Introduction
Informal and formal forms in urban situation such two sides of a coin, contradictory
but interconnected. The formal city is the static built
modernist understanding of the city, stemming from the Chicago School of Urban
Sociology with a clear notion for the urban center. In other words the
permanent structures /architecture of the city. And informal city can be
defined as the temporal "articulation and occupation of space." The
city is an urban elastic condition, not a grand vision but a "grand
adjustment.
The informal-formal relation is presented as an organisational form.
Formal is generally assumed to be rule-based, structured, explicit,
predictable, and regular, while informal is generally assumed to be defined by
the absence of these forms. Informality is often thought as spontaneous, tacit,
and affective. The central organisational form is that of unorganised,
unregulated labour, although in practice such labour is often highly organised
and disciplined. (Introduction The Informal-formal Divide in Context
Colin McFarlane and Michael Waibel).
In some cases, the entwining of the informal and
the formal is understood and seen as a problem, the inter-reliant relationships
between formal and informal may be “mutually enhancing at best and mutually
corrupting at worst”.
Uwe Altrock in his chapter within this volume
highlights the importance of informality which is ‘complementary’ to formal
arrangements (Young 1999).
Both of these forms has the infirmity and eminence. In
the "A New Paradigm for Urban Development" by AL Mabogunje he states
that the line between the informal and formal sectors and contains the greatest
potentials for new urbanisms. The presence of both form can be mutually benefit
each other or vice versa. Or on one side receive benefit and the other side
losses, or no loss at all (no impact) and there many other types of interaction
in between. Harmony and conflict between formal and formal forms are interesting
to study and review. In this essay will be explored how the symbiosis occurs
between the informal and formal forms through relationships which are commonly
used in biological terms. The study will be categorized into three forms of
symbiosis namely mutualism, paratism and comensalism. To understand how the
formal and informal relationships in the urban context, when and where the convergence
occurs then several cases that occurred in Indonesia will be taken as study
samples.
As developing country, Indonesia deals with phenomenon
of informal settlement which can be found in all cities in Indonesia. The term
of informal settlement in Indonesia commonly refers to an unplanned area which emerges
spontaneously and organically, on inappropriate or marginal land, such as river
bank, sides of railway, and soon. Indonesia is a showcase of any kind of
informality we can think of: slums, street vendors and varied informal economic
activities everyway, rich zones very beautiful but built according the same
principles of a slum, the new vertical slums inside occupied buildings,
non-regulated buildings in formal areas, or new slums which is protected and
encouraged by the governments. Interesting to study how the presence of these two
forms, formal and informal interact each other on the cities in Indonesia and
what kind of phenomena occurs as results from this process.
Mutualism Symbiosis
In this context, symbiosis
mutualism can occurs when both forms, formal and informal get benefit each
other from the interaction. Here are two examples of relationship between informal and formal sectors and how they benefit each
other.
In general,
for some peoples mainly the policy maker, slum area where is becoming the
settlement for most of informal sector executant is considered as problems
particularly from its appearance. Rundown houses always become scapegoat for
dingy cityface and failure of development, something that is prohibited for
most leaders. Whereas, if we look deeply, actually this rundown houses are
giving life answer to the people who living in. Without donation from
government, these people can survive, built their own dwellings and developed
their livelihood. They don’t need bank credit or foreign exchange. They are
able to exploit the limited resources in order to survive in the difficulty of
living in modern city. The people who live in informal dwelling commonly most
of them are able to recycle materials that unused into something useful for themselves.
Independently, they are able to meet their housing needs. Economically, this
settlement also supply cheap goods and labor with low wages to support economic
movement. Slum settlement obviously has potential that can be developed and
giving good contribution to housing problem and urban economy.
Another example,
government of Indonesia currently is implementing a program to overcome poverty
in community. This program is namely PNPM perkotaan, national program of
community empowerment. The program focus on how to empower the community in
certain area which is needed development and improvement, including
infrastructure sector. The interesting thing is how the formal program from
government are done in informal way as a method of approach. Here, in this
perspective we can see that to approach the level of a particular environtment,
the government who is always connoted as formal have to play the informal
sector in order to be able to negotiate and overcome the problem. For instance,
the infrastructure enhancement such as road, building, and sanitation in an
informal settlement, the government with limited budget employes the local
workers who don’t have labor certification and without technical work standard.
One one side the government has been assisted to implement the formal program
through informal way, on the other hand, it is upgrading the empowerment both
working skill, income and the
infrastructure needs that have been built right on target because it was
initiated and built by local community.
Parasitism
Symbiosis
This kind of relationship happen when the activities of one form both
formal or informal interfere and cause losses to other form.
Informal cause damage to formal .
There are a lot of goods provider in informal sector
which is done by opening the stall or vendor or selling with the cart along the
road, this situation creates chaos on the city spaces. It also causes traffic
jam. Again, this situation causes great improvidence, in term of energy and
time. This chaos not only cause traffic but also horrible outlook and
environtmental damage from disposal.
