Urban Identity

Urban Identity

Landmark : A Visible Reference Point
(Arc de Triomphe ala Kediri Regency - Simpang Lima Gumul)

My journey during Ied Mubarrak holiday 2007

What do you tell to your friends if they want come to your hometown or a tourist destination on certain city or country? You will mention about the point as reference (landmark) how to go to other places on that city or a place that necessary to see.

When we talk about identity of the city, we refer to Lynch (1960) that mention on his book “Image of the City”. Lynch (1960) identifies five kinds of elements that give identity to a city: landmarks, paths, districts, edges, and nodes. One of them, landmarks are visible reference points. For instance:Monas Tower is landmark of Jakarta or Tangkuban Perahu Mountain is landmark of Bandung. Signs also can be a landmark, such as sign location of a restaurant such as Mc Donalds or a street sign in the toll road. So landmark can be large or smaller objects.

Landmark sometimes very distinguish, you can memorize it. The area surrounding landmark is developed and maintained very well by local government. Those areas become a tourist destination, and managed by local government caused to attract people. Local government which doesn’t care the identity of the city, those area or the cities didn’t have an identity. So, we can forgot those areas, eventhough we has visited to those cities.

We can link those landmarks to the culture of the people, the history of the city or the legend that live on that city. Local government which built a tower as a landmark without a deep research and didn’t consider the identity or culture of the people, possibly build a strange building which was not supported by surrounding environment.

Some managers or leaders of the city who has a strong leadership and a strong aim can maintain and keep their spirit or obsession to achieve what they want. For example who can imagine a new town in Dubai coastal area as good as we can see today (at National Geography Magazine) . They can change dessert areas become a new town like a town in the cities in the Europe and USA which supported by luxury services and infrastructures.

Landmark: Arc de Triomphe ala Kediri Regency -Simpang Lima Gumul