Urban and Regional Planning

Rabu, 10 Agustus 2011

Understanding Our World

At the dawn of humankind, people made crude sketches of geography on cave walls and rocks. These early maps documented and communicated important geographic knowledge our ancestors needed to survive: What is the best way to get from here to there? Where is the water at this time of year? Where is the best place to hunt animals? Our ancestors faced critical choices that determined their survival or demise, and they used information stored in map form to help them make better decisions.

Fast-forward to the 1960s. The world had become significantly more complex than it was for our early ancestors, and computers had arrived on the scene to help us solve increasingly complex problems. The 1960s were the dawn of environmental awareness, and it seemed a natural fit to apply this powerful new computer technology to the serious environmental and geographic problems we were facing. And so the geographic information system (GIS) was born.
Today, GIS has evolved into a crucial tool for science-based problem solving and decision making. People who use GIS examine geographic knowledge in ways that would be extremely time-consuming and expensive when done manually. The map metaphor remains the dominant medium for sharing our collective geographic intelligence, and development of a GIS-based global dashboard will lead to a revolution in how we understand our world and plan for the future.

Geographic Knowledge Leads to Geographic Intelligence

Geographic knowledge is information describing the natural and human environment on earth. For our ancestors, geographic knowledge was crucial for survival. For our own survival, geographic knowledge plays an equally fundamental role. The biggest differences between then and now are that our problems are much more complex, and the sheer volume of data—of geographic knowledge—at our disposal is daunting. And whereas passing down geographic knowledge in the past was limited to a few cave paintings or rock drawings, GIS technology now enables a collective geographic intelligence that knows no spatial or temporal bounds.
Today we have more geographic data available than ever before. Satellite imagery is commonplace. Scientists are producing mountains of modeled data. And an ever-increasing stream of data from social media, crowdsourcing, and the sensor web are threatening to overwhelm us. Gathering all this information—this geographic knowledge—and synthesizing it into something actionable is the domain of GIS. More data does not necessarily equate with more understanding, but GIS is already helping us make sense of it, turning this avalanche of raw data into actionable information.

Human-Made Ecosystems

Our traditional understanding of ecosystems as natural landscapes is changing. Anthropogenic factors are now the dominant contributor to changing ecosystems. Human beings have not only reshaped the physical aspects of the planet by literally moving mountains but also profoundly reshaped its ecology.
And it's not just landscape-scale geographies that can be considered human-made ecosystems. In modern society, buildings are where we spend the vast majority of our waking and sleeping hours. Our facilities are themselves man-made ecosystems—vast assemblages of interdependent living and nonliving components. Facilities have become the primary habitat for the human species, and this is changing the way we think about collecting, storing, and using information describing our environment.
A key aspect of our social evolution is to recognize the effects we have already had on ecosystems, as well as to predict what future impacts will result from our actions. Once we achieve this level of understanding, we can direct our actions in a more responsible manner. This type of long-term thinking and planning is one of the things that make humans human.
Recognition of the overwhelming dominance of man-made ecosystems also makes us cognizant of the tremendous responsibility we have—the responsibility to understand, manage, and steward these ecosystems.

"Only when people know will they care.
Only when they care will they act.
Only when they act can the world change."
—Dr. Jane Goodall

Designing Geography

We humans are no longer simply passive observers of geography; for better or worse, we are now actively changing geography. Some of this change may be intentional and planned, but much of it is unintentional—"accidental geography." As we grow more knowledgeable, become better stewards, and obtain a greater understanding of our world and how humankind affects it, we need to move away from this "accidental geography" and toward what Carl Steinitz calls "changing geography by design." As GIS professionals, we can accomplish this through the integration of design into the GIS workflow.
The GIS workflow starts with a decision that needs to be made. We first gather background information about the geography of that decision and organize it on a digital map. We then use the map to evaluate the decision. Once we fully understand the geographic consequences of the decision, we can act.

When an idea is proposed with geographic consequences—a housing development, a shopping center, a road, a wildlife preserve, a farm—it first goes through a design process. After it is initially designed, a project is vetted against geography using this approach.
A typical project will go through many iterations of design and evaluation. As the constraints of geography on the project—and the impacts of the project on geography—are revealed, the design is continually refined. Because design and evaluation have traditionally been separate disciplines, this phase of a project can be time-consuming, inefficient, and tedious.
What if we could reduce the time and tedium of these iterations by integrating design directly into the GIS workflow?

