SUSTAINABLE LOW COST HOUSING IN INDONESIA THE CHALLENGES OF ITS IMPLEMENTATION

Abstract

Abstract— Sustainability concept has been developed for more than two decades since the Bruntland Report. The concept brings a new perspective on how development process can embrace ecology, economic and social dimension in a balanced and comprehensive manners. It has been realized that this concept need to be implemented in all scales and sectors of development. Housing is a perfect starting point in implementing this concept, since the inhabitants can get involve and experience the immediate result of the action which has been taken. In Indonesia it seems that this concept still has not got enough concern from the public. This paper try to explore the notion of what kind of challenges faced in shaping a sustainable lowcost housing in Indonesia. Implementing the sustainability concept in housing means creating a condition where a housing, as a physical container, can continue to support the inhabitants’ needs during the bionomic process, without reducing the ability of wider community who live outside the housing area and the next generation to meet their own needs. Many actors involve in shaping a sustainable housing, not only the inhabitants, and different challenges emerge from these actors. Keywords : sustainable housing, low-cost housing I. INTRODUCTION Sustainability concept has been developed since this term introduced in the Bruntland Report in 1987. The concept brings a new perspective on how development process should embrace social, economic, and ecology aspect of human life, in a balanced and comprehensive manner. It has been realized that in order to reach the global aim of this concept, it needs to be implemented in every scale and sectors of development. Housing is a perfect starting point to implement this concept, since in this scale the inhabitant can be easily involved and experience the immediate result of the actions which has been done. In Indonesia itself the sustainability concept has receive concerns from the government, some communities, and organizations. But it seems that its implementation and the public concern are not sufficient. The implementation of this concept in housing sector, especially low-cost housing for the middle and low income people which is vastly needed in Indonesia, 1 Graduate School of Engineering, Kobe University, Japan. 2 Prof., Dr. Eng., Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Kobe University, Japan. is facing challenges. Based on field observation, it is likely that there are some obstacles faced in implementing this concept in low-cost housing scale. This paper tries to comprehend about to what extent the implementation of sustainability concept in Indonesian low-cost housing, and identified what kind of challenges faced in shaping a sustainable low-cost housing. The case study is Tlogosari housing developed by Perumnas in 1986. At that time the term sustainability was just born, but if we observe in to the Indonesia government`s policy, intrinsically it already concern and in harmony with the sustainability concept. The approach is through qualitatively discussing the challenges that emerged before and after the inhabitant dwelled, and also through the actors who`s involved in shaping a sustainable low-cost housing. This is due to the implementation is difficult to be done only by one actor, but it has to be done synergically between each actors. The first part of this paper is introduction. The second part is about the meaning of sustainability concept in housing and the framework of aspects which need to be concerned with. The third part is description about the case study, Bumi Tlogosari housing in Semarang city, Central Java Province, Indonesia. The fourth part is discussion about sustainability condition and the challenges in its implementation. At the end this paper is closed with conclusions. II. SUSTAINABILITY CONCEPT IN LOW-COST HOUSING Sustainability concept currently has been developed as a concern toward social, ecology, and economy dimension in a balanced and comprehensive manner. This term has been used and combined with many words, which sometimes confusing the meaning of the concept. An appropriate start in trying to understand this concept is through looking at the meaning of this terminology as it was used at the first time in the Bruntland Report. It is meant as development which can fulfill the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of the next generation to fulfill their needs. Many experts have elaborate this concept along with its development, and it can be concluded that the substance of the sustainability is that it is not a final aim, but it is more likely as a condition of an on going process. In this process it is hoped that the condition could fulfill the current generation`s needs, in an order which could at least preserve the continuity of existing assets. Therefore the next generations can be guaranteed in fulfilling their needs. In short, a development can be sustainable if it is environmentally viable, socially desireable, and