Rural Development In Urban Age

Conference

Conference: “Rural Development in Urban Age:
Do Rural-Urban Linkages Matter?”

6 – 7 August 2019, Semarang (Indonesia)

Invited by the University of Diponegoro – UNDIP (Semarang, Indonesia), Christine Cabasset contributed to the 4th International Conference on Regional Development “Rural Development in Urban Age: Do Rural-Urban Linkages Matter?” on the 6 – 7 August 2019 in Putra Jasa Convention Hotel with a presentation entitled « Tourism and Environment: Sharing Success, Risks and Resilience? ».

The conference was organised by the Research Group in Regional Development and Environmental Management (LAREDEM) of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning of UNDIP (Faculty of Engineering), with the support of BAPPEDA (Regional Development Planning Agency). It was opened by Dr Muhammad Dimyati, general director for the strengthening of research and development of the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education. Whilst some papers, amongst others those of keynote speakers, focused on general approaches (such as Christine Cabasset’s paper on Southeast Asia and Indonesia), most of the papers focused specifically on Central Java, one of the most populated provinces of the archipelago. Central Java combines some cities, such as Semarang and Surakarta (Solo), where significant and visible urban policies have aimed at improving the city centre (and infrastructure in general in the case of Semarang, affected by subsidence), with a dense network of rural villages. These rural areas are characterised by an agriculture that is somewhat suffering from meteorological hazards, by industrialisation (such as batik production units) that regularly causes environmental problems, and by tourism, especially at the Buddhist temples of Borobudur or the Hindu temples of Prambanan and Dieng. The conference goers visited Ponggok, a village that raised from poverty thanks to local dynamism around nautical activities organised in a natural pool. The aforementioned topics, like governance, resilience, poverty, health and the environment were some of the themes covered in this conference, which welcomed around 400 participants and contributors.

Christine Cabasset, along with lecturers Wiwandari Handayani and Mada Sophianingrum of UNDIP, went to Gadjah Mada University (UGM), in Yogyakarta, on august 8th and 9th. They joined an urbanism workshop lasting two weeks and hosting a team made up of about 30 students under the responsibility of prof. Bakti Setiawan (head of the Architecture and Urbanism Departement Master programme) and of four French architects and urban planners from Kotalab (association of French professionals working on exchange in good practices in Indonesia). She assisted to the reports of four groups of students on the work done in the neighbourhood of Kota Baru, covering mobility, social housing, environment, and economic development. Beside lecturers and professors from UNDIP and UGM, the jury was composed of members of Yogyakarta Municipality, of the National Railway Company , of the Indonesian Union of Urbanists and of the Indonesian Architects’ Association. The panels prepared by the students will be exhibited in the town hall of Yogyakarta.