The City of Bandung
The City of Bandung is one of several large cities in the Republic of Indonesia that was the site of a dynamic colonial European enclave.  The city contains many sites and monuments of various genre or architectural styles.  Bandung has been called the ‘laboratory of architecture’ because of the myriad and varied styles of high architectural forms that it contains, consisting of vast residential districts, government offices, military complexes, churches and mosques, schools, and commercial buildings which still grace the city centre.

City Growth
Current social-political orientation to increasing city revenues has been the trigger for wide-ranging economic pressure, where potential financial gain has been dazzling even with its attendant risks and gambles.   This is especially so when the risk itself is viewed with little relationship between it and personal consequences.

This tendency overwhelms the current city leadership.  The number of old buildings that comprise the city’s historical record--besides the grace they offer its residents-- fall to the wrecker’s ball in the name of modernization.  

Often this modernization results in a sprawling metropolis that compels changing functions, largely of residential areas turned into commercial enclaves.  The problem of increasing population pressures itself brings with it the increasing need for better infrastructures to serve them, more housing, more schools, more shopping complexes, hotels, and so on.    

These needs cannot be denied as the number of residents increases and the economy grows so that the need to anticipate these phenomena increases even at the cost of overlooking legal and historical values that function as the soul of the city.

History of the City
The city of Bandung was not developed at the same time as the surrounding county.  The earliest reference to the area was in 1488, but modern history dates from a settlement in the middle of the 16th Century and its first leader, Tumenggung Wiraangunangun, who ruled until 1681.  There is however much archeological evidence of early Java Man’s presence in this fertile basin.   
The 16th Century settlement was named Krapyak (presently Dayeuhkolot) located at the confluence of the Cikapundung and Citarum rivers about 11 kilometers to the south of present-day Bandung. At the time of the leadership of the sixth ruler, R.A Wiranatakusumah II (1794-1829), who was given the title "Dalem Kaum I", the area was under the suzerainty of the Kompeni of the Netherlands East Indies, lead by the governor-general Herman Willem Daendels (1808-1811).

In order to facilitate his duties to protect the island of Java from encroachment by other colonial forces, Daendels create the Groote Postweg, or Great Post Road, which extended from the western part of Java island in Anyer, 1000 kilometers to the east at  Panarukan, on the most eastern coast of Java.  The actual construction of the road was overseen by local officials along the route and carried out by locals who were conscripted away from their farms and families to labor on the mountainous road, many losing their lives in the process. 

 

In the area of Bandung, the Post Road was begun in 1808, with the widening of an existing pathway, and today the segments of the road that pass through the city have been re-named Jalan Jenderal Sudirman - Jalan Asia Afrika - Jalan A. Yani, continuing all the way to Sumedang and beyond. As the existing community was living some 11 kilometers to the south, Daendels ordered in an official letter of 25 May 1810, their resettlement to the new road and the construction of a new county seat at the junction of the new road and the Cikapundung River. 

What Daendels didn’t know at the time was that there were already plans for the settlement to move, a strategic location having already been chosen for the new seat of local government, just south of the Post Road. The reason for this initiative was the annual flood of the rivers was already troubling the riverside community.

Between the end of 1808 and the beginning of 1809, the local leader and a number of residents relocated from Krapyak to the new area. The leader chose residential land on present day Cipaganti, moving again to Balubur Hilir, and yet again to Kampung  Bogor or Kebon Kawung, where the present day Governor’s Mansion is located.
It is not known the actual length of time that it took to develop the new city centre. However, the plan developed by Daendels was not the one implemented; instead the plan developed by the local leader was executed.  In other words, the Founding Father of the modern city was Bupati R. A. Wiranatakusumah II and the City of Bandung marks the date of its founding from 25 September 1810.
 

CITY GROWTH
The flowering of the new city and its strategic location in the middle of the flourishing region and profitable Priangan plantations convinced the Dutch in Jakarta to move the regional administration from Cianjur to Bandung in 1856. The actual move was completed in 1864 through the official document of 7 Agustus 1864 No. 18, and the city became the seat of the regional administration of Priangan. With this change the function of the city changed to the dual role as county seat, under the auspices of R.A. Wiranatakusumah IV (1846-1874) as well as regional capital, under a Dutch residen. The area constructed for the regional seat was in the district of Cicendo, and the governor’s mansion with a small government hostel was completed in 1867 and is still in use today by the Governor of West Java Province. City development was hastened by new streets and municipal facilities, while the numbers of roads leading to the city increased rapidly as well.
The next major stage of development was marked by the advent of the rail line from Jakarta to Bandung in 1884 and Bandung was chosen to be the headquarters for the national railway’s western sectors. This further increased the pace of development. This can be seen in the following table that outlines the specific population growth of Bandung.