This integration—what we refer to as GeoDesign—is a promising alternative to traditional processes. It allows designers and evaluators to work closely together to significantly lessen the time it takes to produce and evaluate design iterations.
Bringing science into the design process without compromising the art of design will require new tools and enhanced workflows. Most of all, it will require a new way of thinking about design. And it will allow us to more easily move from designing around geography to actively designing with geography.
We must manage our actions in ways that maximize benefits to society while minimizing both short- and long-term impacts on the natural environment. GeoDesign leverages a deep geographic understanding of our world to help us make more logical, scientific, sustainable, and future-friendly decisions. GeoDesign is our best hope for designing a better world.

Toward a Global Dashboard

An important tool for understanding our dynamic planet is a global dashboard. This tool would operate as a framework for taking many different pieces of past, present, and future data from a variety of sources, merging them together, and displaying them in an easy-to-read-and-interpret format that indicates where action needs to be taken. That such a dashboard would use the map metaphor seems obvious; our long history with map representations means that people intuitively understand maps.
GIS helps provide this framework by allowing users to inventory and display large, complex spatial datasets. When people see all this geographic knowledge on a map, and they see environmental problems or economic issues in the context of their neighborhood, their street, or their house, this leads to a new level of understanding. They get it right away. The ability to take all this data and put it in context on a dynamic, personalized map is very powerful.
GIS can also be used to analyze the potential interplay between various factors, getting us closer to a true understanding of how our dynamic planet may change in the coming decades and centuries.
A better world is the common goal all of us—geographers, planners, scientists, and others—have been striving for. Although we've made a lot of progress in building the technological infrastructure to help us accomplish this monumental task, we're still not quite there yet.
I'm a firm believer that we have the intelligence and the technology—the ability—to change the world. We can make it better. We must make it better. But we first need a firm and complete understanding of our world before we act to design our future.

source : http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/summer11articles/understanding-our-world.html

From Maps to GeoDesign

Conserving Great Ape Landscapes in Africa

By Lilian Pintea, Africa Programs, The Jane Goodall Institute

Non-Governmental Organization logoThe Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) has been very interested in the evolution of the new field of GeoDesign, which offers the vision and the infrastructure to bring people, disciplines, data, and technology together to not only better describe landscapes but also develop more successful conservation strategies and actions.

One practical application of GeoDesign has been the successful use of geospatial and conservation sciences to inform decisions in the Greater Gombe Ecosystem in Tanzania. JGI greatly improved village land use in this very sociopolitically difficult and historic setting. We were successful not only because of the technology we employed but also because the JGI staff understood human values and decision-making processes that influence landscape change in that particular region. We learned that helping develop the region (e.g., through working together to provide clean water sources, among many projects) opened the door to communities and motivated them to "buy in" to our efforts, creating a window of opportunity to apply conservation science to threatened ecological systems. Some of these programs are discussed in detail below.

At the core of JGI's applied conservation science program is using geography as a common framework to support our projects in Africa by connecting people, their values and activities, and conservation data and developing a shared understanding and vision of landscapes and how they should be changed. This in turn enables us to implement, monitor, and measure the success of those changes for both human and chimpanzee livelihoods.
We Need to Make More Enlightened Decisions
photo of Jane Goodall with Freud

Jane Goodall with Freud (courtesy The Jane Goodall Institute).

Time is running out for many endangered species, including our closest living relatives, chimpanzees. Chimpanzee and human populations are part of the same life support system, embedded in ecological systems that are intimately linked and dependent upon ecosystem services to survive. Unsustainable uses of natural resources by humans result in loss of those ecosystem services, with negative consequences for both chimpanzee and human livelihoods. The fundamental problem is that, despite advances in science and technology, we have not yet developed the methodologies to apply these to conservation and make more enlightened decisions about how to achieve a better balance between environmental and economic results.

