why always seeing something from the bad side? optimizing the function of city open space

8/9/2019 why always seeing something from the bad side? optimizing the function of city open space...

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Arte-Polis 3 International Conference on Creative Collaboration and the Making of Place 1

Why Always Seeing Something From the Bad Side??. Astri Anindya SARI, Wanda YOVITA

WHY ALWAYS SEEING SOMETHING FROM THE

BAD SIDE??OPTIMIZING THE FUNCTION OF CITY OPEN SPACE TO

FACILITATE PUBLIC ACTIVITY AND CREATIVITY

CASE STUDY: GASIBU SQUARE, BANDUNG

Astri Anindya SARIPost-graduate Student, Architecture, SAPPK, Institute Technology of Bandung -INDONESIA

[email protected]

Wanda YOVITAPost-graduate Student, Architecture, SAPPK, Institute Technology of Bandung -

[email protected]

ABSTRACTPublic open space which main function is to accommodate peoples

activities is an essential element to form the characteristics of the city. Number of people who come and do various activities at the space is one of the successdesign parameters of a public open space. In many big cities of the developingcountries where the urbanization rate is very high, the initially designed functionsof a city open space may often changed due to of the presence of street vendors tostart their business. The presence of street vendors in the open space willindirectly stimulate more people to come, which eventually construct a new socio-temporal space that liven up the people activities in the city. This, however, may

also raise some problems related to the beauty and cleanliness of the city. To thestakeholders this is the problem rather than business potential, for them it shouldbe terminated rather than managed.

Gasibu square Bandung is one of the city's open space facing this problem. Initially designed as a community sports facilities, this place is nowchanged to chaotic street vendor market people visited on Sunday. Variousactivities and socioeconomic characteristics of traders and visitors at the Gasibumarket prove that Gasibu has succesfully accommodated people activities leadingto the improvement of micro economy. The existence of Gasibu market with itsslum an chaotic image, on the other hand, has ruined the beautiful image of

Bandung.

Through a comparative study of similar problems in the cities of Malang,Surabaya, and Solo, this paper aims to show that through creative management incollaboration between the stake holders involved, the problems arising from theactivities of street vendors in the open space can be minimized. Collaborativemanagement is able to maximize the various potentials existing in the space togrow without causing negative effect to the city.

Keywords: public open space, street vendor, collaboration, place making,

urbanization.


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OPEN SPACE AS A MEANS OF PUBLIC ACTIVITIES ANDITS PROBLEMS IN INDONESIA

Public open space is one of the essential elements that play a role in formingcharacteristic of the city. As a public facility, this space must primary accomodatesocial interaction, economic activities, and public cultural appreciation

(Darmawan, 2007). Given these core functions, one of the success parameters ofpublic open space is its function to support the peoples need for various activies.This means that society is not segmented, they come from various backgroundssuch as social levels, economic conditions, educations, ages, and interests.Essentially, according to Darmawan, (2007) a good public space should be able tomeet the three following criteria: a) meaningful: it can give a significance meaningfor the local community whether it is for individual or a group. b) responsive,meaning that it can accommodate the wishes of existing activities in these publicspace. c) Democratic, the ability to accept the presence of various layers of societywithout any discrimination. In addition to the above criteria a public space shouldbe easily accessed, of good image, comfortable, and supportive to a specific andunique activity to attract people to come (Project for Public Spaces, 2008).

In line with Darmawan, Whyte, (1980) states that food and seats are importantelements to attract more people to come. Whyte, further says the presence of foodvendors will always invite more people to visit the public open space. Foodvendors have an instinct to seek and find the locations where there are menactivities, for their business. There always be a mutual relationship between thevendors and the people gathering in the space thus create new socio-temporalspace that liven up the people activities in the city (Whyte, 1980). In thedeveloping countries, however, the presence of food vendors often becomes aproblem. The activities of the food vendors tend to privatize and change the initialplanning function of public spaces such as sidewalks and squares, more over ruinthe beauty and cleanliness of the city.

The main problems of developing countries is the high rate of urbanization andpopulation growth that does not followed by a significant increase in employment.These conditions require the creative community to seek their own livelihoods as asource of livelihood. So what happens is due to the emergence of vendors withsmall capital in search of trade opportunities in strategic locations in the city'spublic spaces that actually have been planned with special functions regardless oftheir presence before (Breman 2001; Castells and Portes 1989; Rachbini andHamid 1994 in Setia, 2008).

