The Changing Faces of Architecture in the City, an unending battle...

Perubahan Wajah Arsitektur Kota, Sebuah Pergulatan yang Takkan Usai.... I wrote this article after I saw the picture used in Todd Thacker's article "Protest Street Art" and the article of Mira Tj "Modernisasi dalam Arsitektur = Membuang yang Lama", Modernization in Architecture = Throwing Away the Old (Buidlings).

I was actually preparing an article about the mural. Jakarta Biennale 2009 with its murals on the street took my interest. Yet, I had some problems...the internet connection, and also the missing pictures. I have some pictures on street murals, but I can't find where they are. Some of my pictures were lost when my computer broke down. I am not a very organized person either...

Mira's article made me take another point of view. I am still engaging some artworks from the Jakarta Biennale 2009 which talk about city development, and also asked readers to get back to some old articles. Town planning is not only a case or a project for the city planner or the government, they should also include the citizen who live there, and the citizen who work there. Historical and financial values of a location should be able to work together, and it does need a lot of support from the government to make it fruitful!

I do hope I can prepare the second article talking about the art that talk from the street. It is just very interesting that in the case of relocation of citizens, there is no difference between South Korea and Indonesia. I believed that the picture from Kwon Woo-sung is picturing a universal protest. The man in that picture could be MB, could also be SBY, or FB, or anybody...

I wrote some articles for wikimu about relocation, as it was so sad seeing all those hopeless faces on the television. This is something that reminded me of the Soeharto era...I know that we do need changes to show a better development of the city, but we need to understand the citizens' financial need. Relocate them unwisely can only cost them a lot of additional life expenses. In my eyes, the government's approach toward the case of those flower and fish vendors from Blok B was not a wise approach.
A hybrid garden would be a nicer idea. Even if they do need to be relocated, but it would be a better stand to keep their business running. Of course it is not an easy task to find the way out, that is why we do need those intelligent scholars to help the citizens. There are a lot of historical places, not only historical buildings, that we do need to think about. Let's say jalan Surabaya, or perhaps then...jalan Jaksa?

Citra Niaga, as the winner of the Aga Khan project, is a good example on how an ideal project can turn out without the cooperation and the support of all those involved in planning, manage, and use that project. If it is not the government who supported its citizens then who will?