Walking in the City

As global cities haveevolved rapidly over the past few decades, the spatial changes of the globalcity exemplify transnational and vernacular characteristics. In her book, Walking Between Slums and Skyscrapers,Huang describes these two main characteristics as dual compression, global and local, using Hong Kong as her example. She describes global compression as space collapsing to serve the purpose of global capital and local compressionas intensifying urban densities of population and public housing. Global compression is found in the city with examples such as: Hong Kong Disney, ChekLap Kok airport, Lan Kwai Pong in the center of the city. In contrast, local compression is discovered by the dense concentration of urban population and the extreme congestion of living space is mostly provided by public housing bythe government. This local compression is the consequence of globalization and involuntary immigration. Globalization construction has become so large that the infrastructure demand immigrants. These dual compressions merge together and are made visible by walking through the city.

Dual compression in Jakarta is discussed In the article “On the Verge of Displacement” Tunnggul Yunianto writes how neoliberalism has transformed the city and discusses how the construction ofglobal projects like the Komplek Kemayoran Airport pushes residents in Kampongs out of the way. This force of spatial change is the prime example of dual compression and the effect it has on the residents. Global compression forces itself in the space to make way for globalization and in consequence local compression is discovered as the local residents are force to evict and live in even more dense neighborhoods. It is by walking and even driving through the city of Jakarta, dual compression can be found all around.

This concept of dual compression can be found in Jakarta as city dwellers use the spatial patternsof the city through activities such as walking and especially through daily driving commutes. As Jakarta attempts to create itself to be a major globalcity in Asia, transnational businesses change the space of the city by constructing large structures to attract foreign investment. The first largest example of global compression is the business district Jalan Sudirman. Andrew Burrel describes this long thoroughfare in his article “Consuming Passions;Cities” as endless glass towers of commercial buildings and banks. This path ofglobal compression cuts right through downtown of the city and is the prominentmain road. This main road is subject to heavy congestion as used primarily fortravel in Jakarta.

In the video to the left, this thoroughfare is brought to life as a driver takes us through Jalan Sudirman and gives a tour of the global compression in downtown Jakarta. The video points out major sites such as Monas City Square, Grand Indonesia, and Satario International Shopping Center. The video even takes time to point out a construction site showing example that global compression is never ending. This video demonstrates how these drivers are moving through this transnational spatial change as they attempt to get to wherever their destination is.

In contrast to global compression, Jakarta exemplifies local compression through the extreme influx of migrants who travel to Jakarta. These migrants either travel daily in and out of the city or those who live permanently in the city. Since the 1950’s ofthe end of the Dutch colonial era, many people all over the Java Island havebeen drawn to the city for its attractions such as work opportunities. This rise of urban population has led to dense housing to compensate for the extreme congestion of living space. To combat this growth of uncontrolled development,the government has tried to build low-cost apartments around the Jakarta area to send low-income residents that have overtaken the city. These low-cost apartments are often too expensive for the poor population and fail to provide the basic resources that low-income residents desire. These residents instead live in dense neighborhoods that build up on each other. Many of the homes are makeshift structures that are three to four layers tall. This endless sea of dense urban population demonstrates how the residents create their own space with local compression.

This next video fond below takes a walk through a neighborhood in Jakarta. The walk begins on Jalan Jaksa and takes us through a dense neighborhood and gives personal insight to the people of Jakarta. As the walker moves along, you can see the different buildings are right next to each other with no space between. The streets take multiple turns and each turn is another row of endless dense buildings. In the beginning of the video, there isa call to prayer heard all around the neighborhood and the walker shows a mosqueto the side. As Jakarta as one of the largest Muslim populations, many of the residents walking through the local compression are Muslim. Towards the end ofthe video, the walker ends his destination on a busier street and there are large towers and shops in the background. This walk-through Jakarta demonstrates how the local and global compression come together as dual compression.