, originally uploaded by aris-ressy.

The heavy rain in the area of Situ Gintung was often blamed by many people as the culprit of the disaster. The heavy rain is only a trigger but is not a cause of the dam collapse. Heavy rains were often recorded in the Situ Gintung area, as happened in 2007 that caused big floods in Jakarta, but they did not break the Situ Gintung dam.

I would argue that the collapse of the Situ Gintung dam was caused by the low enforcement of the spatial planning laws in Indonesia. Indonesia has had spatial planning laws since 1992 through the enactment of the spatial planning law 24/1992. This spatial planning law differentiated spatial plans by two main functions including conservation areas (kawasan lindung) and cultivation areas (kawasan budidaya). Conservation areas include areas surrounding springs and lakes such as the Situ Gintung area. The spatial planning law 24/1992 clearly stipulated that the conservation areas have the main function for protecting the environmentally sensitive areas such as areas surrounding springs or lakes. Activities that are allowed in the conservation areas are very limited including conservational and rehabilitation activities, research and environmental tourism.

Referring to the spatial planning law 24/1992 or the current spatial planning law 26/2007, the Situ Gintung area was supposed to be a conservation area. Assigning the Situ Gintung area as a conservation area means only activities protecting the environmentally sensitive area of Situ Gintung will be allowed in the area. Residential areas will not certainly be allowed in the conservation areas including in the Situ Gintung area.

The disaster of Situ Gintung is the impact or negative externalities of the activities in the area that cannot protect and conserve the environmentally sensitive area of Situ Gintung. More than 40 percent of the 112.5 hectare water catchment area of the Situ Gintung was identified as residential areas (Kompas April 1, 2009). Such a large proportion of residential areas in an environmentally sensitive area are clearly an indication of the low enforcement of spatial planning laws. It is very likely that the residential areas would expand in the Situ Gintung area in response to the population growth if the disaster did not happen.

The current spatial planning law 26/2007, adding several clauses from the spatial planning law 24/1992 such as imposing administration and criminal sanctions for those who violate the laws, is poorly enforced. The new stipulations in the spatial planning law 26/2007 including disincentive and incentive in the spatial plan implementation have not been fully enforced. The violation of spatial plan law in the Situ Gintung area is only one of many violation cases in Indonesia. The Indonesian Planning Association also acknowledged the spatial plan law violations in other Indonesian cities in their press release in the aftermath of the disaster of Situ Gintung. The enforcement of the spatial planning law will be a difficult task without the understanding of residents about the importance and essence of spatial plans.

Situ Gintung Tragedy, originally uploaded by aris-ressy.

Indonesian people need some more time and efforts to “learn” the importance of spatial plan for the sustainable development in Indonesia. The disaster of Situ Gintung should be interpreted as a learning process for Indonesian people about the consequences of the spatial planning law violation. Indonesia needs to learn from the mistakes in the Situ Gintung case for preventing similar cases in the future. Indonesian people need to understand the importance of spatial plans for their public health, safety and welfare. Such an understanding is quite important for the Indonesian governments to enforce the spatial planning law 26/2007 in order to create safe, convenience, productive and sustainable places in Indonesia.

Jakarta Annual Flooding in February 2009

2009-02-13T16:39:00.009-05:00

February is the month when rainfall in Jakarta and other areas in Indonesia are highest and floods become a threat for residents. This year’s February also witnessed floods in many parts of Jakarta including sub-districts Bidara Cina, Kampung Melayu, Cawang, Bukit Duri, Angke, Petamburan, Tanjung Priok, Kelapa Gading, Koja, Cilincing, Rawa Badak, Kamal Muara, and Kapuk Muara. These areas were inundated by between 10 and 50 centimeters of water. Floodwaters also caused lengthy traffic jams in many main streets in Jakarta.

neighborhood., originally uploaded by omae.

Fortunately, the extent of this year’s flooding was not as great as in the last two years. In February 2007, the worst flooding in Jakarta's history inundated about 70 percent of the city, killed at least 57 people and sent about 450,000 fleeing their homes. In February 2008, 37 of 267 subdistricts in Jakarta were inundated by more than 40 centimeters of water. Floodwaters caused public transportation, including the busway lines across Jakarta, to stop operations, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. Last year’s flood also inundated the Sedyatmo toll road to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which resulted in the cutting off the highway for a few days. Nearly 1,000 flights were delayed or diverted and 259 flights were canceled.

Interestingly, this year’s rainfall in Jakarta is higher than that in 2008 and is about the same with the 2007 rainfall. This year’s highest rainfall per day happened on February 2, 2009 reaching 339 millimeters. This year’s highest daily rainfall is slightly higher than that in 2007 (317 millimeters) and much higher than that in 2008 (117 millimeters). It is important to note that the high rainfall in the Jakarta’s neighboring areas was also blamed for the major flood in 2007.

In response to the last year's flood, Governor Fauzi Bowo set several strategic measures including ensuring the early warning systems are effective, dredging the river to enable the water flow properly, revitalizing the Pluit, Sunter and Riario dams, and placing mobile water pumps on the Sedyatmo toll roads to anticipate the blackouts. I would argue that the low enormity of this year’s flood is also subject to the effectiveness of such measures. Such measures may be able to mitigate the impact of this year’s flooding, but still cannot prevent the flooding.

Canal - Jakarta, originally uploaded by pyjama.

Jakarta has 18 main canals and 500 smaller canals of 2 to 15 meters in width. The Jakarta’s network of canals performed only 50 to 70 percent of its capacity because these canals have been silted up with 9 million cubic meters of sediment and garbage (The Jakarta Post, February 2, 2009). Furthermore, Budi Widiantoro of the Jakarta Public Works Agency blamed the garbage as the main cause of the low capacity of Jakarta’s canals (The Jakarta Post, January 14, 2009). This is certainly a big challenge for the Jakarta administration to educate its residents to not throw away garbage into canals. Dredging canals will not be an effective way of reducing flood if people still throw away garbage into canals.

In the aftermath of the 2002 major flood, the central government and Jakarta administration plan to build the East Flood Canal project. The project is aimed at reducing floods in a 270-square-kilometer flood-prone area of East and North Jakarta, but it has progressed very slowly. As of February 2009, the Jakarta administration has procured only 62 percent of the needed land. The East Flood Canal is sought to be most feasible solution for preventing future flooding in Jakarta, but apparently the East Flood Canal is not easy to be materialized.

Neither dredging the canals and rivers nor building new canals is a sustainable solution for preventing future flooding in Jakarta. As the economic, commercial, cultural and transportation hub of the nation, Jakarta is poised to grow faster than other parts of Indonesia. The annual floods are strong evidence that Jakarta cannot sustainably accommodate its rapid growth. Indonesia needs to redistribute the central functions from Jakarta to other parts of the nation and create more urban agglomerations to pull urban growth away from Jakarta. Relocating central functions out of Jakarta will reduce the rapid growth in Jakarta and eventually become a sustainable solution for preventing future flooding in Jakarta.

(This article also appeared at The Jakarta Post on February 28, 2009)

Economic Crisis and Public Works Projects

2009-01-17T22:33:00.018-05:00

city (11)1, originally uploaded by budibudz.

This year is an important year for policy makers for overcoming the global economic crisis that started from the financial crisis in the United States in the early 2008. The policy made in the beginning of 2009 will influence the future of the world's economy. In the United States, people have a high expectation on public works projects proposed by the Obama administration to overcome the economic crisis.

Barack Obama promised to build public works projects, the largest investment since the creation of the interstate highways fifty years ago. Public works projects are believed to revive the economy by creating new employments. In a meeting with Barack Obama in early December 2008, the US governors submitted the public works proposals that are ready to go in total amount of USD 136 billion including roads, bridges, etc. Those projects will create about 40,000 jobs for each USD 1 billion.

Lessons from the Great Depression
The current economic crisis is still less severe than the Great Depression in the 1930s, at least from the unemployment rate. In the 1930s, the unemployment rate reached nearly a third of the American workers. The current unemployment rate in the US at the end of December 2008 was 7.2% which was the highest record in the last 16 years, and this number is still very likely to increase. The current crisis has made economists and politicians think hard to avoid the second edition of the Great Depression.

In resolving the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the New Deal including the creation of jobs through public works projects in most parts of the US. One of the projects is Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) that built dam in the Tennessee rivers and several hydroelectric projects in the Tennessee region, one of the poorest region in the US. The history shows that the New Deal was able to address the Great Depression. In addition, TVA was able to create an energy source and 30,000 new jobs and also improve the quality of live of people in the Tennessee region.

An important principle of the programs developed by the FDR administration in addressing the Great Depression is the government intervention to the free market. This principle is an implementation of the advice of John Maynard Keynes, an interventionist government policy. The Keynesian economics will also be implemented by the Obama administration to resolve the current economic crisis.

Lessons for Indonesia
What can Indonesia learn from the global economic crisis? Learning from the success of the New Deal and the implementation of the Keynesian economics, it is clear that the government intervention is very vital to address the current economic crisis.

The budget of development that has been appropriated in the national budget (Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Nasional) should be used for the real sectors, particularly in the regions of high unemployment rates. The public works projects, like TVA, such as dam and irrigation for extensifying agricultural lands outside the island of Java is quite relevant for the current situation in Indonesia. The extensification agricultural lands projects can also be directed to reduce the burden of Java island as the primary provider of the national food and alleviate poverty outside Java island.

If Indonesia wants to copy the green development initiatives as proposed by the Obama administration, Indonesia can develop a mass transportation system and alternative energy innovation projects. In the meantime, the conventional public works projects such as roads and bridges need to be focused on repairing the broken and bad infrastructures rather than developing new infrastructures.

(This post is an English version of the original article that appeared in the daily newspaper of Media Indonesia on January 15, 2009).

Traffic and Change of School Start Time

2008-11-30T23:16:00.024-05:00

A policy proposed by the Jakarta city administration to advance the start of school hours from 7:00 a.m. to 06:30 a.m. sparked controversy from the public. The policy that was aimed at overcoming the traffic congestion in the capital will be at the expense of students. The City Council rejected the idea and argued it will not address the problem of traffic congestion. Meanwhile, the city administration predicted the policy will reduce congestion by between 6 and 14 percent (The Jakarta Post 27 November 2008).

Setiabudi Macet 1, originally uploaded by susiloadhy.

Opponents of this policy argued this policy was only another strong evidence of the inability of the government of Jakarta to overcome traffic congestion. Students will be required to wake up early in the morning and they will be sleepy in class. The proposed policy will cause the tardiness of many students and many classrooms will be empty in the morning.

Given the limitation of the Jakarta city administration in overcoming traffic congestion, the policy to change school start time should be considered as a creative and innovative policy. The reaction to this controversial policy from the public should be anticipated by the city administration. The city administration Jakarta government must implement this policy consistently while still working to reduce traffic congestion through other policies.

The traffic congestion in the capital, especially in the morning, will be slightly
reduced through this policy. The intensity of traffic jams in the capital in the peak hours will decrease because of the thirty minutes early trips of the studetns. The argument of the policy will reduce traffic congestion by 14 percent is reasonable. Data Pokok Kependidikan (Primary Data of Education) from the Jakarta's Office of Secondary Education shows that 1.75 million or 21 percent of the 8.3 million inhabitants living in Jakarta in 2006 are school aged people of 7-18 years old.

The traffic congestion in the capital can't be separated from the high rate of vehicle ownership by 9-11 percent per year that is not supported by the growth of road developent which is only less than 1 percent per year. The development of mass transportation system in the capital is still far from the expectation. The busway can reduce the intensity of traffic congestion in the main roads in the city center, but it has still yet to much untangle traffic congestions in other parts of the capital. In addition, the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), which has long been planned, is stil unclear when to be realized.

Why you should use the Jakarta busway, originally uploaded by fishkid.

The high rate of vehicle ownership and the high urbanization in the greater Jakarta area is also the results of the role of Jakarta as the capital of Jakarta and the country's economy and business center. Resolving the transportation problems in Jakarta must also consider developments occurring in the Jakarta's neighboring areas.

Given the various limitations in overcoming traffic congestion through the development of mass transportation system and the high rate of vehicle ownership motor vehicles that is difficult to be controlled, the plan to change school start time is an innovative and creative solution. It is better to implement this policy rather than waiting for the completion of the mass transportation system or the more road built in Jakarta.

In the early implementation of this policy, the city administration needs to tolerate the tardy arrivals of students to schools since the students and parents need some time for the adjustment to the early school hours. Similarly, the availability of public transportation in the early morning needs to be secured to provide services for the students.

In the next stage, the city administration needs to develop school buses that provide shuttle services for students. The provision of school buses will significantly reduce congestion because it will be reduce the number of private vehicles that were previously used to transport the students.

Other alternative that can be considered to reduce congestion school is to implement school attendance zone (rayonisasi). This policy will limit students in their choice of schools. The priority will be given to students who reside near the school. The implementation of this system will shorten the trip distance from the student residence to school, and will ultimately reduce traffic congestion.

In addition, the coordination of the school provision among the municipalities in the Greater Jakarta area needs to be strengthened. The availability of good schools in the Jakarta suburbs is very essential and it will prevent the residents in the suburbs of Jakarta from sending their children to better schools in the central city of Jakarta. The availability of good schools in the buffer areas of Jakarta will ultimately reduce the transportation problem in the capital.

(This article also appeared at The Jakarta Post on December 20, 2008)

Assessment of Trans-Java Toll Road

2008-11-19T23:13:00.016-05:00

The development of Trans-Java toll road from Cikampek, West Java to Surabaya, East Java is regarded as the key for economic development, particularly the industrial sector, in the Java island. The planners and decision makers argue the current condition of transportation infrastructure, especially roads, can't support the development of the industrial sector for competing globally. The condition of the current roads is considered as the barrier for increasing the competitiveness of the Island of Java's industrial sector. Is the development of toll road Trans-Java the best solution for the economic development in the island of Java?

Tol Layang Pelabuhan, originally uploaded by rilham2new.

This post briefly attempts to assess the toll road of Trans-Java in the context of sustainable development for the island of Java. The daily newspaper of Kompas on 17 November 2008 reported that the toll road Trans-Java will convert 655,400 hectares of agricultural land. This agricultural land conversion will certainly threaten the national food security, given the role of Java island that supplies 53 percent of the national food needs. The conversion of agricultural land to urban areas will continue along the toll road, especially at the exit of toll road. The land use conversion will be also likely to change the employment structure in the Java island. We will see more labors in agricultural sector in the island of Java switch to urban sector. Sooner or later the agricultural sector in the island of Java will to become a marginalized sectors and it will be a serious threat to the national food security.

In the United States, the development of Interstate Highways started in 1956 and this is not the key factor of urban development in the United States. Before the development of Interstate Highway, the railroad system has played an important role in the urban development since the mid-18th century. The railroad system in the United States connects most areas of the United States, from cities on the East Coast to cities in the West Coast. Larger cities such as Chicago, Detroit and Atlanta are examples of cities that grow rapidly due to the infrastructure of the railroad. The development of road transportation becomes an alternative for distributing raw materials and industrial products but does not replace the role of the railroad.

The discussion about global warming and energy crisis put the interstate highways as the cause of the high use of fuel and emission of carbon dioxide. The development of interstate highways also causes suburbanization and urban sprawl. The urban sprawl causes public transport services inefficient and increases residents' dependence on the use of private vehicles.

Indonesia should learn from the negative externalities of the development of interstate highways in the United States. Not only will the development of Trans-Java toll road threaten the national food security due to agricultural land and labor conversion to urban sector, but also increase the fuel consumption as a result of the increased road length. The negative impacts of the development of Trans-Java toll road will be greater if we calculate the environmental impact of the diminishing green areas, including forests and plantations in the island of Java. The development of toll road will also cause the urban sprawl along the toll road.

En route vers Bandung (3), originally uploaded by Popples91.

Another alternative for stimulating the economic growth in Java is developing railroad system. The development of double-tract railway in Java can become an alternative solution for distributing raw materials and products from the industrial sector in the island of Java. Alternatively, we could also reactivate the unused railroads that was built in the Dutch colonial era. The development of the double-tract railroad will not convert as much agricultural land as the development of toll roads does. The development of railroad system will also consume less energy than the development of toll roads does.