In Indonesia we can easily find views where the
vendors filled up road space and sidewalk for pedestrian, it is happening in urban
also in the rural situation though. This has become a problem for Indonesian
government which has never ending. The street vendors are part of informal
sector activities also many times interfere the pedestrians, the vendors
blocked the path that should be used by them. More than that, the presence of
informal sector bring impact to some problems such city health isues,
environtment and social – political issues.
According to Soemadi (1993), the vendor phenomenon
related to frontierisme phenomenon, a perspective about supposition that there
are available "empty space" in front of than can be occupied and
mastered. Sidewalks have been become those "empty space". Various
interest which happened on the sidewalk cause contested space. These
interaction bring out negotiations and strategies for certain people to state
their interest on those side walks. This kind interaction and negotiation then
built the image and identity of the sidewalk.
The
application of the concept of urban informality in understanding the phenomenon
of street vendors will change our perspective on the existence of street
vendors in urban areas. The street vendors are not the groups failed to enter
the economic system in urban areas. They are one of the modes in the urban
transformation that cannot be separated from the urban economy. They are one
component of the urban economy that will benefit urban development.
The
phenomenon of street vendors in Indonesian cities should be interpreted in the
context of urban transformation. The application of the concept of urban
informality in the practice of urban planning will allocate more urban spaces
for the street vendors and integrate it with the formal sectors. The practice of
urban planning in Indonesia also should not replicate the Chicago and Los
Angeles schools, but modify them and take into account the unique urban
phenomenon including the informal sector. The informal sectors, including
street vendors, deserve more urban spaces to accommodate their activities that
are parts of the urban economic system.
(Do street vendor deserve urban
space, Jakarta post, 2008).
Formal cause damage to informal
In its original rural version, the word kampung literally means
“village” – usually the home village or birthplace of an individual. In an era
of unbridled urbanisation, however, it has also come to mean a poorer
neighbourhood contained within a city. Kampung is not synonymous with “slum”.
Most kampungs actually contain a mix of lower and lower middle class - even
some middle class families - living in mostly permanent dwellings. Squatters
are relatively few. Most kampung residents actually have some sort of legal
title over their land – though they are not always able to prove it to the
satisfaction of Indonesia’s corrupt court systems. True to its linguistic
roots, many kampungs are, in fact, the remnants of original villages – it is
the city that has expanded and encroached upon the areas surrounding the
kampungs, not vice versa. (Jakarta, Indonesia, Paul
McCarthy).
The informal or kinetic city carries local wisdom into
the contemporary world without fear of the modern, while the static city
aspires to erase the local and re-codify it in a written formal order.( Re-thinking the informal city).
Within the Kampung scope, the citizen
autonomously organize their own social relations, cultural economy, even political,
all of it is manifested in the spatial arrangement and space hierarchy from private,
semiprivate, semipublic to public space.
Jakarta, capital city of Indonesia
has social dan spatial structure which is dual character as a result of urban
development by the intensity of formal and informal which is growing
simultaneously. This condition makes the face of the city implied physical
progress and metropolitan inequality at once. The existency of Kampung as an
informal form in urban situation suffered of positive values shifted because of formalization. City Kampung
constituted of space articulation from global activities of Jakarta and it
accommodates various interest both regional and international in physical and
social forms.
City Kampung is shaped from settlement
of indigenous people and immigrant, and then it grows along with area
development. From the cultural aspect, city Kampung has potential of social
activities, religious and historic sites. The alteration which occurred causing
the displacement of space function, deterioration of social activities and its
cultural community. The strength of society is temporary and does not have
significant reciprocal impact for prosperity of its society. This condition
remind us that City Kampung formalization have to be based on socio-cultural
and community local wisdom. Space identity is the treasure of social wealth in
order to strengthen the community existency in socio-cultural environtment
alteration process.
Commensalism Symbiosis
Commensalism symbiosis occurs when
one of the form both formal or informal get benefit, but the other form does
not get imposition or significant impact. This kind of relationship explained
that there are possibilities one form are able to give advantages to another
form without experienced loss.
The
scarcity of the street potential as space for urban communities to interact
each other eventually led the city became rigid and insipid. Such as robot, the
city is technically functioned but soulless. According to sociologist Jane
Jacobs, the livable cities where the values of urbanity well developed, the
main social space interaction of the community precisely often taking place in
city street corridor. On these street
the citizen are walking and doing activities such as buying morning newspaper
and milk, observing the displayed store.
Starting
from the hubbub of Las Ramblas street corridor in Barcelona, the exoticism of
Malioboro street in Yogyakarta, Indonesia to the excitement of street market in
San Francisco. All of it becomes reflection of city face which more humane and
livable. And not even rarely the linear street spaces often became one of the landmarks of city
pride, such as the Champs Elysees in Paris, or orchard road in Singapore (Seize
the lost space, Ridwan Kamil).
