Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Oleh
HAFIZ AMIRROL
NIM : 25209022
URBAN TRANSFORMATION PHENOMENA IN BANDUNG, INDONESIA
(Case Study: Jalan Jenderal Sudirman, Bandung)
Abstract
The phenomena of urban transformation that Bandung is experiencing are something that
needs comprehensive analysis and understanding. This is due to the fact that these
phenomena and conditions will be transformed into possibilities that would affect Bandung’s
built environment and its whole future development. The topic is crucial in developing total
understanding of the city with all of its conditions, since these conditions of the city will also
condition the whole living environment, and also represent human’s achievement per
excellence (Rossi, 1984). What Bandung is experiencing today is a representation and
manifestation of the collective will of the people that inhabit it, and currently, the image is not
a good one. This thesis is hoped to produce better analysis and understanding in helping to
recognize conditions and transformations of the city into better practices. By conducting
research and analysis on the phenomena of urban transformation, the objective of this thesis
is to provide a visionary thinking through best practices approaches and methods on how to
intervene the city (proposed area of study). The thesis will not try to describe urban
transformation from the perspective of functions, land use zonings, or urban and
architectural design policies, but will be focused on the process of finding strategic
operations for design approaches, application of those strategic operations on several scales
of operations (design simulations), and measuring the applicability and positive affect that
those strategic operations will contribute to the whole long transformation process of the city,
from present to the future. Although the research will consider the generative functional
system of architecture and the city, with analysis from various disciplines that directly give
impact to the built environment, such as politics, economics, social and cultural systems, it
will be more focused on the aspects of spatial structure and design. Thus, direct urbanism
and direct architecture that are generated from a design-perspective thinking will be the main
generative component of the thesis. By considering that the city must achieve a balance
between natural and artificial elements, as it is an object of nature and a subject of culture
(Levi-Strauss, 1972), this thesis is interested in seeing articulation of designs being put in the
context of a transforming city, in order the test the design approaches proposed and its
impact towards the context itself.
Keywords: urban transformation, strategic operations, direct urbanism, best practices, user-
metric framework
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I. BACKGROUND
The proposed thesis is concerned with the process of urban transformation that
is happening in Bandung today. The research is interested in these transformations
because of its importance in understanding the whole phenomena of the city, which
might lead to the development of the city in the future. This thesis, which deals with
the practice of architectural and urban modernism and its transformation opens
against a background in which expectation tinged with equal measures of uncertainty.
Public and professional attitudes towards modern architecture and planning systems,
and its continuing potential for reshaping cities had changed dramatically since the
death of modernism was announced1. Although some continued to believe in and
practice modernism as if nothing had happened, as what happened in Indonesia,
elsewhere the mood was critical, apologetic and sometime confused (Gold, 2007).
Architects and urban planners, who previously enjoyed general endorsement as built
environment’s experts now faced criticisms and are accused of authoritarianism,
dogmatism, unaccountability, elitism, hegemony, lack of ethical concern, arrogance,
and above all, being a whore for those with capital strength. These criticisms usually
come from the grass-root level of society that primarily are users of the places and
spaces designed by architects and planners. These places which society celebrated in
the past now stood condemned as dysfunctional, socially sterile, without respect for
history and the collective mnemonic memory and monotonous. This kind of
transformation is the primary research topic of the thesis, which tries to investigate
and understand the evolution of use and functions of the designed places and spaces
over the transformative period that had happened.
1
Architectural theorist and critic, Charles Jencks in his book on The Language of Post-Modern
Architecture (1977) opens with the statement: 'Happily, we can date the death of Modern Architecture
to a precise moment in time... It expired finally and completely in 1972'.
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topic is crucial in developing total understanding of the city with all of its conditions,
since these conditions of the city will also condition the whole living environment,
and also represent human’s achievement per excellence (Rossi, 1984). What Bandung
is experiencing today is a representation and manifestation of the collective will of the
people that inhabit it, and currently, the image is not a good one. This thesis is hoped
to produce better analysis and understanding in helping to recognize conditions and
transformations of the city into better practices.
1. Background
2. Topic Interests
3. Literature Reviews
4. Methodology
The first four chapters will be used to unify and relate the many disparate
elements of the discussion into one comprehensive thesis structure. Chapter 6 and 7
will be developed during the final semester.
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I.2 What Research Has Been Done Before?
