Town planning in the Dutch Indies

Three hundred years of colonialism have left Indonesia with a distinctly Dutch heritage. In the major Indonesian towns and cities old Dutch neighbourhoods can still be recognized. On their arrival, the Dutch imposed a settlement pattern copied from their own towns; for example, Batavia — nowadays Jakarta — was modeled after Amsterdam. Eventually, modern techniques like building lines and zoning were introduced. In many Indonesian towns colonial building ordinances still apply, whilst the colonial Town Planning Act has never been repealed.

This article gives an overview of Dutch influence on Indonesian towns from the arrival of the Dutch in Indonesia until the declaration of Indonesian independence in August 1945 and the difficult years following until 1949. It shows that town planning in Indonesia went through several stages. In the seventeenth century the Dutch applied renaissance town planning concepts copied from their own towns. Later on, Dutch and Indonesian culture intermingled: the ‘Indische’ culture emerged. The ‘Indische’ culture emerged. The ‘Indische’ town was better adapted to the tropical climate than towns solely based on Dutch examples. In modern times, Western culture has been reasserted. After 1870, the liberalization of the economy led to a rapid growth of the Indonesian towns. Modern planning techniques were introduced to cope with the increasing complexity of urban life.     

Names,norms and forms: French and indigenous toponyms in early colonial Dakar,Senegal

Research on street naming systems in general and on colonial street names in particular is not abundant. This article examines the French colonial policy regarding street names in Dakar, as well as the accompanying colonial terminology that was applied in Dakar’s quarters. With occasional references to the pre‐colonial and the post‐colonial periods, the main focus of this article is on street names in early colonial Dakar, as they were designated by the preliminary master plan of Pinet‐Laprade in the 1860s. While residential segregation was never a stated policy on the part of the colonial authorities there, who formally fostered assimilation, it will be shown that toponyms had a key role in the alienation of the indigenous population in the city centre. As Dakar’s city centre was considered ‘European’ and a chief lieu de colonisation in West Africa, its colonial urban toponyms reflected an official memory that excluded African histories and identities. Using original historical evidence, alternative naming systems of reference to certain urban areas on the part of the Dakarois will be discussed – systems that sometimes challenged and sometimes supplemented their French counterparts.     

Putrajaya: Malaysia’s new federal administrative capital

In the early 1990s, the Malaysian government conceived of a new federal administrative capital built from a tabula rasa on former oil palm and rubber plantations called Putrajaya. It was designed to be the new home to all of Malaysia’s federal government ministries and national level civil servants, host all diplomatic activities for the country, and function as a potent symbol of the nation’s ambitious modernization agenda and of its new ‘progressive Muslim’ identity. As one of many new cities recently built as seats of power in Southeast Asia and the ‘global south’, Putrajaya is emblematic of the trend of former colonies to reject the colonial capital and to replace it with a city that symbolizes the state’s national ideology and aspirations. This article provides a brief overview of the history and development of Malaysian urbanism that set the stage for the creation of Putrajaya and critically examines its claims of being ‘green’. Particular attention is paid to how a national identity has been constructed through the design of the city.     

Tropical Architecture and the West Indies: from military advances and tropical medicine,to Robert Gardner-Medwin and the networks of tropical modernism

The history of modern Tropical Architecture has largely focused on the region of West Africa, however this paper demonstrates that additional strains were being developed elsewhere, preceding the African examples. Indeed, Tropical Architecture, far from being a mid-twentieth century phenomenon, has a much longer history, stretching back into the colonial settlements of the eighteenth century and continued by the tropical medicine contributions of the early twentieth century, particularly in the British West Indies. This paper considers some of these early examples, before investigating the work produced by Robert Gardner-Medwin, along with his small team that included Leo De Syllas and Gordon Cullen, during the Second World War in the West Indies. Their work there as part of the ‘development and welfare’ programme was considered, ‘building research’, concerned with materials, pragmatic decisions and housing, and, whilst it was unacknowledged at the time, was clearly indebted to the earlier military and hygiene models. Nevertheless, the work they undertook was highly influential in the development of modern tropical architecture, and in particular the buildings that were later produced in West Africa: it helped to formalise this canon, and unified the previously fragmented and disparate out-workings of the Metropolis. Gardner-Medwin, therefore, can be considered an agent of Empire, a key-player in the extension of British architects operating as the knowledge makers, not only in the period of colonial rule, but crucially, afterwards. This is further manifest through his involvement in UN housing missions to South East Asia and his contribution to the Tropical Architecture Conference held at University College, London, in 1953.     