Fifty years ago, on July 14, 1960, Jane Goodall stepped for the first time onto the shores of Lake Tanganyika and, through her groundbreaking discoveries about chimpanzees in what is now Gombe National Park in Tanzania, opened a new window to the natural world and to ourselves. This unique long-term research continues today with daily chimpanzee data collected by the JGI Gombe Stream Research Center and digitized, stored, and analyzed at the Jane Goodall Center at Duke University.
GIS and Imagery for Clearer Understanding

GIS has been used to georeference and digitize hundreds of thousands of chimpanzee behavior locations and analyze ranging and feeding patterns and relations with habitat characteristics as detected by remote-sensing and field surveys. The use of geospatial data for chimpanzee research was straightforward. Spatial tools and variables derived from GIS and remote sensing were directly used as part of research collaborations to test hypotheses. For example, a vegetation map derived from 4-meter IKONOS imagery helped demonstrate that chimpanzee hunts on colobus monkeys are more likely to occur and succeed in woodland and semideciduous forest than in evergreen forest, emphasizing the importance of visibility and prey mobility. JGI also worked with the Tanzania National Parks to improve the management of the park by using geospatial technology to visualize habitat change, map the park boundary, and support the development of the Gombe National Park Management Plan.

In addition to continuing Jane Goodall's pioneering research, JGI has been accumulating decades of experience and practical knowledge outside protected areas on how to successfully engage local communities and decision makers in the sustainable use of their natural resources. While the technology to map land cover inside and outside Gombe National Park was mostly the same, the way geospatial information was used to inform decisions was very different.

The use of geospatial information to inform decisions outside the park has been more complex. Gombe National Park was created in 1968. The park inherited a history of conflict with the local communities that started in 1943 when the colonial government established for the first time Gombe Stream Game Reserve. In 1994, JGI began working with the local communities outside Gombe through the Lake Tanganyika Catchment Reforestation and Education (TACARE, pronounced "take care") project to seek ways of arresting the rapid degradation of natural resources. TACARE project staff quickly learned that community buy-in was essential for success. Therefore, the TACARE project added agriculture, health, social infrastructure, community development, and clean water components to the range of interventions it employed. These interventions initially focused mostly on areas close to village centers.
articipatory village land-use plans, see enlargement

Participatory village land-use plans were prepared by the communities according to Tanzanian laws (courtesy The Jane Goodall Institute).

However, forest change detection using Landsat imagery from 1972 and 1999 showed that most chimpanzee habitats outside the park had been in areas away from the village centers and almost 80 percent of it converted to farmland and oil palm plantations. Remote-sensing and GIS analysis led to a landscape approach by focusing conservation efforts geographically on areas away from village centers and on forest patches with the most benefits to chimpanzees. In 2005, adopting the recommendations obtained through analysis of satellite imagery and with funds from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and other donors, JGI and its partners embarked on a five-year Greater Gombe Ecosystem (GGE) project.

A Conservation Action Plan approach was developed to identify and prioritize conservation strategies. Village land-use planning was identified as one of the top strategies. GIS was used to overlay deforestation layers, historic distribution of chimpanzees and habitats, slope, footpaths, roads, streams, watersheds, density of human structures, and 60-centimeter QuickBird imagery to prioritize a conservation area that, if protected, would substantially increase the viability of chimpanzees inside and outside the park and stabilize the watersheds to support human livelihoods.

Participatory village land-use plans were prepared by the communities according to Tanzanian laws and with full involvement of government and community stakeholders. JGI facilitated the process and provided technical support, including maps and geospatial tools to record and manage spatial data. The planning process followed seven steps and required villagers to settle any existing land disagreements and agree on village boundaries and how land resources located within the villages should be used to meet specific human livelihood needs and environmental objectives.

At the end of the project in 2009, 13 villages within GGE completed their participatory village land-use plans, which became ratified by the Tanzanian government. Local communities voluntarily assigned 9,690 hectares, or 26 percent, of their village lands as Village Forest Reserves. These reserves are interconnected across village boundaries to minimize fragmentation and cover 68 percent of the priority conservation area identified by the GGE Conservation Action Plan.

With renewed financial support from USAID, JGI and partners are now engaged in facilitating community-based organizations, developing bylaws and building local capacity to implement these village land-use plans and restore and manage newly established Village Forest Reserves. The plan is to use DigitalGlobe imagery continuously to provide detailed information on village land-cover change, such as increases in forest cover in Kigalye Village Forest Reserve, and monitor both new threats and conservation successes.

