Bandung Metropolization : A Transition in Urban Identity
An Abstract, Translated By Anissa Sukmawati Febrina
Bandung, a hilly city of more than 700 meters above sea level was not only famous as West Java’s — the third largest province in Java — capital city. Previously known as a breezy getaway city developed in radial concentric pattern, Bandung has now grown to be a creative hub that becomes the benchmark of musical and fashion trends in Indonesia. Weekends in
Bandung are days filled with youngsters throwing festivities. These phenomena have attracted local tourists to spend their holidays in the city, making it now a central for tourism with a spark of creativity.
In the post millennium era, Bandung’s development led to a tendency towards making it a metropolist. Mall and trade center projects have been current development options since it is considered a highly potential magnet for tourists. The current fact is that the needs of those tourists could be satiated by luxurious giant malls and trade centers. Nevertheless, it did bring more people coming to the city, triggering its prevailing traffic woes. At this point, Bandung seems to need the infrastructure required by a metropolist, the kind of need that has never been thought of when it originally developed as a resort city.
Pasupati flyover project seemed to have marked the new beginning of Bandung’s path towards being a metropolist. An enormous change occurred, led by the destruction of the city’s environment – the cutting off of trees along Surapati and Pasteur — needed to provide space for the flyover. Furthermore, there was not enough space provided between the highway and housing complexes nearby, ruining the balance of the city’s life. The creative city has been forced to turn into a metropolist.
With such development tendency, there is a possibility that
Bandung will suffer from a super-modern development concept. Can it maintain its original distinctly creative identity?
Is metropolizing a must? Or is it just part of the shifting process of the so-called third world to be integrated in the global capitalism?
Developing a city within its context is an unquestionable idealism, but its realization needs a well-cooperated community, the city administration and urban designers. At the end, what can we really do?
