PROGRAMMATIC VISION

from Adaptive Jakarta—Landscape Strategies for Real World Issues

by NUS Department of Architecture

SITE EXPERIENCE

Beyond the [de]fence

ZONE 1 // BRIDGING THE GAP

Written by CHENG Jing

Abstract

By reconfiguring the land use to add and design green space, and increase the human activity function, to assume the role of communication and connection. Finally connecting that separates the density community.

The river, North of Kali Angke, now is sandwiched between factories and residential areas. The hard revetment leads to poor water sensitivity with the monotonous landscape, lack of connection road, and vegetation. The land use around the riverbank, in addition to residential areas and factories, there are large areas of undeveloped land and landfills. The utilization rate of these areas is extremely low. Meanwhile, residential areas are densely populated and closed with a severe lack of open space.

From what has been discussed above, there is insufficient space for daily activities and communication of the residents, resulting in the disconnection between the communities. Under Jakarta’s 2030 Masterplan, factories around the river will be turned into green trading and office areas. The closure of factories and the addition of residential areas have created new opportunities for riverbanks. But the government plan simply widens the river and increases the number of residential areas, leaving little to the landscape imagination. The main purpose of the project is to modify the government’s 2030 Masterplan with the existing land use to increase the riparian space and community open space. All this space will take on the role of community connection after landscape modification.

The first step is to the reconfiguration of the riparian and community open space by analyzing the government plans and existing site conditions. For the riparian corridor, where there are already dense residential areas, the hard revetment shall be retained to maintain the existing residential space. In the middle section of the river, the two banks are undeveloped areas and factories, according to the runoff direction the south bank is selected as the segments suitable part of the river to widen and enrich the landscape. For the planned green space, increase the available green space by selecting the unused space in the new green office area.

In summary, according to the revised planning, riparian expansion and the site condition increase the available green space. As the amount of green space increases, a green space system is formed, connecting the communities. Then, according to the new green space system, a landscape bridge is built on both sides of the riverside green space to connect the two sides and form a new pedestrian system. The road system and pedestrian system based on the new planned green space system also play the role of connecting the community. These green spaces will assume the responsibility for urban parks, playgrounds, and other activities of the residents. As the volume of residents’ activity and communication increases, the connectivity of the community will increase, ultimately eliminating the community disconnection.