About the Author

Dr. Lilian Pintea brings more than 15 years of experience in applying remote sensing and GIS to the job of protecting chimpanzees and their vanishing habitats in Africa. As vice president of conservation science at JGI, Pintea directs the scientific department at the institute and conducts applied conservation research in Tanzania, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of the Congo.

For more information, contact Lilian Pintea (e-mail: lpintea@janegoodall.org).

See also "Harnessing the Power of Our GeoDesign Vision."

source : http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/summer11articles/from-maps-to-geodesign.html

Planning for a Polder in the Netherlands

Geodesign Project Integrates Water Management and Land-Use Planning

Highlights
    * Land tracts surrounded by dikes (polders) were modeled with quantitative and qualitative trade-offs regarding water and land-use plans.
    * With ArcGIS and CommunityViz design tools, land-use stakeholders work together on new plans, sketching ideas and receiving fast feedback.
    * The project combined GIS mapping and scenario planning tools, which allowed the team to integrate expert knowledge into the decision process.

The Dutch are familiar with polders—low tracts of land typically enclosed by dikes—and their characteristic hydrologic and land-use challenges. The Bodegraven polder, located in the province of South Holland, is a low-lying peat meadow area of some 4,672 hectares (11,545 acres) in the Netherlands, where water tables are controlled to enable multiple land uses. While Bodegraven has been predominantly used for commercial dairy farming, it is also important for its high natural, cultural, and historical value.
Bodegraven is currently facing a number of problems that will affect the sustainability of its land uses: ground subsidence, preservation of the peat meadow landscape, inefficient water management, poor water quality, and the changing economics of dairy farming. Multiple stakeholders are thus involved, including the local water board, the City of Bodegraven, the Province of South Holland, farmers' organizations, and nature conservation organizations, as well as individual farmers, residents, and recreational visitors. Consequently, the provincial authorities have started a planning process to review and adjust both water management practices and land uses in the area. The Spatial Analysis and Decision Support Department of the Institute of Environmental Studies worked with stakeholders to develop and test participatory tools to support integrated land-use planning and water management within this region despite conflicting objectives.

The project team structured the planning process for Bodegraven into a series of three interconnected stakeholder workshops: design, analysis, and negotiation. In the design workshop, the team defined three reference plan alternatives, stakeholder objectives, and evaluation criteria. For scenario planning, the team used ArcGIS and CommunityViz, an ArcGIS extension, extensively during the analysis and negotiation workshops to visualize maps and scenarios. The team was already familiar with Esri software, as it uses it for most of its mapping and cartography work, and it chose to continue using the software for this project. Additionally, the team chose to work with CommunityViz because of its compatibility with ArcGIS and its versatility for application to a wide range of planning studies. The software's calculation speed also made it suitable to support geodesign and conversations around an interactive device, such as a touch-enabled interface, or touch table. The combined solutions allowed "spatial discussions to be clearer and better supported," comments Aletta van der Zijden, regional coordinator of landscape management in South Holland.
The touch table supported stakeholder participation in the workshops and acted as the main map interface for the geodesign software. A separate screen was also set up to view additional information, such as charts and tables. In the analysis workshop, the project team used ArcGIS to present maps with thematic information about the region to increase the understanding of participants, who included both experts and stakeholders with varying backgrounds. Next, the project team used Scenario 360, a component of CommunityViz, to create scenarios. Each scenario consisted of a polygon-based suitability map in which the weights of each criterion were set according to participants' values. Participants could change the weights interactively using the touch table to adjust assumption settings in the software.

As the weights were changed, the results were dynamically updated and presented both on the touch table as a map and on the separate screen as a bar chart showing aggregated scores for various criteria and objectives the participants had established. A set of weights and the corresponding set of value maps constituted the main product of this phase. Ton Verdoorn, a project manager from the Province of South Holland, remarks that the combination of GIS and planning tools made it "possible to quickly and clearly see both spatial and numerical consequences of changing variables on the map."
The negotiation workshop supported the process of collectively changing the current land-use pattern of the polder into a new, negotiated plan. Participants were the institutional stakeholders: the water board, the City of Bodegraven, the Province of South Holland, and nature conservation organizations. To support negotiation, the project team used multicriteria methods to show trade-offs among stakeholder objectives. Stakeholders used Scenario 360 to adjust two kinds of trade-offs: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative trade-offs were identified by selecting polygons that were "very suitable" or "very unsuitable" for each potential land-use type based on their summed area and ranked multicriteria analysis (MCA) value.

