Cultural Space as Sustainability Indicator for Development Planning (Case Study in Jakarta Coastal Area)

Abstract

Few assessments through cultural sustainability indicators have been applied to national and local development policies in Indonesia. Said policies have had the notion of space solely defined through its physical aspect. This study aims to establish the cultural aspect of space as a workable indicator for sustainability in development planning. The study grounds itself in the coastal area of Kalibaru Subdistrict, North Jakarta, a region characterized by dense and culturally diverse residential areas located in between heavy industrial development. Primary data were gathered from 10 informants of varying occupations with residence in the area for more than 20 years. In-depth interviews and spatial mental mapping were conducted to articulate the cultural spaces of their everyday activities. Prevalent themes of spatial practice were identified and described in 3 categories of 1. core cultural spaces, 2. tactical cultural spaces, and 3. spaces of cultural conflict. The participatory procedures to identify cultural spaces as described in the study were concluded to be operable within existing indicator or index frameworks for sustainability policy. The availability of cultural spaces and their enumeration may be incorporated into national surveys for effective data collection and use.

1. Introduction

In Indonesia, the first national development policies initiated in 1966–1968 only referred to the economic aspect of development. Policy agenda setting of the environmental, social, and economic pillars of sustainable development started with the 1978 establishment of the Ministry of Environment. Presently, sustainable development as defined and mainstreamed globally through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is mandated to the Ministry of National Development Planning/National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) and at the provincial level to the Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda). Through the Presidential Regulation No. 59 of 2017 concerning the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, these agencies integrate the coordination, planning, supervision, evaluation, and reporting of the implementation of the SDGs and its indicators into the formulation of the 20-year Long Term Development Plan (RPJP) and the 5-year Medium Term Development Plan (RPJM).

Reflecting on the description above, environmental policies made in developing countries since the mid-1970s were mostly top-down initiatives by governments, not out of necessity but as a response to imitating Western developments [1]. Government at the local level has become the main driver of policies towards sustainable development, and an active local government is needed that can lead the way in collaboration with civil society [2]. National spatial planning during the Indonesian New Order era was based on Spatial Planning Law No. 24 of 1992 and has since been replaced by Spatial Planning Law no. 26 of 2007 which is more participatory and accountable according to the concept of decentralization and delegation of power to local governments [3]. There are now numerous community groups actively demanding involvement in local planning. Planning systems that provide direct connections between government agencies and local community groups are great opportunities for new relationships consistent with decentralization [4]. In development planning, there are two ways to develop sustainability indicators, namely 1. decision makers and experts determine indicators based on various existing guidelines (top-down, expert-led), and 2. involve community participation in determining their own sustainability indicators (bottom-up, citizen-led) [5,6,7]. A top-down approach is needed to ensure indicators can be applied and compared objectively and measurably on a macro scale. However, the top-down approach tends to be unable to consider important indicators that are unique to an area and community, such as those of cultural sustainability.

A significant body of literature has argued that international indicators are considered unable to capture the urgency and aspiration for sustainability that are typical at the local scale. Globalization tends to homogenize human tastes and preferences, limiting the space for articulating ethical capital [8]. Most indicators are limited in their approach which tends to be quantitative and unable to cover the complexity of the concept of sustainability. Other indicators do not necessarily directly involve a quantitative process because not all existing factors can be weighed or calculated [9]. Several categories of indicators cannot be weighed based on economic benefits, such as loss of intrinsic value or cultural, recreational, and aesthetic factors [10]. Urgent challenges for sustainability indicators include 1. more diverse case studies, 2. specific cultural contexts, 3. better implementation mechanisms, 4. integration of sustainability aspects that are not yet common, and 5. finding better criteria or preparation methods [11]. Information presented by indicators must be scale-specific (macro-meso-micro), wherefore macro-scale indicators are widely available but tend to be biased towards general data, hence the urgency to develop indicators on a micro scale [12].

The current discourse on sustainable development has placed considerable importance on the analysis of cultural sustainability indicators. Cultural sustainability has been solidified as the fourth pillar of sustainable development along with the pillars of environmental sustainability, social sustainability, and economic sustainability. The 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions has emphasized the central role of culture as a transversal issue and fundamental pillar in sustainable development. Initiatives to discuss culture in development studies have been presented in reports such as the WCCD in 1995, the European Council in 1997, UNESCO in 2001, and the UCLG Agenda 21 for Culture in 2009 [13]. Cultural sustainability is still not discussed as much as economic, environmental, and social aspects in sustainability assessments [14]. In the context of national and regional policies, culture is usually discussed within the scope of social sustainability or not at all [13]. There have been no assessment criteria or indicators, nor sufficiently developed academic studies on cultural sustainability to be applied to sectoral and regional policies [15]. Cultural sustainability assessment is relevant so that decision makers do not conflict with existing local and cultural values at targeted development sites [16]. Measuring and comparing cultural elements with their various characteristics remains a complex challenge [17].

The definition of culture in this study refers to the 2001 UNESCO Universal Declaration of Cultural Diversity as a collection of spiritual, material, intellectual, and emotional characteristics that are typical of a society or social group, which includes, in addition to art and literature, lifestyle, ways of living together, value systems, traditions, and beliefs. This study further defines the scope of culture as its practice in everyday space, referring to Lefebvre [18] and de Certeau [19] on spatial production as the interaction of environment and culture. There are three implications in the production of space, namely 1. the spatial practice of the occupants in their daily routines, in spaces that have been provided for work, personal life, and recreation, 2. the representation of space as conceptualized by planners, scientists, and engineers, and 3. the representational spaces that are internalized through symbols by the occupants, with narratives that are often referred to as culture [18]. Occupants utilize defensive tactics in spaces that are produced and regulated by the strategies of governing bodies [19]. These tactics are spatial practices to redefine representational spaces that deviate from the order made by planners. Occupants of space move in a tour that can never be fully defined by the network of map boundaries in spatial development planned by government and company strategies [19].