Nowadays, our city surrounded by
soulless spaces or placelessness. An urbanist Roger Trancik who wrote finding
lost space stated about the booming of redundant and negative spaces which he
categorized as lost space and space junk still happen currently in our big
cities.
For
commensalism relationship, the situation can be explained through the
interaction of formal activities at noon and informal activities in the evening
in Salatiga central market, Indonesia. This district commercial market at this
time is a main service of daily necessities outreach in urban and regional
scale in surrounding city.
At the beginning this location was traditional
market but along with modernization process, the surrounding areas are expanded
to be trade district and modern market. The space run into different function,
it can be seen from different and various activities which happen in this spaces
in different times. In the morning this spaces are used as morning market (formal)
and when the evening comings, it becomes a place where filled by vendors to
sell food. Thus this areas are having the use of function space for 24 hours in
giving services to the community. Market activities that happen in the evening,
mostly used for informal sector activities on public spaces such as infront of
shops or on the street. The location which is used for those informal
activities, at noon this area is used for trade activities in formal situation.
Based on this series of process, the analysis of the relationship between
formal and informal activities that happen in Salatiga market is accommodating.
This accommodating form is an interaction which indicate that formal sector
does not get benefit and doesn’t experienced damage from informal evening
activities. And this case could be one of the solution for the lost space
issues that has stated by Roger Trancik.
Another phenomenon which is commonly happen
in Indonesia that reflect commensalism symbiosis is car free day activities. According to Hannah Arendt (1998), city is not only just a architectural objects, but 'space' that allows public
civility.
Dago street is a landmark structure which
formed bandung city. It is not just functioned as space corridor as civic
design but also as civic reform which combinated alteration of social
structure, economy, culture and also society political. Car Free Day viewed
entirely as a physic artificial phenomena where its spatial expression is
physical but the framing caused by human activities so that composit cultural
are formed. Car Free Day is a place-making that are constructed into a public
space based on value, activity and specific arrangements to become a unique
spatial ecosystem as a public space. Car Free Day Dago as the third space
contributes a multiculturism space which progressive, responsive, and
democratic because its urban composite activities. The stakeholders works based
on power, legitimation, and urgency which constructed production-consumption
process of Car Free Day Dago as public space that transformed into the third
space.
Car
Free Day alters the street (formal) into open public space and appear as new
social space comtemporary in shaping the culture of society and creating new identity in communicate it self
as landmark for Bandung city. The space transformed from the space of place
become space of flow and space of culture in car free day, Dago street through overlapping
space uses. Car Free Day is an urban issue that was adapted as a global issue,
but in practice, it is depend on its local identity in which Car Free Day took
place, including in the city of Bandung. It is usually held on Sunday morning
where the density of transport activity is decrease, thus allowing a wide range
of social activities going on this street.
Conclusion
The development
of urban space influenced the existence of formal and informal sector, at a
certain time point often experience problems as a result of the need for space
to accommodate activities. While
the increase in the informal sector by Keith Hart (in Soetomo, 1997: 19-28), is
said to be always grew up with formal activities and this sector is increasing,
because the informal sector is regarded as a manifestation of the growth of employment
situation in developing countries so that they enter the large-scale activities
small town.
Actually, formal and informal areas are nowadays so interconnected people should start to
believe stop caring about its limits or its differences. Now legal or illegal, formal or informal, do not
depend on the conditions of the land or the configuration of the settlement but
on which entity is building.
Peter Daniels (2004) highlights the ‘interconnectedness’ of the informal
and formal sectors in cities as key assets in the field of urban policy
development. Descriptions of ‘hybrid arrangements’ of formal and informal, or a
‘formality-informality continuum’ indicate a desire, amongst some scholars at
least, to move beyond earlier categorisations, which often construct a tighter
dichotomy (Roy and AlSayyad, 2004).
Altrock puts the
complementary notion of informality in contrast to a ‘supplementary’ notion of
informality. Here, informal institutions can replace or stand-in for formal
ones in contexts where the state is unable or unwilling to implement its formal
rules. In this sense, informality contributes to formal institutions by
organising social interaction in the absence of the state, for example, during
periods of rapidly changing socio-economic contexts, rapid urban development,
and economic restructuring strategies (Schröder and Waibel, 2012).
On the other hand, people
living in formal areas are as entitled as their informal neighbors to be
consulted and informed. Traditionally architects consult very little, but as
more and more of us have the opportunity of work in informal areas, it’s
becoming easier to transfer some of the techniques we use there to other parts
of the city. Maybe with similar strategies and attitudes we will end with a
more integrated and inclusive city. (Formal vs Informal Does it mean anything?,
Silvis Soonets, 2012)
Summarized and written by Chyntia
Aryani. Matrikel – Nr. (4060991)
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