In sum, we could argue that the development of Trans-Java toll road is not a sustainable solution for stimulating the economic growth in the island of Java. This solution is only a threat to the national food and energy security. The development of Trans-Java toll will not a cost-effective solution for the national interest. Alternatively, we could consider the development of railroad system that is more energy efficient and does not convert as much agricultural land as the development of toll road does.

(This post is an English version of the original article that appeared in the daily newspaper of Kompas on November 20, 2008. The article was also posted in the official websites of Badan Koordinasi Penataan Ruang Nasional and of Direktorat Tata Ruang dan Pertanahan Bappenas)

Do street vendors deserve urban space?

2008-10-21T14:34:00.019-05:00

We often find problems associated with street vendors (pedagang kakilima) in many Indonesian cities. Street vendors do their activities in the sidewalks, city parks, cross walking bridges, and even in the streets. They are often seen as eye-sores and undesirable activities. In many cases, authorities forcibly evict street vendors in the name of urban order and cleanliness. Street vendors often resist the eviction and demand spaces for their activities. Do street vendors deserve urban space for their activities? To answer this question, I would like introduce the concept of urban informality as a framework for understanding street vendors that occur in urban areas.

Malioboro, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, originally uploaded by Mini Anna {Munandar}.

The concept of urban informality started from the dichotomy between the formal sector and the informal sector discussed in the early 1970s. The informal sector is a very common phenomenon that occurs in developing countries. The percentage of the informal sector in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa and South Asia ranges between 30-70 percent of the total workforce. In Indonesia, according to data from the Statistics Central Bureau (BPS) in February 2008, 73.53 million out of 102.05 million (72%) workers worked in the informal sectors.

Although the discussions have been conducted for more than thirty years, there is no consensus on the exact definition of the informal sector (Maloney, 2004). Understanding of the informal sector is more often associated with the dichotomy between the formal and the informal sectors. The informal sector is often understood from the document issued by the International Labor Organization (1972). The ILO identified at least seven characters that distinguish these two sectors: (1) easy of entry, (2) easy to obtain raw materials, (3) the nature of ownership, (4) the scale of activities, (5) use of manpower and technology, (6) expertise requirements, and (7) deregulation and market competition.

The dichotomy of the formal and informal sectors often ignores the importance of the informal sectors with respect to urban spaces. The informal sectors are often marginalized in the urban spaces, even though the informal sectors account for 70% of the urban employment.

Ananya Roy and Nezar Alsayyad (2004) introduced the concept of informal urban areas as the logic that explains the process of urban transformation. They did not emphasize on the dichotomy of the formal and the informal sectors but on the understanding that the informal sector is parts of the economic structure of society. The urban informality is an urbanization mode that connects various economic activities and space in urban areas. The informality The inis not only a domain for the poor but also important for middle-class population.

Two urban theories, the Chicago School of Urban Sociology and the Los Angeles School of Urban Geography have dominated the discourse of urban development in developing countries, including in Indonesia. Both urban theories are based on phenomenon that occurred in urban cities in the United States. The Chicago School of Urban Sociology, which was developed in the early 1920s explain the development of the urban migration that is controlled by generating ecological patterns, such as invasion, survival, assimilated, adaptation and cooperation. The Los Angeles School of Urban Geography initiated in the late 1990s to explain the development of metropolitan Los Angeles in the postmodern era that emphasizes the importance of the capitalist economic and political globalization of the economy.

The dominance of both urban theories in the discourse of urban development influences the urban spatial planning in developing countries. Planning practices that replicate both urban theories through the dichotomy of developed and developing countries become ubiquitous. This becomes a problem when such a replication is no longer relevant with the unique urban phenomenon in developing countries, such as the informal sector.

Pedagang di Jl. Dr. Soetomo, originally uploaded by Abdul Manan.

The problems that arise in connection with street vendors is mostly caused by the lack of urban spaces for street vendors. The urban spatial planning that is not based on the understanding of urban informality concept will tend to ignore the demand for spaces to accommodate the informal sector, including street vendors. In addition, the dominance of the Chicago and Los Angeles Schools in the practice of urban planning in Indonesia has contributed to the lack of spaces for the informal sectors in urban areas. The spaces in urban areas are dominated by the urban sectors that have high economic value and the spaces for the informal sectors are marginalized.

The application of the concept of urban informality in understanding the phenomenon of street vendors will change our perspective on the existence of street vendors in urban areas. The street vendors are not the groups failed to enter the economic system in urban areas. They are one of the modes in the urban transformation that cannot be separated from the urban economy. They are one component of the urban economy that will benefit urban development.

The phenomenon of street vendors in Indonesian cities should be interpreted in the context of urban transformation. The application of the concept of urban informality in the practice of urban planning will allocate more urban spaces for the street vendors and integrate it with the formal sectors. The practice of urban planning in Indonesia also should not replicate the Chicago and Los Angeles schools, but modify them and take into account the unique urban phenomenon including the informal sector. The informal sectors, including street vendors, deserve more urban spaces to accommodate their activities that are parts of the urban economic system.

The new spatial planning law 26/2007 has stipulated the importance of the informal sector in urban areas, but the implementation of this new law is not fully enforced yet. The full enforcement of the new spatial planning law and the understanding of the urban informality concept are needed to ensure the availability of urban spaces for the street vendors.

Reference:

International Labor Organization. (1972). Employment, Incomes and Equality: A Strategy for Increasing Productive Employment in Kenya. Geneva: ILO.

Maloney, William. (2004). Informality Revisited. World Development 32(7): 1159-1178

Roy, Ananya and Nezar Alsayyad. (2004). Urban Informality: Transnational Perspectives from the Middle East, Latin America and South Asia. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

(This article also appeared at The Jakarta Post on November 8, 2008)

A Historical Overview of the Spatial Planning in Indonesia

2008-09-05T20:07:00.006-05:00

Spatial planning in Indonesia began in 1926 when the Nuisance Ordinance was introduced. The ordinance regulated certain industrial installation in certain areas through zoning and permit systems. Twenty-two years later, the first planning regulatory framework known as City Planning Ordinance or Staadvorming Ordonatie (SVO) was introduced and then followed by the implementation ordinance known as Stadsvorming Verordening (SVV) in 1949 (Hudalah et. al. 2007; Winarso and Firman 2002).

city (11)1, originally uploaded by budibudz.

After the enactments of SVO and SVV, there had been no legal frameworks for spatial planning until 1976. Several legal frameworks for spatial planning were enacted between 1976 and 1992. These legal frameworks regulated particular areas including the Greater Jakarta Area (Keppres 13/1976), Batam Island (Keppres 41/1973) and Puncak Area (Keppres 48/1983) and certain development sectors including rice field areas (Keppres 54/1980), industrial estate (Keppres 53/1989), tourism (Keppres 15/1983) and housing (Keppres 8/1985). All of these legal frameworks are presidential acts.

In 1982, the Ministry of Home Affairs enacted a decree on the guidance of city plan-making process (Permendagri 2/1987). This ministerial decree stipulated the standards and regulation for city plan-making process. Four years later, the Ministry of Public Works enacted similar decree on city plan-making process (Permen PU 640/1986). Both ministerial decrees became references for urban planners when they prepared city plans.

In response to the growing need for coordinating the management of natural resources, the Indonesia parliament passed the first spatial planning law, The Spatial Planning Law 24/1992 in October 1992. Spatial planning was defined in this law as plan-making process (proses perencanaan tata ruang), plan implementation (pemanfaatan ruang), and development control (pengendalian pemanfaatan ruang). The provision of this law is the guidelines of plan-making process, plan implementation and development control for national, provincial and local levels.

The Spatial Planning Law 24/1992 stipulated the principles of the spatial planning in Indonesia included integrity, sustainability, effectiveness, efficiency, compatibility, harmony, openness, equality, justice, and legal protection. The rights, obligations and participation of the people in the spatial planning were also stipulated in the Spatial Planning Law 24/1992. The people have rights to know the spatial plan, participate in the plan-making process and receive just compensation when their property is acquired for public uses. The detail regulation on the rights, obligation and participation of the people in spatial planning was issued in December 1996 (Peraturan Pemerintah 69/1996). This regulation was the first detail regulation enacted by the Indonesia government from the Spatial Planning Law 24/1992.

The Spatial Planning Law 24/1992 also stipulated the hierarchical spatial planning in Indonesia consisting of the national spatial plan (RTRW Nasional), the provincial spatial plans (RTRW Propinsi) and the district spatial plans (RTRW Kabupaten and RTRW Kotamadya). All levels of the government were required to make spatial plans for directing the development in their respective regions.

This law also differentiated spatial plan by the main function and the main activity of the area. Areas by the main function include environmental conservation areas (kawasan lindung) and non environmental conservation areas (kawasan budidaya). Urban areas (kawasan perkotaan), rural areas (kawasan perdesaan) and specific areas (kawasan tertentu) are areas differentiated by the main activity. Kawasan tertentu is area that has national strategic value and its spatial plan needs to be prioritized.

jakarta sunset, originally uploaded by chillntravel.

The fundamental institutional changes in Indonesia following the fall of the New Order Regime also affected the Spatial Planning Law 24/1992. This law was considered to be no longer relevant with new institutional settings. The Indonesia parliament passed the bill of spatial planning in April 2007 to replace the Spatial Planning Law 24/1992. The new law, the Spatial Planning Law 26/2007, contains some provisions that are not included in the previous law.

In accordance with the new decentralization laws, the Spatial Planning Law 26/2007 stipulates explicitly the authority of provincial governments (pemerintah propinsi) and of district governments (pemerintah kabupaten and pemerintah kota) in spatial planning. Such provision is not stipulated in the previous spatial planning law. In the previous law, the central government is responsible for spatial plan that covers areas in two or more provinces and the provincial government is responsible for spatial plan consisting of areas in two or more districts (kabupaten/kota). In the new law, spatial planning consisting of two or more provinces becomes the authority of respective provinces and should be used as a coordination tool for both provinces. The central government is no longer authorized to coordinate the spatial plan in the areas consisting of two or more provinces. The similar rule also applies to spatial planning covering two or more districts.

The Spatial Planning Law 26/2007 has one new principle of the spatial planning that is not included in the previous law. The principle of accountability is included in the new law and it is presumably to correspond with the enthusiasm of Indonesian people for more transparent and accountable system of government. The new law also stipulates the minimal standard of services in spatial planning. Such provision is to ensure the good quality of basic services of spatial planning for the Indonesian people. This is a response to the dissatisfaction of the Indonesian people over the poor quality of services from the government during the New Order Regime.

The new spatial law also takes into account the rapid urbanization in metropolitans in Indonesia particularly in the Greater Jakarta Area. The concepts of metropolitan area and megapolitan area are introduced in the new law. Such concepts were not parts of the previous spatial planning law. Metropolitan area is defined as an urban area with the population of at least 1 million people. The Spatial Planning Law 26/2007 defines megapolitan area as two or more adjoining metropolitan areas that have functional relationship.

One of the important provisions of the Spatial Planning Law 26/2007 is the requirement of at least 30% of urban areas for open spaces. The open spaces can be public and private open spaces. More specifically, public open spaces account for at least 20% of urban areas. In addition, this law stipulates that forest areas must be account for at least 30% of river stream areas. Such provision was not included in the previous spatial planning law.

The new spatial law provides some new ways for enhancing the development control including zoning, planning permits, implementation of incentive and disincentive and imposing sanctions including administration and criminal sanction. The incentives could be tax cut, compensation, cross subsidy, planning permit deregulation, and awards. The disincentives include higher tax, the limitation of infrastructure, imposing compensation and penalty. The implementation of incentive and disincentive could be from the central government to local governments (province, kabupaten and kota), from local government to other local governments and from governments to community.

The Spatial Planning Law 26/2007 also validates the importance of public participation in spatial planning. The new law provides more detailed regulations than the previous spatial planning law including rights, obligations and the forms of public participation in spatial planning. Such provisions correspond with the more participatory system of government after the fall of the New Order Regime.

Reference:

Larsson, Gerhard. (2006). Spatial planning systems in Western Europe. Washington, DC: IOS Press
Hudalah, Delik and Johan Woltjer. (2007). Spatial planning system in transitional Indonesia. International Planning Studies 12(3): 291-303
Winarso, Haryo and Tommy Firman. (2002). Residential land development in Jabotabek, Indonesia: triggering economic crisis? Habitat International 26: 487-506

Book Review: Planning the Megacity by Christopher Silver

2008-05-23T20:50:00.014-05:00

This is the first post of a book review in this blog. The story started when I met with Christopher Silver at the 2007 ACSP Annual Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in October 2007. Professor Silver, Dean of the College of Design, Construction and Planning at the University of Florida, told me that his new book on Jakarta was getting published soon. I promised him that it would be my pleasure to publicize his book through my blog.

A few days after the conference, I contacted the publisher of Professor Silver's new book, Routledge, and was informed that the book would be available in mid November 2007. I received the book from Routledge in early December 2007 and in about a week I finished reading the book.

The book is a pleasure to read, engaging, well conceived and logically organized. There are seven chapters including (1) Understanding Urbanization and the Megacity in Southeast Asia, (2) Fashioning the Colonial Capital City, 1900-1940, (3) Plans for the Modern Metropolis, 1950-1970s, (4) Planning for Housing, Neighbourhoods and Urban Revitalization, (5) Expansion, Revitalization and the Restructuring of Metropolitan Jakarta: the 1970s to the early 1990s, (6) Urban Village to World City: Re-planning Jakarta in the 1990s, and (7) Planning in the New Democratic Megacity.

As we can see from the chapters, the time span examined from 1900 to the present makes this book valuable. More interestingly, the book discovers how the political intrigue of Suharto’s regime dictated the planning process, and how the political revolution triggered by the economic crisis of the late 1990 resulted in a more participatory and inclusionary planning process.

Professor Silver has been researching Indonesia since his first visit to Indonesia in October 1989 and has produced many peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters on Indonesia. In addition, he has vast networks with Indonesian planners and scholars. As we can find on the acknowledgements of his book, Professor Silver had been in contact with numerous Indonesian people including Jakarta's most famous governor who just passed away a few days ago, Ali Sadikin, and the incumbent Jakarta's governor, Fauzi Bowo.

The book is carefully researched and provides historically detailed descriptions of the transformed Jakarta. Professor Silver collected and analyzed the information about planning in Jakarta from a wide range of references, including those from Amsterdam and Singapore, and interviews with most of Jakarta’s planning directors and administrators since the late 1960s to the present.

My review on this book has also been published in the Journal of the American Planning Association volume 74 issue 2 (March 2008) as you can find in this link.

Let me provide you with an excerpt of my review of Planning the Megacity: Jakarta in the Twentieth Century, as follows:

I have no doubt that this carefully researched study contributes to the
literature of international planning and planning history. Anyone with a
scholarly interest in the history of planning in Jakarta should read this book;
it can also serve as an excellent source of information in graduate and
undergraduate courses that focus on international planning, particularly in the
Southeast Asia region. It can also be a very useful reference for planners
conducting projects in Jakarta. In sum, I fully agree with Silver that
“[planning in Jakarta] is a history worth understanding and worth telling” (p.
6).

Additional note:
The publisher (Routledge, Inc.) has published the book in paperback version on April 6, 2011 and my review appears on the back of the book as you can find in this link.

Poor Residents Go Green and Generate Income

2008-04-05T21:55:00.023-05:00

Living next the garbage tip - selling plastic, originally uploaded by kentclark333".

On April 4, 2008 The Jakarta Post reported a group of young men from a poor neighborhood in Kampung Toplang, Tegal Alur subdistrict in West Jakarta who recycle piles of garbage and make at least Rp. 1 million a month from their green activity. They built a bamboo hut on the field and make compost out of the organic waste and sort the nonorganic waste to be resold. The following link provides the detailed story about that group young men' s green activity:

The Jakarta Post - Kampung Residents Go Green and Make Money

The green activity of the young men from Kampung Toplang provides evidence that poor people can contribute to sustainable urban development. There are at least two contributions of that green activity for sustainable urban development: recycling the organic waste and the reusable nonorganic waste and alleviating poverty.

Waste disposal and poverty are two among many other urban problems that challenge the sustainability of urban development in Indonesian cities, including Jakarta. Neither waste disposal nor poverty is an small problem to address. Waste disposal becomes a pressing and persistent problem in many cities in Indonesia. For instance, the problem associated with the garbage dumping site in Bantargebang is still ongoing issue for Jakarta and Bekasi administrations. The volume of waste in Jakarta is nearly 28,000 cubic meter per day and it is not easy to address.