Quantitative trade-offs were identified by selecting polygons that would profit from a land-use swap based on their actual MCA value. The next step was to change the plan. Stakeholders used their hands with the software's sketch tools to change land-use patterns on the touch table as they discussed the changes. A land-use palette allowed participants to assign new land uses to target parcels. As soon as the participants agreed on changes, MCA results were updated and displayed as bar charts on a separate screen in real time.

This project ran for four years, from 2006 to 2010, and ended with a positive result that satisfied all the project stakeholders. The combined use of GIS mapping and scenario planning tools allowed the team to integrate expert knowledge with stakeholder perspectives into the decision process of Bodegraven.

source : http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/spring11articles/planning-for-a-polder-in-the-netherlands.html

Keindahan Masjid Al-Irsyad

Rabu, 3 Agustus 2011 | Tag: Masjid Al Irsyad, Ramadhan 1432H, 2011
KapanLagi.com - Sejak diresmikan 2010 lalu, bangunan ini sudah mencuri perhatian tidak hanya warga sekitar tetapi juga di dunia maya. Masjid yang terletak di Padalarang ini masuk 5 besar "Building Of The Year 2010" oleh National Frame Building Association. Acara akbar yang melibatkan para arsitek di seluruh dunia ini menempatkan Masjid Al Irsyad dalam kategori religious architecture. Menurut ArchDaily, situs publikasi arsitektur terpopuler, Masjid Al Irsyad cukup populer di antara tempat ibadah yang lain dan hanya dikalahkan oleh Gereja Tampa Covenant, Florida, Amerika serikat.

Jika umumnya masjid memiliki kubah atau menara, tidak dengan Masjid Al Irsyad. Masjid yang dirancang oleh Ridwan Kamil, arsitek kenamaan Indonesia ini didesain mirip Ka'bah, berbentuk kubus dengan warna abu-abu. Desainnya sederhana, tidak banyak ornamen namun tetap memiliki keindahan tersendiri.

Dinding masjid terbuat dari batu bata yang disusun sedemikian rupa sehingga membentuk celah yang terbaca sebagai dua kalimat syahadat. Selain memiliki fungsi artistik, lubang-lubang ini juga berfungsi sebagai ventilasi udara. Menjelang malam ketika lampu di dalam masjid mulai dinyalakan, sinar lampu akan menerobos celah ventilasi sehingga jika dilihat dari luar tampak seperti masjid yang memancarkan cahaya berbentuk kalimat syahadat. Sangat mengagumkan.

Keindahan tidak hanya tampak dari luar masjid. Di dalam masjid terdapat 99 lampu bulat berukir asmaul husna yang jika dinyalakan, cahayanya akan membentuk siluet nama-nama suci Allah SWT. Terasa sekali kemegahannya.

Masjid Al Irsyad juga seolah ingin mendekatkan kita pada alam. Lantai tepi mimbar dimanfaatkan untuk kolam di lantai. Suara gemericik air kolam memberikan suasana teduh yang dapat menambah ketenangan ketika beribadah. Dinding di belakang mimbar juga dibiarkan terbuka sehingga jama'ah dapat menikmati pemandangan Padalarang yang menyegarkan.

Didirikan di atas lahan seluas 1.100 meter persegi, masjid berkapasitas 1.500 jama'ah ini selain menjadi tempat ibadah juga menjadi tujuan wisata tak hanya bagi para sekitar Bandung dan Jakarta tetapi juga mancanegara.

Foto: properti.kompas.com

Sumber : http://cityguide.kapanlagi.com/artikel/wisata/425-keindahan-masjid-al-irsyad.html

Kelenteng Sam Poo Kong : Napak Tilas Sang Laksamana

Rabu, 1 Juni 2011 | Tag: Kelenteng Sam Poo Kong
KapanLagi.com - Sekitar abad ke 15, Laksamana Sam Poo Kong berlayar melintasi Laut Jawa. Mendapati anak buahnya sakit, sang Laksamana memutuskan untuk singgah di daerah Simongan, Semarang. Tempat persinggahan itu kini dikenal dengan nama Kelenteng Sam Poo Kong.

