Man, culture and environments: an anthropological approach to determining the Balinese urban design unit

Abstract

Urban design projects aim at achieving better environments in the sense that they are supportive of the culture of the inhabitants. Careful consideration of sociocultural aspects of a space is a precursor to approaching this goal. The existence of traditional settlements (i.e. desa adat) as a spatiocultural unit in a Balinese setting has never been accommodated in the contemporary projects of urban spatial design. In this respect, the opportunity to achieve supportive environments has certainly become remote. This paper aims to explore the existence of the desa adat as a Balinese cultural institution, and argues for its utilization as a pivotal unit in an urban design framework.

Notes

Correspondence Address: T. Nirarta Samadhi, Department of City and Urban Planning, National Institute of Technology, Jalan Bendungan Siguragura No. 2, Malang 65145, Indonesia. Email: [email protected]

The Indonesian system of administration divides Indonesia into provinces (propinsi), which then break down into regencies (kabupaten) and municipalities (kotamadya), and furthermore into districts (kecamatan), and then into the smallest administrative units: subdistricts (kelurahan and desa). In Bali subdistricts (kelurahan and/or desa)—beyond the formal system—are further divided into desa adat, and then into banjar adat.

The desa adat, loosely translated as ‘customary village’ (for example Geertz, 1980), is the traditional Balinese settlement unit. Desa is more properly translated as ‘settlement’ rather than ‘village’, which connotes a rural settlement, since the desa as a conceptual unit can be found in both urban and rural areas.

Swellengrebel (1960) provides a comprehensive discussion of such a phenomenon.

Kaja, literally meaning ‘to the interior’, is one of the directions in the Balinese indigenous wind rose.

Kelod literally means ‘to the sea’, and is the opposite direction to kaja; therefore, in the southern part of Bali kaja is translated as ‘north’ while kelod is translated as ‘south’; however, kaja and kelod are given the opposite translations in the northern part of Bali.

Nordholt (1991) offers an interesting discussion on the role of a centre within Balinese politics and Hinduism.

Puri, or the palaces of a former Balinese kingdom, can be found in seven out of eight major towns in Bali province, while puri of a lesser prince/nobleman characterized lesser towns, such as the one which was discussed at length in Nordholt (1991). Where there is no puri, its place will be occupied by a pura or temple.

Desa dinas literally means ‘formal village’ and it is known only in Bali province, while kelurahan is the national name for such an administrative unit.

Luan–teben literally means ‘upward–downward’ as in the flow of water from the spring in the mountain to the river and then the sea below, and Sanga Mandala literally means ‘nine spaces’.

A remark by Putra, one of the key informants in past research by the author and planning officer of the local planning board (bappeda) of the Denpasar Municipality, in an interview in November 1998, that was also later confirmed by planning officers from various local planning boards in Bali interviewed in December 1998 (see Samadhi, 2001a).

Some might consider this an over‐generalization; however, the author's personal planning experiences as a certified planner in various projects in the provinces of East Java, Bali, East Kalimantan, West Sumatra and West Nusa Tenggara, as well as that of his colleagues, seemed to substantiate the claim.

Section 6 of that ministerial regulation mentioned ‘planning by swakelola’, which means that planning/design can be done solely by government institutions. Within an Indonesian bureaucratic tradition, this means that the project would not be executed in a ‘normal’ planning/design process.

The time allocation for a planning project is approximately 180 calendar days (TOR (Terms of Reference) of Badung Regency Urban Planning/Design Project, 1996). However, the effective time, minus the tender and other administrative processes, is approximately 150 calendar days.

Nyepi is the first day of the Balinese Hindu lunar year, and is a day of contemplation, when all the Balinese Hindus are supposed to stay at home contemplating and fasting with no electricity for a whole day. On this particular day, there is no activity at all, even in the airport.

Pampatan agung literally means ‘the great crossroad’. Every desa adat throughout Bali has this physical feature, be it in the form of a real crossroad or mere symbolic one.

Undang‐undang (UU) No. 24 (1996) tentang Penataan Ruang (Spatial Planning Law No. 24, 1992) and Peraturan Pemerintah (PP) No. 69 (1996) tentang Pelaksanaan Hak dan Kewajiban, Serta Bentuk dan Tata Cara Peran Serta Masyarakat dalam Penataan Ruang (Government Regulation No. 69, 1996, on Public Participation in Spatial Planning).

This was an empirical claim that was observed during the urban planning/design practices in Bali and East Java provinces. It was raised during a discussion among the Indonesian Association of Planners, Malang Chapter, 1998.

Sekala–niskala literally means ‘tangible–intangible’ or ‘embodied–disembodied existence’.

This seems to sound somewhat premature as Indonesia has some very progressive thinkers. See more of Dove (1988) for discussions regarding the conventional role of ‘tradition’ in Indonesian ‘modernization’.

Conceptually, this definition is almost similar to the pre‐New Order (before 1967) situation, where adat inspired the life, dwellers and governmental system of a village. Such a village was recognized by the Dutch colonials as an adat community (adat gemeenschap) as well as an adat law community (adat rechtsgemeenschap) (Soemardjan, 2001)

Translated by the author.

In such a categorical division, a desa adat functions more in the religious, spiritual and cultural aspects of the community, whereas a desa dinas deals with the more formal activities. Consequently, the national and provincial government's development programmes—such as education, politics, development planning and infrastructure—are focused on the desa dinas (Warren, 1990; Pitana, 1994; Geriya, 1995; Picard, 1996).

Bhurloka is the world of demons, bhuwahloka is the world of man and swahloka is the world of gods.

Consisting of pura puseh (navel temple), pura desa (village temple) and pura dalem (temple of the dead).

The spatial quality division according to the Tri Angga principle comprises utama angga (sacred space), madya angga (neutral space) and nista angga (profane space). In this respect, a place on the mountain ward (kaja) location, or upstream (luan), is deemed sacred against the one located in the seaward direction (kelod), or downstream (teben).

Such a bounded space has a more comprehensive meaning to the Balinese than a ‘mythical space’ as has been defined by Tuan (1977, pp. 85–89) in that it only “functions as a component in a worldview or cosmology”.

Awig‐awig desa adat literally means ‘the law of the customary village’, and is applicable only to the desa which decrees it.

Literally, ‘every settlement has its own rules’.

Kahyangan Tiga is another way of saying Tri Kahyangan.

Kahyangan Desa is a collection of all the temples in a desa adat, including the three temples of Tri Kahyangan.

Adat community means a community bounded as a social–ritual unit by a set of customary (adat) law. This special law is abided only by the members of that community and it structures the community into a social organization where there is a leader, a treasurer, committees on almost any kind of social affair, a board of elders and so forth.

As an illustration, Samadhi (2001a) documented a case of seven desa adat in the town of Gianyar, where the population—as represented by respondents—regarded temple, museum and cultural centre as the most appropriate land use/site function for the utamaning utama space, and on the opposite space, the nistaning nista space is appropriate to accommodate hospital, cemetery, handicraft industries and rubbish dump.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

T. Nirarta Samadhi

Correspondence Address: T. Nirarta Samadhi, Department of City and Urban Planning, National Institute of Technology, Jalan Bendungan Siguragura No. 2, Malang 65145, Indonesia. Email: [email protected]