Similarly, poverty is a persistent problem in Indonesian cities. The National Socioeconomic Survey reported that there were 14.49 million Indonesian poor in 2006 living in urban areas, meaning they live below the poverty line of Rp. 174,290 per capita per month. These poverty lines are still less than the poverty line determined by the World Bank which is $2.00 a day. In Jakarta, many poor city residents resort to living on canal and river banks and were blamed as the cause of the flood. The poor people were accused of dumping the waste into rivers and cause the flood.

Bantargebang, originally uploaded by Neng Dew.

This post is to applaud the green activity by the young men in Kampung Toplang. Recycling the organic waste to produce compost and reselling the reusable nonorganic waste will significantly reduce the waste volume and improve the environmental quality of poor neighborhoods. Such an activity will also generate income for the poor residents and eventually will alleviate poverty in the neighborhood.

Two other things that I need to emphasize in this case are the role of knowledgeable and committed facilitators in initiating the activity and the importance of the support from other residents that make the activity sustainable. Two of the young men in the neighborhood had been working together advocating on behalf of the city's poor and have the knowledge of running a waste recycling business. Both men were able to convince other men in the neighborhood to iniatiate the recycling business and gain support from other residents to recycle their household waste. Without the initiative of the knowledgeable and committed two young men as the facilitators, the neighborhood would stay environmentally and economically poor.

This is a good example of how a community-based green activity works and addresses environmental problems in the slum neighborhoods. This green activity is also a strong case how poor people can contribute to sustainable urban development. That's why such green activity by the young men from Kampung Toplang should be applauded and replicated in other poor neighborhoods in Indonesian cities.

Decreasing Green Areas in Jakarta

2008-03-09T18:00:00.022-05:00

New Style Gas Station, originally uploaded by cyberlucky.

The Jakarta City Council rejected the city parks agency's plan to create green spaces at 29 different gas station sites during final deliberations on the 2008 city budget (The Jakarta Post, March 6, 2008). The proposed budget of Rp. 2.6 billion was slashed by the Jakarta City Council and it is likely to make the city will be unable to meet the target for green areas as many as 13.94 percent of Jakarta's 63,744 hectares by 2010.

In 1965, the green areas made up more than 35 percent of the Jakarta's area and have been shrinking since then. Currently, the green areas in Jakarta account for only 9.3 percent of the area and it is far below the target of 30 percent set by the central government.

Decreasing green areas in Jakarta must be turned around. Green areas are an important urban element that make urban spaces more sustainable and livable. The annual floodings in Jakarta strongly indicate the urgency of green areas in Jakarta. More green areas are needed in Jakarta to absorb rainwater and eventually avert floodings.

Jakarta as the Indonesia's primary growth machine is poised to grow and expand its urban areas. The proportions of green areas in the Jakarta spatial plans decrease from 27.6 percent in the Jakarta spatial plan 1965-1985 to 13.94 percent in the current Jakarta spatial plan 2000-2010. New homes, condominiums, malls, hotels, commercials and office buildings have proliferated in Jakarta in the last three decades. Those new developments converted green areas, decreased water catchment areas and made urban areas more prone to floods.

The conversion of green areas in Jakarta is also the direct impact of poverty and unemployment. Despite a robust economic growth, Jakarta is still a place of poverty and unemployment. Many urban poor resort to living on the banks of rivers. The presence of squatters along the river banks decreases green areas and makes areas more vulnerable to floods.

Due to limited employment opportunities in the formal sector, most people with few skills and little education will end up in the informal sector as they attempt to make a living. Urban spaces for the informal sectors in Jakarta are very limited and it leads the informal sectors to occupy many green areas including city parks.

The gardens, originally uploaded by miganu.

The expansion of green areas in Jakarta is quite a challenge for the city administration because of the growing demand for urban areas to accomodate the economic growth and the presence of squatters and the informal sectors. Nonetheless, the decision of the city council to reject the plan of relocating 29 gas stations should be regretted. The city should not set aside the need of green areas over the importance of gas stations for meeting the needs of the growing number of motorized vehicles.

Not only will the decision halt the expansion of green areas but also promote the use of more motorized vehicles that will increase the carbon dioxide emissions resulted from the burning of vehicle fuels. The decision averts more green areas which are supposed to reabsorb the emission of carbon dioxide from the vehicles. The conversion of gas stations to green areas would also discourage more people to use private vehicles because the location of gas stations are no longer convenient for them. Eventually, more people would shift to public transportation.

The decision by the city council also reflects the unfairness towards poor people and the informal sector. There have been many cases of evictions of urban poor and the informal sectors for the sake of green areas in Jakarta, for example the eviction of the fish and flower traders in Jl. Barito in January 2008 to expand the Ayodia Park. It clearly indicates that the expansion of green areas is more easily implemented through the evictions of poor people and the informal sector than the relocation of gas stations or other formal sector activities.

The expansion of green areas must be implemented to any land uses that are not in compliance with the Jakarta spatial plan. The expansion should not only aim the informal sectors and squatters on the river banks but also any formal sectors that occupy areas designated as green areas in the Jakarta spatial plan including the gas stations. Therefore, the decision made by the Jakarta city council not to relocate gas stations should be revisited.

don't step on me, i want to live, originally uploaded by miunds.

(This article also appeared at The Jakarta Post on March 17, 2008)

In the Aftermath of Annual Floodings

2008-02-26T14:12:00.019-05:00

the canals in kota Batavia, originally uploaded by Tom van Breda.

In the aftermath of recent flood, Jakarta Governor met with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and they agreed that the most feasible solution for preventing floods in Jakarta is to expedite the completion of the East Flood Canal project. President Yodhoyono expected the land acquisition for the East Flood Canal project to be completed by 2009 and the project to be finished by 2010.

Such a response is an old way in preventing floods from paralyzing Jakarta in the future. Similar responses were also presented in the wake of the deadly floods that hit Jakarta in 2002 and 2007. The East Flood Canal project was initiated since 1973 but it had been on and off since then. The project stretches for 23.5 kilometers and 100 meters wide and will cut through several of the 13 rivers including Cipinang, Sunter, Buaran, Jatikramat, Cakung, and Blencong rivers towards the sea and pass through 11 neighborhoods in East Jakarta and 2 neighborhoods in North Jakarta.

The East Flood Canal project has progressed very slowly and failed to prevent annual floods in Jakarta. In response to the flood in 2002, the administration of President Megawati Sukarnoputri promised to build the East Flood Canal. Nothing has been done because of the high cost of land. The project requires at least 230 hectares to be purchased.

In the aftermath of last year flood, the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono set up a national flood control task force to expedite the East Flood Canal project and the project was expected to be completed by 2009. The Department of Public Work allocated Rp 2.1 trillion (US$233 million) for the project in 2007 and Rp 6.5 trillion would be disbursed over a three-year period.

As of January 2008, the Indonesian Environmental Forum (WALHI) claimed that the administration has only acquired 30% of the land for the project (The Jakarta Post, January 26, 2008). The East Jakarta Mayor, Koesnan Abdul Halim acknowledged the ongoing disputes with the residents who live in the land for the project that thwarted the attempts to expedite the East Flood Canal project.

Residents in Marunda subdistricts and Cilincing district claim ownership over land the Jakarta administation had purchased and they tried to stop dozens of the project workers. They asserted that they never received any payment from the government for the land they lived in (The Jakarta Post, January 15, 2007). Such disputes will certainly slow down the progress of the East Flood Canal project.

Slum, originally uploaded by Shaolin Tiger.

The exorbitant cost of land is the major reason why the progress of the East Flood Canal project for preventing future flooding in Jakarta is very slow. The East Flood Canal is sought to be most feasible solution for preventing future flooding in Jakarta, but apparently the East Flood Canal is not easy to be materialized. Alternatively, the gradual relocation of the central functions of Jakarta should be pursued to mitigate the impacts of future flooding or even to prevent future flooding.

Jakarta Annual Flooding in February 2008

2008-02-05T09:52:00.008-05:00

DSC01417, originally uploaded by Luis XII.

In February 2007, I wrote a post on flood that hit Jakarta severely, inundated about 70 percent of the city, killed at least 57 people and sent about 450,000 fleeing their homes. The 2007 flood is the worst flood in Jakarta's history. This year, on the same week of the year, flood hit Jakarta again. It clearly indicates that flooding is an annual event in Jakarta!

Fortunately, the extent of this year's flood is less than that of 2007. At least, there are no people killed by the flood. Hours of heavy rains that started Thursday night (January 31, 2008) continued Friday afternoon caused most of main roads in the capital submerged in knee-deep water, bringing traffic to a near standstill. The Traffic Management Center told the Jakarta Post on Friday night that more than 40 locations inundated by water more than one meter high. Thirty seven of 267 subdistricts in Jakarta inundated more than 40 centimeters high. Floodwaters caused public transportation including the busway lines across Jakarta to stop operations, leaving thousands passengers stranded.

One of the major impacts of this year's flood is the inundation of the Sedyatmo toll road leading to the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport which resulted in the cutting off the highway for a few days. Detik.com reported on February 5, 2007 that nearly 1000 flights were delayed or diverted and 259 flights were cancelled. The loss of such delays and cancellations could reach billions rupiah. Seputar-Indonesia.com reported that Tengku Burhanuddin of the INACA (Indonesia National Air Carriers Association) claimed that the loss is about 40 million rupiah for each airplane by being stranded for an hour. The loss would be greater when the flights were diverted to other airports due to the additional costs for the fuel, ground handling, naviation charge, and aiport charge.

In a brief visit to the flooded Sedyatmo toll road, Vice President Yusuf Kalla instructed Jakarta's Governor Fauzi Bowo to install more pumps for drying out the flooded toll road. An upscale neighborhood, not far from the flooded toll road, was not flooded and Vice President Kalla also requested that this issue should be investigated. Minister of Public Works Djoko Kirmanto reported that the project of elevated toll road will be prioritized and it will start as soon as March 2008. He argued that the elevated toll road is the solution to the annually flooded Sedyatmo toll road. Governor Fauzi Bowo also added that his administration will continue to acquire the lands for the Banjir Kanal Timur project. The land acquisition for the project has reached about 72 percent and the Jakarta administration plans to apply the Perpres 36/2005 to acquire the remaining lands. The Banjir Kanal Timur project aims to avert flooding by channeling rivers in Eastern parts of Jakarta including the rivers of Cipinang, Sunter, Buaran, Jatikramat, Cakung, and Blencong to the sea.

In response to this year's flood, Governor Fauzi Bowo set 8 strategic measures including (1) ensure the early warning systems are effective, (2) dredge the river to enable the water flow properly, (3) revitalize the Pluit, Sunter and Riario dams, (4) place mobile water pumps on the Sedyatmo toll roads to anticipate the blackouts, (5) repair the damaged traffic lights, (6) prepare emergency routes for emergency areas, (7) provide shuttle buses to airport, and (8) tell people to remain on alert and follow the existing procedures when they take refuge at crisis center posts.

DSC01412, originally uploaded by Luis XII.

In this year's flood, the poor drainage system was blamed as the primary cause as claimed by Basah Hernowo, the director of forestry and water resource conservation at the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas). As reported by the Jakarta Post, he argued that "parts of the city's micro drainage system is blocked and some canals are not functioning properly." His claim was also supported by Pitoyo Subandrio, the head of the Ciliwung - Cisadane Flood Bureau.

This year's flood is due to the local heavy rainfall and is not combined with the rain in the outskirts of Jakarta. Last year former Governor Sutiyoso blamed the deforestation and overbuilding in neighbouring areas which were supposed to be water catchment areas as the culprit in the flood. This year such blame are not present. However, the threat from neighboring areas to cause severe floods in Jakarta are still present.

The annual floods in Jakarta are strong evidence that Jakarta has not been able to sustainably accommodate its growth. Two centuries ago, the Dutch colonial government, with its long experience of controlling water and drainage systems, built the canal system to protect the city's population which was then 500,000. Jakarta, which lies in the lowland with 43 lakes and 13 rivers, relies on the canal system to prevent flooding. Today Jakarta is a megacity with nearly ten million population within the city's boundary and more than four million population in its neighboring areas, but still relies on the same system to avert flooding. Not only is Jakarta the capital of Indonesia, it is also the economic, commercial, cultural and transportation hub of the nation. Jakarta is the prime city of Indonesia and it dominates the urban system. The population of Jakarta is poised to grow faster than other parts of Indonesia.

The annual floods also demonstrates how the growth in Jakarta confronts private consumption and public investment in infrastructure. The Indonesian economy has growing at a robust pace of 6 per cent a year and Jakarta has been Indonesia's primary growth machine. New homes, commercial and office buildings have proliferated in Jakarta and its neighbouring areas, but hardly any new infrastructures, including the expansion of Jakarta's canal system, have been built in the past 10 years since the economic crisis hit Indonesia in 1997.

Neither improving the drainage system nor dredging the canal and rivers is a sustainable solution for the annual floods in Jakarta. The annual floods are strong evidence that rapid urbanization in Jakarta must be reduced. One way to reduce the rapid urbanisation in Jakarta is to eliminate the pull factor of urbanisation. One major pull factor of urbanisation in Jakarta is its function as economic, commercial, cultural and transportation hub of the nation as well as the capital of the country. Indonesia needs to redistribute the central functions from Jakarta to other parts of the nation and create more urban agglomerations to pull urbanization away from Jakarta. Relocating central functions out of Jakarta will not only make Jakarta more sustainable but also create regional equality in Indonesia.

(This article also appeared at The Jakarta Post on February 9, 2008 and then was linked at Cempaka Development, Construction and Utitilies, the Brunei Times, Development from Disasters Networks and 2Bangkok)

Contribution of Urban Planning for the Bali Action Plan

2008-01-05T20:29:00.002-05:00

President of COP12 David Mwiraria steps down, originally uploaded by oxfam international.

Two-weeks of the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali ended in December 16, 2007 and resulted in an agreement to adopt a blueprint for fighting global warming which is called the Bali Action Plan. The agreement contains no binding commitments; it concludes that "the deep cuts in global emissions will be required" and provides a timetable of talks to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

The global warming is primarily caused by the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide which currently has reached 380 parts per million from 280 in the industrial revolution era. The growing carbon dioxide emission resulted from both the burning of fossil fuels and people cooking on firewood will increase the concentration of carbon dioxide to 450 parts per million if rich and poor countries do not together divert from their usual business.

Many studies have been conducted to suggest ways of reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide or the greenhouse gases. One of them is a study released on November 29, 2007 by McKinsey & Company, reported by the New York Times as follows:

[U.S] was brimming with “negative cost opportunities” — potential changes in the
lighting, heating and cooling of buildings, for example, that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels even as they save money... [E]quipment is often paid for by a landlord or a builder and chosen for its low initial cost. The cost of electricity or other fuels to operate the equipment is borne by a tenant or home buyer. That means the landlord or builder has no incentive to spend more upfront for efficient equipment, even though doing so would save a lot of money in the long run.
...[C]onsumers often pay no attention to energy use in choosing gear. Computers, for instance, can be manufactured to use less power, but with most users oblivious to energy efficiency when they are shopping for a computer, manufacturers perceive no
competitive edge in spending the extra money on efficiency.
...[T]he potential is so substantial for energy efficiency,” said Ken Ostrowski, a leader of the report team. “Not that we will do it, but the potential is just staggering here in the U.S. There is a lot of inertia, and a lot of barriers.” The country can do the job with “tested approaches and high-potential emerging technologies,” the study found, but doing the work “will require strong, coordinated, economywide action that begins in the near future.” Measures like capturing carbon dioxide from coal power plants and storing it would be relatively costly, and they account for less than 10 percent of the potential to cut emissions... The potential contributions from new nuclear plants and renewable energy supplies from wind or solar sources are also relatively modest.

GLOBAL WARMING?, originally uploaded by mark_rutley.

What about urban planning? How could urban planners contribute to reduce the greenhouse gases?

Urban areas are a key contributor to the global warming. The carbon dioxide emission are primarily produced from urban activities when fossil fuels are used by transport, industry and households to produce energy. UN Habitat predicted that approximately 80% of the greenhouse gases are resulted from urban activities.

