Public pumps up volume over spatial management

“My neighbor set up a computer-game arcade right next to my parents’ bedroom and they are separated only by a thin wall. What should I do?” “With whom should we lodge complaints about the presence of a fuel station in the middle of our housing complex?” “Are we allowed to build a three-story house? Do we have to obtain a permit
for that?”

Those are just a few of the urban spatial issues voiced by Jakarta residents, which were captured by the Jakarta-based Rujak Center for Urban Studies.

Rujak is an organization of urban-studies’ analysts, practitioners and volunteer residents who want to work with communities to build sustainable cities.

Acknowledging the chaotic spatial management in the city, the analysts highlighted most residents’ lack of knowledge about regulations and red tape at the city administration as the main cause of the city’s problems.

“Residents are still not familiar with spatial management, yet they live in it. They always have something to say about pedestrian sidewalks, the markets and the neighborhoods where they live — even about the roads and other public spaces.

“However, the wide gap between their knowledge and understanding about the issue and how spatial management is executed — both by residents themselves and by policy makers — has resulted in rampant regulation violations and the city’s functioning has become ineffective,” Rujak analyst Elisa Sutanudjaja said at a recent public discussion on land use and spatial management in Jakarta.

The discussion was attended by officials, academics, students and various pressure groups, such as @jalankaki, the Pondok Indah Green Community, the Jakarta Settlement Forum and the Green Reform Community.

To address the issue, Rujak set up a website, klikJkt.or.id, in April last year on which residents can lodge reports on conditions or events in the capital that require attention by all parties, including city officials.

The tool kit, which is accessible through popular social media sites Facebook and Twitter, divides the feedback into several categories, such as public service, environmental issues, garbage and pollution, arts and cultural heritage, as well as community initiatives.

The website’s moderators verify each entry and place it on the map of Jakarta on its home page to make it easier for visitors to the site to identify the key issues in different regions.

“We hope the officials will use the system … as it allows for quick responses to be made toward the residents’ complaints,” analyst Dian Tri Irawaty explained.

Officials could use the “Get Alerts” option in which they would be automatically notified whenever a problem popped up within their respective jurisdiction zones.

Urban spatial expert Yayat Supriyatna applauded the community’s initiative, saying it was a form of rebellion against the hegemony of a culture in which knowledge was jealously guarded by those in power.

“This initiative brings the technical dictionary of spatial management down to earth. The only problem is there is no certainty whether the complaints will be heard by the right ears,” he said, urging the city’s administration to refer to the website when carrying out their work.

Anita Syafitri Arif from the Jakarta Settlement Forum said the Residents’ Assembly and Community Participatory Agency at the subdistrict level could help klikJkt in problem mapping.

She said that although city administrations required the engagement of residents in creating the blueprint for spatial management at district levels, it was common practice for the district administration to invite only one person to represent each subdistrict in its jurisdiction.

“It would be more effective if the subdistricts worked together with klikJkt,” she said.

Officials attending the discussion said that the community initiative would help them get in touch with the problems at the grass roots level; however; they refuted the accusation that government policies were inaccessible for the people.

M. Refqi from the directorate of spatial management at the Public Works Ministry said that a 2010 ministerial decree on spatial and land use that people could access via the ministry’s web site included the details about standard spatial management and stipulations concerning land use.

The assistant to Jakarta’s deputy governor overseeing spatial management, M. Rudy Siahaan, said the administration had already set up a desk at the Public Works Agency office in Jatibaru, Central Jakarta, which worked around the clock to resolve residents’ complaints.

“It’s not fair to blame all these spatial problems on the administration because not all residents care about regulations. I agree we have to work together to educate residents about these issues,” he said.

Dian Tri Irawaty said the organization had printed some 20 pages of public complaints that were uploaded onto klikJkt between April and December last year and ha distributed them to city officials. “I hope there will be follow-ups soon,” she said.