Urban activists have suggested that Jakartans who complain about diminishing public space, especially on streets where sidewalks and entrances are turned into parking spaces, should sit down for their rights.

The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) organized on Friday its second “Park(ing) Day” campaign to help reduce bad on-street parking habits in the city.

ITDP deputy director and environmental program director Indira Kusuma Dewi said that this year, the annual campaign looked for greater involvement of Jakartans in creating more public space.

“Last year, the campaign focused on reminding the authorities of the importance of public space that could be reclaimed from on-street parking.

“But this year, we also want to invite people to work together with us to create the space,” she told a press conference.

The Pedestrians’ Coalition (Koalisi Pejalan Kaki), the Trisakti University Student Executive Body (BEM), the Association of Indonesian Architects (IAI) and the Transjakarta BRT Management Authority (BLU) took part in the
campaign by constructing a makeshift mock-up of a small park to install on sidewalks.

At the “park”, people could hang out, conduct various activities and have a proper place to interact with each other.

“Through the campaign, we hope people will realize that parking has impinged on public spaces like sidewalks, reducing the amount of public space,” Indira said.

Last year, the campaign took place on Jl. Sabang, a business district in Central Jakarta that is notorious for its on-street parking that often causes traffic congestion.

Kopitiam Oey, a coffee shop chain that hosted the event, turned empty spaces in front of the shop into an outdoor sitting area for its customers. That way, vehicles could not park on the sidewalk in front of its establishment.

“At that time, all the related authorities who were present during the campaign event were enthusiastic about creating more public space in the city. Unfortunately, we haven’t yet seen any progress from them,” Indira said.

“That’s why we now want to see more public engagement in this campaign.”

“Park(ing) Day” is an annual world event that invites city residents around the globe to convert parking spaces into public open space for all.

The global movement was first initiated in 2005 by Rebar Art and Design Studio, an interdisciplinary studio operating at the intersection of art, design and activism, in San Francisco.

Last year, around 975 park installations for Park(ing) Day were set up in more than 160 participating cities around the world.

On-street parking is one of the main problems choking the city. Although the administration has banned on-street parking in several areas, there are still thousands of locations were it is permitted.

ITDP says that there are more than 12,000 on-street parking spots around the city.

The head of the Jakarta Transportation Agency’s engineering management unit, Bernhard Hutajulu, who was also present at the press conference, said that it was very difficult to curb on-street parking due to the limited space available for parking.

Although supporting the campaign, he said that it should also be targeted at other sites in the city.

“If you look carefully, you can see that there are still many corners in the city that could be turned into public spaces where people could also interact properly,” he said.

Evidence of the need for more public space in the city can be seen from the variety of activities that take place at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta.

On Friday and Saturday nights, for instance, hundreds of people occupy the circle to hang out over coffee, take pictures and even hold dance rehearsals.

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