Beberapa orang menyebutnya Kelenteng Sam Poo Kong., Kelenteng Cheng Hoo atau Kelenteng Gua Batu. Disebut Gua Batu karena tempat ini memang berbentuk demikian. Beberapa sumber menambahkan ada juga yang menyebut kelenteng ini sebagai Kelenteng Kedung Batu karena awalnya tempat ini merupakan tumpukan batu-batu yang berfungsi untuk menahan aliran sungai Kaligarang.

Melihat riwayat Laksamana Cheng Hoo yang berasal dari keluarga muslim, ada pendapat yang menyatakan bahwa kelenteng ini dulunya adalah sebuah masjid. Sejarah mencatat, sejak dibangunnya tempat ini maka tempat ini menjadi pusat perkembangan umat China muslim di daratan Jawa.

Bangunan kelenteng ini sangat kental dengan perpaduan arsitektur China dan Jawa. Atapnya yang berbentuk limasan khas Jawa menaungi pilar-pilar dan interior dinding khas China klasik. Warna-warna khas China seperti warna merah, kuning, hijau dan emas tampak dominan menghiasi setiap bangunan.

Kelenteng ini terdiri dari beberapa kuil besar. Bangunan utamanya adalah sebuah Kelenteng Besar dan Gua Sam Poo Kong. Dalam gua ini terdapat mata air yang terus mengalir. Dalam bangunan ini terdapat altar pemujaan Sam Poo Kong dengan lilin yang terus menyala sepanjang tahun.

Di sisi kanan Kelenteng Besar terdapat Kelenteng Tho Tee Kong yang digunakan untuk tempat penghormatan para kyai yang merupakan orang kepercayaan Laksamana Cheng Hoo.

Di salah satu bagian pendoponya Anda dapat berfoto mengenakan pakaian ala prajurit China dengan membayar Rp 75.000. Pendopo ini banyak diminati pengunjung mulai dari anak kecil hingga dewasa. Di bagian lain pengunjung juga dapat meminta seorang biokong untuk melakukan chiamsi atau membaca peruntungan Anda di masa depan dengan menggunakan bambu bertuliskan angka yang sebelumnya telah dikocok lalu dicocokkan dengan secarik kertas. Dari secarik kertas tersebut kemudian diterjemahkan dengan keinginan atau pertanyaan yang diajukan pengunjung.

Setiap tahunnya di kelenteng ini diadakan perayaan untuk memperingati singgahnya Laksamana Cheng Hoo di tanah Jawa dan perannya dalam menyebarkan agama Islam. Biasanya perayaan tersebut jatuh pada tanggal 29 dan 30 bulan keenam dalam kalender China. Berbagai atraksi dan pertunjukan seni ditampilkan dalam acara ini seperti barongsai, pameran kebudayaan China, festival tari dan festival lampion.

Jika sedang merencanakan untuk berlibur ke Semarang, Anda dapat menambahkan Kelenteng Sam Poo Kong. ke dalam tujuan wisata Anda. Tidak hanya memiliki Kota Lama yang kental dengan suasana kolonial, Semarang juga memiliki pesona oriental dalam Kelenteng Sam Poo Kong yang tidak kalah cantiknya.

Sumber :http://cityguide.kapanlagi.com/artikel/wisata/356-kelenteng-sam-poo-kong-napak-tilas-sang-laksamana.html

Minggu, 19 Juni 2011

PLANNER and PLANNING Scope of work

Planning "Planning" means the scientific, aesthetic, and orderly disposition of land, resources, facilities and services with a view to securing the physical, economic and social efficiency, health and well-being of urban and rural communities.

Responsible PlanningResponsible planning has always been vital to the sustainability of safe, healthy, and secure urban environments. Indonesian's population is growing and, with more people migrating from rural to urban areas, the planning profession must increasingly deal with urbanization issues, such as:
conversion of land from natural habitats to urban built areas,
maintenance and use of natural resources and habitats,
development of transportation related infrastructure,
ensuring environmental protection.

