Indonesia’s cities are growing the fastest in Asia, but for a few of the hundreds of thousands of rural individuals who have moved to the growing metropolis from the countryside, dreams of a greater life have faded.
According to the World Bank, between 2000 and 2010, Indonesia’s urban area expanded by 2,100 square kilometers, thrice the dimensions of Singapore. However, Indonesian cities lag behind in infrastructure spending, with infrastructure stocks growing by just 3 percent, despite average economic growth of 5.8 percent within the mid-to-late 2000s.
As urban population growth in Indonesia outstrips growth in infrastructure and employment opportunities, illegal housing construction is sprouting up on riverbanks, creating slums. Migrants who had been farmers all their lives had difficulty finding work in town.
Aware of their difficult situation, two groups of Indonesian architecture students have developed two infrastructure projects aimed toward providing urban farming jobs to unemployed migrant staff in Bandung, the capital of West Java.
The students’ designs, created over a two-week period, impressed judges on the International Tropical Architecture Design Competition, who awarded them two top prizes during Green Building Week in Singapore in the course of the International Green Building Conference (IGBC).
The competition was jointly organized by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) and the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC).
Ridwan Arifin, a senior at Yogyakarta University of Technology, led the team that won first prize. His team’s project, Vertical Farm Acupuncture (ViFA), is an 11-story structure in Bandung that houses hydroponic farming and water harvesting facilities.
In an interview with Eco-Business on the sidelines of the IGBC trade fair at Sands Expo & Convention Center on September 13, Ridwan said that Indonesia has at all times been an agricultural country and agriculture is a crucial aspect of its culture.
Ridwan hopes that ViFA can absorb and supply work for poor Indonesian migrants who’ve arrange illegal housing along the Cikapundung River in Bandung.
“The building is intended for the poorest 10 percent of Indonesians,” says Ridwan. “In the primary phase, they will grow low-maintenance crops resembling cabbage, spinach and tomato. In the second phase, as people improve their knowledge of hydroponic farming, they’ll have the ability to grow other forms of plants.
Ultimately, Ridwan hopes that ViFA can revitalize, moderately than relocate, these poor people by allowing them to live in a vertical farming block in town. Ridwan’s group estimates that every farmer living in ViFA can earn a median of three million rupees ($226.50) from a small 36-square-meter agricultural plot.
In addition to steel foundations, ViFA uses local constructing materials, resembling bamboo sourced from the village of Lembang Bandung, and minimizes the usage of concrete. In addition, the constructing incorporates unused construction materials, plastic waste and glass bottles.
Kampung on stilts
The second prize winner, Fill-In Kampung, tackles a rather different issue. Even though there are farmers who never desired to migrate to cities, they’re still being pushed out by urban expansion against their will.
In one case, a 300-hectare piece of farmland called Gedebage, situated on the outskirts of the Indonesian city of Bandung, was earmarked for the event of a brand new city center called Bandung Technopolis.
There are currently about 200 rice-growing farms in Gedebage. These farmers don’t own the land they farm, and when urban development goes into full swing, they’ll lose their jobs.
The designers of Fill-In Kampung, five students from the Bandung Institute of Technology, learned of their misfortunes after interviewing a gaggle of farmers from Gedebage.
“Their only skills are farming skills. It is difficult for them to learn a brand new skill. That is why we wish to offer them with space to proceed farming,” says considered one of the team members, Rabita Akbari Sitompul.
Rabita’s team imagines a residential district called Fill-In Kampung, consisting of sloping buildings covered in photovoltaic cells and concrete rooftop farms. Around these sloping buildings can be rice fields, wetlands and rain gardens.
Rabita’s team says these urban farms are continuing the normal Sundanese practice of growing crops in backyards.
Bamboo and banana trees might be planted across the constructing. In addition to providing constructing and culinary materials, these trees also stabilize the soil by absorbing water.
The Fill-In Kampung can also be in a position to deal with flash floods, which have caused much pain to the residents of Gedebage. For example, the Fill-In Kampung houses are raised on stilts, continuing an architectural tradition common in lots of Southeast Asian villages.
“The wetlands act as a catchment area for water during floods. Because floods can worsen, buildings are built on stilts,” Rubita says.
Both ViFA and Fill-In Kampung provide community spaces for residents. Not only do they supply learning opportunities by providing a spot for activities, these spaces help preserve gotong royong, the normal village spirit.
Rabita says, “Social interaction could be very essential to Sundanese people, the indigenous people of Bandung. We design these spaces so that folks can retain their local wisdom.
Organized annually since 2011, the International Tropical Architecture Design Competition goals to lift the notice of the young generation in regards to the green constructing movement and initiatives and encourage them to develop into future architects and experts in tropical greenery design.
The competition attracted 100 entries from 18 countries, with five finalists qualifying for the ultimate judging session. Five more Special Mention Awards were awarded.
Source: http://www.eco-business.com/news/green-homes-for-indonesias-migrant-farmers/
