URBAN TRANSFORMATION PHENOMENA IN BANDUNG, INDONESIA

(Case Study: Jalan Jenderal Sudirman, Bandung)

PROPOSAL TESIS DESAIN

Karya Tulis sebagai Salah Satu Syarat
untuk Memperoleh Gelar Magister dari
Institut Teknologi Bandung

Oleh
HAFIZ AMIRROL
NIM : 25209022

PROGRAM STUDI MAGISTER ARSITEKTUR

SEKOLAH ARSITEKTUR, PERENCANAAN
DAN PENGEMBANGAN KEBIJAKAN
INSTITUT TEKNOLOGI BANDUNG
2010
 

 
 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.

I.1 Why is the Topic Important to be Develop as a Thesis?

The phenomena of urban transformation that Bandung is experiencing (Figure

1) 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

                                                             
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'.

3 
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.

Figure 1: Transformation of Bandung

(Source: Voskuil, 1999)
This thesis will be divided into thematic parts (will be discuss in Chapter 2),
forming the whole argumentation and analysis of the phenomena. Apart from the
thematic divisions of the research, the whole content of this thesis will be structured
into six main chapters:

1. Background
2. Topic Interests
3. Literature Reviews
4. Methodology

5. Classification of Research Variables

6. Analysis and Design Simulation
7. Conclusion

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.

I.3 On Bandung and Indonesia

LIM, M. (2002) From Walking City to Telematic Metropolis: Changing Urban

Form in Bandung, Indonesia, in BUNNEL, T., DRUMMOND, L. & HO,
K.C. in Critical Reflections on Cities in Southeast Asia, pp. 75-100,
Singapore: Brill Publisher and Times Academic Press.

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.

LIM, M. & PADAWANGI, R. (2008) Contesting Alun-Alun: Power Relations,

Identities, and the Production of Urban Spaces in Bandung, Indonesia,
Liverpool: International Development and Planning Review, Vol. 30 (3),
pp. 307-326, Liverpool University Press.

The research tries to disentangle the relationship between the production of

space and the uses of space to show how social actors can project their identities and/
or ideologies by being dominantly involved in the production of public spaces, in this

5 
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.

POERBO, H.W. (2008) Coping With the Commodification of Culture in Bandung:

an Urban Design Control Approach, Bandung: Arte-Polis 2, Institut
Teknologi Bandung.

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).

The research focuses on the process of regeneration learnt from successful

case studies from several European cities and try to promote these experiences into
the context of Bandung, stressing on the needs to set up comprehensive concepts and
strategies in order to achieve the development vision. The research also proposed the
need for Bandung’s inner city to be clustery developed based on its human assets,
natural and environmental assets, heritage of built environment and the distinctiveness
and vibrancy of cultural life assets, and also the organized civil society assets.

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

6 
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

BLAU, E. & RUPNIK, I. (2007) Project Zagreb: Transition as Condition, Strategy,

Practice. Barcelona: Actar.

Project Zagreb is a research production based on the two-semester seminar at

the Graduate School of Design of Harvard University in 2004-2005. The research
reads the city of Zagreb, Croatia as an open work, dynamic but coherent, in which
architecture plays an active role in the formation of both urban practices and the city
itself. The research sees transition of the city as conditions, strategies and practices for
its development process.

HANSON, J. (1999) Urban Transformations: a History of Design Ideas, London:

Space Syntax Second International Symposium, Brasilia, Space Syntax
Laboratory, University College London.

The paper explained the ‘how’ and ‘why’ in urban transformations by

unfolding the story that lies behind the design ideas of the architects and urban
designers in understanding how social ideas about power and control influence the
frameworks and assumptions in the development of the built environment. It stated
social objectives as an important paradigm in creating a better built environment – not
repeating the same mistakes made during the modernist’s urban genotype.

READ, S. (2006) The Urban Image – Becoming Visible, published in

HAUPTMANN, D. (ed.) The Body In Architecture, Rotterdam: 010
Publishers and TU Delft.