The dilemma of the existence of vendors on public spaces raises different viewson it. Some people view that the activities of the traders have an impact on

improving the micro economy and their ability to provide public activity spacethat is not segmented as a potential that should be developed. But others see suchactivities as the problems that must be resolved in a certain way, such as policingand relocation.

As one of the destination city of urbanization, Bandung experiencing similarproblems. The high level of urbanization in the city of Bandung, have an impacton the increasing number of vendors that are concentrated in public spaces (Setia,2008). Implementation of Pasal 37 ayat d and k in the Regional Regulationnumber 11 year 2002 regarding the provision of Cleanliness, orderliness, andbeauty shows how Bandung city governments point of view in addressing the


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problem of informality. Bandung city government prefers an enforcementoperation to solve problems and evicting street vendors in public spaces thanconsider it a potential that needs to be contained and developed (Setia, 2008).

BANDUNG GASIBU SQUARE, THE CHANGE OFFUNCTION, POTENCY AND PROBLEMS

History of GasibuGasibu square is one of the primary public open space in Bandung which has thesame character with alun-alun in other traditional cities in Indonesia. Align in anaxis with Gedung Sate, the prominent landmark of Bandung, Gasibu Square hassense of place and special atmosphere that wont found in other public spaces inKota Bandung. The flexibility of space with road and and open space around thesquare are advantages to strengthen the function of Gasibu Square and make itable to be the mean of public activity in every scale (Damajani, 2007). Thestrategic location and easy to access from every direction also some of manyadvantages factors of Gasibu Square than other public space in Bandung. A lot ofpush factor makes Gasibu developed as a favourite public space of Bandungs

people especially to do sport activity. Besides its function as a means of sport,Gasibu occasionally used also as a place of ceremony, folk art performances, andreligious activities such as Eid prayers.

MPRJB boulevard Development (1985) in the north of Gasibu square, extendingthe imaginary axis connecting the Gedung Sate and Tangkuban Perahu andexpand the open space around Gasibu. Construction of this district aims to supportthe functions of Gedung Sate as office facility of formal government. However,according to Damajani (2007), until 1995s when it hosted the inauguration of themonument, community activities in the field Gasibu still not showing as thecurrent diversity.

Current issue of GasibuThe main function of Gasibu as a mean of sports activity, apparently attractedvendors to sell at this open space. Initially, they sold temporarily, to serve thepeople who work out in Gasibu over time and as changes in building functionsaround Gasibu into office functions, the number of vendors on this site grew up,even some of them trading there permanently (Damajani, 2007 ).Increasing number of vendors who came to sell at Gasibu has shifted the initiallyfunction as a function of sport. Since a few years ago to the present, the openspace from MPRJB to Gasibu Square has morphed into temporary market wherein it peddled a wide range of food and goods with cheap price. Now people whocome to this open space is no longer with the aim of exercising, but to enjoyshopping at the market Gasibu week.

Every Sunday there are hundreds of vendors that hold their goods occupy the areaaround MPRJB, the road section from MPRJB to Gedung Sate, and the GasibuSquare itself. Wide range of goods ranging from food, clothing, sandals, shoes,crockery, tv remote, until the pet are offered. Various tools used for trade showsheterogenity level of economic and social capabilities of the vendors in thisdistrict. Start from using a cart, lay a tarp as a base of goods display, to the use ofmotorcycle and car boxes.

The vendors in this temporary market not only come from the Bandung area, butalso from surrounding areas such as Garut, Cianjur and Tasikmalaya. The


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presence of vendors from outside the city showed that Bandung has become adestination of city urbanization, with the market Gasibu week as one of attractivefactor in creating employment.

A large number of visitors with a diversity of socioeconomic and place ofresidence indicates the attractiveness of the market activity held at Gasibu Sundaymarket. Crowded and cramped conditions did not seem too problematic, asevidenced from week to week this market is never empty. Buying and sellingactivity in the Gasibu Sunday market start after the arrival of buyers at around06:30 and gradually decrease in the afternoon at about 11-12.00 pm. After thevisitors began to slow, the vendors start to pack his wares and then leave the area.

