Community Participation Integral to Urban Design

An expert has suggested that the city administration involve potential residents in the design process for dwellings across the capital.

“The new houses or apartments should be able to accommodate the activities of those who will live there,” said Yuli Kusworo, the coordinator of an architecture firm who wants to help the administration make low-cost apartments more acceptable to the potential residents.

The administration is developing new houses for residents in slum areas and low-cost apartment buildings for those squatting on empty land.

In Petogogan, South Jakarta, for example, the administration is constructing Rumah Deret (row houses) for local residents living in slum neighborhoods. However, the residents have complained about the design of the houses and the facilities.

Yuli, a senior architect from the Yogyakarta Architecture Community (Arkom Yogyakarta), said that his organization had filed a proposal to the administration for the designing of low-cost apartments in Pluit, North Jakarta, for illegal squatters of the Pluit Dam. He had invited the squatters to be involved in discussions surrounding the project.

“The houses and apartments, for example, should [include] communal spaces and areas for informal activities,” he said.

People living in densely populated areas tend to hang out in front of their houses and some use their houses as simple warung (stalls), said Yuli.

As reported earlier, some Petogogan residents had complained about the design of the Rumah Deret because their porches and the neighborhood park took up too much space.

The slum neighborhood used to consist of semi-permanent houses with a narrow alley.

Yuli acknowledged that the city administration wanted to improve the people’s quality of life but residents would need time to change their mind set.

Similarly, Muhammad Amry, an urban architect from the Urban and Housing Development Institute, said the administration should involve the potential residents in the process; right from the beginning.

“In terms of technology and quality, I think most of the residents will accept the new houses. But they need to be involved in the decision making,” he said.

Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said recently that the city administration had involved the Petogogan residents when designing the Rumah Deret.

“The spirit of the Rumah Deret is discussion and consensus. So the design was supposed to be something that had been agreed upon,” he said.


(digunting dari The Jakarta Post, 10 Maret 2014)