Not only is the increasing greenhouse gases caused by the emission of carbon dioxide, but the decreasing green areas in urban areas, which is supposed to reabsorb carbon dioxide. The existence of green areas in urban areas is needed to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide. This is one way for urban planners to contribute for fighting global warming by advocating more green areas in urban areas.

For a coastal city, the existence of mangroves also needs to be conserved. An Op-Ed in the Jakarta Post by a professor of mangrove ecology at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences provides the rationales of conserving mangroves in Indonesia in connection to reducing global warming, as follows:

Indonesian mangroves grow in areas of high solar radiation and have the ability
to take up fresh water from salt, so they are in an excellent position to achieve high primary productivity... The republic's mangroves are one of the most important parts of the country's estuaries (as a major component of river-basin or river catchment) and a source of conflicts in terms of tropical ecosystems for the direct and indirect benefits it produces.
... The mangrove forest plays many roles including a coastal stabilizer, dispersant of the energy of storms, tidal bores and winds. It is also a convenient nursery area for
fish, shrimp, crabs, mollusks. The role of mangroves in the cycle of nutrients and energy, which makes estuaries among our most important sources of seafood
has been recognized only in recent years... Mangroves along the coasts of Indonesia are vital for global climate changes... The destruction of Indonesian mangroves by mankind, however, is progressing extensively and intensively in a massive manner.
... Conservation of the mangrove ecosystem is a way for "real lasting development. Because the mangrove forest grows at the interface between land and sea, the destruction of this ecosystem causes severe damage to both terrestrial and aquatic neighboring ecosystems... The majority of the world's mangroves lie in Indonesia and Indonesian mangroves contribute 27 percent of the world's mangrove area.

Urban planners also can formulate an accessible, affordable and integrated public transports to reduce the uses of private vehicles. Diverting people from private vehicles to public transport will significantly reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. The use of fuel per passenger per km will significantly less in public transport than that in private vehicles.

Last but not least, urban planners need to discourage suburbanization or urban sprawling. Such phenomenon will only increase the fuel usage. People will drive longer and consume more fuel. Planners need to advocate for a denser or compact city. Such urban type will reduce the trip length and consume less fuel. Planners need to advocate for a self-sustained suburban that needs much less residents' trips to the inner city.

One-hundred work day program of new Jakarta Governor reflects Jakarta's urban problems

2007-11-03T20:08:00.001-05:00

amazing, originally uploaded by BESTPHOTO.

It is customary for new elected official in Indonesia to launch 100-days priorities when a newly elected official starts the job as the new Jakarta Governor Fauze Bowo did. His 100 work day program started on October 8, 2007 and will end on January 15, 2008. Mr. Bowo who is also publicly known as Foke asserted that his program represents the society’s need, implement transparently, developing society’s participation, based on law, oriented on the vision, supervised, effective and efficient, and doing professionally.

Governor Bowo's priority programs include:

Mitigating traffic jams caused by the ongoing construction of busway corridors VIII, IX and X
Managing and re-routing traffic
Preparing Mass Rapid Transit project
Improving existing city institutions and issuing related regulations
Mitigating floods
Giving aid to the poor in the form of scholarship, staple foods and health insurance
Providing more regulations, public facilities and easier access for handicapped
Revitalizing Jakarta's slums
Fighting drug abuse
Intensifying communication between the governor and Jakartans

He asserted that his priority programs "will help create a more comfortable Jakarta for everyone". He promised to finalize his priority program within 100 days and added that the programs have also been taken into account in the 2007 revised city budget.

He has able to identified the current and recurring problem of Jakarta which is transportation problem. Firstly, he addressed the traffic problem caused by the ongoing construction of busway lanes and he promised to "expand the streets alongside the busway lane construction and build ramps on busway lanes for motorists temporarily to use them, as well as assigning officers from the public order and city transportation agencies to monitor areas prone to traffic jams."

The governor also promised the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project stretching 14.3 kilometers from South Jakarta's Lebak Bulus to Central Jakarta's Dukuh Atas would begin by the end of 2007. He asserted that the loan for the project which is expected to cost US$ 910 million has been secured from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. He expected to recruit a company to handle the project by this year, complete the construction in 2012 and operate the MRT in 2014.

Governor Bowo also identified another big problem of Jakarta which is flood. He will focus to finish acquiring land for the East Flood Canal. He asserted that the administration needs to complete the acquisition of 13 hectares of land from residents of North Jakarta's Rorotan and Marunda subdistricts. Micro and macro drainage, flood control pump, and preparing the society on flood area will also be implemented.

city (11)1, originally uploaded by budibudz.

Other major problems of Jakarta such as poverty and slums in Jakarta are also included in the Governor Bowo's priority programs. I frankly commend Governor Bowo for his ability to identify the Jakarta's problems and his commitment to address such problems. However, the lauching of priority programs is just the beginning of the long way to solve Jakarta's problems. Let me cite a commentary piece by Wilmar Salim published by the Jakarta Post on November 3, 2007.

...the root causes of [Jakarta's problems] are centered around population
pressures and environmental deterioration.

... around 111,000 people move from Jakarta to its neighboring cities
annually, as many as 123,000 migrants come to Jakarta every year from other
places in the country... Unfortunately, many people who move from Jakarta to
Bekasi, Tangerang and Depok still need to commute to Jakarta everyday for work.
Traffic jams at notorious bottleneck areas of the inner-city toll road, such as
at Cawang and Tomang, are an everyday phenomenon.

... migrants from other regions are trying their luck in the big smoke.
Many are jobless, homeless, unskilled or uneducated and often end up on the
streets, begging, scavenging, or working casually, and living in slums. Many
probably didn't think of the consequences of moving to a big city before coming
to Jakarta, but the image of the capital city as a place of opportunity may have
persuaded them to come and just try their luck.

Challenges for new officers of the Indonesian Planners Association

2007-11-01T13:42:00.001-05:00

The Indonesian Planners Association or Ikatan Ahli Perencanaan (IAP) was founded in 13 April 1971 in Jakarta. The initial name of the organization was Ikatan Ahli Perancang and it was initiated by the first alumni of the Urban and Regional Planning Department of the Bandung Institute of Technology including Djoko Sujarto and Tubagus M. Rais.

The first elected chairman of IAP was Kus Hadinoto and the elected secretary was W.J. Waworontoe. They served from 1971 to 1976. The leaderships of IAP has changed 8 times since then. Following is the leaderships of IAP with their respective period of services:

1976-1982: Tubagus M. Rais (chair) and Syarif Puradimadja (secretary)
1982-1989: Aca Sugandhy (chair) and Hoedyono (secretary)
1989-1994: Sugijanto Soegijoko (chair) and Bambang Bintoro Soedjito (general secretary)
1994-1997: Sudjana Royat (chair) and Tatag Wiranto (general secretary)
1997-2000: Bambang Bintoro Soedjito (chair) and Ruchyat Deni DJ (general secretary)
2000-2004: Kemal Taruc (chair) and Nuryasin (general secretary)
2004-2007: Tatag Wiranto (chair) and Agung Mulyana (general secretary)
2007-2010: Iman Soedrajat (chair) and Bernardus Djonoputro (general secretary)

The current leadership was elected on 31 October 2007 in Four Seasons Hotel in Jakarta. The elected chair appointed Jimmy S. Michael as the chair of the Ethic Assembly and Abdul Alim Salam as the chair of the Planning Certification Board.

Prior to the election, IAP held a seminar themed "Enhancing the competence of planning in Indonesia" and the Minister of Public Works -Djoko Kirmanto- gave the keynote speech.

The presence of the Minister of Public Works in the seminar was a sign of visibility of planners in Indonesia. The establishment of the spatial planning law in early 2007 (UU 26/2007 tentang Penataan Ruang) also solidifies the visibility of planners in Indonesia. This law is a good cause for planners to be visible in contributing for making better places in Indonesia.

Unlike previous IAP leaderships, the current IAP leadership has no longer such challenge as the visibility of planner. The visibility of planner has been granted to the current leadership from previous IAP leaderships and particularly from the establishment of the spatial planning law. The challenge of the current IAP leadership is to enhance the competence of planners in making better places and alleviating urban and regional problems in Indonesia.

riverside view, originally uploaded by Dana Riza.

To take a lead in enhancing the competence of planners, IAP should develop itself toward a well-respected organization. IAP should be the voice of planners, dedicated to serving and enhancing the professionalism of its members. The new officers of IAP should address the following questions when they devise their working agenda:

To what extent has IAP voiced the needs, opinions, and aspirations of planners in Indonesia?
To what extent has IAP served and enhanced the professionalism of its members?

The new IAP officers also need to pay attention to the membership. Membership is very important key in developing an organization. Lack of interest from Indonesian planners to join IAP is the big issue that needs to be seriously addressed. IAP should demonstrate that they can voice the needs, opinions, and aspirations of planners in Indonesia and enhance their professionalism. The database of IAP members which is available at IAP website (accessed on November 1, 2007) shows the total number of IAP members was 1,384 and most of them have not renewed their membership yet. As a comparison, the total number of active member of the American Planning Association is 43,000. The new IAP officers need to create a breakthrough to get survived and entice planners in Indonesia to join IAP.

In addition, the current IAP officers should expand the collaboration with all members of planning community including planning academia and planning consulting firms. IAP should continuosly expand their communication and collaboration with the Association of Indonesian Planning Schools (ASPI) and the National Association of Indonesian Consultants (INKINDO) in order to enhance the competence of planners in Indonesia.

Upscale neighborhood residents stand against busway corridor plan

2007-09-06T20:10:00.001-05:00

The following link provides a piece of news regarding the resistance of residents of Pondok Indah -an upscale neighborhood in South Jakarta to Jakarta administration's plan to build the Lebak Bulus-Harmony busway corridor through the main thoroughfare in their neighborhood.

The Jakarta Post - The Journal of Indonesia Today

Jl. Metro Pondok Indah, originally uploaded by amen.

The case reveals that the plan of Lebak Bulus-Harmony busway corridor is still premature. It also demonstrates that planning process in Jakarta needs to more involve residents who are directly affected by the plan. Planning as a systematic attempt and actions in the public domain to shape the future is best implemented when all stakeholders including residents are involved.

The planning practice in the 21st century is facing greater challenges than that in the 20th century. Some of the challenges are the complexity of the problems and the elusiveness of solutions to those problems. A better way of shaping the future of the community is no longer primarily based on the sense of order, comprehensibility, predictability and rationality that prevailed in the modernist era. The postmodernist era in the 21st century requires more communicative aspects of planning practice.Recent planning practice requires planners to more actively communicate information and ideas to the many people and stakeholders with whom they interact and receive information and ideas in return.

Let me cite a complaint of a Pondok Indah resident as follows:

"The construction of the busway lane through Jl. Metro Pondok Indah will destroy
the green lanes and the trees ... The construction of the busway passing through
the main street will harm our environment, causing air pollution and traffic
jams."

And here is the response from the head of the traffic management division of Jakarta's transportation agency:

"The median strip was designed to be demolished in the event of work to widen
the road. It was supposed to be temporary in nature ... We will not destroy the
trees. We can replant the trees anyway if we cut them down."

Another Pondok Indah resident responded, "That's impossible. Where do they want to plant them? Up on a mountain? There'll be no space left after the construction." Moreover, several Pondok Indah residents sent an official letter asking for support from the City Council on Monday. The residents suggested two alternatives to the current plan: moving the two-line corridor to Jl. Ciputat Raya, or making the planned corridor terminate at the Blue Mosque at the Pondok Indah Mall cross road. They argued that passengers can use feeder buses to transport them to and from the Lebak Bulus bus terminal.

In response to Pondok Indah residents' alternative plan, the head of the traffic management division of Jakarta's transportation agency argued that feeder buses would not have a large enough capacity to transport passengers from Lebak Bulus. Both lanes of busway corridor VIII will pass through Jl. Metro Pondok Indah and the city administration will start the construction of corridor VIII this month and is aiming to finish by early 2008. Moreover, Governor Sutiyoso asserted that those opposing the busway idea must be the rich and he prioritize the interests of the majority over the minority in Pondok Indah."

Pondok Indah, originally uploaded by amen.

The above story clearly demonstrates the lack of communication between residents who directly affected by the plan and the city authority. Planning practices in the 21st century require more communication between planners and residents. Planners who represent the city authority needs to inject residents' aspiration into the plan. A plan is no longer a product of contemplation, projection or rationality of planner. In the 21st century, a plan must be a collaborative decision-making product of planners and other stakeholders including residents who affected by the plan. A planner needs to reach community, communicate and collaborate with them to produce a credible plan.

Collaborative decision-making process is not an expensive process. In American cities, it is very common to have public meeting in the planning process. There are a variety of ways to invite public to attend public meeting including notices in local newspapers, invitation letter to various stakeholders, fliers and notices in city's website. In most cases, public meeting is held more than once. This is to accomodate heterogeneity of stakeholders' interests and complexity of the planning issue. This is -indeed- a challege for planning practice in Indonesia including in the case of busway corridor plan in Pondok Indah Jakarta. There must be a public hearing as a way for the city authority or planner to communicate the plan to the residents and a way for residents to communicate their input to the city authority or planner. The public hearing will mark the beginning of the process of collaborative decision-making.

A plan should not an imposition from city authority to fellow residents. Instead, a plan should be a way to shape the future that will greatly benefit current and future residents. A plan produced merely from the rationality of planners without collaboration with other stakeholders is a premature product. A credible plan should be the product of a collaborative decision-making process that respects interests of various stakeholders including residents affected by the plan. The plan of Lebak Bulus-Harmony busway corridor that disrespects the interest of residents of Pondok Indah is premature and should be revisited. The city authority and planners should collaborate with residents and other stakeholders to produce more credible plan of busway corridor.

(This article also appeared at The Jakarta Post on September 19, 2007)

Who is Planner? A Challenge for Planning Profession in Indonesia

2007-07-26T19:22:00.000-05:00

Hours before sunrise in early January 2005 in Jakarta, originally uploaded by Sebastian Leonard.

A member of the list-serve of Referensi raised a straightforward question: who is planner? He asked such a question in response to his observation that the documents of spatial planning in Indonesia seem to be produced by those with skills of not more than simple math for elementary school students. He found at least ten spatial planning documents showing how the planners project the needs of various urban facilities by only using simple math for elementary school students. He posed subsequent questions: Why do we need planning education if spatial planning can be done by an elementary school student? Can someone with a two-day planning class receive a certificate as planner?

My prompt response to such questions is that planner is not simply to project the future facility needs or land use. There are still tons of works that planner needs to do for shaping the future. Below are the lists of what planners do:

Planners formulate policies to meet the needs of communities including social, economic, and physical needs and they develop the strategies to make these plans work
Planners develop plans for land use patterns, housing needs, parks and recreation facilities, transportation systems, economic development, environmental protection and other aspects of the future
Planners work with the public to develop a vision of the future and to build on that vision
Planners often function as mediator among conflicting community interests; they may also become facilititors using their professional judgment to help identify the best resolutions to the conflict
Planners advise public officials and citizens in shaping the future
Planners design and manage the planning process and attract public to involve in the process.

Can someone with the only skill of simple math for elementary school student do planner's job as mentioned above? Of course not! We need planning education to prepare a to-be-planner with skills that can not be delivered in only a two-day planning class.

Sunrise in early January 2005 in Jakarta, originally uploaded by Sebastian Leonard.

In 1997, ACSP assigned the strategic marketing committee to identify the core of planning identity that clearly distinguishes planning from other disciplines. The committee reveals six themes that anchor planning's identity (Myers, 1997: 223-224):

A focus on improvement of human settlements with:
• emphasis on understanding cities, suburbs, small places, and regions, including processes of physical development and their changing social and economic characteristics; and
• emphasis on making places better serve the needs of people, including solving perceived urban problems.
A focus on interconnections among distinct community facets, incorporating:
• linkages among physical, economic, natural, and social dimensions;
• linkages among sectors, e.g. transportation and land use, housing and economic development, etc.; and
• linkages between public and private enterprises.
A focus on the future and pathways of change over time, encompassing:
• affirmation of community goals and aspirations;
• forecasting probable or feasible paths;
• developing plans to achieve desired futures; and
• understanding historical momentum shaping the present and future.
A focus on identification of the diversity of needs and distributional consequences in human settlements, guided by:
• concern for public well-being;
• monitoring changing population;
• targeting needs of all segments in the population; and
• developing rationales for equitable distribution of community benefits.
A focus on open participation in decision making, including:
• citizen participation;
• stakeholder representation;
• negotiation and mutual compromise among competing interests;
• dispute resolution;
• communication of technical facts in lay terms; and
• recognizing value-centrism embedded in analysis and prescription.
A focus on linking knowledge and collective action, recognizing that:
• planning bridges academic knowledge and professional practice;
• information flows across the bridge both ways, linking the university to the “real world”;
• planning practice is enhanced by infusion of humanities, social science, and technical knowledge; and
• academic knowledge is enhanced by confrontation with experience in practice.

