DKI Prepares Space Utilization Regulations to Face the Challenges of the Covid-19 Pandemic

JAKARTA - Head of the DKI Jakarta Cipta Karya, Spatial Planning and Land Agency Heru Hermawanto said the DKI Jakarta Government is preparing regulations governing the flexibility of space utilization. The regulation aims to answer the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic on space utilization. "We have to be more flexible because the economy needs to move," Heru said, Tuesday, August 25, 2020 in a webinar entitled Space Flexibility: The Key to City Resilience.

Heru explained that the regulation, which will be in the form of a governor's regulation, allows for more mixtures of spatial designation functions. This is because the Covid-19 pandemic and changes in people's activity patterns to work from home have made the determination of space functions no longer rigid. Moreover, it functions as a trigger to drive the sluggish economy due to the Covid-19 pandemic. "The government is the facilitator of driving the economy. If the economy grows, taxes grow," Heru said.

Heru continued, the new governor's regulation will be temporary. In the process of drafting the regulation, his agency is also studying the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on space utilization. "We will determine the status of the regulation next, whether it remains temporary or permanent," he said.

Executive Director of the Jakarta Property Institute (JPI) Wendy Haryanto appreciated the new policy from the DKI Jakarta Government. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Wendy said that many office buildings were already empty. The number will increase if all new building construction plans are realized, and more companies implement work from home. "So the planning adjustment must start now and be accompanied by a clear legal basis," she said.

For buildings that have not yet been built, Wendy said, the adjustment can be in the form of adding residential functions and building floor coefficients in the area to be built. That way, building construction planning can still continue because the property sector has links with dozens of other businesses in the industrial and services sectors. "The relationship is of course to the economy that will move if there is development," said Wendy.

The addition of residential functions, according to Wendy, not only solves the lack of residential supply. Business centers, office areas, and residential functions in one mixed area make the city more dynamic. "The pandemic has changed people's activity patterns, making flexibility in space utilization very important," said Wendy.

In line with Wendy, Regional Leader of Planning HOK Hong Kong, Christian Aryo Bravianto, said that the current conditions encourage a reassessment of land or area development planning. One way is to encourage and provide opportunities for the transition of functions in buildings and areas, both for existing buildings or planned areas. "Adaptive land flexibility is key to maintaining sustainability in construction development and urban planning," said Aryo.

The development of cities during the pandemic, Aryo explained, faced many challenges due to the limited space for people to move. Demand needs for space and land use have also changed. Before the pandemic, demand for the development of commercial areas in the city center was very high and for satellite cities it was more focused on residential development.

The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic and the pattern of work from home activities, according to PT Indo Internet (Indonet) President Director Djarot Subiantoro, has also made people realize that the need for information and communication technology (ICT) network infrastructure is an essential utility just like the provision of water, electricity and gas systems. To support these needs, the ICT system infrastructure that most allows high speed and stability is currently the Fiber Optic (FO) network, against other alternatives such as cellular telephone networks, radio frequencies and satellites. "The fiber optic network needed is the network scale in the city (metro) and the network into the building or housing," Djarot said.

Djarot, who is also the Chairman of the Indonesian Telematics Software Association (ASPILUKI), said that many buildings and housing estates have started to roll out fiber optic networks in cooperation with ICT service provider operators. However, with the current business model in place, some have led to control or monopolistic areas. As a result, consumers have no choice of optimal service levels in terms of backup, cost, choice, and speed.

Djarot explained that one of the best methods of providing ICT infrastructure is through collaboration or networked alliances. The trick is, buildings and housing from planning to construction have treated this ICT infrastructure as an essential utility similar to the network of water, electricity, gas systems. From the network inside the building, it is then connected to the metro network by ICT service providers outside the building or housing. "This opens up the possibility of multi-operator service provision and provides the best option for consumers," Djarot said.

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