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Beating Jakarta's Big City Blues With Architecture 2.0
Lisa Siregar | September 13, 2009

"Mobile Houses" would plug into a grid at specialized locations in the city. (Photo courtesy of AMI) "Mobile Houses" would plug into a grid at specialized locations in the city. (Photo courtesy of AMI)
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To mark its 20th anniversary, the group Indonesia Young Architects will host a workshop this week on issues related to living in densely populated cities.

“The workshop aims to provide a space to discuss the problems of living in Indonesian cities,” said Danny Wicaksono, chairman of the group, also known as AMI.

The workshop, titled “Ruang Tinggal Dalam Kota (“Living Space in the City”) and to be held at the Salihara complex in South Jakarta, hopes to generate new ideas and perspectives about architecture, he said.

Danny said city planning problems had reduced the amount of green space in Jakarta and increased the price of land, pushing the middle class out to the suburbs. This, he said, has caused several problems, including long commutes, traffic jams, an increased number of vehicles on the roads, pollution and floods.

The committee selected the proposals of 14 groups to be presented at the workshop. “Some of these ideas might seem unrealistic, but I think that’s OK,” said Avianto Armand, a committee member.

One of the groups has proposed a radical rearrangement of the Kuningan area in South Jakarta. The “linear living” group claims that the use of land in the area is inefficient and that the government could save 605 square meters by stacking buildings on top of each other.

This would then create spare land for residents to use for farming and recreation. The group has also suggested that this planning method could be a model for all of Jakarta’s suburbs.

“It would take a very communist government for this to happen, but as an idea it is important,” Avianto said.

“This city needs more green space, that’s a fact, and if we keep building infrastructure and building horizontally, it will eventually eliminate farming in the suburbs.”

Other revolutionary ideas will also be on discussed during the workshop.

A “mobile house” group has created a design for a transportable home, complete with bedrooms, a terrace, kitchen and toilet. To support the design, they also propose that the city administration build a series of buildings in Jakarta’s center, where commuters could park their homes and plug them into the electricity and water grids. The idea of the proposal is to solve the problems of long commutes, a lack of middle-class apartments and the inflexibility of fixed living spaces.

Avianto said that none of the invited government representatives had so far confirmed their attendance at the event. The organization hopes to pitch some of its ideas to mayors, governors and appropriate ministers.

The event will run until Wednesday and is open to the public free of charge.

“Ruang Tinggal Dalam Kota”
(“Living Space in Jakarta”)
Jl. Salihara No.16
Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta
Tel. 021 789 1202
www.salihara.org