SPACES IN AND BETWEEN: A LANDSCAPE APPROACH FOR A COHESIVE MIXED CLASS COMMUNITY

Shao Zhongran

A settlement started to thrive in the northeast corner of nowadays Kedaung Kali Angke since the 1980s as the city of Jakarta sprawled. However, the community gradually split up as the public space encroached by the houses when the population boosted. The situation got even worsened after the government expanded the canal Kali Apuran in the year 2014. People feel disconnected with others living on the other side of the canal, and the tension between different classes is soaring. This proposal aims to provide an alternative for those settlements with familiar challenges through three strategies.

The first imperative is inserting public spaces functionally into the community. According to the study of residents’ behavior pattern, people live in different parts of the site have their own preference for the public space. The ones living along the canal reckon on a re-connection with another side. Most lower-class families in the kampung have to share water and sanitary facilities with others while such space is currently disorganized, so they prefer more space with infrastructures among the kampungs. The higher-class families have larger private living space, in comparison, they show more interest in space with unique features like fitness, entertainment, and meditation. Tiny unutilized spaces are supposed to turn to venues to bring the community together through this strategy.

In the second strategy, the existing road networks are renovated to improve connections between public spaces created. Partially uncovered drainage, undecorated front door area, lack of street greenery, and monotone paving styles make the existing road system a dull space for the residents. To transform the roads into an authentic zone for living and extend people’s range of movement, different types of roads are given their own identities by reforming the sections and adding road infrastructures. The paving varies in specific segments to indicate the public spaces surrounding. Also, the roads present motorists and drivers with a succession of both physical and visual restraints designed to encourage slow driving which also make it friendly to pedestrians.

The third strategy is about reforming buildings and structures. The RW office and the mosque are the buildings tend to have the greatest impact upon the community in the village. Extending the function of the RW office into a community center and making a physical upgrade of both can help create hotspots in the village. What’s more, to boost the north-south connection in the village and highlight the two public buildings, a 1-storey high footbridge is proposed between them, with a roof garden and roof platform along the route.

By creating the system of patches-network-hotspots, the proposal integrates the kampung village to a livable place as well as a cohesive community for people with different backgrounds in a regional context.

Site Location

Jakarta, Indonesia

Critical Issue And Vision

- People along Kali Apuran feel more connected to the people on the other side than the people who lives in housing blocks of higher class.

- The relationship between classes deteriorated after the expansion of the canal in 2014.

- The people in the kampung are relatively independent, and do not really engaged in community activities of the region.

Upper-middle class house

Private

3 Household Types

Lower-middle class houseInformal settlements

Private sanitary facilities; Don’t have much space for courtyards;

lack of cohesion in mixed-class area

higher-middle class lower-middle class informal settlement (kampung)

People share public sanitary facilities; Blocks divided by alleys; highest population density

Unite people beyond both physical and socio-economic barriers

public living space range of movement