1

Bandung Colonial City Revisited,

Diversity in Housing Neighborhood
*)

Rini Raksadjaya
Architecture Design Research Group
School of Architecture, Planning, and Policy Development
Institut Teknologi Bandung

Introduction
Bandung is a city with a history dated from 1400s, located on the fertile soil of Preanger
Highland. This was a condition that attracts the Westerners to come and lived in the abundant
wealth of plantation in the southern area of Preanger Highland.
At the time the Dutch came, there was an indigenous settlement with a regent (bupati) as head
of society. The European adventure to Priangan highlands got support when a road was built
connecting J akarta, Bogor, Cianjur and Bandung as a part of increasing Dutch military defense,
the Groote Postweg (Great Post Highway). In 1810, the construction of the Post Highway
through Bandung area was completed. The regent was ordered to move his regency seat to a
location south of the highway
Nearly all colonial towns have one thing in common, that is the segregation between indigenous
and colonial settlement. Colonial cities were created by the exercise of power by some groups
over others, to extract an agricultural surplus and provide services (King, 1985). However,
settlement segregation in Bandung colonial city was not as distinct as some other colonial cities
as shown in the city expansion and neighborhood development.
In 1906 Bandung got the status of gemeente (municipality) under the Dutch sovereignty. A view
years later, a development plan for the town was initiated. Along with the development of a
railway transportation system, expansion of Bandung city was planned. Lead by the
Stadsvormingcommissie which ir Thomas Karsten, architect and town planner, was one of the
member, the city developed to north-east and north-west area to accommodate a number of
neighborhood areas. The new development plan was based on the principles of the Garden
City. The plan for North Bandung was followed with overall development plan for the city
(Siregar, 1990).
The development of North Bandung was supposed to support the Netherlands East-Indies
government plan to move the capital city from Batavia to Bandung. The municipality provided
ready to to build parcels to builders that focused to the affluent society. Meanwhile, increasing
activities attracted people from surrounding country areas to the city. For them that were related
to the activities of development, but could not afford to buy housing units from the builders,
clusters of low-income housing were built. The clusters of low-income units were strategically
located among the new housing development, against the principles of segregation of the
colonial cities, but still did not mean integrating people among different socio-economical
classes.
In 1930, Bandung was planned to accommodate 750,000 inhabitants within 25 years. The
initial size of Bandung gemeente was 900 ha, increased to 8,000 ha in 1949, and became
nearly 17,000 ha according to the latest city plan, accommodating approximately 2,500,000
inhabitants. There are evidence that housing neighborhoods are differentiating themselves into
new forms of segregation. Concentration of affluence housing neighborhoods develop in North
Bandung area, while the less unfortunate are located in clustered housing at the periphery or
land areas that have low location value.


*)
A paper prepared for The Knowledge City International Seminar at the Department of
Architecture - University of Sumatera Utara, in November 13-14, 2007
Development of Bandung Colonial City
Colonial cities
Anthony D. King (1985) defined colonization as follows: the establishment and maintenance,
for an extended time, of the rule over alien people that is separate and subordinate to the ruling
power. The process extended the boundaries of one society to incorporate other territory and
peoples. By this process, the city, as a cultural artifact, became an instrument of colonization. A
number of typological criteria can be used to understand the social and spatial form of a colonial
city development. One of them is where an indigenous settlement already existed, and the
colonist site and accommodation are incorporated into a new planned settlement (King, 1985).
This was the situation in the case of Bandung; the motivation for colonization was the
acquisition of land for agriculture. There were indigenous settlements, and the conquest was
made by forced leasing of land and forced labor (Kunto, 1986).
Towns in the Netherlands East-Indies
Batavia was the first town established by the United East-Indies Company (Vereenigde Oost
Indische Company VOC). It became the center of trade and soon monopolized commerce in
the entire Netherlands East-Indies region. The development of towns was concentrated on the
island of J ava, due to the large number of outlying islands spread over a large area, and the
state of transportation. Data from 1920 through 1930 showed that there was a rapid population
growth in the towns of J ava. J akarta, Surabaya, Bandung, and Semarang became towns with
population of more than 100,000. Inhabitants of the colonial towns were grouped according to
legal status. The European was considered as citizen number one and lived European housing,
spread in the best location in town. Indigenous inhabitants lived in traditional settlements, called
kampong. The Chinese group lived in a Chinese camp, but later on, they were allowed to live
outside the camp. There were other foreign Orientals that were treated like the indigenous or
the Chinese. Non-Europeans were able to request European legal status, and, if it was granted,
they were treated like European with similar status (Wertheim et al, 1958). Based on these legal
status groupings, neighborhoods were clustered spatially, even without clear physical
boundaries between them.
The early development of Bandung colonial city
The completion of Post Highway in 1810 through Bandung was a milestone of Dutch
colonization on Priangan region and the city. Priangan then became the most prosperous
plantation area in West J ava (fig.1). In 1880 the rail line connecting Batavia and Bandung was
completed, and promised a shorter trip compared to a car trip.