Tropical Architecture and the West Indies: from military advances and tropical medicine,to Robert Gardner-Medwin and the networks of tropical modernism

The history of modern Tropical Architecture has largely focused on the region of West Africa, however this paper demonstrates that additional strains were being developed elsewhere, preceding the African examples. Indeed, Tropical Architecture, far from being a mid-twentieth century phenomenon, has a much longer history, stretching back into the colonial settlements of the eighteenth century and continued by the tropical medicine contributions of the early twentieth century, particularly in the British West Indies. This paper considers some of these early examples, before investigating the work produced by Robert Gardner-Medwin, along with his small team that included Leo De Syllas and Gordon Cullen, during the Second World War in the West Indies. Their work there as part of the ‘development and welfare’ programme was considered, ‘building research’, concerned with materials, pragmatic decisions and housing, and, whilst it was unacknowledged at the time, was clearly indebted to the earlier military and hygiene models. Nevertheless, the work they undertook was highly influential in the development of modern tropical architecture, and in particular the buildings that were later produced in West Africa: it helped to formalise this canon, and unified the previously fragmented and disparate out-workings of the Metropolis. Gardner-Medwin, therefore, can be considered an agent of Empire, a key-player in the extension of British architects operating as the knowledge makers, not only in the period of colonial rule, but crucially, afterwards. This is further manifest through his involvement in UN housing missions to South East Asia and his contribution to the Tropical Architecture Conference held at University College, London, in 1953.     

Towards garden city wonderlands: new town planning in 1950s Taiwan

This article explores the historical context, process and result of introducing and implementing ‘new’ town planning in early post‐war Taiwan. The two so‐called ‘garden cities’ are examined: Jhong‐Sing New Village and Yonghe City, both of which were formulated in the mid‐1950s by the same group of local planners. It reveals that the assumed necessity of importing Western planning paradigms arose from the abrupt escalation of urban concentration caused by the late 1940s mass migrations from China. To cope with this unprecedented population growth, planning profession was swiftly established. The novice planners, in search of a reference for developing ‘new’ towns to decentralise excessive urbanisation, modelled their ‘new’ town planning on English suburban morphology. In the absence of an input of external expertise, the planners appeared to mistake aesthetic order and pastoral imagery of low‐density residential development in England as practically viable solutions to the pressing urban problems in Taiwan. In a false hope that adopting Western ideas and practices would quickly lead the island to a better world, Taiwan initiated the importation of planning paradigms. This planning transfer not only evidently manifests a mode of ‘borrowing’ in post‐colonial countries in international diffusion but also re‐articulates the disseminating nature of modern planning and the existence of one‐direction flows characterising the global dynamics of diffusion in the twentieth century.     

New plans for housing in urban Kenya, 1939–63

Until about 1939, guided by a policy of trusteeship, the colonial government in Kenya limited the number of Africans in urban areas. As elsewhere in East and Central Africa, employers and municipalities were supposed to provide only ‘bachelor’ housing for unaccompanied African men. After 1939, encouraged by London, the Kenyan government began to promote a policy of development which implied urbanization. The permanent presence of Africans in towns was accepted, as was the growing responsibility of municipalities for the provision of housing for families as well as for bachelors. Municipalities began to plan for new types of housing, with more community facilities in new types of neighbourhood layouts. From the early 1940s, a wave of construction created many thousands of new dwellings in all major urban areas, but only a minority were designed for families. Many women and children were accommodated in ‘bachelor’ housing where they were compensated through rental subsidies. Although Kenya’s housing initiatives in the late colonial period did not satisfy all of the rapidly growing urban needs, they were a substantial achievement.     

‘Unfolding from within’: modern architecture and the dream of organic totality

With the proclamation of the Turkish Republic, in October, 1923, Ankara became the laboratory and showcase of the nation-building project led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. A number of European architects, planners and artists were involved in the transformation of this small Anatolian town into the political and symbolic centre of the ‘New Turkey’: as the Republic was also known. At the same time, European observers were drawn to witness a place that was described as ‘the most extraordinary capital in the world’. At a crucial juncture, in which the geopolitical space of the Orient was radically reconfigured, Ankara provided an unexpected terrain of cross-cultural encounters between East and West. This essay explores the historical traces of these encounters that emerge from an uncharted body of sources, ranging from early-1920s' travel writings to the first comprehensive accounts of the new capital published in the mid-1930s. A tropological analysis of this rich and diverse literature shows that Ankara destabilised the discursive frame through which the West had hitherto constructed the Orient as its irreducible ‘other’. The accounts of this modernist experiment reasserted the hegemony of western culture while revealing, in the process, its inner fractures and contradictions.     

