Sometimes our best laid urban plans could do with some chaos

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 07/30/2007 12:12 PM  |  Opinion

Yandi Andri Yatmo, Jakarta

Our cities have failed to cater to the needs of residents. Regardless of never-ending efforts at physical development in urban areas, issues of disorder and chaos keep emerging in many cities. Conflicts between the haves and the have-nots are evident in most urban areas where physical development takes place.

The construction of public buildings may create happiness for some parts of society, but such new development is usually followed by further problems -- the poor losing their space and opportunities for earning money, the new development cutting off access and shelter for some people and the new buildings taking up green areas.

Some attempts at urban development have tried hard to meet the needs for city inhabitants, but often the services provided are not utilized as intended. Pedestrian paths are built with nobody walking on them, open spaces are provided where no one wants to come and play, and street vendors are provided with spaces for trading where there are no ways to attract customers. Meanwhile children are content playing in dangerous places, people feel happy walking on busy streets with no pedestrian paths and street vendors keep trading in illegal spots.

The long unsolved issues of our urban environments might be best defined as an outcome of what I call ""mismatch policy"". ""Mismatch"" occurs when there is a discrepancy between two or more things. In this case, the mismatch occurs between the ideal vision of an urban environment created by urban elites and the reality of everyday life for most city dwellers.

An ideal urban environment is something that everybody may dream of. It is normal for humans to aim for perfect and harmonious surroundings. In the context of the urban environment, this ideal vision is often translated into efforts to create an orderly environment, with everything in its place. The planning of cities is conducted mostly by architects and planners, in an attempt to create orderly environments that are neat, tidy and pleasant for the eye.

But efforts to achieve such an ideal will very likely be shattered by the reality of urban life. The dynamic reality of urban life is very much different from the ideal vision of a harmonious and orderly environment. The everyday reality of our cities always contains a lot of conflicts, contradictions, disorderliness and unpredictability, which is contrary to the orderly plan as imagined by planners.

The phenomenon of street vendors everywhere in cities is a clear example of how it is hardly possible to maintain a place as orderly as planned. In fact, such a phenomenon may represent the real everyday pattern of our cities.

I believe it is time for us to realize that there is a serious mismatch between the ideal vision of the elites and the reality of life as experienced by most urban inhabitants. This mismatch is very likely to happen when the elites keep being distanced from everyday life.

Planners and designers tend to translate their ideal vision of an urban environment into nice plans that look good on paper, thus showing our cities from the top. But no one ever views our cities that way except when flying. Similarly, beautifully rendered 3-D models show nice and orderly environments as imagined by the planners. Such images are transformed and filled with disorder and unexpected things once the space is utilized by people.

The mismatch between ideal vision and reality is much related to the education of those entering the planning and design profession. There has been a tendency to educate students to create the built environment as an ""I want"" or an ""I think"" ideal. This has led to a utopian approach that only solves the issues on the surface.

What is lacking from this kind of education is the encouragement to explore deeply who we are, what is so special about us and what makes us different. That is the only way to fully understand the reality of urban life, which may differ from one location to another. The ideal should not be taken as a universal value that ignores everyday, local characteristics.

The emphasis on the materiality of the built environment has also brought the tendency for visual beauty, or how an environment should look good to the eye. In fact, often the real meaning of beauty lies in the experience when we can mingle with our neighbors, enjoy various activities, looking at and talking to one another. It is the real beauty that can be experienced through all the senses. When such simple and trivial things from our everyday life are not considered during the planning process, very likely mismatch will occur.

A good policy regarding the planning and design of urban environments would take into account the unexpected aspects of everyday life, including disorder. The vision of an ideal environment is always open to question. In fact, we need some disorder, or surprises and unexpected things, to live a happy and dynamic life in cities. And it is very important that any planning policies take into account those unexpected aspects, without being too preoccupied with the ideal visions of perfect and beautiful environments.

The writer is an architect and lecturer at the University of Indonesia. He can be reached at yandiay@yahoo.co.uk.

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.