Self-governing “Green Alley” implementation as the Solution to address environmental challenge of public housing in Depok City

Abstract

Conflict between increasing residential density and demand for comfortable life in a growing city is inevitable. This occurs not only in urban areas, but also at neighborhood level. These issues are increasingly aggravated by perception towards urban society characters, which are considered individualistic and ignorant to their residential environment. Collective efforts in resolving the issues are deemed as challenging. RW 16 in Baktijaya sub-district was selected as the research location because it is one of the first public housing projects, which was built around 1980 in the suburban areas of Jakarta. This research begins with two questions: “What is the history of landscape transformation in RW 16 of Baktijaya sub-district?” and “How did the community promote collective actions in addressing the greening problems in their settlement?” Primary data were collected by conducting transect walk and in-depth semi-structured interviews with several key informants. This study found several findings. First, based on historical transect, there has been a significant landscape transformation from 40% of Building Coverage Ratio (BCR) in 1980 to 90% to 100% BCR in 2017, which have reduced open green space in the public housing area. The second finding of this study represents a unique lesson. The citizens have created a new structure, with emphasize on spatial awareness and collective supports that have enabled them to become a community with a robust social capital, that can collectively respond to environmental issues. Collective efforts generate creativity in using space between buildings and streets and turning them into green corridor, which was refreshing the residential nuance. Various green competitions have allowed the community to express and channel their creative ideas. Collective efforts to convert aridity into green corridor in RW 16 of Baktijaya sub-district can be referred to as an interesting solution to resolve greening problems in urban area.