This research is part of TU Delft’s Research Laboratory for the Contemporary

City (SPACELAB), concerning issues on urban spatial form, movement and process,
social-spatial forms and transformations, and urban spatial evolution that are
happening in most cities today. Dr. Stephen Read demonstrated in the context of the
world, which is always provisional, human experience has always been one of being

7 
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.

ROSSI, A. (1984) Architecture of the City. Cambridge: MIT Press.

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.

KOOLHAAS, R. (1978) Delirious New York – A Retroactive Manifesto for

Manhattan. London: Thames and Hudson.

The book is an engaging review of modern architecture and urbanism, setting

a celebratory account of the surreal ‘culture of congestion’ in Manhattan. Written
while Rem Koolhaas was a visiting professor at the Institute for Architecture and
Urban Studies in New York – during a period of financial crisis and the city
government narrowly avoiding bankruptcy through a substantial federal loan, the
book promotes Manhattan as a prototype of the modern metropolis, a collaboration of
visionaries that strive to make life in the city a ‘deeply irrational experience’ and
celebrating the architecture of the city as tools for reinventing city life.

I.5 What Research will be Conducted on this Thesis?

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.

8 
 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.

II. TOPIC INTERESTS

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.

The research process will start by identifying the relationship between

physical and social structures in selected central and peripheral urban perimeters of
Bandung. The selected sites are those that are experiencing urban transformation, and
are constantly acting and reacting to its surrounding conditions, be it social, economic
or culturally at the architectural, urban or direct scales. By studying organizations and
observing the relations and behavior of patterns emerging from their interactions,
systematic approaches will be introduced in developing spatial and strategic designs
that respond to, activate and enrich the complexity of these conditions. Diagram 2
described the systems approach in devising the perimeter of the research.

9 
Figure 2: Land use and service sector distribution of Bandung as part of the regional
and urban design guidelines (Source: Pemerintah Kota Bandung, 2009)

Diagram 1: Main frameworks (Source: Author, 2010)

10 
 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:

1. Prof. Em. Mohammad Danisworo, Ph.D. (Jakarta) on urban design

development in Indonesia.
2. Ir. Achmad Tardiyana, MUDD. (Bandung) on urbanism, economic
development and social needs in Bandung.
3. Ir. Adi Purnomo (Jakarta) on urban dwellings in Jakarta.
4. Kevin Mark Low (Kuala Lumpur) on contextual approaches in tropical
urbanism and architecture.
5. Prof. Ir. Winy Maas/ MVRDV (Rotterdam) on urban density.
6. Prof. Rem Koolhaas/ OMA (Rotterdam) on globalism’s impact on urban
transformation.
7. Caruso St. John (London) on character of buildings in urban context.
8. Peter Zumthor (Haldenstein) on tactile and sensory qualities of spaces and
buildings.

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III. LITERATURE REVIEWS

III.1 Positioning the Topic Through Scientific Discourse

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:

1. The Theory of Structural Anthropology, based on the idea of Claude Lévi-

Strauss, developed in 1972.
2. The Theory of Permanence, as proposed by Pierre Lavedan in his thesis
Histoire de l’Urbanisme, written in 1926.
3. The Society of Spectacle, by the Situationist and Marxist theorist, Guy Ernest
Debord, first published in 1967.
4. Reconsidering Indonesian Identity in Architecture at the Beginning of the
New Millennium, by Achmad Tardiyana, in his foreword note in the book
The Long Road Towards Recognition, 2005.

III.2 The City as Evaluated by Aldo Rossi

This chapter will review and analyze the phenomenal book written by Aldo
Rossi – The Architecture of the City (1966) and will delineate the relationship
between his theoretical arguments about the city and my research topic. The city has
been the focus of many literatures in urban theories, where scholars try to understand
the city and try to determine how to design it. In the context of modern architecture,
Rossi tried to seek for the inner logics of the whole structure of a city, and this chapter
will elaborate Rossi’s theoretical assumptions and arguments in order to position the
thesis’ topic within theories that are established and reliable.