Not much detail research has been done on the aspects of urban transformation
in the context of urban and architectural design of Bandung. Most previous researches
focuses on historical analysis, conservation and heritage, planning policies and
guidelines, good governance of the city, and most recently issues on Bandung as a
creative city. However, in the context of modern architecture and the rapid
development that is happening in the built environment of Bandung, this thesis try to
find out what are the inner logic of the whole structure of the city’s part, and what
could be develop to provide better living and built environment for the future. These
are some of previous related researches that have been conducted, touching on the
issues of urban transformations, transitions and possible developments, both on
Bandung and other places.
This research analyzed the potential of Bandung and its future urban
condition, with specific interest on telecommunication and the city. The author try to
see Bandung’s directions of future trends, by creating a clear relationship analysis of
telecommunication and its impact towards the city’s condition of decentralization and
re-centralization. The research also studied patterns of goods productions, services
productions, and social interaction that contribute to Bandung’s urban transformation
process.
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case, the alun-alun of Bandung. The article also recognizes the importance of civil
society and the market in place making, and legitimizes their authorities over the
production of urban space.
Dr.-Ing. Ir. Heru Poerbo, MURP discusses the role of cultural economy in
affecting the form of the city, particularly the streetscape of some notable areas in
Bandung. The paper described the changes in urban culture in Bandung, explained
how these culture affect the land use configuration and the externalities caused by
them, and investigated the possible urban design measures in coping with the
externalities of such urban developments.
MIRZA, S. (2010) Strategic Urban Planning and Design Tools for Inner City
Regeneration: Towards a Strategic Approach of Sustainable Urban Form
Future – the Case of Bandung City, Netherlands: International Society of
City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP).
KUSNO, A. (2006) Back to the City: a Note on Urban Architecture in the New
Indonesia, in Arts, Popular Culture and Social Change in the New
Indonesia, Seminar Proceedings of Conference at the Centre for
Southeast Asian Research, pp. 59-93, Institute of Asian Research,
University of British Columbia.
Dr. Abidin Kusno focuses on the sensitivity of urban architecture towards the
post-1998 social environment reform, and explained the ways in which the
architectural world has tried to tailor its design culture into the urban fabric of the
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city. In this article, he studied the works of Adi Purnomo (MAMO Studio) and
Ridwan Kamil (URBANE Indonesia), in understanding the forces of urban
architecture towards the shaping of the city in the search for norms of public life in
the new Indonesia.
I.4 On Others
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on the brink of an unspecified outcome for the urban environment and shifted the
human paradigm into somewhat is coherent in the making of cities and its evolution
process.
In this seminal work by Aldo Rossi, issues and critics concerning the failure of
modern movement in the built environment were extensively discussed. The book
provided important theories and critics based on structure of the city itself, seeing
problems of description, classification and typological analysis, individuality of urban
artifacts and the urban history, as well as the dynamics of the urban and the problem
of politics as choice.
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Although the research will consider the generative functional system of
architecture and the city, with analysis from various disciplines that directly give
impact to the built environment, such as politics, economics, social and cultural
systems, it will be more focused on the aspects of spatial structure and design. Thus,
direct urbanism and direct architecture that are generated from a design-perspective
thinking will be the main generative component of the thesis. By considering that the
city must achieve a balance between natural and artificial elements, as it is an object
of nature and a subject of culture (Levi-Strauss, 1972), this thesis is interested in
seeing articulation of designs being put in the context of a transforming city, in order
the test the design approaches proposed and its impact towards the context itself.
The main interest of the thesis development is within the perimeter of urban
transformation that is happening today, with specific focus towards the context of
Bandung, Indonesia and using Jalan Jenderal Sudirman as its case study. Bandung is
in many ways the perfect location for examining the generative dynamic of transition
that it is experiencing today (Anderson, 2008). The primary objective in conducting
this research is to understand the physical and social repertoire of the city. The
research would start from seeing urban transformation as a complex adaptive system
of the city (Figure 2), and try to understand the need to develop techniques for
representing and analyzing conditions that are unstable, multiple and contingent on a
broad range of equally unstable factors. The research will initially be divided into
three main frameworks, as described in Diagram 1.
