Jan

27

Kampung Tunjungan Survey (Translated and edited from Mohammad Cahyo’s brief report to the deMAYA community-26/1/2008)

Filed Under public space, urban design 

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Our survey took place on Thursday, January 24th 2008 covering Kampung Kebangsren, Kampung Blauran, and Kampung Ketandan, and involved seven members: Anggara Sijabat, MADcahyo, Putu Surya KB, P.Pras, Indiga, Hendi and Baloma. Mas Wahyu and Chotob failed to attend the survey due to other agendas.

 

Effectively we began our survey at 09.00, starting from an alley accessible from Jalan Tunjungan (Tunjungan Rd.), across Optik Seis Tunjungan. A brief description of Jalan Tunjungan; it is one of Surabaya’s legendary streets which used to be a shopping center. Traces of its history can be seen from its wide sidewalks, sheltered by buildings with zero border distance. The walls facing the sidewalks used to be shop display windows, providing pedestrians with the privilege of window shopping before finally deciding what they want to buy. These corridors, however, do not function they way they used to as they are now replaced by corridors in malls with air conditioning, where people can go window shopping in a more comfortable atmosphere. One of Tunjungan’s most significant architectural characters is the towers located on every corner of a building located on intersections. A number of colonial heritage buildings are located on Jalan Tunjungan; Hotel Majapahit, BPN Building, and the National Press Monument (formerly Toko Kwang, now occupied by Seiko)

 

An unbalance in building scale exists on Jalan Embong Malang (Embong Malang Rd.) where on the left now stand multi-storey buildings such as Plaza Tunjungan 4, Sheraton Hotel, Go Skate, JW Marriot, Crystal Garden’s unfinished structure, etc. whereas on the right stand a row of single storey buildings which house various silk-screening shops, and a range of small restaurants. One of the most well-known depot kaki lima (street kitchens) located on Embong Malang is Rawon Setan which opens for business from 21.00

 

On the right of Jalan Blauran (Baluran Rd.), shoulder to shoulder with Kampung Tunjungan, stand sport shops, and jewelery stores, and an antique-looking-giant, Imperial Plaza, a mall-styled jewelery center with its back turned on the Kampungs behind it. While on the left hand side is a row of jewelers, and the Blauran market.

 

Jalan Praban (Praban Rd.) is known for its shoe stores, from branded shoes to imitations. There is also the Joko Jumput Graveyard on the northern part of the road, which, according to Pak Josef is also part of Surabaya’s urban heritage besides the colonial buildings which have been defended by heritage enthusiasts.

 

Kampung Tunjungan is an urban kampung located in the heart of Surabaya, commonly known as the golden rectangle as it is surrounded by Jalan Tunjungan, Embong Malang, Baluran, and Praban. This kampung is the background, hidden behind commercial buildings standing on the roads mentioned. How is the atmosphere in these kampungs? There surely exists a great contrast! Life in these kampungs certainly goes at its own pace, much slower compared to the hustle and bustle of the commercial streets. When standing on the side of the main commercial streets, we were presented by noise and pollution from the heavy traffic, but as soon as we took a step into the kampungs through its alleys, about 50 meters from the busy streets, the noise from the heavy traffic will then substituted by people’s voices. From children playing in the alleys, men loitering and having conversations, women gossiping, senior citizens enchanting, music from the traditional tandak bedhes (a traveling monkey show) and sounds from door-to-door street kitchens. Kampung alleys are full-of-life public spaces where social attraction and interaction takes place. The alleys are free from motor vehicle noises as motorcycle riders have to push their bikes through the alleys, houses without front lawns, terraces that are practically shoulder-to-shoulder with the alley, some jengki (typical style of architecture which developed in Indonesia which set it apart from the colonial buildings) houses and some tall buildings can be found in the background when we walk from one alley to another.

 

When discussing Surabaya as a city, kampung is a theme that is present and recognized, but always sidelined by other agendas, whereas the colonial buildings often become the center of attention whenever Surabaya’s Surabaya-ness (Surabaya’s identity) is questioned (however, we can find a different situation when we pay a visit to ITS’s Laboratory for Settlement-Lab Pemukiman). In a cheap book bazaar in Balai Pemuda (Youth Hall) last December, I came to buy some books and found one book stand run by Surabaya’s Bureau of Archives. Inside the book stand there was a banner that said “Where is my Surabaya?”, and inside were also photos of the colonial buildings that have been categorized as heritage. It was as though Surabaya’s identity was represented by those buildings. The question is then, is that the only thing that represents Surabaya’s identity? Are kampung and pegupon (I couldn’t explain this term in English-if anyone can help me, please send me a notification through prananda.navitas@gmail.com thank you!) not part of the Surabaya identity? Do they not represent Surabaya’s identity? Are colonial buildings the only things that can be classified as urban heritage? Are Kampung Ampel, Joko Dolok tomb, Joko Jumput, and Botoputih graveyards not classifiable as urban heritage?

 

Those are questions which will be raised indeMAYA’s November 2008 event, with Surabaya being the theme. But which Surabaya will it be? Let us discuss it together, and share our ideas and thoughts. This is just a brief documentary of what we have witnessed and experienced during our survey.

 

note: as this is a translation from the original report, therefore the translator deeply apologizes for misinterpretations of any kind.

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