The history of cultural policy in Indonesia shall be elaborated to argue for the above definitions to be included in current policy processes. During the years preceding independence, the Japanese occupation government promoted a narrative of Pan-Asian cultural identity through the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. In response, the post-Independence government formulated a particular “national culture” to establish geographical solidarity for building the nation. Once culture was realized as a possible vehicle for political opinion, the rise of multiple cultural organizations under political parties followed suit to vie for power. Continuing into the authoritarian New Order era, culture became depoliticized and disabled as a tool for criticism. Though ethnic differences were recognized for the sake of multiculturalism, its cultural products (e.g., vernacular houses and traditional clothing) were caricatured and exhibited as being separate from modern everyday life. In the Reformation era, ethnic and regional identity politics have become increasingly important in the context of decentralization. In particular, the government is starting to take the cultural industry into account. The economic logic of globalization requires that culture be competitive so that cultural differences have economic value [20]. Culture started to be linked to work and income, especially through the tourism and creative economy sectors. Now, while culture as both public good and commodity is outlined in the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, its implementation in current Indonesian policies leaves much to be improved, especially with regard to safeguarding the spatial aspects of culture in development planning.

According to the 2022 UNESCO Global Report, only 13% of the Voluntary National Review (VNR) of SDGs from Member States have recognized the role of culture in sustainable development. In 2019, UNESCO launched the Culture 2030 Indicators as a digital platform to record each Member State’s initiative in developing indicators for cultural sustainability. In Indonesia, cultural affairs are mandated by the Directorate-General of Culture under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. The entity also monitors the implementation of cultural sustainability is monitored nationally through the Cultural Development Index (CDI). The national CDI is inspired by the UNESCO Culture for Development Indicators (UNESCO CDIs) with a series of dimensions and indicators on the contribution of culture to sustainable development, developed through consultation with experts. The index is to be used as a basis for cultural policy formulation, including the RPJP and RPJM, and to serve as a reference in cross-sectoral coordination. The index consists of seven dimensions (cultural economy, education, socio-cultural resilience, cultural heritage, cultural expression, literacy, and gender) with indicator data compiled at a provincial level. In 2019, the UNESCO CDIs have been further developed through the Culture 2030 Indicators framework with similar thematic dimensions to the national CDI, including an Environment and Resilience dimension that assesses the physical and spatial aspects of the urban environment, including indicators for Cultural Facilities and Open Spaces for Culture.

There remains a gap between the above ontology of culture and current national policy processes in understanding the impact of culture on sustainable development. This study aims to establish cultural space as a possible eighth dimension of the national CDI to further align cultural sustainability with the development and spatial planning sectors, and to the current narrative of culture as a public good. Participatory mapping in the coastal area of Kalibaru Subdistrict, North Jakarta, is demonstrated as an operable method to include cultural spaces in frameworks for sustainability policy.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Study Area

The Jakarta Bay coast is one of the most environmentally degraded areas in the province. In 2017, the entire bay sea had moderate-to-heavy polluted water quality [21]. Apart from the struggle for rights and power, lack of space is included in the phenomenon of socio-economic conflicts that always occur in city centers. Cultural conflicts arising from the development of the Jakarta Bay coast are rarely subjects for evaluation. Nevertheless, the Jakarta Regional Development Plan of 2023–2026 envisions an inclusive city where all citizens have the same right to live and participate directly in urban development, or the right to the city, as termed by Lefebvre. In Indonesia, the regional autonomy brought forth by the Reformation should have strengthened participation in local spatial planning. Instead, regional autonomy is now seen more as an opportunity to attract investment to the respective regional governments [22].

With an altitude between −2 m to 50 m above sea level and an average of only 5 m above sea level, Jakarta is crucially formed by water [23]. Even though Jakarta is a coastal city, the vast waters seem to be a place far away from the daily lives of urban residents [24]. Jakarta has abandoned its coastal identity since the mid-19th century when the Dutch colonial government moved its administrative center. Even though the idea of a modern coastal city is starting to produce cultural capital, these values are not inherent but rather something that must be newly built into the coast [24]. Dramatic spatial transformations are also shaped by political-economic alliances between developers and local governments, such as in coastal reclamation planning, as well as external influences from international issues and global markets [25,26]. The transformation of urban areas also occurred within the framework of incidental domestic and international events endorsed by political wills, such as the river normalization program and the opening of the MRT and LRT lines to coincide with the 2018 SEA Games [23].

Referring to Lefebvre, the overall transformation of physical space in Jakarta through planning and development will suppress the spatial practices of its inhabitants and transform the structures of its society. The first variable in the transformation of society in Jakarta is the influx of migrants from all over Java and other islands in Indonesia [27]. The 1961 census showed that only 51% of Jakarta’s population had been born there. Nearby villagers and suburban squatters were slowly displaced by the process of selling agricultural land at low prices for resale as building lots or houses to middle-class buyers who want to get away from the crowds and high prices in the city center [27]. Significant societal transformation again occurred after the Reformation in the early 2000s, where the state allowed temporary informal settlements to grow on Jakarta’s abandoned or empty land (under toll roads, along riverbanks, and railroads) to prevent homelessness, unemployment, and socio-political unrest [23]. After the Reformation, there has also been an increase in citizen participation in spatial planning and budgeting through various forms of organic collaboration between the community and its local government [23]. Apart from being driven by in-migration from rural Indonesia to the city, societal transformation also happened by the deconcentrating of residents moving out of the city center [28].

