HISTORY OF URBANIZATION AND URBAN PLANNING

IN WESTERN COUNTRIES AND INDONESIA

An Assignment Report for Landscape Planning
By
NIDA HUMAIDA
(201456801)

Urbanization refers to the complex interaction of different processes which transform

landscapes formed by rural life styles into urban like ones. Urbanization causes profound
changes in the ecological functioning of the landscape and gradually results in a changing
spatial structure, i.e. forms new landscape patterns. The existing cities and urban network form
the framework for this change, which is affecting increasingly larger areas in the countryside[i].
A. History of Urbanization and Urban Planning in Western Countries
From the development of the earliest cities in Mesopotamia and Egypt until the 18th
century, an equilibrium existed between the vast majority of the population who engaged
insubsistence agriculture in a rural context, and small centres of populations in the towns where
economic activity consisted primarily of trade at markets and manufactures on a small scale.
Due to the primitive and relatively stagnant state of agriculture throughout this period the ratio of
rural to urban population remained at a fixed equilibrium. With the onset of the agricultural and
industrial revolution in the late 18th century this relationship was finally broken and an
unprecedented growth in urban population took place over the course of the 19th century, both
through continued migration from the countryside and due to the tremendous demographic
expansion that occurred at that time. In England, the urban population jumped from 17% in
1801 to 72% in 1891 (for other countries the figure was: 37% in France, 41% in Prussia and
28% in the United States)[ii].
Urbanization rapidly spread across the Western world and, since the 1950s, it has begun
to take hold in the developing world as well. At the turn of the 20th century, just 15% of the world
population lived in cities[iii]. According to the UN the year 2007 witnessed the turning point when
more than 50% of the world population were living in cities, for the first time in human history[ii].
The history of city planning in Western Countries started in pre Greece (Bronze Age),
Greece, Roman, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque, pre-industrial to post-industrial
revolution. The first true urban settlements appeared around 3,000 B.C. in ancient
Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley. Ancient cities displayed both "organic" and "planned"
types of urban form. These societies had elaborate religious, political, and military hierarchies.
Precincts devoted to the activities of the elite were often highly planned and regular in form. In
contrast, residential areas often grew by a slow process of accretion, producing complex,
irregular patterns that we term "organic." Two typical features of the ancient city are the wall and
the citadel: the wall for defense in regions periodically swept by conquering armies, and the
citadel -- a large, elevated precinct within the city -- devoted to religious and state functions.

Greek cities did not follow a single pattern. Cities growing slowly from old villages often
had an irregular, organic form, adapting gradually to the accidents of topography and history.
Colonial cities, however, were planned prior to settlement using the grid system. The grid is
easy to lay out, easy to comprehend, and divides urban land into uniform rectangular lots
suitable for development.
The Romans engaged in extensive city-building activities as they consolidated their
empire. Rome itself displayed the informal complexity created by centuries of organic growth,
although particular temple and public districts were highly planned. In contrast, the Roman
military and colonial towns were laid out in a variation of the grid. Many European cities, like
London and Paris, sprang from these Roman origins.
Medieval cities were usually associated with narrow winding streets converging on a
market square with a cathedral and city hall. Many cities of this period display this pattern, the
product of thousands of incremental additions to the urban fabric. However, new towns seeded
throughout undeveloped regions of Europe were based upon the familiar grid. In either case,
large encircling walls were built for defense against marauding armies; new walls enclosing
more land were built as the city expanded and outgrew its former container.
During the Renaissance, architects began to systematically study the shaping of urban
space, as though the city itself were a piece of architecture that could be given an aesthetically
pleasing and functional order. Many of the great public spaces of Rome and other Italian cities
date from this era. Parts of old cities were rebuilt to create elegant squares, long street vistas,
and symmetrical building arrangements. Responding to advances in firearms during the fifteenth
century, new city walls were designed with large earthworks to deflect artillery, and star-shaped
points to provide defenders with sweeping lines of fire. Spanish colonial cities in the New World
were built according to rules codified in the Laws of the Indies of 1573, specifying an orderly grid
of streets with a central plaza, defensive wall, and uniform building style.
The baroque city was associated with the emergence of great nation-states between 1600
and 1750. Ambitious monarchs constructed new palaces, courts, and bureaucratic offices. The
grand scale was sought in urban public spaces: long avenues, radial street networks,
monumental squares, geometric parks and gardens. Versailles is a clear expression of this citybuilding model; Washington, D.C. is an example from the United States. Baroque principles of
urban design were used by Baron Haussmann in his celebrated restructuring of Paris between
1853 and 1870. Haussmann carved broad new thoroughfares through the tangled web of old
Parisian streets, linking major subcenters of the city with one another in a pattern which has
served as a model for many other modernization plans.
Toward the latter half of the eighteenth century, particularly in America, the city as a setting
for commerce assumed primacy. The buildings of the bourgeoisie expand along with their
owners' prosperity: banks, office buildings, warehouses, hotels, and small factories. New towns
founded during this period were conceived as commercial enterprises, and the neutral grid was
the most effective means to divide land up into parcels for sale. The city became a
checkerboard on which players speculated on shifting land values. No longer would religious,
political, and cultural imperatives shape urban development; rather, the market would be
allowed to determine the pattern of urban growth. New York, Philadelphia, and Boston around
1920 exemplify the commercial city of this era, with their bustling, mixed-use waterfront
districts[iv].