The above planning's identities also reveal how planners differ from other professions. Planner with these identities clearly plays seminal role in shaping the future of human settlements. The skill of projecting the future facility needs or land use is only one of many other skills that a planner is supposed to have. Not only is planners a projector -those who project the future needs- but also is an analyst, a spokesperson, a public advisor, a consensus builder or a collaborator.

We should not bother with the fact that many planners project the future needs by using simple math. A more sophisticated projection with complicated formulas can not guarantee that the projection will result in better plan. Planning as a systematic attempt and actions in the public domain to shape the future is best implemented when all stakeholders are involved. The planning practice in the 21st century is facing greater challenges than that in the 20th century. Some of the challenges are the complexity of the problems and the elusiveness of solutions to those problems. A better way of shaping the future of the community is no longer primarily based on the sense of order, comprehensibility, predictability and rationality that prevailed in the modernist era. Projection of future needs as a technical tool of predictability and rationality only prevailed in the 20th century.

The postmodernist era in the 21st century requires more communicative aspects of planning practice. Innes (1997) identifies the post modern era that is characterized by distrust of government and experts. Recent planning practice requires planners to more actively communicate information and ideas to the many people and stakeholders with whom they interact and receive information and ideas in return. A sophisticated projection method does not really matter in the postmodernist era. What matters is making connections among interests, public agencies, and profession and disciplines, between public and private sector and between government and the public. These are the skills that a planner needs to have to face greater challenges in the 21st century.

References:

Innes, J. (1997). The planners’ century. Journal of Planning Education and Research 16(3): 227-228
Myers, D. (1997). Anchor points for planning’s identification. Journal of Planning Education and Research 16(3): 223-224.

Slum Neighborhood of Penjaringan, North Jakarta

2007-07-06T20:47:00.001-05:00

In this post, you will find several photos from the photo exhibition by the residents of slum neighborhood of Penjaringan in early June 2007. The photo exhibition is part of Healthy Places, Prosperous People (HP3) or Lingkungan Sehat Masyarakat Mandiri as I mentioned in the previous post. All photos in this post are available by courtesy of Mercy Corps Indonesia. I would like to thank particularly Bunga Sirait -Urban Communications Coordinator of Mercy Corps Indonesia for providing these photos.

originally uploaded by bungasirait.

Following photo shows a snapshot when the photos were displayed in the slum neighborhood of Penjaringan.

Improving Neighborhood Quality of Slums

2007-06-15T15:41:00.000-05:00

Jakarta 2070, originally uploaded by Bram & Vera .

This post is to applaud a program initiated by Mercy Corps Indonesia that aims at improving the neighborhood quality of slums in North Jakarta. The program is called Healthy Places, Prosperous People (HP3) or Lingkungan Sehat Masyarakat Mandiri.

The program is funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and supported by the Urban and Regional Development Institute or (URDI), the USAID-funded Environmental Services Program (ESP), and SwissContact. The program encourages the poor in slums to work closely with the local government in addressing water supply, sanitation and solid waste issues.

On June 14, 2007, the Jakarta Post reported that the residents of North Jakarta's Penjaringan slum exhibited photos of garbage in their community and the children's drawings about the slum environment.

In the exhibit, one of Penjaringan slum residents said, "I took this picture because I want to show other people who usually ignore the garbage collectors. People in my neighborhood don't bother about dumping the garbage in the right place, which is quite far away,"

Such comments show how the program is able to increase his awareness about the environmental problem in his neighborhood. The comments also indicate that he is eager to encourage his neighbors to improve the quality of their neighborhood.

This is a good example of how a community-based program works and addresses environmental problems in the slum neighborhoods. The Mercy Corps Indonesia initiates the program but then let the poor work closely each other to address their problems. The slum residents' willingness to improve their neighborhood is the most important factor of the success of a community-based program in addressing environmental problems in the slum neighborhoods.

The funding from the program without high participation of the slum residents will not effectively address the problem. The funding should be just a trigger to engage the residents in addressing their problem. The program should be designed to encourage the slum residents to actively engage in addressing their problem and then to facilitate their engagement with resources from outside of their neighborhoods. Such program will empower the slum residents and will sustain with empowered slum residents.

Many researchers indicate the importance of residents’ participation in upgrading slum neighborhoods. In many cases of slum upgrading program,officials did not engage with residents and the program was not assuccessful as it might have been. In those cases, the residents did not fully participate in the program and they had little interest in maintaining the new facilities that were built through the program for the residents. Instead, the residents felt that the new facilities had been imposed on them. The residents abandoned the facilities and theneighborhood quality stayed poor. Such program had no impact on the environmental quality and poverty in slum neighborhoods.

Kampung in North Jakarta, originally uploaded by kristineinindonesia.

The HP3 program also initiates a recycling program for organic and non-organic in the slum neighborhoods. The recycling program encourages residents to compost garbage into fertilizer and make bags, pencil cases and other useful objects from used paper and plastic. As reported by the Jakarta Post, another slum resident commented, "I'm very enthusiastic about the recycling program because I can make something useful from the garbage. I hope the garbage will gradually disappear from the area, and our community will no longer be called a slum."

Not only the HP3 program does address the environmental problems in the slum neighborhoods but also generates economic activity in the neighborhoods. Such economic activity will contribute in alleviating poverty in the slum neighborhoods. The improved quality and reduced poverty in the slum neighborhoods will gradually be materialized as the results of the HP3 program. That's why the HP3 program should be applauded and the Mercy Corps Indonesia should be rewarded.

(This post was also linked at The International Development Research Center)

Urban Planning and the Informal Sector in Developing Countries

2007-05-07T13:15:00.000-05:00

kakilima, originally uploaded by yuna lee.

The following link provides my article appeared at Planetizen in May 2007.

Urban Planning and the Informal Sector in Developing Countries Planetizen

In case of the link is unavailable, below is the article:

Urban planning in developing countries -- particularly in cities with rapid urbanization -- is facing a problem with the informal sector. The businesses that comprise the informal sector, typically operating on streets and in other public places, are often seen as eye-sores and undesirable activities. Thus, conflicts arise between urban authorities trying to keep their cities clean and the urban informal sector operators who need space for their activities.

In many cases, authorities forcibly evict informal sector activities in the name of urban order and cleanliness. Yet, such eviction does not address the problem with the informal sector. It only relocates the problem and even exaggerates the conflicts between urban authorities and the informal sectors. Often many operators return to their places a few days after being evicted by the urban authorities.

Should urban planning accommodate the informal sector? Prior to the 1970s, there was no attention paid to economic activities carried out outside the formal economy. However, a few studies of developing countries began to explore the role of the informal sector, and the concept gained attention after a report by the International Labor Organization in the early 1970s.

Almost 40 years later, it’s difficult to ignore the importance of the informal sector in many cities, particularly in developing countries.

In many developing countries in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and Asia, the informal sector accounts for most of the total employment. For example, the informal sector in Indonesia in 2004 accounted for 64 per cent of the total employment. The proportion of informal sector employment in urban areas was even higher during the economic crisis in the late 1990s when the closure of many manufacturing and service corporations pushed the newly unemployed into informal sector.

The growth of the urban informal sector is also nourished by the influx of migrants from rural regions surrounding urban agglomerations in search of work. With the formal sector unable to accommodate such large numbers of workers, the informal sector becomes the primary source of employment. Without the economic opportunities generated by such activities, the poor would certainly become a larger burden for the urban authorities.

Two peddlers, originally uploaded by Ikhlasul Amal.

It’s also important to note that the informal sector is not only the domain of the urban poor. Many middle-class people in urban areas in developing countries greatly benefit from economic activities carried out outside the formal sectors.

The continuing study of urban informality has also revealed the important role of the informal sector in the process of urbanization. By linking various economic activities and urban spaces, the informal sector serves as a mode for urban transformation for many places. These findings seem to point to a need for new urban theories that can fully explain the phenomenon of urban informality in cities -- something mostly absent from urban theories such the urban ecology of the Chicago School and post-modern urbanism of the Los Angeles School, which are both rooted from cities in developed countries.

Yet, understanding the positive impact of the informal sector, many planners and officials still worry about the resulting urban blight. However, from urban environmental perspective, many of the problems associated with the informal sector are not attributes inherent to the informal sector but manifestations of unresponsive urban planning itself. The provision of spaces to informal sectors is an effective measure to reduce the environmental problems associated with such activities.

Accommodating – maybe even welcoming - the informal sectors in urban spaces will not only reduce the conflict between urban authorities and the informal sector, but also reduce the environmental problems associated, and eventually accelerate urban transformation and increase the quality of life in many developing urban areas.

Deden Rukmana, PhD is an assistant professor of Urban Studies at Savannah State University.

(This post was also linked at Placemaking in Space and was cited at The Orange Commune)

Thugs and Street Vendors in Jakarta

2007-05-04T22:13:00.002-05:00

street vendor, originally uploaded by tama-chan.

The street vendors are commonly found in Jakarta and other cities in developing countries. They are informal sector and an important part of the economy of the city. The informal sector in Indonesia in 2004 accounted for 64 per cent of the total employment. The proportion of informal sector in urban areas was even higher during the economic crisis in the late 1990s when the closure of many manufacturing and service corporations pushed the newly unemployed into informal sector.

Increasing informal labor force is a distinctive characteristic of Jakarta and other cities in Indonesia since sector formal can not accommodate the large number of labor force. The informal sector is not only associated with the poor people but also with the middle-class people. Many middle-class people in urban areas in Jakarta greatly benefit from economic activities carried out outside the formal sectors.

Despite the contribution of the street vendors to the economy of the city, the existence of the street vendors are often seen as eye-sores and undesirable activities. There were a lot of conflicts between urban authorities who were trying to keep their cities clean and the street vendors who need space for their activities. In many cases, the urban authorities forcibly evicted the street vendors in the name of urban order and cleanliness.

The street vendors need to play hide and seek with the authorities. In many cases, they can hide from the authorities by paying illegal levies to the thugs who regularly trawl the street vendors. The authorities should have known such illegal levies but they never touch the thugs.

Following is an excerpt from the Jakarta Post that reported the practice of illegal levies between thugs and street vendors in Jakarta:

Nurbani (not her real name), who has been a footwear vendor since 2004, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday (May 2, 2007) that she was forced to pay Rp 3,000 (US 30 cents) a day and an additional Rp 20,000 (US$ 2.20) a month to a group that calls itself the Kebayoran Lama Market Association. "They use scare tactics like sending drunkards over to non-compliant traders. As a woman fearing for her safety, I have no choice but to meet their demands whatever the amount is," she said, adding that the market authority did nothing to help.

Fruit-seller couple Junaedi and Sriyani, who started their roadside kiosk in 1982, said they have been paying illegal levies -- which are claimed to be security and cleaning fees -- to the thugs who regularly trawl the market since they first set up their stall. They pay between Rp 500 and Rp 1,000 per day.

Daleman, an official from the PD Pasar Jaya city market authority, said the authority's jurisdiction did not cover the area where the alleged extortion took place. Azas Tigor Nainggolan, chairman of the Jakarta Residents' Forum (Fakta), told the Post the extortion was a well-organized affair. He also alleged the market authority may be involved.

"The police need to intervene and be firm in arresting thugs, but so far they've been quiet on the matter," he said. A police officer assigned to the Kebayoran Lama market police post said he was unaware of any extortion schemes or gangs operating in the area. "As far as I know, the market is safe and there's nothing to be afraid of," he said

This is only one of many other point of views of the complexity of managing informal sector in Jakarta. The informal sector plays an important role in the economy of the city but their existence is often seen as enemy of the city. Rather than receiving assistance and protection from the authorities, the informal sectors were exploited and evicted.

Kaki Lima... after Jum'atan, originally uploaded by Ichang.

(A modified version of this post appeared at The Jakarta Post on May 14, 2007 and then was linked at Transparency International Indonesia)

Jakarta's Vulnerability to Global Warming

2007-04-14T19:06:00.002-05:00

Floods in Jakarta, originally uploaded by cintafoto.

On April 6, 2007, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change presented a new report on global warming. The 1,572 page report was prepared by more than 200 scientists, and a 21-page summary was endorsed by officials from more than 120 countries. The world is irrefutably warming and the panel predicted a rise of 1 to 3 degrees Celsius over the next century that could lead to the inundation of coasts and islands inhabited by millions of people all over the world including Jakarta.

Sea-level rise is not the only threat to the vulnerability of Jakarta due to the climate change. February's floods in Jakarta which inundated more than 70 percent of Jakarta and sent about 450,000 fleeing their homes is strong evidence that torrential rain could be a serious threat for Jakarta. Bigger storms make Jakarta which lies in the lowlands, near the sea, and is crossed by 13 rivers flowing down from the south even more vulnerable.

The vulnerability of Jakarta would be even worse if the exploitation of groundwater in Jakarta and the conversion of water catchment areas into urban ones in Jakarta's peripheral areas could not be reduced. Both factors contribute to the land subsidence in Jakarta that has happened in many years. The land subsidence in Jakarta was first identified by researchers when the Sarinah bridge at Jalan M.H. Thamrin was found cracked in 1978 (Djaja, et. al., 2004). Since then, the measurement of land subsidence in Jakarta has been conducted and the rate of land subsidence in Jakarta has been increasing over years particularly in the northern part of the city.

Floods in Ciledug, Jakarta, originally uploaded by sri nanang setiyono.

The Jakarta Mining Agency reported the land subsidence in Jakarta varied by the region over twelve years period from 1993 to 2005. The largest rate of land subsidence occurred in Central Jakarta. It was reported that the height of Central Jakarta above sea level was 3.42 meter in 1993 and it dropped by 102 cm in 2005. The height of North Jakarta was only 1.46 meter above sea level in 2005 and it dropped from 2.03 meter in 1993. During the same period, West Jakarta, East Jakarta and South Jakarta have also sink by 2.11, 11.45, and 28.46 cm respectively. A detailed table of land subsidence in Jakarta can be found in this link.

According to the Jakarta Mining Agency, the main causes of the land subsidence in Jakarta include the construction of new building particularly high-rise building and water usage. Due to limited piped water supply, the majority of Jakarta population rely on groundwater for their water needs. The Jakarta Mining Agency estimated that about 66,000 gallons of water were extracted from the Jakarta's aquifer every year. Such intensive groundwater withdrawal accelerates the land subsidence in Jakarta.

The land subsidence in Jakarta was exacerbated by the decreasing water catchment areas both in Jakarta and the outskirts of Jakarta. The decreasing water catchment areas will reduce the volume of water that sink into the ground for recharging the groundwater. The mismatch between the intensive groundwater withdrawal and recharge of groundwater is the major cause of land subsidence.

Jakarta is one of many other coastal cities in the world that needs to adapt to survive from the global warming. Some major coastal cities have taken action to mitigate the impact of sea-level rise. Most commonly used action is building hard structure such as dikes and sea walls such as in the Netherland, London and Beijing. The Netherlands is preparing to raise the North Sea defenses from 1-in-10,000 to 1-in-100,000 years level of protection. London has also preparing to add 12 inches of protection on top of the existing floodgates to keep ocean-storm surges from flooding the city.

Jakarta needs not only to protect the city from sea-level rise but also from the land subsidence. In addition to building dikes and sea walls, Jakarta needs to reduce significantly the use of groundwater as water main source for the residents. As many water reservoirs as possible need to be built to conserve the groundwater. The conversion of land use in water catchment areas also need to be prevented. The water catchment areas should be protected. Such protection will allow more water to sink into the ground and recharge the groundwater. Reducing the use of groundwater and protecting water catchment areas will decelerate the land subsidence and decrease the vulnerability of Jakarta.