The field study was carried out in the Kalibaru Subdistrict, located in the Cilincing District, North Jakarta City, Jakarta Capital Province. The Subdistrict consists of 14 RWs (Rukun Warga, a national categorization for hamlets) with a total area of 2467 km². Kalibaru Subdistrict borders Jakarta Bay to the north, Cilincing Subdistrict to the east, and Koja Subdistrict to the west and south. The study classifies the Kalibaru Subdistrict into 3 RW clusters, namely the Industrial Zone, West Kalibaru, and East Kalibaru, as shown in Figure 1.

The Industrial Zone is marked by the presence of companies, mostly import-export, with offices or warehouses and business activities on site. In particular, a state-owned company manages the shipping container terminal in this area, namely the New Priok Container Terminal One (NPCT1). Residential areas in this area are bordered by company fences and walls on the west, north, and south, and are bounded by Jakarta Bay on the east. The community organization with a significant presence in this area is the Kalibaru Port Temporary Workers Cooperative (TKBM), with most members also joining the Karang Taruna youth organization of Kalibaru Subdistrict. West Kalibaru and East Kalibaru each notably have their own fish auctions and fishermen associations in RW 04 and RW 01, respectively. East Kalibaru includes most of the embankment construction on the border of Jakarta Bay and Kalibaru Subdistrict. The area borders Cilincing Subdistrict to the east which has its own fish auction and fishermen association at the mouth of Kali Rawa Malang River. With reference to the Environmental Sensitivity Index in the Jakarta Bay Area, Kalibaru Subdistrict is described as a dense residential area flanked by an industrial area and port, with a significant number of capture fisheries and green mussel cultivation.

2.2. Research Approach

This study was carried out with a qualitative approach to maintain the perspectives of stakeholders and avoid generalizations or single conclusions. The development of sustainability indicators shall be prioritized to reflect the diversity of society as best as possible to attain a comprehensive perspective on local peculiarities and integrate as much as possible from conflicting opinions [29]. By articulating various interpretations of how people act and think, stakeholders can see the meanings of everyday environmental practices that are often taken for granted [30].

Looking into the methodologies for participatory planning, the research refers to Kevin Lynch [31] on the application of mental maps for urban planning and development. Individual mental maps of spaces in a city may collectively overlap, form patterns, and gain a common identity as agreed upon by its inhabitants [31]. As data, the mental maps may serve planners and policymakers to model an urban area to be consistent with prevailing cultures. Interviews may be conducted to articulate the mental maps and reveal cultural associations to areas that are part of the everyday practice of residents or workers in a particular region.

Regional conditions are outlined in the research through secondary sources describing land use and development processes in the area with significant environmental impact. Then, primary qualitative data are gathered from informants in the form of oral history and spatial mental maps from purposive interviews through cluster sampling. The study engaged 10 informants as community representatives from the Kalibaru Subdistrict for in-depth interviews (

Table 1. Identifiers for informants in the study.

Letter	Male/ Female	Age	Years of Residence	Identified Ethnicity	Field of Work/ Organization
A	M	37	32	Betawi	Public facilities care/ Karang Taruna youth
B	M	47	33	Betawi- Indramayu	Fisherman/ Kalibaru fishermen co-op
C	F	42	42	Sulawesi	Housewife/ PKK women’s organization
D	M	37	22	Betawi- Indramayu	Public facilities care/ Local mosque assembly
E	M	36	36	Betawi- Indramayu	Fisherman/ Private social foundation
F	F	51	26	Makassar- Sulawesi	Housewife/ PKK women’s organization
G	M	37	37	Bone- Sulawesi	Karang Taruna youth
H	F	49	39	Bugis- Sulawesi	Elementary schoolteacher/ PKK women’s organization
I	M	36	36	Indramayu	Public facilities care/ Local mosque assembly
J	M	28	28	Betawi- Indramayu	Shipping port worker/ Karang Taruna youth

). According to Lefebvre [18], social spaces are divided according to social relations such as between sexes, age groups, family organizations, and relationships at work. The inclusion criteria for the cluster sample are 1. representatives from prevalent community organizations, 2. representatives from prevalent fields of work, 3. representatives from cohort ages of 15–64 or productive age, 4. representatives of male and female sexes, and 5. representatives with length of residence of more than 20 years. Criteria 1 and 2 were first identified through preliminary visits on site to each cluster area, finding six entities that best represent the users of cultural space in Kalibaru Subdistrict, namely 1. public facilities care, 2. fishermen associations, 3. PKK women’s organization, 4. local mosque assembly, 5. Karang Taruna youth, and 6. temporary port worker. The entities, as well as the names of people to represent them, were verified through triangulation from government stakeholders at the Subdistrict Office, namely the Head of the Office and the Heads of the 14 RWs. The number of informants involved in the study reflects the final selection. This method may be adapted for further studies to be carried out at different cross-sections in the future in accordance with applicable indicator frameworks within the relevant planning policy.

