Sprawl repair : Efficiency in mobile Dicke Nazzary Akbar  ;   A PhD student in resource efficiency in Architecture and Planning, Hafen City Universität, Hamburg

JAKARTA POST,  24 Februari 2014

                                                                                                                        

                                                                                         

                                                                                                                       

Our perceptions often get caught up by costly infrastructure investments in our ideas to achieve a better city. After reading Eko Budiharjo’s piece (The Jakarta Post, Oct. 26, 2013), on how Japanese cities adopted policies to reduce the journey times of school children, I remembered Budi Faisal, one of my lecturers at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). In his lectures, he often said the foundation of sustainability lay in human lifestyles. Thus the fundamental problem of urban traffic congestion lies in our urban lifestyle, which is still not sustainable. Mass rapid transit supporting the concept of transit oriented development can be seen more as an attempt to solve the impact not the cause. The question of “Why low-cost green cars [LCGC]?” could equally be “Why electric trains or monorail, bus rapid transit or even bikes, if we can walk?” Put another way, we may also ask, “What is the need for all this mobility?” Basically, humans have always had a passion for mobility. In line with the theory of “one hour”, Vanderbilt (2008) said throughout the world, people, living in an African village or an American city, were spending about the same time each day on a round-trip, which is 1.1 hours. I agree that every citizen has the right to enjoy moving around the city. However, now it seems that our daily movement is at the counterproductive stage. At present, according to the Jakarta Transportation Agency, about 60 percent of the population of Tangerang city and more than 50 percent of Tangerang regency work in Jakarta. Not to mention the people who commute from Bogor, Depok and Bekasi. As a result, each day Jakarta receives 3.67 million people, in 1.91 million private vehicles, from the surrounding areas, generating 6.96 million trips. This data indicates a massive consumption of energy and time by people in the Greater Jakarta area to perform their daily tasks. According to Glaeser (2011), the growth of a city will always conform to the development of transportation technology. Unfortunately, the more advanced the technology, the farther the distance between residence and place of work. In the case of most of the cities in Indonesia, especially Jakarta, transportation technology has created a “sprawl” lifestyle. Sprawl is a common problem in the cities of the world that grew after the era of private motor vehicles. The city structure that was originally formed from the way we traveled now makes lifestyles increasingly inefficient. The sprawl lifestyle is forcing us to take journeys that we do not need and is damaging to physical and social health. How much time to socialize have we lost? How much economic potential have we lost because of this lifestyle? It cannot be denied that this sprawl is the cause of urban disasters such as floods, social segregation, ecological crises, etc. Tachieva (2010), in her book titled Sprawl Repair Manual, which is a continuation of the New Urbanism movement, gives a new optimistic meaning to the problem of sprawl. According to her, sprawl is a process of urban growth that has not been completed. There is still a need for facilities in a neighborhood the absence of which encourages residents to travel outside. This understanding gives us an idea of how we need to create a balance so that the functions are completed, and results in neighborhoods that can stand alone and be independent. Simply put, how to create an environment where we can work, school, shop, socialize, etc. within as close a space as possible? The means to achieve this situation is by reducing the negative or less productive space in the sprawl environment. Indeed, this idea is not new, in line with the approach of the mixed-use or superblock concept. However, the interesting part of this idea is the emphasis on the completion of the existing sprawl environment and minimizing the opening of new land. Then how to make it happen? Of course the main role is held by spatial planning. Through the land use plan, the administration serves as the leader of the repair of “unfinished environment”, and the citizens represented by the developers became the implementers. Unfortunately today, land-use plans in Indonesian cities have apparently become lost in the swift currents of the market, whereas the future of our cities lies in these plans. With spatial policy and supporting regulations, the government should be able to create an ecosystem that is comfortable to encourage developers to create functions that have not been provided earlier. Developers are also required to be ready to see economic opportunities in these conditions. In my opinion, this is our challenge ahead. There are now many Indonesian planners, urban designers and architects that stand ready to address this problem. They just need the right instructions and rules to lead  toward a sustainable city. ●