La Plata: an advanced nineteenth century new town with ancient roots

La Plata, the new capital of the Buenos Aires province was founded as a descendant of the rich and homogeneous family of new towns based on the Spanish American model. The Spaniards established hundreds of settlements in America according to the early rules that were soon officially acknowledged and imposed by the Crown. King Philip II established in 1573 his ‘Ordinances concerning discoveries, settlements and pacification’. This system worked for more than four centuries because the Spanish American countries accepted the colonial rules long after their independence. La Plata offered one of the last opportunities for the development of these ideas. The urban theories which were originated during the nineteenth century left clear traces in La Plata's layout. La Plata became one of the first cases in which the nineteenth century ‘progressist model’ – the hygienic city, as defined by Françoise Choay – was adopted and actually built. The fortunate combination of the two models turned La Plata, its qualities and elements into a complex and unique example in urban history.     

加快小城镇建设 统筹城乡协调发展

本文拟就我国各种类型小城镇的发展,提出一些仅供参考的思路。主要是强调小城镇发展应该因地制宜,不能盲目照搬照套。必须发挥自身特点,结合城市规划,发展出有鲜明个性、可持续发展的小城镇。发展好这些小城镇,也可以缓解中心城市的人口压力,更加有利于实现城乡统筹协调发展。     

The linear city: linearity without a city

Similar to linear cities of the early 1960s, especially that of the British town of Hook (which was not built), two linear towns were planned in Israel during the years 1960–1962: Arad (completed) and Ir HaBesor (remained on paper).

The two Israeli towns highly resembled the British town, at least regarding the basic linear scheme of traffic separation, phased town growth and planning based on walking distances. However, a more thorough examination reveals an essential difference between the British linear cities and the Israeli ones, especially concerning their technological components, which were absent from the Israeli planning.

This paper examines the difference between town planning models in passing from one culture to another, while focusing on the desire to impart an ‘urban character’ to the new cities. The paper claims that ideological contents negating urbanism as a concept stood behind the Israeli linear town model, and that this fact surprisingly preserved the town's vitality for many years.     

The linear city: linearity without a city

Similar to linear cities of the early 1960s, especially that of the British town of Hook (which was not built), two linear towns were planned in Israel during the years 1960–1962: Arad (completed) and Ir HaBesor (remained on paper).

The two Israeli towns highly resembled the British town, at least regarding the basic linear scheme of traffic separation, phased town growth and planning based on walking distances. However, a more thorough examination reveals an essential difference between the British linear cities and the Israeli ones, especially concerning their technological components, which were absent from the Israeli planning.

This paper examines the difference between town planning models in passing from one culture to another, while focusing on the desire to impart an ‘urban character’ to the new cities. The paper claims that ideological contents negating urbanism as a concept stood behind the Israeli linear town model, and that this fact surprisingly preserved the town's vitality for many years.     

The plan as a colonization project: the medina of Tlemcen under French rule, 1842–1920

In the nineteenth century, Algerian cities were the first medinas in the Arab world to be colonized by a European power. Tlemcen, a medieval medina involved in this historical event, was marked by a relentless struggle on the part of the French administration to transform it into a city conforming to modern standards. The antagonism between two urban systems – the ‘Islamic city’ and the modern city – takes a problematic form when confronted with urban interventions that had colonizing aims. This paper will argue that the plan of the colonial city introduced a new order, subjecting the medieval medina within a set/subset relationship. Through urban subordination, the French military–civil administration used the plan layout as an instrument to control and dominate the medina of Tlemcen. In order to verify this hypothesis, a thorough study of documents dating from the early years of the French occupation was undertaken; thus, this paper is constructed as an urban study, based on a historico-morphological approach.     

形神兼备思路下的特色小镇规划研究 ——以滕州董村花汇小镇为例

针对当前特色小镇规划建设现实问题,在特色小镇传统规划方法中融入"形""神"概念,阐释形神兼备规划思路基本内涵,提出形神兼备思路下的特色小镇规划设计方法:既要考虑规划方案的形态美,更应追求包括产业、人居、生态、文化等内涵的神态设计.最后结合董村花汇小镇规划,阐述了形神兼备规划设计方法在实践中的应用,以期为特色小镇的规划编...     

Street names in Dakar-Plateau: a colonial and post-colonial perspective

ABSTRACT

This article revolves around the naming of streets in Dakar-Plateau. This was borne in mind as analysis considered the system of urban nomenclature applied in the colonial era, when the city was founded and shaped by France’s colonial administration; as well as the (re)naming process ongoing after Senegal’s independence. The approach thus applied quantitative verification methods to a thesis oft-repeated in the subject literature, that a French glossary of toponyms dominates the system by which streets in Dakar are named. Quantitative analysis here shows unequivocally that there is only a slight numerical prevalence of colonial-era names of streets over new names. Beyond that, clear evidence is offered for the idea that, in both colonial days and today, the symbolic urban landscape expressed with the aid of urbanonyms was shaped by authorities in a conscious manner, being pressed into the service of political objectives. To indicate the strength of this kind of linkage, the article engages in the detailed discussion of each change of name that certain streets have been through; the bases for this approach being reference to the historical town/city plans present in the Archives Nationales du Sénégal, as well as fieldwork carried out in the Senegalese capital.     

