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Street as Public Space: Undertaking Tunjungan Street in Surabaya to Become a Public Space

“Streets and their sidewalks, the main public places of a city, are its most vital organs. Think of a city and what comes to mind? Its streets. If city’s streets look interesting, the city looks interesting; if they look dull, the city looks dull.” — Jane Jacobs

The rapid growth and development in the city have a tremendous influence on the relationship between urban society and urban space. The growth and development of a city need to be accompanied by the provision of adequate public space that serves as a place for social interaction. The public space of a city, in general, can take the form of a street and square. The street should be a public space where there is a social interaction between people and can be accessed easily by everyone of all ages.

There are two definitions of public open space. First, in terms of physical definition, public open space is an open space or place that is outside the building and has a limiting element and boundaries. Second, in terms of non-physical definition, public open space is a space or place of activity and social interaction that can be used freely by all people without exception. The street as one type of linear public open space is an element of urban space that can support the needs and can be used by its citizens. The physical of the street is bounded by physical elements as the boundary, can be in the form of rows of buildings, street vendors, and rows of trees.

Surabaya, Indonesia’s 2nd largest city, known for its best provision of the park as public space in Indonesia. But, unlike Yogyakarta or Bandung, Surabaya doesn’t have that one famous street that can attract people to come and enjoy the street. Tunjungan Street, located in the CBD of Surabaya, known as the most famous street in the city with its rich historical values. The high traffic volume in this street makes it uncomfortable for people to walk down the street. Other than that, the land use around the street dominated by offices, banks, and unused old buildings so that the activities occurred on the pedestrian way and on the street is limited only to people who work and have a necessity to do activities there, and don’t attract for people to come there.

A bunch of efforts has been done by the City Government in order to re-live the street and attract people to come. For the past few months, the Government held a monthly event called “Festival Tunjungan” where the street is closed for vehicles for a day-long and makes use of the street as a space for the festival. Besides that, Tunjungan Street occasionally closed for certain events, such as a parade to commemorate the national event. Car Free Day which is held every weekend morning also can be said as one of the examples where Tunjungan Street is used as a public space. But, all efforts listed previously, only lasted for a short period of time. Therefore, it is necessary to have a development approach, not only in the street space, but also to the buildings, pedestrian way, and the communities, in order to make Surabaya has its own ‘Malioboro Street’.

There are several criteria that are needed to be fulfilled by a street to become a successful public space, which are:

1) A dynamic and vibrant streets.

Dynamic and vibrant streets mean that the street has diverse activities and mixed building activities. Not limited only to one or two specific building activities. Those activities should also attract people to come and do decent activities there, such as optional and social activities. Most of the building activities in Tunjungan Street in current days are dominated by offices, shops, hotels, and some services. These kinds of building activities only generate necessary activities, not social activities. Necessary activities are the activities that people have to do on the street under all conditions in order to survive such as commuting or going to work. These building activities also don’t operate all day long. Offices and shops usually closed after 5 P.M, which makes Tunjungan Street “dead” when the evening comes.

2) A safe and comfortable streets.

A street is not only the roadway for transportation but also includes a pedestrian way. The sidewalk is a facility for pedestrians, informal sector activities, and also to liven urban public spaces up. Sidewalks in Tunjungan Street have been renovated and upgraded by the Government to become more comfortable and accessible for people. However, there are several aspects that need more improvement in order to create safe and comfortable sidewalks, such as the provision of pedestrian shades or shelter, provision of the blind path for disabilities, bollards for safety, and ramp sidewalk for access to the crossing.

3) A street that has social interactions on it.

A street is not just about transportation, but also about the civic definition and social and commercial interaction. The social activities and interactions in Tunjungan Street are heavily influenced by the building activities. For example, there are a lot of activities occurred in front of the government office building during the work hour in form of sitting on benches or steps in front of the building or along the sidewalks, but this kind of activity lasts only for a short moment. On another side, the unused and inactive buildings don’t really generate social interactions. Most social interactions in Tunjungan Street could be found at night, where people visit the street to do activities, such as taking photos, community gatherings, or going to nearby street vendors.

4) A street that could accommodate all transportation modes (complete streets).

Complete streets are designed and operated to enable safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit riders of all ages and abilities. Multimodal transportation choices could help people to access the street easily and comfortably. It’s a challenge for the City Government to make Tunjungan Street a complete street. Currently, people can access Tunjungan Street by private vehicle and newly operated Bus Suroboyo which only serves one route at this time. There are many improvements needed to be done, to provide more adequate public transport and bike lanes, to create a complete street for a more accessible Tunjungan Street.

People’s perception and desire about using the street as a public space could be formed by the criterion above. Some criteria can be perceived already but some others still need more development. Reactivate the unused buildings to be more attractive and redesign the street to be more comfortable and safe may help to create Tunjungan Street as a vibrant public space. It needs efforts not only from the City Government but also the private sector, and the community. A public space where people willingly visit, do activities there, spend more time to relax, is what needed in the middle of Surabaya rushing business activities and it might be in the form of a street.

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