Pedestrian walkways are the soul of Jakarta

Pedestrian walkways are the soul of Jakarta

Nirwono Joga, Jakarta

The best planning is early planning. A city is to be built in
phases according to its master plan and available budget, instead
of being fragmentarily designed in the process. This is the
explanation for Jakarta's development muddle, if not failure.

Plans for the Jakarta Integrated Macro Transportation Network
System, covering the mega projects of Busway I (Blok M-Kota), II
(Pulo Gadung-Monas Business Center/MBC) and III (MBC-Kali Deres)
of the 14-corridor proposed busway, the monorail (green line and
blue line) transport or the subway/mass rapid transit system
(Fatmawati-Kota), were done without prior analyses of the
environmental and social impact, which should have been conducted
independently and in great depth.

The schemes only focus on relieving the worsening traffic
congestion, without any policy to control the number of private
cars. Citizens are only treated as objects that have to be
transported from one terminal to another.

In fact, the soul of the city lies in the space for pedestrian
walkways, which are appropriately interconnected with all the
other components of the metropolis. However excellent the mega
projects may be, people eventually will have to walk to their
destinations. Yet the urban space today does not accommodate
pedestrians, who are forced to face motor vehicles and aggressive
sidewalk vendors.

Roads as public space have for a long time served as a medium
of socio-cultural interaction in Indonesia. Though this role is
declining, Bandung retains Jl. Braga, Yogyakarta boasts Jl.
Malioboro, Surabaya is famous for Jl. Tunjungan, and Jakarta was
once proud of Jl. Pasar Baru now taken over by Jl. MH Thamrin and
Jl. Sudirman. But this space is being replaced by supermarkets,
hypermarkets, malls and town squares, while the narrowing and
removal of tree-lined medians and sidewalks continue.

Sidewalks are so narrow (0.50-1.50 meters) that they are very
inconvenient to walk on. Pedestrians are still hampered by the
stairways of pedestrian overpasses, bus shelters, billboard
frames, lamp posts, electricity and telephone cable poles,
traffic signs, open drains and large flower pots. Some places
have barbed-wire fences, not to mention sidewalk vendors,
motorcycle or car workshops and plant sellers, who often leave no
room for pedestrians.

In city planning, land use, transportation systems and
walkways should form a proper synergy. The designs of Busway I,
II and III of the 14-corridor busway planned, the monorail (green
line and blue line) transport or the subway/mass rapid transit
system (MRT) should be supported by feeders and transport modes
connecting other city parts with busway, monorail and subway
transit points. Proper and humane links between these points and
pedestrian ways are frequently overlooked.

An environment impact analysis of the Busway I (Blok M-Kota)
mega project, for instance, clearly indicates a disregard for the
city environment's sustainability. The lack of comprehensive
planning is reflected in the building of bus stops and walkways
to access pedestrian overpasses, which have occupied tree-lined
medians and systematically removed dozens of trees along Jl.
Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin. Busway I has significantly reduced
the quality of air and visual landscape of Jakarta's major roads.

The air quality degradation also results from the expansion of
the three-in-one zones and trans-Jakarta buses. The presence of
thirty jam-prone areas and alternative routes with limited
capacity cause long hours of traffic jams, with polluting gas
emissions around intersections and along substitute lanes.

The problem is that these locations are not supported by
adequate greenbelt corridors. Tree felling for road widening and
uncertain replanting programs have made the junctions and
alternative streets barren and hot.

The incomplete busway design can also be noticed in the
construction of bus stops and passageways leading to the existing
pedestrian overpasses.

Along the busway route, the condition of sidewalks and
pedestrian overpasses are not supportive or adequate either. The
provincial administration should have reordered all these
facilities, covering also zebra crossings, walkways and access
paths to buildings along the route, instead of improving them
fragmentarily and separately.

Therefore, the busway project ironically gives the impression
of paying greater attention to buses and the trans-Jakarta busway
project, rather than the humane treatment of pedestrians by
providing proper space for movement and facilities for these
prospective bus passengers.

The network of sidewalks should be seen as an integral
subsystem of the city's human movement macro linkage system,
which is more environmentally friendly, against the background of
the Integrated Macro Transportation Network System, because
finally everybody will have to walk to reach their destination.

The quality promotion of public space that is conducive
(safe, shady, convenient, beautiful, healthy and environmentally
friendly) to pedestrians is expected to prompt a lot more people
to walk and go by bicycle, besides turning to public
transportation like the busway, monorail and subway systems.

A humane program for improving pedestrian access should be
carried out through a bottom-up approach by accommodating the
characteristics of relevant plots along pedestrian lanes in line
with their problems, potential and prospects for the quality
enhancement of pedestrians' public space.

In the spirit of public-private partnership, results of
bottom-up planning can serve as a means of communication between
the regional administration assisted by consultants (as the
sponsor) and plot owners (as stakeholders). The latter can lend
their front yards for public space access by pedestrians with an
agreement on compensation in the form of fiscal incentives.

The development of the Integrated Macro Transportation Network
System through the mega projects of Busway I, II, III, the
monorail (golden triangle) transport and later the Fatmawati-Kota
subway/mass rapid transit system, unless conducted by adhering to
the principle of sustainable development, will continue to reduce
or even use up green belt areas, cut down city trees and ignore
pedestrian walkways.

In brief, the busway, monorail or subway system without
environmentally friendly pedestrian walkways is no way to go.

The writer is chairman of the Indonesian Landscape
Architecture Study Group.