III.2.1 City as Work of Art

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

12 
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:

1. Problems of description, classification and typology.

2. Structure of the city.
3. Individuality of urban artifacts and the locus.
4. Urban dynamics and the problem of politics of choice.
Rossi is primarily concerned with the form of a city, which is the summary of
its architecture, and emphasizes to explain the city as an object of art. Urban artifacts
such as buildings, streets, urban furniture, etc. are considered as work of arts, which
Rossi believe are the manifestations of social and daily life practice. Rossi also
supports Claude Levi-Strauss’ theory of structural anthropology (1972) that considers
the city as an object of nature and a subject of culture, and will be able to achieve a
balance between natural and artificial elements. Beside recognizing the city as a work
of art, Rossi also view the city as human’s achievement per excellence, and believe
that the whole product of the city is more important that its single parts, thus making
him examining the city in a broad measure of its many parts.

III.2.2 Typology and Function

Many previous studies on urbanism and architecture addressed typologies in

relation to function. But according to Rossi, existing classification on these matters
failed to see the root of the problem in a holistic manner. This is supported through
his argument that urban artifacts are changeable with time and needs, thus seeing
functionalism as physiological in nature, which justifies the formation, development
and alterations of forms. To Rossi, types on the basis of functions seem to be
inadequate to understand the city. Since every function can be articulated through
forms, and forms will contain the potential to exist as urban artifacts, forms are
reflexive enough to allow themselves to be articulated as urban elements. While
function alone cannot be indicated as a principal issue in studies on city, other
elements such as individuality, locus, mnemonic meanings and design itself are

13 
priorities to urban analysis. Rossi believes that all urban forms are capable to
incorporate functions with some alterations and transformations if required.

III.2.3 Theory of Permanence and Monuments

The theory of permanence, as developed by Pierre Lavedan in his thesis

Histoire de l’Urbanisme (1926) was important to Rossi’s hypothesis of the city as a
giant man-made object produced in the process of time. Here, the theory of
permanence is useful in seeing the city as the product of individual and collective
artifacts, and sees the persistence of the city is revealed through ‘monuments’ as well
as through the city’s basic layout and plans. However, this concept of permanence can
be propelling or pathological. Urban artifacts help to perceive the city in a holistic
way, but may also appear as isolated elements of the urban system. Rossi explained
that if a monument survived through times because of their form can accommodate
different functions over time, it becomes a propelling element. But if the monument
stands virtually isolated and contributes nothing to the city, then it is considered as a
pathological artifact. The latter condition is what we usually experience in cities like
Bandung or Jakarta, where buildings stands alone without having positive interactions
with its neighboring context.

III.2.4 City as a Spatial System

The city is conceived as a spatial system composed of many different parts,

and this spatial system is attached to nature and evolution of the city, and constitutes
the city’s image. This concept of totality of the system challenges theories of the
functionalists, i.e. zoning system. Rossi considers specialized zones are characteristics
of a city and they may have their own autonomous parts within the whole system.
Their distribution and positioning in the city’s spatial system was determined by the
entire historical process, and not based on function alone. In the case of Bandung, we
can witness how the area of Jalan Asia-Afrika, Jalan Otista, Jalan Braga or Jalan
Jenderal Sudirman (Figure 3) evolved through time and history, and made them to be
specially positioned and zoned as what they are today. These phenomena were caused
by cultural demand, human preferences, and history, and function alone may not
contribute to its condition in the city’s spatial system. These urban phenomena and
elements are capable of accelerating the process of the city’s spatial transformations.
These elements play important role in the evolution of the city overtime and constitute

14 
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

(Source: Author, 2010)

III.2.5 History, Collective Memory and Locus

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.

15 
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.

