Heaptalk, Jakarta – Since Indonesia’s government has targeted to move its capital thoroughly in 2024, millions of polemics towards this policy appear to the surface one at a time, one of which is the design plan for the new historical capital that recently attracted people’s attention.
Design architecture turns out to be highly critical perceiving the function of this new house of Indonesia that not only becomes a ‘face’ of a country but also as the national artifact which reflects Indonesian civilization. Responding to this issue, the Governor of West Java and a well-known architect, Ridwan Kamil conveyed his opinion during the Pro Talk Series 2 Seminar that adopted “The Future Paradigm and Architecture – Architect as Civilization Artifact in National Palace’s Perspective” as the theme (02/09).
In his speech, he uttered that the Government’s measure has been an unprecedented historical phenomenon since the country was founded. The ex-Mayor of Bandung Region, popularly known as Kang Emil, further added that retracted from the historical perspective, Indonesia has never built its capital city from scratch. In the selection process, the consideration for Jakarta to be appointed as the capital was coming from its existence, namely as the place where the proclamation was carried out in 1945.
Yet, in the architecture’s point of view, historical buildings which stand in the land of the city are the Dutch Heritage. Therefore, Jakarta has not reflected the Indonesian artifact as the national identity. By the Government’s plan to move the capital city to the North Penajam Paser, West Borneo, Indonesia gains a golden chance to construct its expression.
Afterward, to embody a successful capital city, Kang Emil underlined the involvement of the entire parties, spanning the authority, stakeholder, organization, and society. He viewed that the President’s step to appoint one design directly can lead people’s perspective to be wild, guiding them to truly believe in the view that the capital is a concrete reflection of the president’s ambition.
In order to tackle this issue, the ex-Mayor of Bandung, suddenly met Joko ‘Jokowi’ Dodo in person to discuss this concern. During his ‘five minutes’ discussion, he conveyed his insight and provided suggestions to handle the issue. In his perspective, involving society in building new capital is urgent to be performed, and from the statement, the idea to create a competition for the new capital’s design appeared.
The proposal was accepted and implemented, and hereafter, Kang Emil is assigned as the expert to select the best architecture design in the competition. The senior urban design consultant, additionally, stated substantial elements that should be recked to construct a successful capital city, namely 3D, spanning Design, Density, and Diversity. After these three criteria are attained, other aspects such as smart city and sustainability will be followed.
In materializing these elements, Kang Emil stated that a city should take its consideration in the livability aspect, a point that allows the city to build its civilization. Eliminating this aspect will make the city solely to be an artifact that featured in architectural magazines, does not effective in people’s hearts.
“As in Dubai, million of architects are amazed to the entire buildings that are presented, in the side of design, innovation, and technology. But the city does not reflect a “real-life”, a place where the rich and the poor can walk along,” Ridwan Kamil said in a statement.
In his viewpoint, Kang Emil added that to complete the aspect, Indonesia should demolish the wasting land culture. Otherwise, the land should be used wisely by paying attention to the buildings’ function and access. The lecturer of Institut Technologi Bandung (ITB) also revealed that a great city should be ‘walk-friendly’, allowing its people to enjoy the city’s ambiance by walking, not riding their cars.
At this point, the city will facilitate interaction between Indonesia’s society, and the civilization will be constructed automatically.
“A great capital can be seen from its complexity, which can combine both office building, hospitality services, as well as society’s life,” said Ridwan Kamil.
The Indonesian architect and politician, however, uttered his worries towards this vision. He mentioned that the implementation of the concept seemed to be challenging considering the wasting land habit has been deeply permeated to the country’s culture.
“Straightforward, I am worried that wasting land has become our tradition. As the example, the culture is completely reflected in the universities’ design in Indonesia. Every department competes with each other to build the largest building and area, which later does not allow its student to enjoy the universities’ vibes by walking. But, I hope this concern does not happen in our capital city, so it is our duty to oversee the development of our new capital,” added Ridwan Kamil in his closing statement. (WLN)