Not only do planners deal with land use, but also:
Planning social and community services,
Managing cultural and heritage resources,
Creating economic capacity in local communities,
Addressing transportation and infrastructure,
Work internationally.

Background
Over that last century, Indonesia has been transformed from a rural to an urban, industrial society. The impact of this transformation on our cities, towns and communities has provided us with some of our greatest challenges as a society.

How do we work?
How do we serve everyone's needs?
How do we provide and maintain the daily services that make life pleasant and efficient?
How do we add to the community without destroying its past?
How do we sustain our environment for the present and renew it for the future.
One of the key contributors to making urban and rural life workable, livable, and prosperous is the professional planner.
A planner provides research, reasoned analysis and recommendations to both the public and the private sector, intended to meet the needs of all sectors of society.
One of america's important planners at the beginning of this century, Thomas Adams, regarded good planning as "the conservation of life and economy in the system of developing land."
The best planners need many skills to make sure all considerations are met during a project.

Integration
Planners integrate the goals of sustainable development, good government and economic viability when evaluating proposals and strategies.
They may work for the public or the private sector, but ultimately their work becomes part of or a catalyst to public policy. Planners' work balances various private interests with the public interest and identifies viable, workable options.

Results
The implementation of any plan, however well thought out, involves changes, and change does not always come easily. Planners strive to develop clear plans for action and implement ongoing evaluations of successes and failures as part of their work.
With increasingly complex urban challenges, planners need a set of skills and talents that includes knowledge of land, air and water resources, employment trends, cultural diversity and associated issues, the use and needs of new technologies, and conflict resolution.

There are many tools, both well established and state-of-the-art, used in the planning process:
Vision and strategy sessions of interested groups
Ideas fairs to bring together the best of new concepts
Computer simulations and scale models of plans
Design workshops
Social and environmental impact analysis

Planning jobs can vary widely, and can have many differing job titles, such as:

City planner
Planning director
Planning consultant
Policy analyst
Recreation and park planner
Regional planner
Resource development officer
Social planner
Strategic planner
Transportation planner
Urban designer

Municipal planner
Planning director
Planning consultant
Policy analyst
Recreation and park planner
Regional planner
Resource development officer
Social planner
Strategic planner
Transportation planner
Urban designer

Teamwork
Planners almost always work as part of a team, either with other planners, other professionals such as engineers or architects, or with politicians and citizens. With your varied background and communication skills, you will often be the one person who brings together a coherent plan of action that draws upon ideas of experts and knowledgeable participants.

Understanding Data and Numbers
Planners must feel comfortable interpreting population statistics, economic and social data, geographical information, resource inventories and environmental indicators. You will use this information to support your policy and project proposals

The physical world around you
Most planners have a genuine interest in geography and the environment. Understanding how landscapes are formed, what happens to surface water when land is developed, how topography affects the design of roads and subdivisions, how to safely dispose of human and industrial waste, and how to preserve trees and natural resources, all require the natural curiosity and broad background that planners possess.

Understanding your neighbours
Most planners are concerned with balancing the rights of individuals with the needs of the larger population. Understanding the needs and views of all concerned is essential whether it be families, single people, an aging demographic, or differences due to income or ethnic background. You will need to seek out and understand the diverse voices of your community

Communication
Planners should have the ability to communicate ideas though the use of text, charts and pictures in presentations and reports for clients, other professionals, the general public and politicians. Planners also create maps, plans and 3-D models to represent their ideas

Flexible schedule
Because so much of a planner's job involves working with people in the community and taking directions from elected councils, you will often have to make time outside of normal working hours to attend meetings. Many planners work in government - either at the municipal, regional, provincial or federal level.
In addition, planners experience a sense of achievement through their work by improving the quality of life in communities. This is accomplished by working with a multitude of professionals and community stakeholders. Establishing, maintaining and improving multiple important relationships provide skills that are a major benefit when acquired by young planners. Planners also benefit from being able to further one’s knowledge of professional planning through continuous educational opportunities provided through the national and affiliate programs.