The Colonel Light Gardens Garden Suburb Commission: building a planned community

Colonel Light Gardens, about 6 km south of Adelaide, South Australia, is recognized as a national and international exemplar in the field of garden suburb planning. The first objective of the suburb's Development Plan seeks the conservation and reinforcement of its ‘original three dimensional garden suburb design’ and statements supporting other objectives detail its ‘essential’ urban design and land use elements. However, town planning is more than the design of urban places and spaces. It is also concerned with how these may be achieved effectively and how the services and facilities required by citizens are properly supplied and located. This crucial other side of the ‘town planning coin’ has been demonstrated in the Colonel Light Gardens' development. The Garden Suburb Act of 1919 established a Garden Suburb Commission with powers similar to what, in later years, would be known as urban development corporations. Hence, it was first in a line of such organizations in South Australia and stands with international exemplars such as the British garden cities and new towns.     

Towns Against a Background of Cities: Recent Evolution of Town Urbanization Policy in the People's Republic of China

Continuing a long tradition of promoting town development, the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) intends to grow towns further to achieve the twin goals of sustaining economic growth and narrowing the rural–urban income gap. Under the Asian Development Bank-financed ‘Town-Based Urbanization Strategy Study,’ Planning and Development Collaborative International, Inc. and the China Center for Town Reform and Development explored, on behalf of the PRC, different ways to promote the growth of towns. Case studies in Liaoning and Shanxi provinces showed that towns grow best when they are physically and economically linked to nearby cities; when they benefit from strong local leadership that articulates a clear vision for future development; and when they have been priority targets of government-channelled private sector investment. To enable the development of towns, it was proposed that PRC should: (1) grow towns by facilitating the development of larger urban agglomerations made up of different types of urban settlements; (2) focus efforts on towns with high potential for employment generation and economic growth; and (3) grant greater authority to towns for development planning, budgeting, revenue generation, and infrastructure investment.     

Dabaodao: the planning,development, and transformation of a Chinese (German) neighbourhood

Dabaodao is an old city district located in the heart of the historical centre of Qingdao (north-eastern China). It was created over 100 years ago as a segregated ‘Chinese town’ under German colonial rule. This article embarks upon a journey into the past, reviewing the continuity and change of Dabaodao and its courtyard-style houses known as Liyuan over last century of socio-political turmoil. It discusses how they have evolved and transformed under different city administrations, beginning from the early colonial years, to the Republican era, the Maoist years, all the way into the reform period. Specifically, the article illustrates how city-planning, laws, and regulations as well as a general urban development ideology during one time period conditioned and shaped those of following periods, eventually turning Dabaodao into what it is today: a dilapidated and poor inner-city neighbourhood with an uncertain future whose historical significance and preservation value remains highly contested and under debate. This article reviews colonial city planning and its impacts in Qingdao, an under-represented city in the English language literature on colonial China; moreover, the article links Dabaodao’s diverse history to current contestations over urban renewal, hereby engaging the complex issue of using the past in the present.     

Sir Patrick Geddes and Barra Bazaar: competing visions,ambivalence and contradiction

During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries successive British governments in Calcutta (Kolkata) became increasingly concerned with the links between the health of its inhabitants and the cleanliness of the city, particularly in the indigenous parts of town. European urban solutions, typically involving slum clearance and road building schemes, were imposed to address such problems. These colonial attitudes contrast with more ‘hybrid’ visions of health and hygiene that Sir Patrick Geddes adopted for proposals for a market area in Calcutta called Barra Bazaar, in 1919. Geddes’ ideas combined an approach that commended ‘traditional’ Indian courtyard houses, street patterns and external space, with more ‘modern’ ideas for business accommodation. In conclusion, I argue that Geddes’ often ambivalent and contradictory outlook on such competing visions of city space echoes notions of ‘hybridity,’ recently developed by Homi K. Bhabha.     

龙翔凤翥--榆林地区明长城军事堡寨研究

陕西榆林地区是明朝长城九边十一镇中延绥镇所辖大部防区。本次调研的主要对象是该地区39个军堡和附属烽燧、军寨以及长城沿线聚落。该文简要介绍延绥镇长城防御体系,主要探讨堡寨选址、布局、堡寨之间的关系以及堡寨与长城以及聚落变迁的关系,对研究对象进行分类比较,讨论军事防御体系的形成、发展过程及其历史意义。