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Figure 2: Land use and service sector distribution of Bandung as part of the regional
and urban design guidelines (Source: Pemerintah Kota Bandung, 2009)
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Diagram 2: Systems approach in devising research perimeter
(Source: Author, 2010)
Apart from these systems approach in devising the research perimeter, the
thesis will also focus on the studies on selected leading architects that play important
role in the development and progression of architecture and urbanism in the context
that is similar to the thesis’ subject of interests. Proposed architects that will be
studied are:
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III. LITERATURE REVIEWS
The topic of interest, which is concerned with urban transformation and its
impact on the city’s urban and architectural design, will be discussed using scientific
analysis of established existing theories. The reference theories for the scientific
discourse were selected from various sources and branches of knowledge, but are all
related with the main argument of the thesis. The proposed references of theories
related to the study of the design of the built environment include:
Aldo Rossi recognize the city as architecture and sees it as a discipline with
self-determining autonomy, inseparable from life and society. He considers the city as
a unified element – an overall synthesis of its disassociated parts, and is always
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undergoing changes, be it for natural or man-made reasons. In his study, Rossi framed
his area of studies on the city by looking at the city through two systems of study. The
first one viewed the city as a product of the generative functional systems of its
architecture and urban spaces, while the second one consider city as a spatial
structure, which system belongs more to architecture and geography. The Architecture
of the City is divided into four main parts:
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priorities to urban analysis. Rossi believes that all urban forms are capable to
incorporate functions with some alterations and transformations if required.
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the physical structure of the city. Over time, these urban artifacts become transformed
and their functions or form altered. According to Rossi, such elements have meta-
economic character and become works of art.
Figure 3: Figure ground of Jalan Asia-Afrika, Jalan Otista and Jalan Braga
History is the collective memory of the people of the city, and it has important
influence on the city. History expresses itself through urban artifacts and monuments,
thus city become the reflection of the collective will through out the time and its
existence. Rossi believes that urban history is a useful tool to study urban structure.
For example, urban aesthetics constitute mnemonic meanings inherent in the pre-
existing urban artifacts and buildings of the city, and through this collective memory,
people engaged to discover their meanings and beauty. Rossi also viewed the city
with emphasis on cultural stability that somehow will inspire further developments.
The city itself became a locus of the collective memory. The value of history seen as
collective memory is that it helps us to grasp the significance of the urban structure,
its individuality, and its architecture, which is the form of individuality. Locus in the
context of Rossi’s study on the city is conceived of singular place and event, which
bridge the relationship of architecture to the city’s constitution, and the relationship
between context and monuments. Locus is regarded as conditions and qualities of
space. On the other hand, architecture shapes a context, which again constitutes
changes in space, thus contributing to the city’s transformations.
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III.2.6 The Architecture of the City and Bandung
Rossi’s thesis on the city that regards all of the above arguments is useful tools
in the process of analyzing and understanding the city of Bandung. As a city that has
undergone a process of transformation from its early period until today, where it can
be regarded as one of those city that resembles problems due to the modernist and
capitalistic approaches in city planning, Bandung can be re-approached according to
Rossi’s methods in devising ways to construct the city towards a more holistic and
user-oriented perspectives. Moreover, Rossi conceived the city as an archaeological
artifact and analyzed it as a whole construct, set within the domain of architecture.
Some parts of Bandung are suitable to be approached this way since they resembles
typologies that have survived through different periods and users’ demands, thus
requiring typological and function analysis to understand them. The theory of
permanence is also very relevant to understand Bandung as the fact that its past is
partly being experienced now, and this may be the means to give permanency to the
city – they are pasts that we are still experiencing.
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drive. In this context, Koolhaas’ processes of understanding the city were done
through the analyzing of the block grid that is Manhattan. The block grid was
conceived in 1807, breaking Coney Island into 2028 blocks, totally indifferent to
topography. Manhattan was basically formed by the imposition of the mental over the
real. The city form was a result of overlying the grids, shifted out of the real into the
fantastic with the advent of the skyscrapers. This had made Manhattan became
lobotomized, in the words of Koolhaas. The external image of the city representing
the illusion of what a proper and monumental urban structure should be, while the
internal being entirely divorced from the external, and being only what it was – be it
fantasy or the mundane of everyday life.
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which is the testing of general principles through the production of specific
phenomena. If the modernist manifesto was intended to be read according to logic of
rationalist deduction, Delirious New York is a reversal to it. The research attempt to
recuperate an alternative to the rationalist’ modernism through a parallactic
historiography, in which the object of study is being reframed by the point of view
assumed by a repositioned subject. This method led to the blurring of roles, which
plays out in the book structure and way of writing.
