Kota 'greenmappers' capture people
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Care to get a glimpse of some of the city's most unique professions?
Many of them can found in Kota, West Jakarta. Take a stroll along the Kali Besar river and you will discover bicycle taxi drivers, a nomadic fortune teller and floating river scavengers all of which are to be found in the Jakarta Kota Green Map.
Without disregarding the historical character of the area founded during the Dutch colonial era, the Green Map makers have discovered there is much more to the area than earlier thought.
"The map making experience taught us that the beautiful old buildings are just a background for the people living in and around them," said David Hutama, a volunteer for the community ecological charting project, Green Map.
A group of more than 20 volunteers, ranging from college students and architects, to local religious activists, surveyed a chosen area to map local physical and social features.
After a six-month survey and a year delay in the making of the Jakarta Kota Green Map, the volunteers came out with concise information on 134 sites that one can find in the area, including the story of the people living there.
"In our surveys we discover that the revitalization of the area should focus more on the people instead of reminiscing about history through the buildings," said David.
In the printed version of the map, however, one would mostly find information on the buildings, such as their architectural style and history.
But, talking to the Green Map makers proved to be more interesting as they are able to share the unique features that they found during their survey, as documented through a series of photographs displayed at the CP Biennale 2005.
"By switching our perspective from looking at Kota as a mere heritage area, we noticed the small treasures there, such as the daily afternoon communal cat bath at Fatahillah square or a certain typography found on stickers on the back of trucks, bajaj and motorcycles," explained map maker Gita Hastarika.
David added that the highlight of the project was the volunteers' own involvement in experiencing the human face of the city rather than the outcome itself. "We can see more interesting things on foot than from our vehicles," he said.
Initiated in 1995 in the United States, the Green Map System aims at helping local residents discover ways to get involved in urban ecology and to raise their environmental awareness.
In Indonesia, initiator Marco Kusumawijaya started the first green map in the Kemang area in South Jakarta in February 2002 for local environmental bulletin Aikon!. The Kemang Green Map was then revised to include the Kebayoran Baru area and open spaces in Jakarta, a year later.
An extension of the project in the capital covered the Menteng heritage area and the result was published in October 2003. Other Green Map published projects were made on Jeron Beteng area in Yogyakarta and Bukittinggi in West Sumatra.
Green map projects are currently underway in Bandung in West Java, Borobudur in Central Java and Bali.
Jakarta Kota Green Map will be launched at the following events:
* Sept.7 at the CP Open Biennale 2005, Museum Bank Indonesia, Jl. Pintu Besar Utara 3, Kota, West Jakarta
* Sept. 18 at the Batavia Art Festival, Jakarta Historical Museum Fatahillah, Kota, West Jakarta
* Sept. 22 at the Indonesian Heritage Conservation Congress, Sapta Pesona Building, Indosat, Central Jakarta
* Sept. 28 at the Taman Prasasti Book Launching, Jl. Tanah Abang 1, Central Jakarta
A green map making workshop for high school students in line with the CP Open Biennale 2005 will be held on Sept. 10 and Sept. 11.