Reference:
Djaja, R., Rais, J., Abidin, H.Z., and Wedyanto, K. (2004). Land Subsidence of Jakarta Metropolitan Area. A paper presented at the Third FIG Regional Conference in Jakarta, October 3-7, 2004

(This article also appeared at The Jakarta Post on April 28, 2007 and then was linked at Planetmole and Environment-Indonesia)

Urban Poverty and Inequality in Jakarta

2007-04-08T20:16:00.000-05:00

The picture was taken by John Kots in June 2006 and his comment on this picture was as follows:

This struck me as typical Jakarta: modern towers amidst great poverty. The contrast between rich and poor is very pronounced in this very interesting megalopolis.

The picture reveals two different worlds that take place in one location. Despite a robust economic growth, Jakarta is still a place of poverty. There is no doubt that that poverty is an intractable problem in Indonesia. War on poverty has been initiated long way back since the New Order regime. A variety of alleviation programs have been implemented, but the way to prosperity is still a long way to go. Not to mention rural poverty, the poverty in Indonesia's urban areas has been a problem for many years.

Another picture is presented below to clearly illustrate the extent of poverty of a neighborhood in the river bank in Jakarta. The picture was taken by Muhammad Husni Thamrin on November 2003 showing a very poor neighborhood on the river bank of Ciliwung in the subdistrict of Manggarai, Central Jakarta. This kind of neighborhood was also blamed as the culprit of the recent floods in Jakarta.

Indonesia until the 1997 Asian financial crisis is one of remarkable economic success, one that has captured the attention of many experts and policy makers. From a steep recession in 1965 (8 percent decline in GDP), the country’s economic development took off in the seventies, earning tremendous windfalls benefits from oil shock. This bonanza development carried over throughout the eighties and into the nineties despite the oil counter-shocks. From 1985 through 1995, the GDP rose at an average rate of 7.1%.

In line with Indonesia's economic growth, the percentage of urban population living under poverty line decreased significantly from 38.8% in 1976 to 9.7% in 1996. The number of urban population living under line poverty decreased from 10.0 million in 1976 to 7.2 million in 1996. However, when the economic crisis struck Indonesia since mid 1997 the number of urban population living under poverty line in 1998 increased sharply to 17.6 million or 21.9% of the total urban population. The poverty line was determined by the expenditure needed to meet the minimum cost of living. It varies by year and location. These poverty lines are still less than the poverty line determined by the World Bank which is $2.00 a day.

In order to recover from the economic crisis, a variety of urban alleviation programs were implemented including social safety net program. These programs have been able to reduce the number of poor people in Indonesia. The number of urban population living under poverty line in 2005 decreased to 12.4 million or 11.4% of the total urban population. The proportion of urban poor in 2005 decreased but the number of urban poor in 2005 is still more than that in 1976. The influx of rural poor who moved to urban areas contributes to the increasing number of urban poor in Indonesia.

In 2002 there were 286,900 poor people in Jakarta and it accounted for 3.4 per cent of the population of Jakarta. It is the least proportion of poor population among other provinces in Indonesia. The proportion of poor population in Indonesia in 2002 was 18.2 per cent. The highest proportion of poor population was in Papua (41.8 per cent). The robust economic growth of Indonesia has mostly benefited the resident of Jakarta including urban poor. Other areas in Indonesia still have high proportion of poor population. The economic growth has less impact on poor people in other regions of Indonesia. It is just another saddening evidence of how the dominance of Jakarta costs other regions of Indonesia.

The Dominance of Jakarta in Indonesia's Economy

2007-04-01T18:22:00.000-05:00

In previous post, it is clear that Jakarta's dominance in Indonesia's urban system particularly in the distribution of urban population is very high. The domination of Jakarta over other Indonesian cities has been increasing since the 1950s. Does such dominance correspond with the concentration of Indonesia's economy? Does Jakarta also dominate Indonesia's economy? This post attempts to answer the questions by comparing Jakarta's gross domestic regional product (GDRP) with Indonesia's gross domestic product (GDP). I use data of Jakarta's GDRP and Indonesia's GDP in 2000 and 2005 to also identify the change of Jakarta's contribution to Indonesia's GDP over five year period.

Jakarta's contribution to Indonesia's GDP in 2005 was 16.9% and it was an increase of 2.0% from that in 2000. The staggering Jakarta's contribution to Indonesia's economy was primarily caused by the dominance of Jakarta in the financial and business sector. Indonesia's GDP of the financial and business sector in 2005 was 146.3 trillion rupiahs and Jakarta's GDRP of this sector accounted for 62.1%. Some other sectors of Jakarta's economy also highly contributed to Indonesia's economy in 2005 including construction (26.2%), trade, hotel and restaurant (23.1%), transportation and communication (20.1%) and services (19.3%). On the contrary, agriculture and mining sectors of Jakarta only contributed as low as 0.1% to Indonesia's economy in 2005. These figures indicate that Jakarta strongly dominates urban sectors in Indonesia's economy.

It is also important to note that there were three sectors (electricity, gas and water, trade, hotel and restaurant, and services) of Jakarta's economy that increased their contributions to Indonesia's economy during period 2000-2005. In contrast, sectors of manufacturing and construction of Jakarta decreased their contributions to Indonesia's economy. These facts indicate that Jakarta has shifted from industry city to services city. A number of manufacturing plants in Jakarta have been relocated but most of them were just relocated to Jakarta's peripheral areas. Such relocation did not change much Indonesia's highly concentrated manufacturing sector. The manufacturing sector in Jakarta and its peripheral areas (Bogor, Depok, Bekasi and Tangerang) accounted for 23.5% of Indonesia's economy in 2005.

The staggering Jakarta's contribution to Indonesia's economy as demonstrated by comparing Jakarta's GRDP with Indonesia's GDP strongly indicates the dominance of Jakarta in Indonesia's economy. The increasing Jakarta's contribution to Indonesia's economy will create more regional imbalance in Indonesia. Jakarta's dominance should be reduced and other urban centers in Indonesia should be supported to compete with the dominance of Jakarta.

Jakarta as Indonesia's Primate City

2007-03-23T16:54:00.001-05:00

Primate city is a major city that plays dominant role in many respects in a country. It becomes a high concentration of urban population and plays as political, economical, cultural and transportation center of a nation. In term of population, a primate city is at least twice as populous as the second largest city in the nation. For some scholars, the population of primate city is larger than a combined population of the second, third and fourth largest cities of a nation.

Is Jakarta the primate city of Indonesia? The answer is very clear. Jakarta is indeed the primate city of Indonesia. Jakarta and its peripheral areas are more than twice as populous as Bandung -the second largest city in Indonesia. The Metropolitan Jakarta's population in 2005 was 14.0 million and it is 3.4 times of Bandung's population (4.1 million). The combined population of Bandung, Surabaya and Medan -the second, third and fourth populous cities in Indonesia respectively- was 9.4 million and it was still less than Jakarta's population.

Under the Dutch colonialism, Jakarta was the center of commercial and transportation hub of the nation for three centuries. The concentrated urban activities in Jakarta had allowed the Dutch colonialist to efficiently collect the resources from across the nation or redistribute goods and services to other parts of the nation. The concentrated urban activities in Jakarta created accumulation of wealth in Jakarta and it was not a problem for the Dutch colonialist. Regional imbalance between Jakarta and other parts of the nation did not really matter for the Dutch colonialist.

The Jakarta's dominance in the Indonesia's urban system has not changed much in post-colonialism era. Data of urban population in Indonesia since 1950 as reported by the United Nations World Population Prospect (1996) reveals that the domination of Jakarta over other cities in Indonesia has been increasing since the 1950s. The highly concentrated urban activities in Jakarta indicates that the Government of Indonesia has underinvested in interregional transport and telecommunications which favors producer and investors in Jakarta over other parts of the nation. More over, Henderson (2003) asserted that favoritism involved restrictions in capital and export/import markets, all favoring firms that locate in Jakarta. This allowed the central bureaucrats and politicians not to compete with lower ranked bureaucrats from other parts of the nation for extracting rents in the allocation of loans and licences.

Regional imbalance does matter in the post-colonialist era in Indonesia. A variety of policies have been implemented to boost the development in other parts of the nation particularly the Eastern Indonesia. Even, there has been a ministry that is assigned to accelarete the development in the Eastern Indonesia. It is really hard task to do since Jakarta is still dominant in Indonesia's urban system.

The urban population data seems to indicate Bandung as a competitor for Jakarta. During periods of 1980-1985 and 2000-2005, the growth of Bandung's population surpassed the growth of Jakarta's population. Nonetheless, it is important to note that Bandung is only 160 kilometers away from Jakarta and it is like "weekend bedroom" for Jakarta residents. The highways connecting Jakarta and Bandung allow Bandung residents to commute to Jakarta. In the long term, it is not impossible that Bandung and Jakarta will be merged into one metropolitan.

More interestingly, the implementation of regional autonomy law in 1999 has not taken much effect in the urban population distribution. The regional autonomy law which is also to stimulate more growth in local level apparently could not redistribute growth from Jakarta to other parts of the nation.

Using data of many countries, Henderson (2003) found that the degree of urban concentration rather than urbanization contributes to economic growth. He asserted that over concentration will be very costly to economic growth of the country. In order to avoid the decline of economic growth due to high degree of urban concentration, the increasing dominance of Jakarta over other cities in Indonesia should be reduced. There must be other urban agglomerations in Indonesia that compete with Jakarta and reduce the degree of urban concentration in Indonesia. It will eventually create regional balance and more sustainable development in Indonesia.

References:

The United Nations. (2006). The United Nations World Population Prospects
Henderson, Vernon. (2003). The urbanization process and economic growth: The so-what question. Journal of Economic Growth 8:47-71

(This post was cited in a book titled Focus on Gamelan Music of Indonesia by Henry Spiller)

Growth of Jakarta and Suburbanization in Jakarta's Peripheral Areas

2007-03-13T12:31:00.001-05:00

In the aftermath of the recent floods in Jakarta, the high level of urbanization was blamed as one of the culprits in the disaster that caused environmental destruction in Jakarta’s peripheral areas which were supposed to be water catchment areas. How high was the level of urbanization in Jakarta? How did urbanization cause the reduced water catchment areas in Jakarta’s peripheral areas? Before answering those questions, it is important to know what urbanization is.

The term of urbanization refers to the proportion of total population that lives in urban area. There is common mistake of thinking of urbanization as simply the growth of cities. We need to distinguish between urbanization and the growth of cities. Urbanization is a change that has a beginning and an end, but the growth of cities has no inherent limit.

Jakarta is a fully urbanized area. Since the 1990 Census, the Statistics Indonesia (BPS) determines all parts of the Jakarta’s jurisdiction are urban area. In the context of urbanization, Jakarta has come to the end. On the other hand, the growth of city which is commonly misunderstood as urbanization is still occurring in Jakarta. The growth of Jakarta has generated suburbanization in Jakarta’s peripheral areas.

Not only is Jakarta the capital of Indonesia, it is the economic, commercial and transportation hub of the nation. The Indonesia’s economy has been growing at a robust pace of 6 percent a year and Jakarta has been Indonesia’s primary growth machine. The growth of Jakarta has generated the land conversion to urban area in the Jakarta’s neighboring areas. The growth occurring in Jakarta creates the demand for housing and other urban services in Jakarta’s neighboring areas. The growth of Jakarta causes suburbanization in Jakarta’s neighboring areas. The periphery of Jakarta which was previously non-urban areas converts to urban areas in order to accommodate the growth of Jakarta. Lots of converted areas were areas which were supposed to be water catchment areas.

In the last two decades, the growth of Jakarta’s population is slower than that of Indonesia’s population. The total population of Jakarta even dropped from 9,112,652 in 1995 as recorded by the 1995 National Intercensal Population Survey to 8,361,079 in 2000 according to the 2000 Census. The decrease of Jakarta’s population in 1995-2000 was caused by the suburbanization and the slow economic growth due to the 1997 economic crisis. On the other hand, the periphery of Jakarta has experienced a drastic increase in population. The population in the periphery Jakarta has tripled from 4.4 million in 1980 to 12.6 million in 2000, while Jakarta’s population increased by only 30 percent. The Jakarta’s population back up to 8,860,381 in 2005 after a number of apartment complexes were built in Jakarta that bring back the residents live in the central city.

The growth of Jakarta is the cause of suburbanization in Jakarta’s peripheral areas. The higher economic growth of Jakarta the higher pressure in Jakarta’s peripheral areas to suburbanize. As long as Jakarta still becomes the primary growth machine of the nation the economic growth of Jakarta will be strongly associated with the pace of Indonesia’s economic growth and will correspond to the suburbanization in Jakarta’s neighboring areas. One way of reducing the pressure of suburbanization in Jakarta’s peripheral areas is to relocate the source of Jakarta’s growth. The idea of relocating the nation’s capital out of Jakarta as supported by some candidates of Jakarta’s governor is one way to reduce the suburbanization in Jakarta’s peripheral areas.

In addition, the suburbanization of Jakarta’s peripheral areas was generated by the influx of migrants from other parts of the nation particularly from poor regions of Java Island. During 1995-2005 the average number of migrants who migrated to neighboring areas of Jakarta was 1.6 million people a year. Poverty in rural areas in Java Island became a factor that pushed people from rural areas to move to urban areas. The rural poor migrate to urban area as a way of escaping from the poverty. There is inextricable link between rapid suburbanization in Jakarta’s peripheral areas and poverty in Java’s rural areas.

Wilmar Salim provided a very interesting analogy between rural poverty and urban agglomerations in Java. He identified urban agglomerations as lotuses and rural poor as those who need a base for escaping from poverty. He raised critical question of how long will the lotuses be able to stay afloat and suggested several policy for alleviating rural poverty.

Below is some excerpts of his article that appeared in the Jakarta Posts on December 22, 2006:

... Moreover, 12.5 million (57.9 percent) of the poor in Java live in rural areas. In other words, the poor are concentrated in rural areas, and 32 out of 100 poor Indonesians lived in rural Java in 2000. Though the current figures are unknown, we can guess that they are similar.

What was not really discussed in either report was the spatial distribution of the poor in Java. Poverty mapping conducted by SMERU Research Institute (2004) showed that poverty enclaves were created in areas far from urban agglomerations, such as Jabodetabek, Bandung Raya or Gerbangkertosusila (Surabaya Metropolitan Area). The southern part of Banten and West Java, the central part of Central Java, the south-west and south-east parts of East Java, and the island of Madura were areas with high concentrations of poor in 2000.

At the same time, the growth of Javanese cities shows conflicting patterns between the census in 1990 and 2000. Some of these cities, especially those in the above agglomerations, experienced positive or even rapid population growth. But some, i.e. Surakarta, Yogyakarta, Magelang, Kediri and Madiun, experienced a negative growth, or in other words, lost some of their populations. A closer look at the distribution of the poor reveals that cities that have positive or rapid growth tend to be surrounded by subdistricts with less poor populations.

Thus, the poverty situation in rural areas surrounding cities in Java is better than in more remote areas far from cities. This explains why the growth rate in big cities in Java is so great, since these cities are like lotuses that provide a base for the poor to get out of poverty. The catch is if we are not looking into rural conditions, how long will these lotuses be able to stay afloat?

The above phenomenon reflects a condition that Niles Hansen in the 1970s described as urban crisis caused by extreme poverty in rural areas due to unbalanced development. Thus, regional development policies must be enacted to balance development and ease the crisis. The bottom line is that state intervention is needed to invest in measures to support productive sectors in remote rural areas, and also increasing attention must be paid to small and medium cities.

Policies to balance development in Java can be threefold: First, control development expansion in major urban agglomerations so they will not overheat. The government will not be able to really slow down development in these cities, but it can reallocate its public investments to other areas.

Second, optimize investments that support economic activities in small and medium cities, and promote a friendly climate for private investment. Infrastructure development that supports production, such as electricity and telecommunications, needs to be intensified. Furthermore, commercial centers in the small and medium cities must be revitalized.

Third, maximize public investments in social overhead capital in areas remote from cities, and try to encourage economic activities in these areas by improving access to economic resources for villagers...

