Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 2 of 2
-
ItemTransformation of Jalan Malioboro, Yogyakarta : the morphology and dynamics of a Javanese street( 2001)Streets are an important element of urban form and function. For their future development it is essential to understand the processes of transformation they have undergone in the past. This thesis is specifically concerned with Jalan Malioboro, the principal street of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, which has had many historic roles and has undergone many transformations since its establishment in 1756. The various plans and regulations put forward in the past for the development of this street have proved to be inadequate to manage its invaluable but fragile local character. The aim of this research project is to understand and define the prevailing processes and forces that have brought about the transformation of Jalan Malioboro's streetscape since its establishment up to the present. Two approaches were used: morphological analysis for the physical-spatial characteristics of the streetscape through graphical representations and their qualitative descriptions; and socio-cultural analysis of the functions, meanings and activities taking place on the street, also done descriptively and qualitatively. A retrospective method was applied to reveal the processes that had occurred in the past and a prospective method to analyse the current condition and envisage its prospects. The overall process of transformation shows both continuities and changes of both the morphology and functions and meanings of Jalan Malioboro. The only true continuity is that of the very original axis. Everything else was and is in constant flux depending upon the contemporary forces. Although Jalan Malioboro forms a prominent linear space that provides a vista from Kraton to Tugu as part of a cosmological axis, it has grown spontaneously and incrementally. Socioculturally, the most striking transformation has been from its royal ceremonial function to its current predominant commercial function. The processes of transformation also demonstrate the dialectic between the form and function of the spaces along Jalan Malioboro, which has produced a hybridised and lively street. Its linearity, an orderly form derived from its function as a cosmological axis, has had superimposed on it different forms and activities, thus producing an ambiguous and chaotic streetscape. There are five key forces that have brought about the transformation: (a) the religious syncretism of the Javanese culture; (b) the political subversion, (c) lack of planning control, (d) modernisation, commercialisation and commodification of space; and (e) the 1997 economic downturn. Any development efforts for Jalan Malioboro arising from an examination of its process of transformation should attempt to ensure that its cultural significance, including its complexity and the dynamism of the street environment, is maintained.
-
ItemHousing and neighbourhood change : a study of attitudes and behaviour of middle-class householders in Yogyakarta, Indonesia( 1998)An improvement in public housing development in Indonesia in recent time has coincided with national development towards modernisation. Modernisation occurs in all aspects of Indonesia's everyday life, including improved education. The context for the changing role of women - in part as a result of improving education - as well as for new trends in house and neighbourhood design, is first the rapid economic modernisation pursued in Indonesian society in recent decades, and second a seemingly related cultural westernisation. The design of both house and local neighbourhood accordingly faces dilemmas relating to new economic imperatives, cultural tensions, and tensions in values relating to gender differences and the role of women. Additionally, there are changes in the context of the family and its roles and tasks, as economic modernisation interacts with the pressure of safeguarding traditional values and cultural differences. The aim of this study is to examine the question whether, in the face of economic modernisation and cultural westernisation, the persistence of traditional values and local culture is manifest in present dilemmas concerning the planning and use of the house and its neighbourhood. This question will be explored within the specific context of middle-class housing. In pursuing this aim we turn to the theory of modernisation advanced by Jurgen Habermas, and then to Nancy Fraser's critique of this theory on the grounds that it ignores issues of gender. Yogyakarta is selected as a case study, and the intention is to obtain information on behaviour and attitudes of educated middle-class people residing in the study area. Households are selected from recently developed neighbourhoods characterised by KPR-BTN housing which is typically purchased by the educated middle-class. Households interviews are employed, with a focus on examining the relations between different aspects of attitudes and behaviour. Data are obtained from 67 households, in four neighbourhoods of Yogyakarta. It is an exploratory case study where the intention is not to obtain generalisable results, nor to rigorously test hypotheses, but rather to explore the relationships between phenomena. This is achieved by reducing a mass of different variables measuring attitudes and behaviour down to a simpler set of "summary" measures, employing multivariate statistical techniques - mainly factor analysis. The analyses are accordingly more directed towards description and explanation than towards generalisation to the broader population, or towards prediction. Stated briefly, it is found that for the surveyed group there is a strong correspondence between men's and women's attitudes to issues of work, home, children and culture. There is however also a fair degree of independence between these attitudes on the one hand, and on the other hand the levels of satisfaction with aspects of the dwelling, and levels of satisfaction with aspects of neighbourhood. These findings suggest that there is an interplay of three sets of processes: (1) the persistence of local culture, most notably in the orientation to family, in ideas of respect and deference, and in a conservatism in gender relations and attitudes; (2) there is the excitement of rapid economic growth; (3) there is of course also a negative side to economic growth and "progress", as older values and culture are eroded by new, global influences. While it is not possible to extrapolate from this group to Yogyakarta society generally, nevertheless the complexities of the responses tell us a great amount about the interweaving of attitudes and behaviour affecting use of the house and neighbourhood. Furthermore, it is necessary to reinterpret Habermas's theory of modernisation for a non-western society.