From this phenomenon, it can be seen that Gasibu has demonstrated its success asa public open space that can accommodate a variety of activities and creativity ofthe community. For the vendors, presence of the open space with this activity is afacility to improve their economy. The existence of Gasibu market with itsstrategic location as opening hundreds of jobs for urban communities in Bandungand challenge them to show their creativity in their business competition to winconsumers. Instead of the community who visit Gasibu, the existence of differentvendors with their goods give its own atmosphere which can be an attraction forpeople from various realms to come and enjoy the attractions at the GasibuSunday market. Nevertheless, behind its success in realizing the function ofinteraction, socialization, and accommodate the activities and the creativity ofsociety, there are many problems in Gasibu market. The main problems identifiedrelated to market activity in Gasibu week are traffic jam, cleanliness, and chaoticimage. These problems were considered quite disturbing, triggering both the prosand cons among the community, as well as authorized officials of the existence ofGasibu Sunday market.

Figure 3.The chaotic arrangement of GasibuSunday market, ruin the image of Gedung Sate

Source: private documentation, 2010

Figure 4 The activities on Gasibu

Sunday market impact on traffic jamSource: private documentation,2010

Figure 1 & 2 Shopping atmosphere at Gasibu Sunday marketSource: private documentation, 2010


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Traffic jam on road sections through Gasibu Square almost certainly alwayshappens every Sunday. Behavior of vendors who lay their goods along with roadshoulder effects the blocking the traffic. Gasibus district also does not have aspecial parking area for visitors, so many vehicles on the road park everywhereand increase the congestion on road sections, especially on Surapati street in frontof the Gasibu square.

Cleanliness is another issue to complain about. After the Gasibu Sunday marketended at the afternoon, the vendors left the food and beverage waste from the restof the business especially from from food stalls and groceries. This problem alsocomes from visitor because lack of awareness of cleanliness or there is no trashcan available on the site.

Based on direct interviews with some vendors in the Gasibu Sunday market, themanagement of this market using premanism. Vendors pay their stall daily tocertain unofficial person, who has coordinated the distribution of lands to be usedby vendors. At first vendors also pay for the rental offering of approximately Rp.800,000 for space sized 2x2 meters. Coordinator of leasing land to trade does not

regulate how the deal of each other stall so that the chaos among vendors stall wasnot inevitable. On the Gasibu Sunday market there is no detailed territorialdistribution between the various functions of the vendors. Vendors used varetytypes of stall. Some are using tents, lay the goods based with mat direct to theground, or sold mobile to the buyers.

For most people, the problem of slums, chaos and density of Gasibu Sunday

market are negative things that inhibit their desire to shop. Nevertheless, the

variety and prices of merchandise in this market is a major attractor for the

hundreds or thousands of Bandung people as well as migrants from outside the

city. This indicates that the management of this market without a plan for a

comfortable space for vendors and buyers, but this market could become an urban

space for the community in an urban scale. Economic aspects, tourism and leisurecan be accomodated by this market space. Gasibu Sunday market is an even

greater potential for society and the government when there is proper and

sustainable management.

LEARNING FROM THE CREATIVE COLLABORATIONEXPERIENCE IN PUBLIC SPACE MAKING

The presence of street vendors and their activities that occupy public spaces thecity is a typical problem in developing country such as Indonesia. Malang,Surabaya, and Solo are the Indonesian cities that have tried to solve the problems

of street vending on public open space and turn it into tourism potential. Theirexperiences can be used as an input for the city of Bandung in viewing andmanaging the problems of street vendors, especially in Gasibu Sunday market.

Tugu Market Malang

Tugu Market is a temporary Sunday market that been occur in Malang since 1999.The people who trade in this temporary market are the street vendors coming fromall over the city of Malang. First time to operate, Tugu market occupies the openspace in front of the Gajayana stadium Malang. But when the renovation andconstruction process of Olympic Garden Mall was held in the stadium complex,the market activities then moved on Malabar square and extending to the street of


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Simpang Balapan, which is a middle-class residential area. However, lack ofcoordination between local goverment and the vendors led to the lack of planningand structuring a synergistic on market activity in Simpang Balapan. As a result,some problems arise such as mess, crowd, and garbages that disturbing residentsof Simpang Balapan so that eventually they filed a protest to the city. On theother hand the city government's desire to maintain the market activity to provide

an alternative tourist destination in Malang.

