Landscaping proposals for Malasari Village

Located on the foothills of Mount Halimun in West Java, the village of Malasari is known to be a Nature-based tourism destination with a national park nearby, along with forests, waterfalls, and agricultural expanses such as tea fields, as well as cultural destinations of arts and crafts. However, the area is highly vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes and landslides due to its geo-meteorological and ecological characteristics, including steep slopes and high rainfall.

The village was the subject of International Landscape Architecture Student Workshop (ILASW) 2024, where participants proposed ideas to improve the village’s resilience and add value for residents while remaining rooted in sustainable principles. The following are the workshop results by the four teams, led by unit masters Prof Dr Syartinilia; Prof Nappy L. Navarra; and Ian Pranita, along with mentors Luthfi Nur Ilman; Nona Sugiharti; Hapsah Faridah; and Ahsan Wildan.

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Regenerating Mother Nature

Titled Ibu Pertiwi: A Proposed Regenerative Landscape for the Landslide-Prone Area of Citalahab, the proposal by Cai Junhan, Gianelli Ashley R. Gabriel, Sheena Hillary M. Bautista, Carla Bianca G. Santos, Geraldine Audrey and Chang Kuo Hsuan was awarded Best Project. Within the project site that included the existing Malasari village, Tiplant Farm, Cilanggar River, a plantation and forest where the Citalahab camping grounds are located, the team identified threats of river blockage caused by landslides as well as the possibility of gentrification that could harm biodiversity.

Their landscape design strategy implemented regenerative tourism, inspired by the principle of Ibu Pertiwi or “mothers taking care of their children, and vice versa”. Four types of areas were outlined to serve different functions: regulating (natural landscapes); provisioning (productive land); supporting (eco-tourism and homestays); and fostering culture (including printmaking on textiles using natural materials). The team also placed emphasis on the habitat protection of the native Owa Jawa, locally known as the ‘singing ape’, with a proposed Research Center nearby.

To mitigate disasters in the village, the team identified and proposed retaining walls on sloped surfaces, terracing for productive land and vegetative cover for gently contoured soil.

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Disaster mitigation

Landslides at the Citalahab area at the village centre are a major problem—they have resulted in road closures for up to a week and the destruction of rice fields, gardens and community facilities. Furthermore, the Indonesian geometeorological agency has also predicted frequent earthquakes for the area due to its proximity to the Cikaniki fault.

Since the clay soil type is considered unstable, residents took measures by building wooden houses as an earthquake-resilient material, avoiding slopes and steep areas, and preserving the ecosystem. In the event of disaster, the team comprising Chueh Hsin-Yu, Muhammad Rizky Noorahman, Mikyla Gyana Manzano, Anne Rose M. Maghanoy, Cindy Romauly Elysabeth Manurung and Chen Guan-Lin plotted three types of evacuation zones based on the risk severity: green zones for long-term evacuation; yellow zones for short-term evacuation; and red zones that should be avoided.

To implement Nature-based soil retaining solutions, the team also suggested various plant species for the terraced agricultural areas, including bamboo crops, cinnamon trees, vetiver grass and avocado trees.

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Rooted in resilience

The proposal by Lin Yi-Chen, Dewa Fahtiar Fisabila, Vianny Aileen Handoyo, Gianna Angela Masangkay Garcia, Chen I Ju and Yi-Da Chueh titled Rooted in Resilience focuses on establishing deeper root systems for a more resilient landscape. The main solution for the hazards, they suggested, was to incorporate terrace farming methods with gabions (stone walls) as stabilisers. The choice of vegetation would be an important factor to improve the soil health and support biodiversity.

Based on the model of plant stratification, they proposed three ‘tiers’. The first tier would be large trees with a tap root system, including local Altingia excelsa (rasamala), Hevea brasiliensis (rubber) and Persea americana (avocado) to prevent rotational erosion. The second tier would comprise strategic crop plants such as coffee. For the third tier, shrubs such as those of the Poaceae or Zingiberaceae families, or fibrous roots plants like vetiver would help to prevent landslides.

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Enlivening waterways

Awarded Favourite Project, the team of Wenyan Huang, Yun-Hsien Lin, Edginel A. Smith, Dewi Sartika Nusye, Zaki Maharani and Lee Yahui proposed The Bliss X Malasari Village. This project aims to balance cultural tourism with environmental protection, maintaining the tradition of printmaking with plant dyes, angklung performances and storytelling tied to the land’s natural cycles.

Next to the agricultural areas of farms and rice fields, the team proposed bioretention ponds for rainwater catchment and fish farms to add value for the community. Riparian landscapes are also offered to manage water naturally as well as for aesthetic value, while vetiver planting could aid in stabilising the soil. The suitable plants for these waterside areas include iris, banana, Acmella oleracea (legetan) and Lagerstroemia indica (crepe-myrtle) flowers, and the giant Gonystylus bancanus (ramin) trees.

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