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The views of Karl Marx (2007) and Sigmund Freud (2002), both of whom that
thinking and approaches towards any subject of studies were concerned with
underlying causes, unconscious motivations, and transpersonal forces, were paralleled
to Lévi-Strauss’ methods that values deep structures over surface phenomena. Similar
to Marxism and Freudianism, structuralism continues the ongoing diminishment of
the individual, portraying the single element as a construct and consequence of
impersonal systems. It regards collective controls and conventions over the subject of
analysis.
In 1950s and 1960s, Structuralists’ thoughts that were already popular in the
linguistics and anthropology fields began to influence works of architecture in the
United States and Europe. The work of Lévi-Strauss in anthropology and Ferdinand
de Saussure in linguistics led to the idea of the existence of ‘deep structures’ in their
respective fields of studies. Generally, structuralism in this context was characterized
by the attempt to study relationships linking phenomena, rather than studying the
phenomena themselves in isolation. This led to the view that individual phenomena
are part of the cause and effect of a larger matrix of phenomena, rather than as the
outcome of a linear chain of cause and effect. Lévi-Strauss’s studies on traditional
cultures drew attention to the built forms of these cultures, and as there seemed to be
‘deep structures’ shaping the social patterns of these cultures, there should also be
‘deep structures’ defining the organization of their built environment. It is in this
context that structural analysis is believed to be appropriate to be used as a method in
analyzing the ‘deep structures’ of the community in Bandung city in order to reveal
the ‘deep structures’ of their cultural and daily life practices that have shaped and
transformed their built environment.
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can be defined as clear set of modules (Habraken, 1998). Space was categorized and
divided to patterns of use and combined according to devised sets of rules. In this
approach, components of architectural forms were generally articulated and were
made clearer, and again are very appropriate to be used as an approach in devising
methods in the design simulations of this thesis.
IV. METHODOLOGY
Since the interest of this thesis is to analyze the unstable and transforming
qualities of Bandung, strategic research methods are selected in forming the structure
of the studies. The research is not to produce a historical analysis of Bandung, but is
designed to produce strategic design operations for the city. Multi variables
conditions (spatial, programmatic, social, culture, politics, economic, as well as the
historical particularities of the city) are the focuses of the study, and will be used to
devised ways of developing an appropriate architectural language, design methods
and methods for drawing and representing consequent strategic and spatial
interventions incorporating all pertinent and direct elements, before producing the
design simulation proposal to support the arguments (Diagram 3). The basic
methodologies used in this thesis are as follows:
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The design thesis will be operated within designed strategic operations. The
first approach is to choose or identify and existing urban condition within the central
or peripheral areas of Bandung that can be anything from a current development
strategy to any form of current events that directly influence the city.
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At the urban scale, the research will focus on a territory that relates to the
chosen urban condition, defining its perimeter, analyze its structure and transform it
into a potential urban hub by designing spatial and strategic interventions.
1. Explore the potential of the designed direct hub as an urban component and
explore its relationship to rule-based urban systems.
2. Reassess the territory of action as a potential urban hub.
3. Identify and make use of relevant agents and initiatives.
4. Define and design the direct role of the urban hub by producing design
simulations and other strategic representations of the idea.
5. Define the relationship between the proposal for the urban hub and the city's
infrastructure, fabric and rule-based systems.
6. Speculate on the interrelationship between the three hubs: the situation, the
direct hub and the urban hub.
7. Finalize the strategy for the urban hub, model and represent its spatial
configuration.
8. Finalize the rule-based systems required to procure and support the urban hub
and devise appropriate methods of representation and communication.
9. Compile the whole process as a design thesis.
The current conception of the city has been dominated by the deterministic
approach of city planning and its growth, which include rationalist, planned and
functionally driven approaches. These ideas of scientific planning have ignored other
elements that are similarly important; pleasure, delight and happiness, fun, memory
and its mnemonic meanings (Zubir & Amirrol, 2007). It is through this thesis,
qualitative and experiential natures of the city are to be addressed in seeking
approaches in making a city pleasurable. Subjective notions of habitation and
occupying the city can be best addressed through speculative research in order to
understand the city from a more holistic, user-oriented perspective.
This thesis will try to move away from the modernist and rationalist legislative
planning and design methods in suggesting particular transformation and
augmentation phenomena of the urban landscapes. It is within this concept that the
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research will suggest that the issue of the late-capitalist city is not simply to do with
the material, the functional and the acqusitional aspects of the city, but contemporary
urbanisms should also be concerned with the experiential and qualitative expectations
of the city users. The research will approach the city by mapping out tactics to address
urban territory that resists the functionalist concepts inherited from the Modern
Movement.