Now, the activities of Tugu market restored back on Semeru street in front of theGajayana stadium after it was transferred in the Rampal square. At thisdevelopment, the street vendors who sell at the market has formed associationsIkatan Pedagang Wisata Belanja Tugu (IPWBT), that its members has nowreached 470 people. This association was established to facilitate coordinationamong the vendors, in addition to ease of communication with city government.The street of semeru is also a residential area. So as to avoid the protests ofcitizens and further optimize the management of the market, the city governmentof Malang under the Department of Tourism and Culture working together withthe vendors association of IPWBT to jointly realize the ideals to make the Tugu

market activities as one of the tourism potential of the city of Malang.

Based on the direct interview held in the secretary of Tugu Market, cooperationbetween IPWBT and the city goverment have been manifested in the form ofcontract. The steps taken were restrictions on working time, uniformity of thedisplay booth, and zoning arrangements. Restrictions on the working time doneby the city government by closing transportation access through Semeru street onSunday morning until 13:00 o'clock noon GMT for market activity. Afterwardsthe road back to normal functioning. Zoning arrangement made by the IPWBT, byarranging the vendors with a particular zone based on the item being sold. Finallyin order to tidy up the market view, they decide to order and uniform the boothdisplay of the vendors. In doing that, the city government works together in

collaboration with the vendors association in the provision of tents as thedisplayed booth.

Through the uniformity of appearance, and arrangement of zoning, the chaoticimage and impression that arise from the previous activities of Tugu market willbe lost. The problems of cleanlines become the responsibility of vendors andIPWBT. IPWT urge to their members to maintain the cleanliness of theirrespective trade areas, and clearing merchandise after the event was over so the

Figure 5. Shopping atmosphere at Tugumarket Malang

Source: private documentation, 2010

Figure 6. The secretariat of Tugu Market,the center of coordination, and providing all

information related to this marketSource: private documentation, 2010


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the road of Semeru can get back on the original function promptly at 13:00 pm.Thus, until now Tugu market activities run smoothly and be able to move themicro economy in addition to being one of the options in Malang city tour thatinterests the public. This activity is also able to provide benefits for localgovernment of Malang in the form of levies amounting to Rp 5000 per vendor perweek.

Kya-Kya Kembang Jepun, Surabaya

Kembang Jepun street area is in the Chinatown area since 1900, and until recentlyfamous for its trading activities. The buildings that stand along this road is aconservation building, with art deco style of colonial heritage and the traditionalarchitecture of China. In early 2003, the city government of Surabaya plans toliven up the night of corridors of Kembang Jepun street by concentrating foodvendors on this street corridor and make a culinary tourism center. However, dueto lack of planning, this effort failed and was not well received by the public.Furthermore, by the suggestion of Dahlan Iskan, the initial concept of KembangJepun culinary tourism center was developed with a better planned. The idea is to

raise the sense of place that has been owned by Kembang Jepun street asChinatown area, by implementing the traditional nuance of traditional China in thedesign of the culinary tourism center. The concept embodied by the themecontinuity between the design, including the provision of clean water, electricityutilities and also the packaging events. The management of this area handed byPT. Kya-Kya Kembang Jepun, such a private company. Furthermore, since thedate 31 May 2003, the road of Kembang Jepun was closed from 18.00-02.00o'clock pm and opened to public as a culinary tourism center with chinese culturalbackground.

A total of 182 traders and street vendors participate in this event. They occupied aposition on the sidewalk, while the middle path laid out tables and chairs. To joint

this event, the vendors must pay Rp 500,000 per month including the cleaning fee,for the booth rent. Since the opening, the culinary center of Kya-Kya get veryfestive greeting from the public of Surabaya and its surrounding cities. Anotheruniqueness of the management of Kya-Kya culinary tourism is that they not onlyproviding food, but also display cultural attractions as the entertainment at certaintimes. In providing the cultural attractions, they held a collaboration with thelocal communities such as youth clubs, and cultural arts groups. Through to thismanagement, Kya-kya Kembang Jepun culinary center activities had gaining aresult in providing employment opportunities, mobilizing the public economy, andproviding such an income for the government of Surabaya, and also able tobecome one of the icon of culinary tourism in Surabaya.

Figure 7. Public appreciation on the

opening of Kya-kya Kembang JepunSource: www.eastjava.com

Figure 8. The atmosphere of publicactivities and interaction at Kya-kya

Source: www.eastjava.com


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Unfortunately slowly people left this place. Several opinions that analyze thecause of this phenomena occur, such as the high price of food, the far awayparking lot, until the other reason that sounds mystical. But what the real causewas never known, because after the contract with PT Kya-Kya Kembang Jepunended in 2005, without holding the evaluation, the goverment of Surabaya had endthe culinary activity in Kembang Jepun and restore the function of this road as

before. This decision, had made Kembang Jepun back to a lonely road corridorthat had no longer live as before. Despite this failures and the discontinuation, thisproject is very good in terms of structuring and empowering local people to makea tourism potential.