The spatial mental mapping method is used in the interview process. The informant’s spatial practice is told through daily experiences with the informant making hand sketches on the map of the area in question. Mental mapping is one of the most frequently used methods of structuring qualitative problems [15]. Spatial mental mapping has been used as a research tool since the 1960s from the realm of behavioral geography [32]. The method aligns with the view of de Certeau [19] in which spatial practices can be told through everyday experiences that respond to maps resulting from the production of knowledge and space. Mental mapping perspectives of culture can voice the opinions of marginalized groups that are usually not heard by dominant decision makers [33]. Informants are generally interviewed with open-ended questions to accurately describe their life experiences on the topic being explored [34].

3. Results

3.1. Regional Conditions

Land use in Kalibaru Subdistrict is dominated by residential use and trade/services/business use.

Table 2. Land use in Kalibaru Subdistrict.

Land Use	Area (ha)
Residential area	53.64
Industrial area	29.56
Government buildings	0.47
Public facilities	6.16
Green open space	4.63

accounts for the land use of five categories, namely 1. residential area, 2. industrial area, 3. government buildings, 4. public facilities, and 5. green open space.

The strategic coastal character of the Kalibaru Subdistrict reflected on its land use above is the basis for the direction of regional development to date. There are two development processes in the area with significant environmental impact, namely 1. the construction of the PTPIN/NCICD Phase A embankment by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing for tidal flood mitigation and 2. the development of the Kalibaru container terminal by the state-owned PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo). The construction of the PTPIN/NCICD embankment will enter Phase B based on the Decree of the Minister of Public Works and Public Housing No. 112/KPTS/M/2022 concerning the Integrated Flood Control Concept and Predesign of Sea Wall Phase B of the National Capital Integrated Coastal Development (NCICD) on the Jakarta Bay Coast. Meanwhile, the development of the Kalibaru container terminal is also planned for NPCT2 and NPCT3, which will be located north of NPCT1 based on Presidential Regulation Number 36 of 2012 concerning Assignment to PT Pelabuhan Indonesia II (Persero) to Build and Operate the Kalibaru Terminal at Tanjung Priok Port. The Kalibaru container terminal will later be connected to the Cibitung-Cilincing Toll Road (JTCC) through the construction of the New Priok East Access (NPEA) or “sea highway” which will stretch across the entire northern coastal waters of Kalibaru Subdistrict (Figure 2). The major transformations thus far undergone through land reclamation and new constructions are shown in Figure 3.

The impact of development on the coast is primarily felt by fishing community groups with their sea-oriented economic activities. The character of the coast also determines the type of space for economic activity in Kalibaru Subdistrict, including 1. bonded zones affiliated with national and foreign companies and 2. fisheries business areas by fishermen groups centered in fishing auctions (TPI) and fishery product processing spaces in the vicinity.

3.2. Cultural Spaces

Informants were asked to tell stories and describe/mark the space for their daily activities and the impact of the development they experienced on the map through the mental mapping method. The mapping results were translated and reprocessed into three categories, namely 1. core cultural spaces, 2. tactical culture spaces, and 3. spaces of cultural conflict. Cultural space is suitable for dialogues, creative approaches, and diversity, while its inclusion into local and regional cultural policy can foster societal shifts towards sustainable behavior [36].

3.2.1. Core Cultural Spaces

The first category regarding core cultural spaces refers to the typological concept of spatial structure that has a core/center. They are built spatial structures which facilitate the everyday cultural activities of residents. The maritime or coastal environment is based on a network ideology with a plurality of powers or multi-centers [37]. Thus, the cultural spaces in Kalibaru Subdistrict can be said to have several core spaces. Figure 4 shows a spatial visualization of the core cultural spaces in the Kalibaru Subdistrict.

The Phase A NCICD embankment along the coast of RW 01, RW 03, RW 04, RW 06, RW 13, RW 14, and RW 15 is among the main core cultural spaces identified. The construction of embankments in the last 5 years has had a significant impact on people’s daily lives. Fishing boat harbors that were previously located along the coast are now concentrated in RW 01 and RW 04. The fishing community makes bamboo structures as boat moorings, ladders, and bridges between the sea, embankments, and land.

The fishing boat harbor, retention pond, and pump house, along with the East Kalibaru Fishermen’s Cooperative building also count among the core cultural spaces in RW 01. The Subdistrict fishing harbor is planned to be solely concentrated only in RW 01 along with the next levee and container terminal construction phase. The pump house has been present for the last 2 years and has become a place of interest for the community in an effort to prevent flooding. The East Kalibaru Fishermen’s Cooperative has been one of the main stakeholders in resource management at the site including facilitating support for fishermen and waste treatment. Two fish auctions, as core places of cultural activity for fishermen, are situated in RW 01 and RW 04. However, the fish auction in RW 04 is planned to be moved and concentrated only in RW 01 along with the relocation of the fishing boat harbors. Still within East Kalibaru, the Subdistrict Office in RW 02 is routinely used by the public for various social, cultural, and religious activities. Nearby, there is a futsal field which has become an area for recreation. To the north in RW 03 along the bay, Wisata Kalibaru (WiKa) was built in 2022 as a recreational space, replacing a barren field once part of a nearby sand barn and ship-splitting area.

In West Kalibaru, public recreation is nowadays directed towards Plaza Kalibaru in RW 04 and RW 06. The Plaza was built in 2022 as a recreational space with parks, sports fields, and a jogging track along the embankment. It used to be the mooring center for fishing boats in West Kalibaru and was dirtied with piles of waste. Now, residents actively use it for activities such as children’s play, sports, and food stalls hawking. A specific section is planned to be built as a place for entertainment that is child-friendly and can function as an educational facility. The area around the Plaza received assistance from the Ministry of Social Affairs in 2022 and facilities have been built to convert salt water into fresh water. Before the construction of Plaza Kalibaru, recreation in West Kalibaru was directed towards a football field in RW 15. Since 2007, the football field in RW 15 has become the main space for community sports activities. The Karang Taruna youth organization regularly holds competitions on site, including an annual futsal tournament.