Fig.1 Bandung 1826
Source: Semerbak Bunga di Bandung Raya (1986)

2

3
The railroad supported the growth of light industry. Primary processing of raw plantation crops
then could be done efficiently in Bandung. A number of Chinese came to Bandung to help run
the facilities, and services to the new industries. The development of Chinatown dates from this
period. The indigenous houses were scattered mostly south of the Post Highway. The European
and other first class citizen houses were built along streets that ran uphill in the northern part of
the city (Kunto, 1986; Wertheim et al, 1958) The establishment of Bandung as a municipality, in
1906, also created early planning activities in the city. In the earlier development, the Dutch
army held an important role in decision making, construction, and maintaining security during
construction (Kunto, 1986).

A Planned Development of Bandung Colonial City
Image transformation of an Indische stadt
The Bandung municipality had a centralized power called gemeente. The city was not granted
decentralized power the stadsgemeente until 1926. During the gemeente state, the Dutch
government restricted its power only to deal with and manage the European society and
territory. The indigenous society was left under the rule of the regent. The segregation of power
gave a certain character to the physical development of the settlement. European houses were
built along streets developed by the Dutch government and were subject to building codes, as
European citizens were subject to Dutch law. This regulation also affected the non-European
that were granted Eurpean status by law. The undeveloped land that was left between the
European houses became the kampong of the indigenous inhabitants (Nix, 1949). In 1926, the
otonomous rule of regent was abolished, and the kampong areas were brought under the
administration of Dutch municipal services. It was in the same year the stadsgemeente was
granted to the city ( Siregar, 1990)
In line with the increasing power of administration, the municipality started to enhance the
environmental quality of the city, through infrastructure development, kampong improvement,
land use planning, and planned city expansion. There was a rivalry between Batavia and
Bandung to be the best city in Netherlands East Indies, particularly when the plan to move the
capital city from Batavia to Bandung could not be implemented (Buitenweg, 1976). As the city
was growing, the image of Indische stadt was diminishing. Bandung became a unique blend of
European life style, tropical environment that influence building architecture hand in hand with
the flourishing Art Deco style, Chinese business, indigenous pasar and services, and many
other activities. The European-Indonesian symbiosis slowly took over spatial seggregation in
the city development (Buitenweg, 1976; Siregar, 1990).
North Bandung developmet
The municipality established a committee, in charge of the city physical development. In 1917, a
development plan for north Bandung was initiated, that was supposed to support the
development of Bandung as the capital city of Netherlands East Indies. Although the plan of the
capital city was not completed, the city expansion was well planned and most of the plan was
implemented. The Uitbreidingsplan Bandoeng-noord North Bandung Development Plan was
based on the Garden City principles; the neighborhoods were not fully self-supporting, but
facilitated by the .old city. Thomas Karsten, a leading town planner at that time, contributed to
Bandung development through establishment of Bandung city bouwverorderning that became
the base of the neighborhood design. A various scale of land lot and housing blocks were
carefully designed, layer by layer, matching the width of streets or boulevards (fig.2). The
overall plan seemed to apply a zoning system which was based more on economic levels
instead of on ethnicity (Siregar, 1990; Voskuil, 1996).
The Gemeentelijk Groundbedrijf the municipal land service had a task to guide the
development by means of municipal land policy that had several practical purposes. The
municipality provided non-profit oriented services in order to act against land speculation
practice and increasing land rate, to assure the builders would follow high technical and
hygienic requirements, and to assure a great, beautiful and healthy environment. The main
service was to provide a large choice of ready to build lots in various sizes, locations, and
prices, for candidate dwellers and builders. The builders, and also small contractors, built a
limited cluster of housing that were marketed to Europeans active in government service or
business, or to pensioners, and even to indigenous people.