(This article also appeared at The Jakarta Post on March 27, 2007 and then it was linked at The Center of Southeast Asian Studies of Xiamen University, China and at The Development from Disasters Network)

Capital Relocation: Lessons from Tasikmalaya and Riau Islands

2007-03-03T22:19:00.000-05:00

In this post, we have two commentaries from my fellows: Miming Miharja and Fajar Hari Mardiansyah concerning their experiences of capital relocation projects. I am pleased to have their commentaries that give us some perspectives regarding the idea of Indonesia’s capital relocation.

Miming Mihardja is a faculty member of the School of Architecture, Planning and Policy Development, Bandung Institute of Technology. His comment was from his experience when he led a team of LAPI of Bandung Institute Technology a few years ago. His team investigated a new location for the capital of Tasikmalaya Regency (Kabupaten Tasikmalaya) . Tasikmalaya Regency is one of regencies in West Java province and needed to relocate its capital because the old capital was then located in new municipality, the city of Tasikmalaya (Kota Tasikmalaya) that was split off from Tasikmalaya Regency in 2001.

His case shows the challanges faced by his team in the selection process of new capital location. The case confirms that the capital relocation is highly political process. He asserted that even in local level, the political tension among different stakeholders was very high. The public hearings that were intended to accomodate the citizen participation put the team on edge. I fully agree with him that the case of the nation capital relocation would be more complicated than the regency capital relocation. Indeed, not to mention the cost of relocation.

Other thing that amazes me is rationality is not in demise. Using technical argumentation, the team was able to convince different stakeholders of the proposed location of new capital. It should be a case demonstrating stakeholders' trust in the expert team. Many scholars argue that the post-modern era characterized by fragmented power, distrust of government and experts, and incommensurable discourse leads to the demise of modernist planning practice in which rationality is one of the important premises. The case of Tasikmalaya regency's capital relocation shows the high political tensions in the planning process but the political stakeholders still have trust in the expert.

Miming's comment also brings up the issue of the cost of relocation. One interesting thing is the possible choice of private sector to finance the cost of relocation. I absolutely agree with this possible choice. Private finance instead of public finance. However, we should discuss it separately in other post ...

Below is the completed comment from Miming Mihardja:

Reflection from a local experience, when I was the LAPI-ITB acting team leader of Tasikmalaya Regency capital relocation in 2001. This case to some extent represents the socio-economic- political characteristic of our nation capital relocation topic of discussion.

First of all, we experienced a complicated and painful process during the location selection stage. This stage is a highly political game for many interest groups contributed as well as distorted the process. I learn a lot, that the Patsy Healey's collaborative planning, Tore Sager's communicative planning etc. are not only complex in theory, but far more complex in application, especially in our young-democratic country where euphoria is a fact that neglect every public planning process. I remember that to survive public hearing attended by many self (or selfish)-motivated stakeholders is a high-challenging moment i have to went through several times. Thank God i survive. Many times we had to face the strong opposed debate to our technical justification. Sometimes the argument simply came from the local sentiment feeling, just to fight for their own municipality's candidacy without clear justification. I learn a lot that strong technical argumentations often saved our proposed location. So, engineering approach is still useful in that case.

The study finally chose Singaparna-Mangunre ja municipalities as the selected new capital. The existing condition of the candidates are in the very early stage of development, especially in terms of basic infrastructures which are no doubt the substantial needs for a capital.

As we can easily imagine, the budget issue is definitely the other main constraint or limitation to be said more straightly. We estimated a number of trillion rupiahs for the development which was very far from local budget capability. Some higher tier government financial aid were identified, but still far from enough. The solution promisingly came from private investors. However, this last alternative generates high economic-political cost due to our clienty style of governance. This limitation implies the prolonged execution of the plan, despite the readiness of the physical plan our team prepared.

Talking about Indonesia new capital..... . You may multiple my story by 100, 1000, i don't know, you just mention it....

Just to mention that we should still proud of planner, our team succeeded in settling down the turbulence in the location selection process. Now, Regency Tasikmalaya has the widely accepted new capital together with its physical plans. The execution of the plan is their next challenge... .

Fajar Hari Mardiansyah is a faculty member of the Department of Regional and City Planning at Diponegoro University, Indonesia. He was a member of team that investigated the location of Riau Islands Province’s capital. Riau Islands Province is originally parts of Riau province that was split off as a separate province in 2004. He needed to leave the team before the project was completed and left for Paris to pursue his doctorate degree in the University of Paris.

Fajar’s story confirms Miming’s story that the selection process of capital location is highly political process. Technical argumentation from the team was not easily accepted by the parliament. Interesting interpretation from this story is the vested interests of some parliament members may be the reason of opposing the technical argumentation. Distrust of experts is rooted from the vested interests. Indeed, it is saddening and is a big challenge for developing democracy in Indonesia.

Below is the completed commentary from Fajar Hari Mardiansyah:

My experience in a project of location selection for the capital of Riau Islands Province was much rather a selfish-economic-interest of the major group of the political leaders in the province, especially in the provincial parliament,
rather than a socio-politic aspects. The well-technically recommended location had to struggle hardly to the demands of the majority of the parliament members who had done a speculation for some majority parcels in a certain location that they recommend to be the location of the capital. They did it with an assumption that they are the majority stakeholders in the decision process. But the problem was they never tell the true reasons meaning they have speculated in the location they preferred but arguing without unclear justifications when they rejected the better technical-based recommendation. Many arguments, ranging from the history of the location, the acceptance of the community members who owned the land, the close distance to the previous city, etc had been raised by them to cover the true that the most of the land had been owned by themselves.

Technical explanation countering their arguments of what they think they are good is not quiet good enough in the implementation part of the development seemed to be non-sense for them. Many dead-locks happened in the discussion just because theair of the discussion that seemed to me as a situation of a 'demokrasi pokoknya', that means every body can speak and tell his/her opinion but their position will never change. Later, the number of dead-locks was the main reason for the postponed of the process in order to give some time to the technical team to lobby some parliament members. Unfortunately, I don't know the later story because I had to begin my French preparation course for my current study. Is the decision has been made? Which location that is chosen? Frankly I am really curious about it.And the most importantly, how the decision process was finally completed (if the decision has been taken) is the one that I really want to know.

Looking to this experience, I am sure that the conflict of interest in selecting the new location of the capital of the Republic of Indonesia will be very... very... very... far bigger (this is the French culture to mention a huge of something by telling 'un tres...tres..tres.. grand problem', for example), than the selection of the capital of Riau Kepulauan. Especially the conflict of the selfish-interest of the economic players who collaborate to the political players. I just hope that the location is not in Java if we want to move our capital. It can be used also to make a more balance regional development in the country. Somewhere in the central or the North Sumatera, I think, will be my preference, then the next 50 years it will move again to Sulawesi. A planner or a dreamer am I....?

Jakarta: From Global City to Ailing City

2007-03-01T11:46:00.000-05:00

The modern city of Jakarta was initiated by President Soekarno who has strong vision to build Jakarta into the greatest city possible (Cybriwsky and Ford, 2001). He gave Jakarta Monas –his most symbolic new structure of 132 m high national monument, spacious new government buildings, department stores, shopping plazas, hotels, sport facilities of Senayan that was used for the 1962 Asian Games, the biggest and most glorious mosque of Istiqlal, new parliament buildings and waterfront recreation area at Ancol.

Such constructions continued under the New Order regime that began in 1967. In the early administration of this regime, some projects were completed including the Ismail Marzuki Arts Center, industrial zones at Tanjung Priok and Pulo Gadung that aimed to attract foreign investment, and the unique theme park of Taman Mini Indonesia Indah.

During thirty-two years of the New Order regime, Jakarta has changed considerably. A generally rapid economic growth during this period allowed Jakarta to expand its modern constructions and develop a modern city. Firman (1998; 2004) noted that the physical development of Jakarta was resulted from its functions as a “global city” in Asia. The “global cities” in Asia include Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Hongkong, Manila, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapura and Jakarta. Hundreds of new office towers, hotels and high-rise apartment-condominium building were built in many parts of the city.

In a recent article, Murakami and her colleagues (2005) compared the urbanization stage and patterns of land use in Jakarta, Bangkok dan Manila. Using the Clark linear exponential model and the Newling quadratic exponential model, they compared the spatial distribution of population densities in those cities. They also analyzed land-use patterns by examining the mixture of urban and agricultural land use. They found that Jakarta has entered the suburbanization stage, while Manila was at early stage of suburbanization and Bangkok was at intermediate stage of suburbanization.

The Golden Triangle –a new style commercial zone- was built in Thamrin-Sudirman corridor to push the urban skyline upward in response to high costs of land in key areas and the convenience of the automobile (Cybriwsky and Ford, 2001). This zone was aimed to accommodate internationally invested high-rise mega-blocks. This was a result of regional competition among “global cities” (Firman, 1998; Goldblum and Wong, 2000). Jakarta is linked with other “global cities” in a functional system built around telecommunications, transportation, services and finance.

A parade of tall buildings one after the other filled the major streets on both sides. They house the offices of Indonesian and multi-national corporations. Firman (1999) reported that total area of commercial space in Jakarta in 1978 was only 0.1 million square meters and in 1997 it reached 2.7 million square meters with nearly 90 percent of occupancy rates. In every parts of the city, modern shopping malls along with family enterprises were also built.

The economy crisis which hit Indonesia 1998 resulted in major disruptions on urban development in Jakarta. Such monstrous crisis has shifted Jakarta from “global city” to “city of crisis”. The crisis –commonly known in Indonesia as krismon- had largely squeezed the economy of Jakarta. Domestic and foreign investment dramatically declined. Many manufacturing and services corporations in Metropolitan Jakarta closed and laid off their employees, resulting in rapid increase of open unemployment.

In order to survive amidst the krismon, a large number of workers had shifted to become food traders or engaged in other informal sector jobs. Street vendors –commonly known in Indonesia as pedagang kaki lima- increased rapidly from about 95,000 in 1997 to 270,000 in 1999 (Firman, 1999). Increasing informal labor force is a distinctive characteristic of cities in developing countries since sector formal can not accommodate the large number of labor force.

The shrinkage of economic activities resulted in the decrease of office space demand. It dropped from 300,000 square meters in 1997 to 85,000 square meters in 1999. Similarly, the demand for high-class apartments dropped from 49,000 in December 1997 to 16,000 in February 1998. The housing market in Metropolitan Jakarta nearly collapsed due to increasing prices of building materials and housing loan interest rates. Most construction projects in the periphery of Jakarta slowed down or even completely stopped (Firman, 2004).

Firman (2004) argued that in the near future after the krismon, urban poverty was the most obvious issue on urban development in Jakarta. This includes job creation, basic need provision for the poor, improvement of living environment in slums areas and micro credit provision with low interest.

In order to mitigate the impact of the krismon, the government along with the assistance of IMF launched a variety of social safety net programs in July 1998. The programs include food security, employment creation, scholarship to students and block grants to schools, targeted health care subsidies, and community block grant (Sumarto, et. al., 2004). Political and economic reforms were also implemented during the recovery process.

Firman (2004) reported that by 2002 there were about three-fifth of the new town projects in the fringe areas of Jakarta still survived. The remaining was no longer in operation or terminated the projects due to the economic crisis. More than 450 developers went out of business during the krismon.

Civil unrest and political uncertainty that heightened during the krismon reduced gradually during the recovery process. As of early 2007, Indonesia’s economic performance is more positive. In the last two years, Indonesia's economy has growing at a robust pace of 6 percent a year. As the capital and the center of economic, commercial and transportation hub of the nation, Jakarta has secured as the primary growth machine and has been recovering from the krismon.

While Jakarta is still not fully recovered from the krismon, the recent floods retard the recovery process. The flood which was blamed as the result of unsustainable development process in Jakarta and its extented region remind us that Jakarta is an ailing city. She needs major remedy for her illnesses to get back to be global city.

References:

Cybriwsky, Roman and Ford, Larry R. (2001). City profile: Jakarta. Cities 18(3): 199-210.
Firman, Tommy. (1998). The restructuring of Jakarta Metropolitan Area: A “global city” in Asia. Cities 15(4): 229-243.
Firman, Tommy. (1999). From “global city” to “city of crisis”: Jakarta Metropolitan Region under economic turmoil. Habitat International 23(4): 447-466.
Firman, Tommy. (2004). New town development in Jakarta Metropolitan Region: A perspective of spatial segregation. Habitat International 28(3): 349-368.
Goldblum, Charles, and Wong, Tai-Chee. (2000). Growth, crisis and spatial change: A study of haphazard urbanization in Jakarta, Indonesia. Land Use Policy 17: 29-37.
Murakami, Akinobu, Zain, Alinda Medrial, Takeuchi, Kazuhiko, Tsunekawa, Atsushi, and Yokota, Shigehiro. (2005). Trends in urbanization and patterns of land use in the Asian mega cities Jakarta, Bangkok, and Metro Manila. Landscape and Urban Planning 70: 251-259.
Sumarto, S., Suryahadi, A. and Widyanti, W. (2004). Assessing the impact of Indonesian social safety net programs on household welfare and poverty dynamic. SMERU Working Paper

(This article also appeared at Urbanicity's City Matters Magazine on March 2007)

Urbanization and Suburbanization in Jakarta

2007-03-01T10:11:00.005-05:00

Jakarta is the largest metropolitan in Southeast Asia with tremendous rate of population growth and wide range of urban problems. The overall population of Jakarta increased 100 times in the 20th century, from about 100,000 in 1900 to more than 9 million in 1995. Most of the population was added in the last twenty years of the 20th century (Han and Basuki, 2001). However, the total population of Jakarta has decreased in the last five years of the last decade. It dropped from 9,112,652 in 1995 as recorded by the 1995 National Intercensal Population Survey to 8,389,443 in 2000 according to the 2000 National Population Census.

The decrease of Jakarta’s population in 1995-2000 was caused by the suburbanization. The periphery of Jakarta –commonly known as Botadebek- has experienced a drastic increase in population. The population of Botadebek has tripled from 4.4 million in 1980 to 12.6 million in 2000, while Jakarta’s population increased by only 30 percent. Some studies (Firman, 1998; Leaf, 1994; Cybriwsky and Ford, 2001) revealed that many moderate and high-income families moved out from the central city to the peripheral areas. They were attracted by high quality amenities provided by suburban enclave housing. In addition, the poor native Jakarta was relocated to the fringe areas because of the expansion of formal sector in the central city.

Total population of the Jakarta Metropolitan Area consisting of Jakarta and the neighboring districts of Bogor, Tangerang, Depok and Bekasi –abbreviated as Botadebek- in 2000 reached more than 21 million. This population consisted of about 80 percent urban population and 20 percent rural population and inhabited an area of approximately 6400 square kilometers. This population was about 10 percent of total population of Indonesia and only about 0.3 percent of total area of Indonesia. McGee (1994) estimated that the total population of the Jakarta Metropolitan Area will reach 40 million by 2020.

The periphery of Jakarta is heavily dependent on the central city. Botadebek is a “bedroom suburb” for the daily commuters of Jakarta. Jakarta is the center of government and corporate offices, commercial, and entertainment enterprises. The economy of Jakarta dominates its peripheral areas. In the daytime, total population in Jakarta nearly doubled its population in the nighttime (Kompas, June 18, 2004). The number of daily movement in Jakarta is estimated at six to seven millions

To understand the urbanization in Jakarta, it is essential to recognize the socio-economic dualism which pervades Indonesian urban society. The manifestations of this dualism are the presence of the modern city and the kampung city in urban areas in Indonesia including Jakarta. The kampung, the word means village in Indonesian, is associated with informality, poverty, and the retention of rural traditions in an urban setting. Firman (2000) argues that the existence of kampung and modern city reflects the spatial segregation and socio-economic disparities.

The growing number of migrants to Jakarta and of poor Jakarta natives has caused the formation of new squatter kampungs in the periphery of Jakarta (Cybriwsky and Ford, 2001). Many constructions in the central city also caused some residents of kampung evicted and relocated to the periphery. The periphery also attracted the migrants because of the improved infrastructure and facilities in Jakarta’s peripheral areas (Goldblum and Wong, 2000).