Along the bay shared by West Kalibaru and the Industrial Zone, a temporary landfill in RW 08 and a waste bank in RW 06 are situated for waste management. The PKK women’s organization is active in separating and recycling waste in RW 06 and RW 08. The landfill in RW 08 was renovated in 2021. Nevertheless, piles of waste can still be found in RW 15 and RW 04. The highest amount of waste comes from RW 07 as the RW with the largest population. Most of the fishery waste, including shells, comes from RW 01 and RW 13, which are intensive fishery activity areas.

Within the Industrial Zone, the temporary port workers (TKBM) cooperative office is situated in RW 08. Nearly 600 Kalibaru youth are temporary port workers who are required to fill in attendance at the TKBM office before leaving with the group to the container terminal. Access to the terminal is closed for TKBM except by shuttle bus. Most of the TKBM are also members of the Karang Taruna youth organization. Under the toll road at RW 09 and RW 12, there is space that has been initiated by residents to become a public space. There is a ball field, a pigeon racing community area, and a fishing area. Music and martial arts events are also often held there.

Traditional markets have also been identified as core cultural spaces, often mentioned by informants as their daily destination, and have existed since they were born. The main traditional markets in Kalibaru Subdistrict include the Jalan Baru Market in RW 02 and RW 03, as well as the Mencos Market on the border of RW 05 and RW 06. Schools were also mentioned as daily destinations for informants when dropping off and picking up children. Mosques and prayer rooms were also counted as core cultural spaces for most informants, especially at nighttime, with multiple social and religious activities including Koran recitations, lectures, and mutual cooperation to clean RW public premises.

3.2.2. Tactical Cultural Spaces

The second category, namely tactical cultural space, refers to the concept according to de Certeau [19] namely tactics as spatial practice that deviates from the order of the planners, Spaces in this category can be temporary or informal, without clear boundaries or delineations to facilitate everyday cultural activities. Figure 5 shows a spatial visualization of the tactical cultural spaces in the Kalibaru Subdistrict.

The strip of land along the coastal embankment serves as one of the main tactical cultural spaces in the Kalibaru Subdistrict. Even though fishing harbors have been centralized in RW 01 by development planning, the fishing community still uses the spaces under the embankment as a place to store boats (for boat repair and preparation activities), so they do not pile up and cause bottlenecks in the harbor area. The fishermen store materials such as bamboo and rope along the embankment. As a result of deliberations with the developers, several points under the embankment have been agreed to be built for ship repair and material storage.

Several alleyways, such as along Jalan Karang Hijau 2 street in RW 01, are used to hold “almsgiving for the earth” events which are generally held in conjunction with the Independence Day festivities on August 17. Residents bring prepared food from their homes, gather in alleys, spread carpets, and pray together. Gang Hijau Alley in RW 13 and Gang Semprotan Alley in RW 02 are other such exemplary places. Several of these alleyways were initiated by the PKK women’s organization as locations for “green alleys” with herbal plants that are jointly managed by residents.

The concentration of various activities around the newly built retention ponds has made the area lively, namely in RW 01, RW 03/RW 15, and RW 04/RW 06 (WiKa and Plaza Kalibaru area). Residents have begun to aspire to build recreational and even tourism facilities, as well as facilities to ensure safety at the site. There are also hawkers who sell their wares around the location. With the recent bustle of activity, many residents peddle on the streets around the location. In the month of Ramadan, residents hold a culinary bazaar. Vacant land in the RW 15 and RW 04 areas has begun to be discussed as a park or street market area. Another such space exists throughout the Bangleo River. Residents use the Bangleo River for daily activities such as recreation, peddling, and fishing. Notably, however, the river segment in Gang Macan/Macan Alley in RW 12 is one of the points of blockage and accumulation of garbage in the river.

Within the Industrial Zone, residents make their tactical spaces mostly along the streets of Jalan Kalibaru Barat 1A street and Jalan Kalibaru Barat 14 street in RW 10. Along the way, the alley is a place where many children play until nighttime, as well as many street vendors. The lack of public space in RW 09 and RW 10 areas due to their location in between industrial areas has made residents maximize the use of existing space.

3.2.3. Cultural Spaces of Conflict

The third category is the cultural spaces of conflict, where there are not only specific issues from residents with other residents or developers but also prevalent environmental problems with impact vis-à-vis the everyday activities of its residents. Figure 6 shows a spatial visualization of the cultural conflict spaces in the Kalibaru subdistrict.

The fish auction in RW 04 will be merged with the fish auction in RW 01 due to current land developments. This has the potential to trigger conflict between the developer and the fishing community in East Kalibaru and West Kalibaru. Recent developments have also triggered shifts in fishermen’s economic activities and environmental pollution along the embankment coast. All fishermen informants worry about their livelihoods and sea conditions with the NPCT2, NPCT3, and NPEA industrial development plans. Prior to 2016, it was known that the number of large vessels passing through fishing routes was still not many. Fishermen realize that most of the pollution in the sea comes from company factories and large ships. Among the large industrial constructions, the continuous land development in the RW 10 area has been said to trigger the most significant change. Most of the residential land in RW 10 belongs to a state-owned company and is in preparation for demolition. There, companies and developers try to establish good relations with residents through intensive CSR activities in the RW 08, RW 09, and RW 10 areas.