Fig.2 Part of a Neighborhood

The rapid development of the city pulled people from other part of the region. Some worked in
jobs related to the government, or related to the construction in north Bandung, The less
fortunate settled down in the kampongs. The development of the city also pushed emerging
indigenous sub-group, e.g. lower class civil servant, clerks, workers in the Railway Company or
other industries. Their jobs were related to the Europeans but their social status was inferior to
the European community. They were also socially dislocated from the kampong lower class
society. At the same time, they could not afford to buy houses built for the Europeans (Siregar,
1990; Voskuil, 1996).
The Woningsbedrijf the Municipal Housing Agency built a number of affordable low-income
housing clusters, referred as kleinwoningbouw. The housing clusters were inserted in the
interior side the planned neighborhood areas (fig.3 & 4). The agency built hundreds small
houses of various type and construction methods to apply appropriate technology for low-cost
housing. A community facility consisting of a public open space and a row of Chinese small
shop houses was located at the center of the inner block. The layout of street and houses,
construction technologies, buildings material were all experimental effort to achieve a physical
environment that integrate in the larger neighborhood and overall city development.
The overall layout of the housing cluster or neighborhood created a tapestry of diverse socio-
economical society. Large and medium housing lots were located in the outer layer and
facilitated by a spacious street or boulevard. Smaller lots were in the inner layer, and a cluster
low-income housing inserted in the interior pocket. Diversity in urban housing was implemented
in a colonial city.



4

Kleinwoningbouw
Community center
& open space
Fig.3 Kleinwoningbouw in Gempol Area

A View from Nowadays Bandung
In 1987 the city administrative boundaries was extended to accommodate the Greater Bandung
Plan (Bandung Raya). It was a plan to move higher concentrations of development outside the
current city centre.
The development of Bandung Raya is an attempt to relieve population density pressure from
the old core. A lot of housing was built in response to the plan, in a way that separate the larger
and medium class housing from small houses. Small houses were located in urban periphery,
mostly south of Bandung. The large and medium size houses were exclusively clustered and
mostly in north of Bandung or closer to city facilities and had higher accessibility.
Housing areas that were built by the colonial Dutch suffer under pressure of new development.
A lot of houses were torn down to give way for a new architectural style or new function. Small
houses were demolished and new large houses built for different social class. What was once
an image of diversity that suit the future became the lost past.
From a physical viewpoint, there is not much concern for the older fabric of the built
environment. In regard to the historic areas in Bandung, LSAI (The Foundation of Architectural
History Society) asserts:
These days Bandung Raya is still years ahead, yet the land has suffered deeply.
Commercial activities run amok, God only knows who can take control. The city core
is practically uprooted, old faces are torn down, lot sizes regrouped, and what was
idyllic residence is now bustling chain supermarkets and rich banks.
The Real Estate investors are primary players in the development of urban environment. A new
kind of social segregation is implemented in housing supply. Referring to Abidin Kusno (2000)
what happened in the development of Bandung city is a dialogue with the colonial past, in the
form of forgetting, that resulted the reproduction of a form of colonialism itself.


5

6
References
Buitenweg, Hein (1976), Bandoeng. Servire Katwijk aan Zee
King, Anthony D. (1985), Colonial cities: Global pivot of change, in R.J . Ross and G.J . Tellkamp
(eds.), Colonial Cities. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht
Kunto, Haryoto (1986), Semerbak Bunga di Bandung Raya. Penerbit PT Granesia, Bandung
Kusno, Abidin (2000), Behind the Postcolonial: Architecture, Urban Space and Political Cultures
in Indonesia. Routledge, London and New York.
Wertheim, W.F. et all (1958), The Indonesian Town: Studies in urban sociology. W. van Hoeve
Ltd, The Hague
Nix, Thomas (1949), In Indonesi en de Stedebouwkundige Vormgeving: Een studie over de
algemene vormgeving in de stedebouw en haar toepassing op de stedebouw in Indonesi,
Uitgevers: Nix, Bandoeng, and de Toorts, Heemstede
Siregar, Siregar.A. (1990), Bandung, the Architecture of a City In Development: Urban analysis
of a regional capital as a contribution to the present debate on Indonesian urbanity and
architectural identity, Volume I & II, a doctoral thesis, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven,
Faculteit Toegepaste Wetenschappen, Departement Architectuur, Stedebouw en
Ruimtelijke Ordening, Afdeling Architectuur, Heverlee
Voskuil, Robert P.G.A. et all (1996), Bandoeng, Beeld van een stad. Asia Maior, Purmerend.