III.3 Performative Urbanism – Rem Koolhaas’ Delirious New York

This chapter will review and analyze Rem Koolhaas’ Delirious New York: A
Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan (1978) – a book with an engaging review of
modern architecture and urbanism. In this book, Koolhaas presents the city as world
of the ‘fantastic’, disguised as the pragmatic, and termed the city as the Rosetta Stone
of the 20th century. Manhattan, the main subject of discussion of the book was viewed
as a world of illusion that was brought to life and became a factory of man-made
experience. This condition had caused the real and the natural condition of the city to
ceased to exist, lacking a sense of the real.

III.3.1 From Modernity to Performative Modernity

Throughout the 1970s, intense hostility toward the modernist approaches in

architecture and urban planning provided motivation for a reengagement with
architectural history, and stressed out upon an articulation of architecture as a system
of communication. The parallel framing of architecture as a communicative system
was influenced by methods from other disciplines, such as semiotics and structuralist
linguistics. However, Delirious New York was written by depicting the architecture of
Manhattan not in linguistic or representational terms, but as a kind of a performative

16 
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.

III.3.2 Performative Driven Urbanism – The Culture of Congestion

Delirious New York was represented as the ‘popular’ American modernism – a

modernism of unselfconscious density, which in Koolhaas’ view, the culture of
congestion. What keeps Manhattan running is congestion, a world constantly on the
edge of total gridlock. This is the similar phenomenon that Bandung is also facing
currently. The simultaneous explosion of human density and invasion of new
technologies, together with unregulated forces of capitalism and politics surpasses
established urban planning and architecture theories. In the case of Manhattan,
Koolhaas coined the term ‘Manhattanism’ – which is the undeclared modern
phenomena that exceeds both the rationality of Le Corbusier’s machine age
modernism (Corbusier, 1927) and the irrationality of Salvador Dali’s paranoid-critical
surrealism. The reason Le Corbusier could not conquer Manhattan is that his urban
form removed the congestion phenomena of the city, replacing it with an ideal city
form to live in. This congestion, similar to what Bandung is facing today, forces the
city to be divorced from reality – into a more speculative world filled with people
with unique human desires. These desires were also caused by the systemization of
the efficient city, which lack inspiration and surrender individuality to the automatism
of a synthetic routine of living in the city.

III.3.3 Delirious New York as an Inductive Research

Koolhaas’ research on Manhattan operates predominantly in an inductive

mode, involving the extraction of general principles (theories) from observation of
specific phenomena (facts). His approach was in opposition to the deduction method,

17 
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.

This generative mode of polemical architectural research, directed toward

theorizing urban phenomena outside of the architectural profession was, perhaps
made famous by the work of Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown and Steven
Izenour’s Learning From Las Vegas (1972). The research for the thesis follows the
similar approach of both Delirious New York and Learning From Las Vegas, looking
to contemporary explosive locations of urban growth and transformation that are
driven by the global and local market economy and socio-political factors, rather that
the dictates of architects and planners.

III.4 Structural Anthropology as a Method in Researching Urban

Transformation in Bandung

Structuralism is a mode of thinking and a method of analysis, mainly used in

the 20th century field of social sciences and humanities. Methodologically,
structuralism analyzes large-scale systems by examining the relations and functions of
the smallest related elements of such systems. Structuralism in this context was used
ranging from human languages and cultural practices to works of literature. For the
purpose of this research, structural approaches introduced by Claude Lévi-Strauss that
are more related to the domain of anthropology and cultural phenomena studies will
be used. Lévi-Strauss basic procedures to structuralism are:

1. Structural analysis examines unconscious infrastructures of cultural

phenomena.
2. Structural analysis regards the elements of infrastructure as relational, not as
separated, independent entities.
3. Structural analysis attends the system in a single-minded way.
4. Structural analysis offers general laws accounting for the underlying
organizing patterns of phenomena.

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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.

III.4.1 Structuralism in Architecture

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.