The retention pond areas, notably in RW 01, are dark at night because there is no lighting and are prone to local gang brawls. Gang brawls appear to be most prevalent in the RW 03 and RW 12 areas. RW 03 as one of the RWs with the highest population density, is prone to brawls on Jalan Baru street near the market and the Subdistrict office, while RW 12 has the lowest level of participation in Karang Taruna youth organizations.

Another distinct space of cultural conflict is the stockpiling of materials and waste along the embankments of RW 01 and RW 13. Green mussel waste is mostly found there, considering the large number of fishermen and their production activities there. Materials like bamboo and rope also cover the road. Before the construction of Plaza Kalibaru at the intersection of RW 08, RW 06, and RW 04, there were piles of fishery and household waste in their place as an overspill of the nearby landfill. Large amounts of household waste can also be found around RW 08, RW 07, and RW 15. RW 07 has the highest population density in Kalibaru Subdistrict and also produces the highest amount of waste. Piles of waste also occur sporadically in RW 15 due to the absence of a common waste collection area and the length of time for waste collection to the landfill (every 2 days).

Besides the problem of waste, the area around the border of the bay at RW 06, RW 08, and RW 12 are prone to inundation and flooding of up to 50 cm during heavy rains. There is also a high risk of fire in the RW 08 area. RW 08 is vulnerable to fires due to a port and wood storage center nearby. A big fire happened in 2009 between RW 08 and RW 10 due to negligence of a polymer factory near the site.

3.2.4. Cultural Transformation

An overview of community transformation is carried out through a descriptive analysis of primary data that represents people’s perceptions of changes in cultural values in the locations where they live. The informant’s data was translated to explain the various specific cultural topics found in the Kalibaru Subdistrict.

Most relevant to the fishing community, the sea ceremony (pesta laut) is a fishermen tradition that is carried out at least once a year. In practice, West Kalibaru fishermen and East Kalibaru fishermen form a committee for the preparation of the event together with the Cilincing fishermen group. The location of the sea ceremony is centered at the mouth of Kali Rawa Malang River, near the Cilincing fish auction. Although the sea ceremony is a tradition characteristic of fishermen, all informants are of the opinion that the aspect of the tradition belongs to the parents (previous fishermen’s generation) and the current generation of fishermen just join in for the festivities. There are those who also argue that sea ceremonies should not be held if current conditions for fishermen are difficult (e.g., lack of funds or a pandemic situation). The sea ceremony is open to the public and has become a tourist spot for city dwellers who want to know more about fishing culture.

Practiced by residents of the Subdistrict, alms for the earth (sedekah bumi) are usually done in conjunction with the celebration of Independence Day on August 17. Residents usually gather with their neighbors in one RW, cook food, and hold prayers together in the alleyways. There also exists ethnic-based community associations through which cultural activities are held. The majority of informants are the second generation of parents who migrated to Jakarta from West Java (Indramayu) or South Sulawesi (Bugis-Boné-Makassar). Some of their parents married Betawi people and now identify themselves as Betawi-Indramayu or Betawi-Sulawesi. There are ethnic-based community organizations or harmonies such as the Boné Community Family Harmony (KKMB), the South Sulawesi Family Association (PKSS), the Betawi Rempug Forum (FBR), and ethnic-based arisan gathering groups or arts activities such as Betawi lenong and martial arts learning centers. All informants know the existence of the associations but are not actively involved in them.

Moving away from traditional activities, residents are now more engaged in social-religious activities at the mosque or prayer room near their residence. The subdistrict has a system for residents to work together to manage the cleanliness of mosques. Every Friday, the subdistrict staff organizes cleaning activities at different RW mosques. There are 57 religious assemblies in the subdistrict with regular Koran recitation activities. Large-scale activities are usually held at the subdistrict office. Many residents are also actively involved in more secular social activities supported by companies/foundations/outside agencies. Community groups often submit proposals for financial support to large companies with offices in Kalibaru Subdistrict. These companies channel significant CSR funds due to the environmental impact of their business activities. Several social foundations are also active in assisting the social activities of Kalibaru residents, including the HOPE Indonesia Foundation, the Mitayani Foundation, and the Polar Social House. Other activities are supported by political parties and government agencies. Educational institutions have also carried out assistance or community service activities, such as the Jakarta Health Polytechnic, State Islamic University, and the University of Indonesia.

Various organizations take center stage in organizing socio-cultural activities in the Subdistrict. As a social organization that aims to empower women, the Family Welfare Empowerment Group (PKK women’s organization) in Kalibaru Subdistrict is very active in implementing its agenda. The PKK is divided into several working groups, namely 1. Working Group 1 fosters religious activities, mutual cooperation, data collection, and counseling; 2. Working Group 2 fosters economic activities such as the Family Income Increase and Business (UP2K) program, cooperatives, and educational activities such as the establishment of playgroups in every RW; 3. Working Group 3 fosters food security program activities such as selling used cooking oil and channeling the proceeds for alms; and 4. Working Group 4 fosters health and environmental sustainability activities such as Hatinya PKK (greening areas with food and medicinal plants) and programs with health centers such as reducing stunting rates. Currently, there are 26 toddler health centers and 14 elderly health centers in the Subdistrict. The various PKK programs above have won awards and appreciation from the North Jakarta City government.

Another entity, the Karang Taruna youth organization in Kalibaru Subdistrict, is also very active in holding social gatherings in the area. In the field of sports, Karang Taruna has an annual football tournament agenda which has been managed since 2005 and is held on the RW 15 football field. In the creative sector, Karang Taruna also has regular programs such as the Creative Sea Children’s Group (KOPLAK) with handicraft exhibitions and magazines from young journalists. This group is also actively developing packaging products for MSMEs such as green mussel crackers.