Planning as a Career
Planners link knowledge and action in ways that improve public and private development decisions which affect people, places and the environment.
To be effective, planners must have knowledge and experience in a wide range of topics

As a planner, you may:
recommend policy and guidelines on land use, environmental conservation, housing, and transportation;
do research and prepare reports on demographic, economic, cultural, social and environmental issues;
review proposals for development to ensure that they follow regulations and generally accepted planning practice;
prepare plans for developing private lands, providing public spaces and services and maintaining and improving the environment;
answer questions from the public on planning policies and procedures;
speak before public meetings or formal hearings;
consultation with landowners, interest groups and citizens.

Semarang In Proges

Perkembangan kondisi perumahan di Kota semarang…………….

MENTERI PU RESMIKAN PEMBANGUNAN WADUK JATIBARANG

Menteri Pekerjaan Umum, DjokoKirmanto, meresmikan pembangunan Waduk Jatibarang di Semarang, Jawa Tengah (151009) dan didampingi oleh Dirjen Sumber DayaAir, Iwan Nursyirwan, Gubernur Jawa Tengah, Bibit Waluyo dan Walikota Semarang, SukawiSutarip. Pembangunan Waduk Jatibarang, normalisasi Kali Garang dan Banjir Kanal Barat serta penataan sistem drainase kota Semarang bagian Barat didanai dengan pinjaman pemerintah Jepang melalui program loan IP-534 Integrated Water Resources and Flood management for Semarang. Program IP-534 merupakan program terintegrasi yang terbagiaatas 3 komponen kegiatan lintas sektor dan ditangani bersama antara pemerintahpusat, melalui Ditjen Sumber Daya Air dan Ditjen CiptaKarya, Departemen PU, Pemerintah Provinsi Jawa Tengah dan Pemerintah Kota Semarang.

Hal ini ditandai dengan penandatanganan kontrak kerja untuk komponen A (normalisasi kali Garang dan Banjir kanal Barat), komponen B (pembangunan Bendungan Jatibarang). Pembangunan polder Kali banger juga merupakan satu kesatuan sistem dengan kegiatan IP-534 dalam rangka upaya terpadu pengendalian banjir kota Semarang. Dan kemudian diikuti dengan komponen C yakni penataan dan peningkatan sistem jaringan drainase Kali Semarang, Kali Asindan Kali Baru.

Djoko Kirmanto mengatakan pembangunan Waduk Jatibarang diharapkan dapat meningkatkan kapasitas Kali Garang dan Banjir kanal Barat, penataan sistem drainase Kali Semarang serta sistem polder Kali Banger, maka permasalahan banjir dan penanganan masalah Rob kota Semarang, khususnya dibagian barat dan sebagian wilayah tengah dapat dikendalikan.

Dengan pembangunan Waduk Jatibarang, kapasitas lebih dari 20 juta m3 dengan tipe Rockfill Dam setinggi 77m, selain untuk pengendalian banjir Kali Garang juga dapat mendukung upaya pemerintah Kota Semarang dalam penyediaan air baku permukaan wilayah Semarang Barat sebesar 2 m3/det, bagi permukiman dan kawasan industri, mengurangi penggunaan air tanah dan mengurangi permasalahan amblesan (land subsidence) serta masalah rob disebagian wilayah kota Semarang.Bendungan ini dapat didayagunakan untuk pembangkit listrik mini hidrosebesar 1,5 MW, dimanfaatkan untuk kawasan konservasi dan dapat dikembangkan sebagai kawasan tujuan wisata. Untuk ituMenteri PU berharap koordinasi antar instansi terkait dalam pelaksanaan pembangunan orasarana ini dapat berjalan dengan baik, sehingga program tersebut dapat diselesaikan secara tepat waktu, tepat mutu dan tepat sasaran.

Jalinan koordinas itidak hanya pada tahap paska konstruksi sehingga fungsi manfaat prasarana yang sudah terbangun dapat terselenggara secara berkelanjutan.

Selain program IP-534 tersebut, telah pula dipersiapkan pembangunan sistem polder Kali Banger kota Semarang yang merupakan salah satu sub-sistem drainase kota sebagaimana sub-sistem drainase Kali Semarang pada IP-534.

Namun upaya pengendalian genangan dan permasalahan rob kota Semarang tersebut tidakakan optimal apabila tidak dibarengi dengan upaya-upaya pengelolaan sistem dan penanganan masalah-masalah terkait lain, seperti pengelolaan sampah dan pengelolaan lingkungan pemukiman yang baik.