T

he recent media reports of the Bogor regent and head of the Bogor Agriculture and Forestry Agency being caught red-handed by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) accepting Rp 1.5 billion (US$129,143) in bribes came as no surprise.

It was the third bribery case involving them, after they had twice accepted Rp 3 billion. The amount is of little significance compared to the harsh impact of changing forest land into residential areas, which they approved.

The KPK has also reportedly slapped a travel ban on the chief of the agricultural division at PT Sentul City and two commissioners of PT Bukit Jonggol Asri.

All three private housing company officials are implicated in corruption cases related to the issuance of permits in exchange for forest land in Bogor regency.

The uncontrolled, illegal development in Bogor's upland area is one of the primary reasons why Jakarta has been unable to resolve its floods.

In my book entitled Urban Reform, I write: 'Do not let our cities be ruined [...] just because we freely let 'The Big Boys' i.e. tyrant officials and greedy businessmen, develop a miseropolis [city of misery] instead of a metropolis'.

We are not too surprised to hear the KPK catch the Bogor regent off-guard because we have long suspected the evil behavior of such government officials. Floods plaguing Jakarta are a direct result of irregularities in land use and spatial planning in Bogor.

A recent book by Richard Foreman, a professor of landscape ecology at Harvard University, entitled Urban Ecology: Science of Cities, says the immediate results of the deviant behavior of insensitive corrupt officials and land hungry developers is an 'urban tsunami'.

Amid the baby boom, urban areas are experiencing a vast degradation of natural ecosystems, the narrowing of green open spaces, deforestation, the drying up of water sources, soil depletion, the disappearance of flora and fauna and the loss of biodiversity.

I remember Constantinos Doxiadis, who warned several years ago of the gradual sequence of the growth of a city. Starting from a polis, a city can grow into a metropolis, megalopolis, ecumenopolis (a single city encompassing the entire world) and then become a necropolis (a dead or corpse city).

Jakarta is classified as megalopolis with a population of more than 10 million, while Mexico City, New York, Tokyo and Seoul are in the ecumenopolis category with populations of more than 20 million. We should do our best to prevent our cities from dying.

Gordon Childe coined the term 'urban revolution' in 1936. He talked about a very powerful process that converted the agricultural environment, which was simple and elementary, into urban centers that were very complex.

He recalled the city of Memphis in Egypt in 3100 BC as the largest city in the world with a population of 30,000 inhabitants. The Cairo metropolitan area is now home to more than 17 million inhabitants and faces various problems.

The most acute problems facing Cairo and other metropoles in the world, including Jakarta, are primarily social problems. We can see the devastating poverty, inequality, unemployment, poor health and welfare problems of the citizens.

But no less important is environmental degradation. This may concern the provision of clean water and energy, waste management, pollution prevention and the consumption and production of food. So it is not just the case of flooding and traffic congestion alone, as many have commonly perceived.

The more distressing problems, however, are social, economic and environmental in scope rather than physical. Presumably, it is time for all of us to proclaim the 'urban revolution' part two.

The main goal of this revolution, as Mark McDonnell, the director of the Urban Ecological Research Center at the University of Melbourne, puts it, is to create 'healthy, sustainable, resilient and livable cities and towns'.

The key to these noble goals is the application of ecological principles in urban management. Cities should not only be seen and treated as static, single entities, but rather as elements of a dynamic landscape mosaic in a holistic system of urban regions. To prevent and counteract the 'urban tsunami', theories and concepts of urban ecology, should be applied consistently.

The interaction between living things (organisms), built-up structures (buildings, roads, bridges) and the physical environment (soil, water, air, energy), should be considered and planned holistically.

The metaphors, symbols and slogans such as 'the city as an organism', 'the city as second nature', 'the city as a system of life' and 'the city as the stage of memories,', which are popular among urban planners, should be translated into the down-to-earth, sustainable planning and design of cities.

From the point of view of scientific planning and urban development, there are at least five groups of ecological features that must be considered.

First is urban soil texture and the soil properties concerned, including the urban underground.

Second is the urban water system, involving the cycles of water flow, water supply, sewage and underground water.

Third are urban water bodies, including dams, reservoirs, ponds, rivers and coastal areas.

Fourth, the habitat of plants or vegetation, including grass, ground coverings, shrubs, trees, both planted in the ground and in front of building facades or on top of buildings (rooftop gardens).

Fifth is urban fauna, including the types of animals, their life patterns and adaptation.

We should learn a lot from successful modern cities in developed countries, which are dubbed the most livable cities in the world, such as Melbourne. The ecological principles based on the application of strict rules in urban development proposed by Melbourne Urban Ecology have proven to create peace, health, prosperity and happiness for citizens.

Hopefully, after the new president is elected, public officials can formulate more appropriate urban policy and strategy so people can enjoy resilient, sustainable cities that are free from 'urban tsunamis'.

The writer is a professor of architecture and urban planning at Diponegoro University, Semarang, and Trisakti University, Jakarta. He also chairs the Cultural Committee of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (AIPI).