Youth are an especially culturally active group in the Subdistrict. Since 2017, the Kalibaru Subdistrict has had around 600 youth working as Temporary Port Workers (TKBM) at container terminals. The local system of shipping and harboring is also accounted as a significant cultural topic. Management of ships, organizing departures to go to sea, and the data collection system are managed by fishermen groups. Ship registration and sailing and anchoring permits are managed by the harbormaster (syahbandar). The Harbormaster and Port Authority Office (KSOP) issues a Small Pass card for fishermen as a document in the form of a certificate of ownership and nationality of the ship and can be used as collateral for business credit or insurance.

4. Discussion

4.1. Development and Transformation of Cultural Spaces

The descriptive analysis process carried out is in accordance with the aspirations of developing bottom-up indicators as conceptual criteria for cultural sustainability. The interviews were conducted as a storytelling process, in which the informants could reveal how they experienced the impact of change. The process of telling stories is considered to be able to encourage informants to be more open in expressing what is valuable in their socio-cultural context. According to de Certeau [19], stories have now sunk into secluded places and have been replaced by rumors disseminated by authorities and through the media. Stories would describe the spatial practices of the occupants and users of space. In this study, the participation of various community groups helped to strengthen local identity and provide a means for all residents to identify with their community and its sustainability efforts. Decision makers need such a conceptual model of sustainability indicators to be implemented in development planning, while community participation can produce concrete ideas for follow-up as a solution to environmental problems.

Articulating stories of cultural spaces of conflict in the Kalibaru Subdistrict shall be done through perspectives given by Jane Jacobs [38]. The problem of gang brawls has been prevalent in interviews conducted, both in older areas like the traditional markets as well as newly built areas like the retention pond. All these places offer an “easy opportunity to crime” as described by Jacobs [38], in having 1. not enough eyes upon the streets, 2. children playing on the streets are seen as a problem, and 3. a vacuum in open spaces that invite blight. Nevertheless, the Subdistrict Office and organizations that it associates with such as the Karang Taruna youth and PKK women’s organization have been taking central roles in fostering the community’s wellbeing and mediating support from external entities (private foundations, CSR, political parties, educational institutions) to tackle economic, social, and environmental problems in the area. Community organizations were able to elaborate on the three kinds of problems well, being consciously aware that these are the categorizations usually held in exchanges with benefactors. However, problems framed in a cultural aspect were very rarely disclosed. The below discussion looks at Jacobs’ three main reasons for blight in the public space of Kalibaru Subdistrict through the local, everyday cultural lens.

A city street that makes a safety asset out of the presence of strangers must have eyes upon the street and users on it to induce people to watch the sidewalks in sufficient numbers [38]. Some areas filled with activity during the daytime, such as the market area around the Subdistrict Office, may become empty during the night. Other newer-built places like the retention pond and areas piled by waste are empty throughout the day and are without lighting during the night. The informants of the study are already aware of the value of community surveillance and enthusiastically aspire to light these vulnerable places and fill them with activity (street bazaars, vendors, and ad hoc recreations). Proposals like these teem with informality which the Subdistrict Office usually avoids, unless packaged in a culturally relevant theme and occasion such as Ramadan or Independence Day. As such, the culture here is used to justify, often successfully, the informality of tactics used by residents to deal with the problem of surveillance in vulnerable areas.

Among the superstitions of planning is a fantasy about children condemned to play on the city streets [38]. Like in many densely built areas, children in the neighborhoods (RWs) of Kalibaru Subdistrict play on the streets while the adults wish they do not. The lack of dedicated spaces for children is a frequent complaint and one that provides the basis for the new development of spaces like Plaza Kalibaru and Wisata Kalibaru that can function as playgrounds. Indeed, we may find these places full of children, especially in the afternoons after school. The model for these aspirations may also come from the public football field in RW 15, which has been functioning as a playground since 2007. According to Jacobs [38], by moving the playground from the streets to a dedicated space, the children have moved from a place with many eyes over them to one with few. In the case of Wisata Kalibaru, the coastal space directly faces the sea with little shade. Although designed as a recreational space, the adjacent spaces (sand depot to the west and ship splitting to the east) do not support this and hence there are few eyes on surveillance. On the other hand, Plaza Kalibaru has been more successful in this aspect. Due to its location where buildings enclose and face it [38], the nearby residents have their eyes on it throughout the day and street vendors are incentivized to park and sell their wares nearby. These minor-demand goods [38] in turn also incentivize people to visit the area. Meanwhile, not all children have moved their play from the streets to the new recreation areas. However, once the streets are empty, other opportunities are ready to fill the space, whether it be dried fish vendors looking to dry their goods, goat herders looking to park their animals, or simply residents looking for a nearby place to throw away their household rubbish.