The practice of urbanism in the city of Bandung, which was the product of the
19th and 20th century urbanism were facilitated by forms of technological
development, driven by industrial production and were designed heavily based on the
zoning and land use distribution of the city use. With the declining quality and
condition of Bandung’s city area, it is important to re-address the whole idea of needs
in sustaining the transformation process of the city. While not ignoring the
programmatic aspects of the city, what the thesis try to articulate is the effect of such
transformations on inhabitation that project needs in creating a responsive urban
discourse in creating a new conception of new forms of symbolic values, new
‘interface’ replacing the machinic capitalist city, and the requirements of a much
greater levels of self-sufficiency and autonomy.
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1. Review of existing data and literatures.
2. Interviews with stakeholders on mapping assumptions and perspectives on
transformations.
3. User case studies, which include interviews and analysis of first hand reports
of emerging lifestyle patterns.
4. Parametric surveys.
The process of quantifying the qualities of urban spaces and its architecture,
and acknowledging social needs is often a complicated and intangible process. The
thesis is proposing new techniques to measure the parameter of the city, since current
techniques (i.e. land use zoning and distributions, plot ratio regulations, measuring
density by the numbers, etc.) in the practice of urbanism does not adequately reflects
current social and demographic transformations of the city (Clarke, 2007). They also
remain a one-dimensional and restrictive means of ‘measuring’ the city. Therefore,
alternative measures that are more user-oriented and reflexive are needed. The
proposed alternative measures are:
1. Cultural Complexity
Measuring the complex cultural composition of the areas studied based on (i)
numbers of language or dialects used per square meters, and (ii) numbers of cultural
practices differences per square meters.
2. Technological Density
Assessing usage of technology by dwellers based on (i) numbers of wireless hotspots
per square meters, (ii) numbers of Facebook/ Twitter/ BlackBerry/ iPhone users per
square meters, and (iii) parameters of areas covered with Wi-Fi and 3G networks.
3. Metropolitan Index
Quantifying the index of globalization’s impact on the city and its lifestyle practices
by measuring the (i) numbers of Starbucks/ McDonalds/ Indomaret/ Circle K/ Alpha
Mart in the area of study, and (ii) numbers of ideas per square meters by mapping the
distribution of creative industry practices, design consultants, distros, creative
applications used, etc.
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5. Demographic Growth Patterns
Measuring demographic data to gain insights on varying socio-economic conditions
by measuring (i) fertility rates or number of births per square meters, and (ii) health
impacts and mapping of diseases on dwellers per square meters.
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Diagram 5: Relationships of research variables (Source: Author, 2010)
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REFERENCES*
BRANDT, C.V. (2008) Direct Urbanism vs. Direct Architecture (AA Diploma 10,
Unit Brief). London: AA School of Architecture.
CLARKE, P. (2008) Metricity: Exploring New Measures of Urban Density. London:
Royal College of Art.
CORBUSIER, L. (1927) Towards a New Architecture. (translated, with an
introduction by Frederick Etchells). London: Architectural Press.
GOLD, J.R. (2007) The Practice of Modernism: Modern Architects and Urban
Transformation, 1954-1972. London: Routledge.
GROAT, L. & WANG, D. (2002) Architectural Research Methods. New York: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
HABRAKEN, N.J. (1998) The Structure of the Ordinary, Form and Control in the
Built Environment, Cambridge & London: MIT Press.
HEALY, P. & BRUYNS, G. (ed.) (2006) De-/signing the Urban. Techno-genesis and
the Urban Image. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers.
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KOOLHAAS, R. & MAU, B. (1995) SMLXL. New York: Monacelli Press.
LEE, C.M. & JACOBY, S. (2007) Typological Formations: Renewable Building
Types and the City. London: AA Publications
LIM, W. (2001) Alternatives in Transition – The Postmodern, Glocality and Social
Justice. Singapore: Select Publishing.
LOW, K.M. (2010) Small Projects. Singapore: Oro Editions.
MARX, K. (2007) Dispatches for the New York Tribune, (eds. James Ledbetter),
London: Penguin Books.
MERLEU-PONTY, M. (1962) Phenomenology of Perception. (translated by Colin
Smith). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
NAS, P.J. (2007) The Past in the Present: Architecture in Indonesia. Rotterdam:
Netherlands Architecture Institute.
*Tentative reading list, and the list may expand as the thesis research progress.
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