Urban Public Spaces in Bandung

A number of urban public spaces with different themes have sprung up in Bandung, the capital of West Java in Indonesia. Ridwan Kamil—one of the founders of architecture and urban design firm Urbane Indonesia—has established various social communities such as the Bandung Creative City Forum (BCCF) to raise awareness about neglected parks before he became mayor of Bandung in 2013. They initiated numerous social movements such as the One Village One Playground (OVOP) concept.

These programmed and inspirational spaces in high-density residential neighbourhoods accommodate multiple users, besides having the basic function of greening the city. These public areas create opportunities for people to communicate and interact with others from diverse backgrounds, nurture a tolerant attitude towards social differences, form an active community to generate creativity and ideas for the next level of development, and revitalise the areas in a responsive way. They are usually supported with environmentally friendly lighting systems and energy apparatus, as well as facilities such as retail outlets and toilets.