In western Europe, different models have been proposed to describe and explain the
concentric zones of inuence around urban centers:[i]
1. The urban core: the completely build up area that might be subdivided further according
to historical phases of city growth (medieval, 15th-17th century,19thcentury,...)
2. The inner urban fringe mainly characterized by post World War II garden cities with a
dense housing pattern and absorbing older villages;
3. The outer urban fringe characterized by a complex mosaic of land use of very different
nature: residential, agriculture, recreation, industry and commerce and that could be
named a rurban landscape;
4. The rural commuting zone with important functional changes due to demographic
transition; important changes start from newly disclosed places that act as initiator or
attractor; emergence of exurbs. This zone is sometimes also referred to as the urban
shadow zone or the rural hinterland.
5. The depopulating countryside with relicts of old landscapes.
B. History of Urbanization and Urban Planning in Indonesia[v]
1. Dutch East Indies VOC occupation
Urban planning in Indonesia had started since the 17th century with De Statuten Van 1642,
on planning of roads, bridges, plot boundaries, landscapes, boundary lines, embankments,
dams and sanitation. Under the reign of the Dutch East Indies, two events were marked as the
basis of urban planning:
a. Regerings Regelement 1854 (RR 1854), contains a system of government with a single
ruler in every area residents.
b. Enactment of Staatblad 1882 No. 40 which gives authority to the resident to hold the
environmental setting and building in the authority area (gewent).
Since 1905, after the enactment of Decentralisatie Besluit Indische Staatblad 1905/137, the
urban planning became more explicit related to the granting of autonomy to Stadsgemeente
authority (municipality) for urban planning. The effort was followed by the appearance of
authority to the district (province Regentschap) to adjust the spatial planning.
Here are some influential events about urban planning, development since the industrial
revolution period in Europe:
The establishment administrative cities in the coastal areas to serve the demand of
spices, plantation crops, and minerals.
The impact of garden city concept developed by Thomas Karsten.
Politic of kultur stelsel during the reign of Van den Bosch had given an impact to the
making of agrarian law (Wet Agrarische 1870).
Politic of ethics influenced the improvement of environmental quality of native village
residence (village restoration / kampong verbeeterings).
The appearance of some institutions and constitution which led municipal authority as an
autonomous region, hence the development concept of cities in Java.
2. During World War II - 1950s
In 1948, regulation of urban development planning was issued for some specific cities such
as Batavia, Kebayoran and Pasar Minggu, Tangerang, Bekasi, Tegal, Pekalongan, Cilacap
Semarang, Selatiga, Surabaya, Malang, Padang, Palembang,and Banjarmasin. At the time

of World War II - The 1950s, some ideas appeared to build a new city development
planning, both satellite cities such as Temple region in Semarang and Kebayoran Baru
Jakarta; as well as the new independent city like Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan and
Banjarbaru in South Kalimantan. The national development at this time was helped by
advanced countries
3. Period 1950 - 1960
Urbanization, especially in Java and Sumatra, had an impact on various aspects: physics,
culture, social and politics. National development became more complex which made
Indonesia needed more human resources as the experts in urban and regional planning.
4. Period 1970-2000
The complexity of national, regional and local development were growing rapidly. The
influence of methods and technologies from advanced countries had gived some significant
effects. The transmigration program increased to open new agricultural lands outside of
Java. Centralized urban development occured. Industrialization began strongly, marked by
the increase of industrial areas. Law No. 24 of 1992 about spatial planning was made. The
detailed hierarchy standards about urban development were made for each area level.
5. Period of the 2000s
Local Autonomy was applied. Every district and local cities competed to increase their local
revenue/income. The increase of community participation and empowerment also occurred.

References

i Antrop M. 2000. Changing patterns in the urbanized countryside of Western Europe. Landscape
Ecology 15: 257270.
ii Watson C. 1993. Trends In World Urbanisation. Proceedings of the First International Conference on
Urban Pests. Wildey KB, Robinson WH (eds). Birmingham (UK): University of Birmingham.
iii Annez PC, Buckley RM. Urbanization and Growth: Setting the Context.
http://www2.lawrence.edu/fast/finklerm/chapter1urban.pdf
iv Ellis C. History Of Cities And City Planning.
http://www.art.net/~hopkins/Don/simcity/manual/history.html
v

http://plannerian.blogspot.com/2012/08/pengertian-perencanaan-dan-sejarah.html