RIVERBANK SETTLEMENT AND HUMANITARIAN ARCHITECTURE, THE CASE OF MANGUNWIJAYA’S DWELLINGS AND 25 YEARS AFTER, CODE RIVER, YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA

Noor Cholis Idham

doi:10.3846/jau.2018.6900

Abstract

Code riverbank has drawn worldwide attention since 90’s when Architect Mangunwijaya involved in the dispute of urban riverside settlement in Yogyakarta. Struggling for the slum between the municipality and the dwellers gradually dwindled, and one of most significant causes was his humanitarian dwelling self-help scheme on Kampung Code. The project, which was later recognized by Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1992, was not only purposed for reducing the tension but also promoting appropriate social order by considering the natural environment vulnerability. One of the poorest and most crook riverbank zones of the city had transformed to be a better environment with positive atmosphere afterward. Unfortunately, the project was hardly followed by other dwelling construction either in the site or other parts of the bank. This paper studies how the architecture could cure the social problems as well as resolve the environmental challenges and its sustainability. The social approaches done by Mangunwijaya and how he captured the high-risk of riverbank nature to the dwelling concepts were accessed. The results indicate that in spite of the riverside’s slum controversies, the architecture should be considered as a remedy both for social and natural problems.

Highlights

Code, spelled as Cho-de, is one of three main rivers flow in Yogyakarta Province starting from Mount Merapi and ending in the Indian Ocean
As a well-educated humanitarian architect, Mangunwijaya considered all aspects related to the settlement condition in Code riverbank
His main intention was to solve the social issue in the settlement, but at the same time, he tried to overcome the risk of natural environment without putting himself opposite to the law

Summary

Introduction

Code, spelled as Cho-de, is one of three main rivers flow in Yogyakarta Province starting from Mount Merapi and ending in the Indian Ocean. The river is not wide enough, only about 25 meters span, it was essential to connect the mountain and the sea and brings water and volcanic materials such as stones and sands which accumulate in the bottom make the stream shallower all the time. High-intensive tropical rains cause the river and its bank prone to flooding both from the upstream and the higher land on the sides. Flood as result of increasing water level beyond its capacity is occasionally threatening the dwellers by draining millions of meter cubic of volcanic materials troughs the river

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