It is important to acknowledge the central role of community organizations in the identified core and tactical cultural spaces in Kalibaru, and following that, the role of the Subdistrict Office in fostering those bonds. Jacobs [38] attributes the success of neighborhoods mainly to localized self-government and the district as the mediator between neighborhood communities and the city. Districts must help bring the resources of a city down to where they are needed by street neighborhoods, and they must help translate the experiences of real life, in street neighborhoods, into policies and purposes of their city as a whole [38]. In this sense, Kalibaru has been somewhat successful, as current development planners there have been able to continue to engage the communities in negotiation and dialogue. Nevertheless, the bigger national agenda at hand namely the expansion of the terminal containers at NPCT2 and NPCT3, as well as the “sea highway” in the next five years, ultimately will have an unprecedented impact on the community, especially fishermen. Edward Soja [39] explained the impact as stemming from the regional planning trend of serving the systemic network of the global economy through a regional division of labor. By expanding the container terminals and reducing the area for fishery and mussel farming in Kalibaru, major changes in the labor market and employment of its residents are anticipated, as seen in the Karang Taruna youth who have abandoned their prospects as new generations of fishermen and now accepted the lure of becoming temporary workers at the container shipping ports.

4.2. Policy Implication of Cultural Spaces in the CDI

The mental mapping method for identifying cultural space in an area affected by development has been carried out in a participatory manner at Kalibaru Subdistrict. This process uncovered a wealth of cultural information that had not yet been recorded in data for development planning nor in national cultural sustainability indexes like the CDI. In the seven dimensions of CDI, there is no dimension yet that pays attention to the problems intervening in daily cultural spaces besides specific cultural heritage sites of outstanding value. Including the aspect of cultural space in the CDI can further synergize with the development and spatial planning sectors, especially regarding the preparation of local and national Long-Term and Medium-Term Development Plans, which refer to the CDI to monitor cultural sustainability.

In spatial plans such as the above, there is a tendency to achieve legibility, which often erases many aspects of the view from below the everyday [40]. Mumford [41] describes that reality implies a certain looseness and vagueness, a certain failure of definition. Lynch [31] also mentions legibility drawn from the patterns of collective mental images of reality from the city residents’ perspectives. The dimensions of cultural space in the CDI shall provide, albeit limited, a definition of this reality. The process of identifying the core and tactical cultural spaces, along with the cultural spaces of conflict, attempts to describe the real and imagined thirdspaces of Edward Soja [40], which he relates to the lived representational spaces of Lefebvre. Furthermore, the study attempts to resurface what the legibility of spatial planning has hidden, namely the differences in uneven development, and categorize them as such to achieve a certain sense of legibility that is acceptable to the policy process.

The CDI is updated yearly, with a fitting justification complementary to the nature of spatial plans which are developed for longer terms. Soja [40] described that human institutions and relationships change in relatively brief years while geographic realities alter only over centuries; as such, it is important to keep political and cultural patterns in a state of effective readjustment, within the more fixed lines laid down by the region’s geography. Yearly evaluation of regional cultural spaces in the CDI is able to critically describe the previously unknown impact of spatial planning and its implementation. Through this, the plan can undergo readaptation as it encounters the traditions, conventions, resistances, and sometimes, the unexpected opportunities of actual life [40].

The current implementation of the CDI is one of the highlights and is an example of good practice in the formulation of participatory cross-sectoral cultural policy. However, there are still many recommendations for developing the CDI so that it may be able to reflect the actual situation and condition of cultures nationally. For example, the cultural economic dimension in the CDI has only one indicator, namely “the percentage of the population who have been involved as performers/supporters of performing arts who make the involvement a source of income”. This indicator has not considered actors of arts and culture other than the performing arts sector. In fact, cultural knowledge can play an important role in daily economic activities such as in the activities of fishermen in Kalibaru Subdistrict. The results of the research describing people’s perceptions in descriptive maps and tables can serve as examples of practice to raise everyday cultural issues into the realm of policy. Through the evaluation of development itself, empty spaces can be found in policies that can be filled by the contribution of the community, striving for completeness of indicators to accurately reflect sustainability conditions. For this reason, the development of cultural sustainability indicators is an ongoing process in a system of linkages between indicators, policies, and society.

5. Conclusions

From the results section (Section 3), the regional conditions (land use and spatial development) of Kalibaru Subdistrict were described and cultural spaces in the area were identified through spatial mental mapping of key resident informants. The cultural spaces are categorized into three distinct maps and narrations, namely core cultural space, tactical cultural space, and spaces of cultural conflict, with a summary of the cultural transformation happening in the area. Core cultural space refers to built spatial structures that facilitate the everyday cultural activities of residents. The activities described are interlinked to the boundaries set within a nomenclature of area grouping that residents are familiar with, namely the embankment area, East Kalibaru, West Kalibaru, and the industrial zone. Tactical cultural space refers to those without clearly built boundaries or delineations, resulting from the ‘tactics’ of residents to facilitate their everyday activities within a given and limited space, often being temporary or informal. Along with the third category, spaces of cultural conflict, the dynamic of spaces and activities are elaborated in the discussion section (Section 4) leading into its policy implication.

The study proposes the addition of cultural space as a new dimension in the CDI so that it can further synergize with the development and spatial planning sector. Limitations remain with the type of qualitative data, which may require further adjustments to fit into existing indicators or indexes. Nevertheless, including the regular monitoring of cultural spaces within the policy is valuable to describe the impact of spatial planning from cultural perspectives. A broader scope of policies may be engaged, including those managed by institutions other than cultural managers. For example, in relation to cross-sectoral coordination with the national Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing and the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, as two agencies that have a major role in the development of coastal areas and cultural heritage.

Lastly, the study implicates the need to change the conceptual understanding of culture in policy, into one that is in line with current mainstreams, namely culture as both a public good and a commodity. Though development and cultural policies in Indonesia have followed the latest global orientation, there remains a need to introduce new aspects of culture apart from its prevalent current meaning in the industry. In this regard, cultural space as defined to reflect the practice of culture in everyday life, may open new opportunities as a measure of sustainability in development planning.