Development for people

Development for people

It is always a pleasure to read Your Letters, as this column
gives me various thoughts and information. Your readers' comments
show that they do care about this country and its development.

The article, Indonesia still dreams of a new architectural
paradigm, by Bambang Eryudhawan (April 2, 1995) raised comments
from Damien Mate in Your Letters, Jakarta's city form, April 10,
1995.

In my point of view it is true that the market is responding
to the challenge but there is still the question on how long the
developers will keep their promises on providing "gardens".

Will they really build public, and green, spaces, or will they
end up providing driving ranges and golf courses? Do they really
plan a newly built environment, in accordance with social and
environmental issues? Or will they just ignore the existing
environment and draw their plans on a sheet of blank paper, as if
they were creating a garden city from a desert, without any
population. Do they provide places for the poor in their plans?

Sibylle Vincendon, in her article in the French daily
Liberation (January 3, 1995; Architecture sans art, architecture
without art) said that in the year of economic crises architects
have lost their talent to create, as it is always money, rarely
inspiration that drives the achievement of architecture and urban
problems.

How about Indonesian architecture? Surely it is also dependent
on the ones who have the power (money and/or policies) to support
its achievement.

Years later urban problems will spread from Jakarta, or other
big cities to villages. As investors are seeking new places for
profits and leisure, and while people still regard massive
buildings as proof of development, we will loose our beautiful
nature.

I remember three years ago, in Kerinci, a foreign tourist
advised me to tell my government not to build new roads and to
let the old roads stay unrepaired in order to keep the nature as
it was then. Thinking about the people who live there, and their
needs of transportation to sell their products and to buy their
needs, it was crazy advice, but thinking about the nature needing
to be preserved, maybe it was the brightest idea.

MARIA MARGARETTA

Jakarta