ETHNOMETODOLOGY

ONE DAY IN YOUR LIFE

This title is the same as a song that singing by Michael Jackson.
I want write this on the day his died and one week after I accompanied my husband on his graduation on the place that remind me on similar place that I ever came.

When you come to one place in city, sometimes you feel that your ever come on that place. Something that you feel familiar, the spaces, the trees, the buildings, and every elements that you encounter on that place.

Dejavu .......

Why do you feel like this? Probably because that areas have the same design, 'copycat', with the areas on the other place in the other country. When you come on that place, you are not feel strange and so you can easily adapted.

How do you think? Is it good?Some people say it's OK, but some people it's not. It's OK, as long as make the place better. No, because there is no unique place. Every cities have the same face. That make you don't know where you are now.

Do you think we need ethnometodology and ethnography to design and plan a place?

URBAN IDENTITY II

"THE SKYSCRAPER" (Urban Identity II)

“Lightening Flash”, this word mention on Thomas Kuhn book. About the metaphora of view phenomenon, a revolutionary change.

If you see Indonesian cities today, the images are very different with the cities before 2001, the starting year of decentralization. Some cities growing very fast because they get “wind fall profit from fiscal transfer”. In Jakarta, during 10 years of implementation decentralization, we find many things change. The building of skyscraper can be found everywhere. High rice building is climbing the sky. Open space become the focus of the urban managers and the planners. Mall become a cozy place for reunion when home become smaller.

This is very interesting, because we can see that we have a capability to do the same as developed country in developed high tech building. The engineer and workers can implement an utopia of urban managers, architects, urban planners and engineers. A dream to developed a place with impression and convenience like the other countries.

The revolutionary change is not an easy task.
An engineer should draw and design precisely to make a high rice building, safe and beauty. Those are about an effort in implementing a dream. A vision of city manager, as a dream, must have a good image of city. The engineer make dream become true.

So, if you want to develop your city, be confidence with the ability and experience of your human resources, their ability and experience. Some of them have an experience outside country. Don’t forget to pay them a good enough or reward enough.

(Reference book : Evalution Image of Cities by Kevin Lynch, and Urban Utopia by John Friedmann)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT II (Urban Financing updating)

URBAN FINANCING II (Financing the Cities)

(updating Urban Financing, Thursday, Nov 22, 2007)

Since 1999, based on Government Regulation No. 129/2000 Requirements for Establishment and Criteria for Division, Dissolution and Merging of Regions, new autonomous regions have been established ( until 2008) from 26 province to 33 province, 234 district to 399 district, and 59 cities to 98 cities.

Most of the regions are backward regions, high dependency on fiscal transfer, and deteriorating in delivery of public services (Bappenas - UNDP, 2008, Evaluation of the Proliferation of Administrative Regions in Indonesia). The fiscal transfer to developed infrastructure is important for the new autonomous regions. The new fiscal transfer can be seen on www. djpk.depkeu.go.id. To be success, we can learn from other country experiences, such as the American City experience, market, location, design, financing, entrepreneurship and time are important (Book: The American City What Works What Doesn't by Alexander Grivin).