Since 1950 Jakarta has attracted people from all parts of Java and other Indonesian islands. The flood of migrants came to Jakarta for economic reasons as Jakarta offered hopes of jobs. The census 1961 showed that only 51% of the city’s populations were actually born in Jakarta (Cybriwsky and Ford, 2001). Several times the Jakarta officials tried to control the migration by declaring the city to be a closed city where new migrants were not allowed. However, these attempts were useless since the large number of migrants ignored the laws.

Leaf (1994) identified rapid growth of suburban enclave housing in Jakarta during early 1990s. The residential enclave for narrowly targeted moderate and high-income families characterized the Jakarta’s suburban (Firman, 1998; Leaf, 1994). Located on the periphery of the city, these settlements were built in automobile-accessed and various high-quality amenities such as modern golf courses. High-income families in the central city also moved to the periphery in search of better living quality (Goldblum and Wong, 2000). The high cost of the house and the need for automobile ownership restricted entry low-income families into the suburban housing market. One in five families in Jakarta’s suburban owned an automobile (Leaf, 1994).

Leaf (1994) argued that the suburbanization in Jakarta was direct outcome of at least two policies: the subsidized housing finance program and municipal permit system for land development. These policies have most benefited some developers that strongly linked with the New Order regime. Half of the land development permits were given to 16 out of 183 development firms (Leaf, 1994).

In addition to residential zones, the periphery of Jakarta is also specialized zones of commercial and industrial enterprises. There areas are complements the other districts of the city: the central business districts on Thamrin-Sudirman corridor, the government offices around Medan Merdeka, international seaport of Tanjung Priok, and the growing network of freeways. Initiated by a collaborative project of Bumi Serpong Damai in the early 1980s, the periphery of Jakarta was also location of several new towns. The first new town of Bumi Serpong Damai was planned for an eventual population of 600,000 in a total area of 6,000 hectares. This project was developed by several private developers and lead by the largest private developers –the Ciputra Group. Other new towns in the periphery of Jakarta include Bukit Jonggol Asri, Pembangunan Jaya, Lippo City, Cikarang Baru, Tigaraksa, Kota Legenda, Kota Cileungsi, Royal Sentul, Bintaro Jaya, Lido Lakes Resort, Gading Serpong, Modernland, Kot Citra Raya, Alam Sutera dan Kedaton (Firman, 1998).

In a number of new towns, the State Housing Provider Agency (Perumnas) joined with private developers to assure that some of their housing was targeted for low and moderate-income families (Cybriwsky and Ford, 2001). Most of the new towns offer relatively few employments. Their initial concepts to create self-contained communities are barely implemented. Instead, the new towns are “bedroom suburbs for city-bound commuters” (Cybriwsky and Ford, 2001).

The new towns were still heavily dependent on the central city (Firman, 2000). The development of large-scale housing projects intensified the daily interaction between the fringe areas and the central city of Jakarta. This worsened traffic problems in metropolitan Jakarta. The development of industrial zones in the periphery of Jakarta is also an indication of spatial restructuring that shifted manufacturing from the central city to the periphery. Using data of domestic and foreign investment in various economic sectors in Jakarta and its peripheries (Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi), Firman (1998) found that the central city has attracted disproportionate investment in service industries, trade and hotel, and restaurant construction, while the peripheries has attracted most of the industrial construction. The main industries of Jakarta’s periphery include textiles, apparel, footwear, plastics, chemicals, electronics, metal products and foods (Cybriwsky and Ford, 2001).

As the capital and the economic, commercial, cultural and transportation hub of Indonesia, Jakarta and its extended areas willl remain attract growth. The urbanization and suburbanization in metropolitan Jakarta will keep going on. The predicted metropolitan Jakarta by the United Nations Population Prospects in 2015 will account for 7.2 percent of Indonesia's population. It grew from only 6.3 percent and 4.4 percent of Indonesia's population in 2005 and 1985 respectively.

Will Jakarta and its extended areas be able to accomodate urbanization and suburbanization? Will Jakarta sustain its growth? I doubt it. As I mentioned in earlier post, the recent floods is strong evidence to reduce urbanization in Jakarta. The flood is only one of other many evidences including traffic congestion and urban poverty. The on-going urbanization and suburbanization in Jakarta will create more problems not only for Jakarta but also for Indonesia.

Reference:

Cybriwsky, Roman and Ford, Larry R. (2001). City profile: Jakarta. Cities 18(3): 199-210.
Ernst, John P. (2004). Initiating bus rapid transit in Jakarta, Indonesia. A paper presented to the 2004 TRB Annual Meetings.

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Recent floods in Jakarta are strong evidence that urbanisation must be reduced

2007-02-21T09:10:00.000-05:00

The link below shows my article appeared at Singapore's largest newspapers of The Straits Times on February 21, 2007.

Online Story

In case of the link is not available, below is the article:

Feb 21, 2007
Recent floods in Jakarta are strong evidence that urbanisation must be reduced

JAKARTA is hit by deadly floods each year and this year is the worst flood in memory. At one point, the flood inundated about 70 per cent of the city. It killed at least 57 people and sent about 450,000 fleeing their homes. The city's hospitals struggled with an influx of patients suffering from diarrhoea, dengue and severe respiratory problems. The flood paralysed the centre of Indonesia's economy for several days and businesses claimed to lose about US$1 billion (S$1.54 billion).

The flood is not a new problem for Jakarta. Has the government learnt from previous floods? Does the Jakarta administration have a master plan of drainage and flood mitigation?
In the aftermath of deadly floods in 2002, the government drafted a master plan to expand the Dutch-built city's canal system. Two centuries ago, the Dutch colonial government, with its long experience of controlling water and drainage systems, built the canal system to protect the city's population which was then 500,000. Jakarta, which lies in the lowland with 43 lakes and 13 rivers, relies on the canal system to prevent flooding.

Jakarta's Governor, Mr Sutiyoso, blamed limited financial support from the central government to expand the city's canal system as the culprit in the disaster. Mr Sutiyoso also blamed deforestation and overbuilding in neighbouring areas which were supposed to be water catchment areas. On the other hand, Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar put the blame on excessive construction of residential and commercial buildings in the city that violate environmental impact analyses.

Both arguments are incomplete. Beyond their arguments, the bottom line we can learn from the annual Jakarta floods that are growing worse is that Jakarta has not been able to sustain its growth. In urban planning, we know growth management and smart growth. Jakarta needs more than the two. It needs growth redistribution.

Not only is Jakarta the capital of Indonesia, it is also the economic, commercial, cultural and transportation hub of the nation. Jakarta is the prime city of Indonesia and it dominates the urban system. The population in Jakarta is far more than in any other city in Indonesia. The population of metropolitan Jakarta was 14 million in 2005. The second and third largest cities are Bandung and Surabaya with 2005 populations of 4.2 million and 2.9 million respectively. The area of Jakarta is only 0.3 per cent of Indonesia's total area but its population was 6.3 per cent of Indonesia's population in 2005. It grew from only 4.4 per cent in 1985. The domination of Jakarta is predicted to become larger in coming years. The predicted Jakarta population by the United Nations World Population Prospects in 2015 is 17.8 million which will account for 7.2 per cent of Indonesia's population.

Jakarta's rapid urbani ation is inextricably linked with highly concentrated growth in Jakarta. The recent flood demonstrates that Jakarta has not been able to sustainably accommodate this urbanisation. It also demonstrates how the growth in Jakarta confronts private consumption and public investment in infrastructure. The Indonesian economy has growing at a robust pace of 6 per cent a year and Jakarta has been Indonesia's primary growth machine. New homes, commercial and office buildings have proliferated in Jakarta and its neighbouring areas, but hardly any new infrastructures, including the expansion of Jakarta's canal system, have been built in the past 10 years since the economic crisis hit Indonesia in 1997.

The recent flood is strong evidence that rapid urbanisation in Jakarta must be reduced. One way to reduce the rapid urbanisation in Jakarta is to eliminate the pull factor of urbanisation. One major pull factor of urbanisation in Jakarta is its function as Indonesia's capital. It is not impossible to relocate Indonesia's capital out of Jakarta. Indonesia needs to learn from Brazil when it relocated the capital in the 1960s from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia, or Malaysia when it relocated the legislative and judicial branches in the 1990s from Kuala Lumpur to Putra Jaya. Relocating Indonesia's capital out of Jakarta will not only make Jakarta more sustainable but also create regional equality in Indonesia.

Deden Rukmana
The writer is an Indonesian national and an assistant professor of urban studies at Savannah State University, USA.

(This article was also linked at Wild Singapore)

Relocation of Indonesia's capital

2007-02-16T23:26:00.000-05:00

As I indicated in previous post, the need of relocating Indonesia's capital out of Jakarta is not only triggered by the recent flood. There are some other reasons that lead to the idea of Indonesia's capital relocation. Below I provide two links, an article by my fellow Wilmar Salim and a piece of news from Kompas back on May 20, 2006.

The Jakarta Post - The Journal of Indonesia Today

Ibu Kota Diusulkan Pindah - Sabtu, 20 Mei 2006

Flooding (again) in Jakarta

2007-02-04T00:23:00.000-05:00

Torrential rains in a few days last week caused the worst flooding in years in Jakarta. It was estimated from 40 to 70 percent of the Indonesia's capital was underwater. The number of people killed of this flooding has reached at least 34 from drowning, electrocution or disease. More than 300,000 residents have been forced from their homes. Heavy rains are still forecasted to come in a few weeks and authorities are still asking the residents to keep alert. The disaster is far from over.

The flooding is not a new problem for Jakarta. For years, Jakarta has been experiencing flooding. The flooding inundated much of the capital areas and paralyzed traffic and economic activities in Jakarta. How far have the authorities learned from previous floodings to anticipate this year's flooding?

Let me cite what Governor Sutiyoso and Minister Rachmat Witoelar blamed, as reported by the Jakarta Post:

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso placed the blame on villas in Puncak, West Java, while State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar insisted the floods were caused by excessive development in the city's water catchment areas. Rachmat said that local authorities had been overzealous in issuing building permits for Jakarta's designated water catchment zones. "Many ignore the (city) spatial plan, especially the authorities that hand out permits, even though they clearly violate environmental impact analyses," Rachmat said.

I would argue that both arguments are incomplete. There is no single cause of the disaster. I would also add other causes including poor drainage system and lack of flood control facilities.

Beyond these causes, the bottom line we can learn from the annual and growing worse flooding in Jakarta is that Jakarta was not able to sustain its growth. In urban planning we know growth management or smart growth. Jakarta needs more than the two. Jakarta needs growth relocation.

Not only is Jakarta capital of Indonesia but also is the center of nearly all activities in Indonesia. It creates highly concentrated of Indonesian population in only small portion of the nation. Jakarta is the main part of the Indonesia's growth machine. The flooding in Jakarta paralyzed not only Jakarta's traffic but also Indonesia's growth machine.

Most financial activities in banks in Jakarta were badly affected by the flooding. The flooding also contributed to the decrease in the Jakarta stock market. How far can Indonesia's economy go with its ailing capital?

Flooding is only one of other evidences that Jakarta needs growth relocation for the sake of Indonesia's economy. Then, what growth can we relocate from Jakarta? I would reply -its role as the capital of Indonesia! Yes, we need to consider to relocate our capital out of Jakarta -out of Java island!

Further stories and evidences about why we need to relocate Indonesia's capital are forthcoming ...

Banning motorcyclists from main roads in Jakarta

2007-02-01T21:16:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago Governor Sutiyoso proposed an idea of banning motorcyclists from Jalan MH Thamrin, Jendral Sudirman and HR Rasuna Said in response to allegedly increasing motorcyclists’ contribution to the traffic problems in the capital. The idea came up after deliberating the uncontrolled increase of motorcycles in Jakarta that may create inconvenience for Jakartans. The city government was trying to prevent the dominance of motorcyclists in the streets. They did not want to see Jakarta as Hanoi in which motorcyclists dominate the streets.

Unsurprisingly, the idea of banning motorcycles from main thoroughfares in Jakarta drew protests from motorcyclists including ojek drivers. They argued the idea was groundless and violated their rights of using the main thoroughfares as public roads. Is the idea of banning motorcycles from main thoroughfares groundless? Is the increased dominance of motorcycles in the streets a bad thing?

It is clear that the increase of motorcycles burdens the capacity of streets in Jakarta. The growth of street development could not keep up with the growth of motorized vehicle ownership in Jakarta. The growth of street length is only 1-2 percent annually. On the other hand, motorized vehicle ownership grew by around 15 percent per year. The high rate increase of motorized vehicle ownership was primarily caused by the increase of motorcycle ownership.

One way to reduce the burden of street capacity is to convert the use of private transport to public transport. Do we have public transport which is accessible, affordable and highly connectable for working class in metropolitan Jakarta? I doubt it and this is the cause why we have increasing number of motorcycles in Jakarta. Some friends told me that the working class who live in the fringe areas could save as much as 30 percent of their transportation cost when they use motorcycles to work rather than multi-modes public transport.

Let me reveal some positive perspectives of increasing number of motorcycles in Jakarta. The phenomenon of increased number of motorcycles is an evidence of the ability of working class to meet their transportation needs. It is good sign for accelerating economic growth. Automotive is one significant sector of consumption variable in GDP. The consumption variable contributed 64 percent of Indonesia’s GDP in 2005. As we are still recovering from the economic crisis, the working class has been able to meet their transportation needs and contribute to the economic growth.

As the number of motorcycles grows we should anticipate its positive multiplier effects to our economy. I could say here that we will see more motorcycle dealers, finance institutions that provide financing for motorcyclists, motorcycle mechanics and increasing needs of helm, jackets, sunglasses, etc. We should pay attention to anticipate these positive effects for the sake of our economic growth.

The uses of motorcycles in Jakarta also demonstrate the sacrifices of working class to commute in an inconvenient way. Driving a motorcycle needs more energy than riding on public transport. It is even worse when the weather is bad. We should give motorcyclists credit for their sacrifices.

In addition, I acknowledge the negative impacts of increasing motorcycles. The accident exposures on motorcyclist grew by 25 percent per year in the last three years. This figure is much more than that of cars. There were 1,128 fatalities of traffic accidents in Jakarta in 2006 and 857 of those were motorcycle-related. The primary causes of the accidents include bad motorcyclists’ attitude in riding motorcycles, technical problems and poor law enforcement.

I would argue that in next five to ten years we need to accommodate the growth of motorcycles while we are developing public transport system. We need to develop a metropolitan transportation system which designates motorcycles as one main component of transportation modes along with automobiles and public transports. The idea of banning motorcycles from main thoroughfares is not a right solution. It will not reduce the negative impact of increasing motorcycles. Instead, it will relocate the impact. It will cost motorcyclists more expenses to get to work and impair economic growth.

Alternatively, I would argue that the policy of compulsory left lane for motorcyclists along designated city roads in Jakarta is a good solution. It still accommodates motorcyclists while providing safer traffic for all street users.

(This article also appeared at The Jakarta Post on February 10, 2007 and then was linked at Cempaka Transport)

Preamble

2007-01-18T15:30:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my blog of "Indonesia's Urban Studies".

The purpose of this blog is to contribute to the advancement of urban studies on Indonesia. I was inspired by the success of Urban Planning Research that initiated the scholarly discussions on urban studies through Web log since February 2006.

I am amazed by the power of Web in building and shaping our society. We are now embracing the Information Age and the world will be directed by the citizens of the new digital democracy. The world will not be the same as a few years ago when the power of Web was just about to rise. I agree with Time to choose all of us as the Person of the Year in 2006. Now it's our turn to lead the new world of digital democracy.

My plan is to publish stimulating commentary concerning any urban problem in Indonesia. Why Indonesia?
The simple answer is because there are so many urban problems in Indonesia. Indonesia, the forth largest country in the world with the population of over 220 million, has been experiencing rapid urbanization in the last two decades. This rapid urbanization leads to problems in various aspects in urban life in Indonesia. The economic crisis which hit Indonesia in 1997 exacerbated urban problems in Indonesia. Nearly ten years after being shocked by the crisis, Indonesia has not been fully recovered yet. Unlike China and India, it has been relatively backward in its urban development.

I am encouraged and challeged to contribute in combating urban problems in Indonesia. The complexity and intractability of Indonesia's urban problems need forward-thinking and forward-looking solutions. Through this blog in the new world of digital democracy, I would solicit your opinion to advance urban studies in Indonesia. We will freely communicate our ideas to contribute to making Indonesia's urban spaces better places to live!