Another influence that structuralism had on architecture came from the

interest of a number of architects, such as Aldo van Eyck, Peter and Allison Smithson,
Herman Hertzberger and John Habraken, who grafted onto the traditional
architectural approach with a set of formal gestures that symbolized the broader shifts
in thoughts in which structuralism is represented. Generally, this approach organized
architecture as arrangements that are less or more flexible and interchangeable, and

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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:

1. Field research (source for primary data)

2. Survey research (source for primary data)

3. Literature studies (source for secondary data)

4. Develop strategic operations (design methods)

5. Develop spatial and strategic interventions (design approaches)

Design simulations studies will be developed during the final semester.

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Diagram 3: Design process cycle (Source: Author, 2010)

IV.1 Strategic Operations

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.

1. Devise methods for immersing in the chosen urban condition.

2. Devise ways of understanding the structure of the urban condition.
3. Identify variables that make up and influence the urban condition.
4. Investigate the relationship between the urban condition and the city’s fabric.
5. Choose a moment within the urban condition and formulate an understanding
of the relationship between physical and social structures.
6. Develop strategies for creating interactive relationships between physical and
social structures.
7. Devise appropriate methods of representation and communication.
8. Define the perimeter and analyze the structure of this urban territory.
9. Investigate the variables that make up this urban territory.
10. Investigate different ways of transforming it into a potential territory of action
for an urban hub.
11. Devise appropriate methods of representation and communication.
12. Prepare preliminary proposals for a direct hub at the architectural scale and an
urban hub at the urban scale.

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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.

IV.2 Responding to the Issue

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.

By introducing the concepts of the ‘irrational’, ephemeral and speculation

through changes in design practices (Borden & Clear, 2009), it is hoped that the
research will be able to propose valid new logics that underlies value systems that are
not prescriptive and reductive, but is driven with the performance of the city. These
ideas are seen as an alternative method in suggesting the urban condition in
addressing and promote values and forms of social organization that are liberating and
celebratory. By shifting the perspective in the research and design approaches, the
thesis will focus on social practices rather than the conception of the formalist and
functionalist urbanism.

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.

IV.3 User Metric Framework

In attempting to achieve a more holistic approach to understand the process of

the practice and transformation of urbanism in Bandung, a specific, user-oriented
analysis framework is established. This user metric framework encapsulate these
processes:

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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.

4. Hyperactivity of the City

Understanding daily practices by measuring (i) frequency of travelling and
commuting patterns of the area, and (ii) speed of movement and commuting per hour.

24 
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.

It is hoped that by conducting these alternative methods in quantifying data on

the areas to be studied, emerging issues of change, needs and use may anticipate how
design practices can make more purposeful intervention, while creating opportunities
for alternative approaches and innovations.

V. CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH VARIABLES

Just as there are many narratives and information sources available to explain
chains of events in the history and evolution of Bandung’s urban transformation
phenomena, it is important to select and classify a variety of research variables for the
thesis (Diagram 4 and 5). The selected variables are generally classify into three types
of variables:
1. Independent variables – variables which are presumed to affect or determine a
dependent variable.
2. Dependent variables – variables that are dependent on independent variables.
3. Intervening variables – hypothetical conditions that are used to explain
relationships between independent and dependent variables.

Independent Variables Dependent Variables Intervening Variables

1. Typomorphological 1. Socio-cultural 1. Political
conditions structures and interventions,
conditions revolutions, policies,
2. History and geographical etc.
factors 2. Demographic
compositions 2. Society’s activism
3. Physical structures
3. Society’s 3. Design activism
4. Economical conditions characteristics,
behaviors and 4. Other intervening
5. Programming, land use, preferences patterns factors
planning and zoning
classifications
Direct Urbanism Analysis User Metric Frameworks Both

Diagram 4: Classification of research variables (Source: Author, 2010)

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Diagram 5: Relationships of research variables (Source: Author, 2010)

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*Tentative reading list, and the list may expand as the thesis research progress.

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