H

e is known as an award-winning Balinese architect with an earth-friendly conscience, but 48-year-old Popo Danes acknowledged there were times in the past when he too was guilty of designing properties that may have contributed to environment degradation.

While portraying the Island of Gods’ massive land conversion from paddy fields to tourism-related properties as a “very terrible” situation, Popo said he now has made a personal pledge to never ever design properties on paddy fields.

“Looking at the thriving businesses in Bali that bring lots of property projects, any architects will be very pleased. However, I have made my own personal policy, a self-boundary, to never accept projects on paddy field soil,” Popo told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Popo recalled how once he used wood — with an environment-friendly purpose in mind — for a resort he designed in Ubud, the land in the central foothills of Gianyar regency, only to find a bule interested in his selection of wood asking him to design his private property. “He told me: ‘You need not worry about the wood supply because I have my own forest in Kalimantan.’”

As Popo went to the expatriate’s remote palm plantation to witness first-hand deforestation, Popo discovered an awareness of the surrounding environment. “Since then, I’m always cautious not to use too much wood in my designs,” said Popo.

Although grateful with the waves of foreign investments coming to the island, Popo warned of the potential dangers if all stakeholders, be they the architects or the government officials, only see the opportunities for short-term gains.

“We must be able to decline projects that are unsuitable [to our idealism]. We also have to be courageous enough to admit, ‘These are my projects,’ and be open to any criticism. The government also should be stricter in enforcing the law,” said Popo, who is currently also head of the design committee at the Bali Tourism Development Corporation. He acknowledged the urgency of seriously implementing regulations in property construction, property brokerage, also in providing basic public infrastructure such as transportation, roads and electricity networks.

The price of land in strategic locations, like Seminyak, Petitenget, and in hilly and cliff-side areas, have jumped to an estimated Rp 10 million per square meter. Thus, landowners, whom nowadays mostly consist of wealthy non-Balinese, expect to reap large profits, while neglecting environmental conservation principles.

In his essay titled “Skala Diskala — Real and Unreal Estate in Bali” published on his website strangerinparadise.com, tropical landscape expert and owner of PT Wijaya Tribwana International, Michael White (locally known as Made Wijaya) states that between 1930 and 1990, foreigners and Jakartans built properties either on the outskirts of large villages or in scenic locations such as on the rim of the caldera at Kintamani, or at the foot of a great volcano.

The local developers, Made continued, then led the march into the rice fields, ignoring zoning regulations — a move soon followed by foreign villa owners. “But the foreigners are random in their purchases and are scarring scenic valleys all the way up the mountains with vulgar dream homes with high walls with zero setbacks,” wrote Sydney-born Made.

“In the past decade, however, the architecture industry has gone seriously off the tracks: developers now slam-dunk six-star hotels on pristine beaches, and gouge out cliffs for condominia.”

Made expects the real estate sector to seriously reflect on their actions. “The rush to promote Bali as the land of eternal massages and cheap maids has to stop!”