 Towards the end of the 19th Century, the number of Europeans in Bandung reached many thousands and these people desired to have some autonomy from the central authority in Batavia (Jakarta).  At the same time it was realized in the capital that the centralized system was not functioning with good efficiencies.  It was also at this time that East Indies commercial practices were hindering potential economic growth and so the social-political policies changed and local administrative controls were extended.  Under the local leadership of the county chief, Bupati RAA. Martanagara (1893 1918), autonomy was enacted and for the first time the county government was given a special budget over which it was free from central controls to implement city strategies.  

Under the new law of decentralization, Undang-Undang Desentralisasi (Decentralisatiewet) issued in 1903, there were local ordinances put in place, among them the Decentralisasi Besluit and the Ordonansi Dewan Lokal in 1905.  On 1 April 1906 the city was declared a gemeente (kotapraja) or autonomous municipality. This further strengthened the growth of the city as a regional seat. Its new status brought an Assistant Resident of the Priangan Region who was also head of the local council (Gemeenteraad), and in 1913 the city was overseen by a mayor (burgemeester).  
In the beginning the city offices were housed in the ground floor of a printing company, Percetakan NV Mij Vorkink (presently thei Toko Buku Sumur Bandung on Jalan Asia Afrika).  Not long following, offices were moved to the “Gedong Papak”, where they remain today.

Only a few dozen houses were      constructed by 1810, but growth increased from year to year.
On 1 April 1906 the city consisted of some 900 ha., increasing to 2.150 ha. by 12 October 1917; 3.305 ha. in 1945, 8.098 ha. in 1949, and finally to  16.730 ha. on 22 January 1987.
The major city development plan was fashioned by the splendid architect E.H. Karsten in 1930, a visionary 25 year plan for the growth of Bandung whose population was projected to become some 750,000 residents. The city plan for Bandung made in 1985 projected growth to include 1,665,000 residents with a land area of  8.096 ha.  for 2005.  Further revisions between 1985 – 2005 made in 1991 projected  2,096,463 people in 2005 

with a land area of  16.730 ha. Projections for the growth of residents revised in 1992 was for 2,509,448 people.
The attractiveness of Bandung as a ‘city of education’ became well-known and increased urbanization pressures not only from outlaying areas, but from all over the country.  The city continues to outstrip population projections from city plan to city plan.  
Currently, the number of people in the City of Bandung forecasted for the year 2025 is 5,500,000 while the physical size of the city remains much as it did in 1850, some 16.700 hectares, landlocked as it were by encircling mountains. The planning needs for a growth of this size speak for themselves, and of course are the central dynamic in considering how the city should be developed for the future.

The following article was taken from the local newspaper of Surat Kabar Harian Pikiran Rakyat of Monday, 8 January 2007, and was written by the head of the City Planning Board :
 “Head of the City Planning Board, Mr. Tjetje Subrata, announced that the most serious problem facing the city is population growth.  At present (2007) the City of Bandung already is the most dense city in the world with some 2.6 million residents.  ‘This is today…imagine just 20 years into the future when it is predicted that the size will be twice that.’
According to Mr. Tjetje, in 2025 the number of residents will reach 5,5 million while same the land area will remain the same.  ‘This is a problem that needs addressing today, not waiting until tomorrow.  To solve this will require vigorous and insightful planning,’ he said.  Mr. Tjetje explained that population increases bring need for massive changes in infrastructure needs. ‘Providing the increased infrastructure, new civic facilities must be calculated. And then developed,’ he stated.  
Another solution, continued Mr. Tjetje, was the possibility of increasing use of the areas that currently lay outside of the city boundaries, into the smaller villages of the county and as far away as Subang and Sumedang (both some 40 km. distant from the city), Garut (some 60 km. from the city). This conurbation will result in the concept we refer to as  Bandung Metropolitan.
‘At this time, the city is already dependent on bordering municipalities, and the city itself no longer can provide its own food stuffs, rice, vegetables, fish, milk, meat, eggs, etc.  All of these come from outside the city limits.’
‘Among other solutions, plans are already in the works to develop high-rise living accommodations.  The management of mass transport and the handling of immense waste products…possibly to augment energy resources are being considered.’  
According to Mr. Tjetje, the City Planning Board is already moving in these directions and the concept is being fashioned into a 20-year development plan for the city.  The development of this plan will take into consideration the many components of the society and include a period of preparedness.  The plan will include a time table and involve technocrat ,and  planning professionals to scope out the 20 year plan.’
This article suggests that increased population density requires immediate and critical attention that  will further tax the city’s development needs.  Therefore in 2004 the law Undang-Undang Nomor 32 was passed concerning regional administration, which gave broad authority to the city for its own planning scheme.  It is hoped that this law and its implementation will create ‘win-win solutions’ for the problems facing the city in its new development efforts.  Success will require harmony amongst the three elements of  the city:  community, government and private business.