Journal Article

An Open Market: The Legitimation and Regulation of the Public Realm in Denpasar

Suartika, G A M, Saputra, K E, Mudra, I K

2019

Overview

This paper interrogates the actuality of 'ruang terbuka hijau kota'(urban green open space - UGOS) in Denpasar Bali. This debate is critical because it is directly linked to two conditions. First, is an ever increasing population, and second, is a diminishing public realm. While the social, economic, and environmental significances of the UGOS in the formation of a liveable city is widely acknowledged, both conditions, in reality, do not go in line with the importance of UGOS to urban living. The paper argues that while UGOS are legitimated by the existing urban planning procedures and reflected in spatial planning, there is no policy directive on securing the deliverance of sustainable UGOS that guarantee the public interest. The following study is supported by relevant case studies that illustrate and demonstrate the above claims, predominantly across Denpasar, the capital city of both Bali Province and Denpasar city. The conclusion to the paper becomes increasingly self-evident as it progresses. It is clear that having new categories of land use will accomplish nothing. Similarly the key is not to re-designate land uses or manipulate existing codes, but to reconstitute how the planning system itself functions in relation to a sustainable public realm and environmental justice.

• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Subject: conversion / elimination / Environmental justice / green open space / Land use / Population growth / Public concern / urban infrastructure / Urban planning / urban planning practices