| The urban form of cities is continuously changing and its final form reflects the life and character of its people. The physical setting, the political and socioeconomic environments, the cultural behavior of the society, as well as the administrative system, are factors that affect development of cities. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence and role of urban design, as public policy, in making and shaping urban form as displayed by buildings, streets, land uses, open spaces, and skylines. Specifically, a number of issues are investigated: (1) Distinguishing the characteristic elements of urban form; (2) Examining the changes of urban design as public policy; (3) Analyzing the interaction process between urban form and urban design; (4) Examining the roles of actors in the changing and developing process.; The work focuses on Ujung Pandang1 in South Sulawesi, a city of more than one million people in Indonesia's eastern province. The city is typical of other Indonesian cities that also are influenced by strong central policies. Ujung Pandang is special in that the local culture respects some of its characteristics in urban environment. The balance of local and national efforts makes this city an interesting one to study.; The case study suggests that Ujung Pandang's urban form, besides being the product of political, social and economic needs of the people, can also be seen as an outcome of the Municipality's administrative system. The Five-year National Development Policy that was initiated in the late 1960s by the Central Government and the expansion of its administrative boundaries in 1971 influenced development activity of the city. Influenced by political stability, sound economic environment of the country, and strong national urban development policy, the development activity of Ujung Pandang can be divided into three development periods—the Expansion of 1971–1980, the Consolidation of 1981–1990, and the Development Crest of 1991–1995.; Several urban design policies have been introduced to support the growing development activities during the three development periods. Besides creating better living environment, urban design's products also cause some disturbances to the existing urban fabric. Moreover, in certain cases, they only provide benefits to certain segments of the society, not the public at large. One of the causes of this discouraging condition may be associated with not using the present role of urban design appropriately to manage the changing environment. However, the changes and developments have layered, patterned, colored and formed a characteristic urban form of the city.; The findings of the study contribute to the present state of knowledge in examining the significant role of urban design as public policy in making and shaping urban form that is hardly touched by some scholars. Hopefully, some of the findings will become the foundation and stepping-stone in opening new perspectives on urban design and planning policy in Indonesia in the future. 2; 1Ujung Pandang to Makassar. The study uses the name Ujung Pandang, however the city's name was changed back to Makassar in 1999. 2Originally published in DAI Vol. 62, No. 6. Reprinted here with corrected title. |
