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Preserving Yogyakarta’s Historical Landsmarks and Cosmological Axis Through Heritage Impact Assessment

© Balai Pengelolaan Kawasan Sumbu Filosofi Dinas Kebudayaan DIY. Photo 1: Kraton (Sultan Palace) complex

 

UNESCO training on Heritage Impact Assessment in Yogyakkarta brings together 30 key officials and experts to strengthen urban heritage management.

Cities keep evolving very fast, particularly in Asia, where the urban areas keep expanding due to population growth and internal migration.  World Bank’s 2016 study suggests that the urban growth rate in Indonesia reached 4,1% per year, the fastest in Asia. In 1950, 15% of Indonesia’s population lived in urban areas, while in 2020, it was more than 50%.   Thus, the historical fabrics of the cities are disappearing to become one of many common modern cities.  

Taking up the challenge of maintaining the original urban heritage values, the Special Region of Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia, is bidding for the World Heritage status for its historic centre, a traditional Javanese city founded in 1756 by Pangeran Mangkubumi or the first Sultan Hamengkubuwana.  The city centre was designed based on specific Javanese cosmology and philosophy, manifested in its location and plan.  Accordingly, every component of the historical city centre of Yogyakarta has its philosophical meaning.  

However, protecting such heritage values is tough when the city centre is also a popular tourist destination.  Unplanned and insensitive tourism development can quickly alter its heritage characters.   Conscious of the challenges ahead, the Government of Yogyakarta is taking a bold step in making Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) a mandatory process under its law by December-end, 2021.  

HIA is a planning process strictly required under the UNESCO World Heritage Convention to assess the long-term impact of proposed development projects on the World Heritage Sites before the works start.

However, very few countries in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, have embraced the HIA as an official procedure.   Yogyakarta will be, therefore, the first city in Indonesia to recognize HIA in its legal system.  

On 22-26 November 2021, with the support of the Yogyakarta Special Fund (Dana Istimewa Yogyakarta), the Yogyakarta Provinces’ Cultural Office and UNESCO organized an online introductory training on HIA, inviting some 30 participants from the office of Public Works, Spatial Planning, Permit and Investment and Regional Planning,  academician and CSOs.

Through a series of training workshops, Yogyakarta Culture Office plans to nurture a group of professionals to manage urban heritage and HIA in preparation for the future World Heritage status of the Yogyakarta city center.

The step made by Yogyakarta will go a long way towards the sustainable management of its city heritage.

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