Gladak Langen Bogan, Solo

Gladak Langen Bogan (Galabo) is a culinary center that was developed by the citygoverment of Solo since 13

rdApril 2008. Located in the downtown area along

Major Sunaryo Gladag street (northern part of alun-alun utara). The developmentof Galabo is done by closing public roads in the center of wholesale Solo batik(PGS) and Beteng Trade Center (BTC) every day from 17:00 o'clock-24.00 pm.

The aims of the development of this culinary destination is to make such a tourismattractions the city of Solo besides to give a facilitate to the activities some foodvendors in Solo and simplify the monitoring of their activities.

Adopting the concept of Surabaya Kya-Kya Kembang Jepun, the arrangement of apublic street as a center for culinary tourism center conducted by placing thevendors lined up along the right and left on the street, while in the middle of theroad laid out chairs and tables with umbrellas shade as a place to enjoy the food.To bring order and uniformity of appearance of the food vendors, the localgovernment has provided stainless cart for free as the booth display. The place arealso provided with clean water which flowed at each location so that thecleanliness of the presentation of the food vendors can be maintained. The food

vendors who participate in this Gladag Langen Bogan is specially selected by thegoverment of Solo, in order to trade in this place they are not charged a daily feebut are required to pay income tax. Presents a variety of typical regional cuisine,Gladak Langen Bogan has successfully become one of the central of publicactivity and creativity in Solo besides as a tourism destinations.

Figure 10. Vendors booth

at Gladag Langen BoganSource: Fronny, 2009

Figure 9. The atmosphere of activities andinteraction at Gladag Langen Bogan

Source: Alfan, 2008


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CONCLUSION

Through phenomenon that occurs in the case of study which is Gasibu Square andother three places that has been discussed is known that the presence of vendors inthe public space of the city has the ability to attract people to come and do some

activities together. These activities can liven up the activity and atmosphere of thecity both during the day or night. With the right approach, problems arise as a sideeffect of the activities of vendors and the public in public spaces will beminimized, even the existence of vendors can be optimized and used as a touristdestination.

The experience of several cities that are considered capable of improvingenvironmental quality and public spaces can be implemented in weeks Gasibumarket in Bandung. The success of the arrangement of street vendors on publicopen space that has been carried out on the town of Malang, Surabaya, and Solowas essentially derived from the cooperation and organization of street vendorswith city government. By embracing the organization of street vendors, the

aspirations of vendors will be involved in the arrangement and planning of publicspace, so that conflicts between officials and vendors can be minimized.Furthermore, coordination and collaboration can facilitate the completion of theimpact of this market such as cleanliness and congestion problems. If vendorshave good coordination and clear territory to trade, then the settings of cleanlinesscan be given to vendors itself. Congestion can be minimized with the shift of themain road to alternative road for a while for the vehicle or restrict vendors to notuse the shoulder of the road. Concrete steps taken to restructure the space andplace, and eliminate slums and chaotic impression are the structuring of zoningand uniformity of appearance. It can be done with the same trading tools amongthe vendors, such as tents and umbrellas are uniform, so the atmosphere of acompactness can be achieved. However, in principle, it is required the

collaborative effort between the city government and organizations of streetvendors to achieve one goal which is to develop a new tourist destination.

The problems of public open space at the city of Bandung actually happen due toa lack of coordination and empowerment, so these problems need goodcooperation from relevant stakeholders from local government, vendors, andsociety to the realization of a comfortable public space to become a commodity oftourism.

Designing collaborative on the city public space has a variety of benefits for theinformal sector, the city government, community and the value of public spaceitself as part of the city. For the informal sector, this collaboration provides

employment and accomodate their economy improving. For society, thecollaborative design of public space will provide a comfortable space for them togather, socialize, and activities and also provides options for tourism destinationwill also provide benefits for the city government. Activities that occur fromcollaborative planning will liven up the atmosphere of public open space in thecity and increase the value of open space functions as a means of activity andcreativity in society.


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why always seeing something from the bad side? optimizing the function of city open space