Proto Tamansari

Desakota’s are areas in the extended surroundings of large cities, where urban and agricultural forms of land use coexist and are intensively intermingled. Many Indonesian cities suffer from issues caused by the vast urbanization of these areas, reflecting the shortcomings of regular planning tools to cope with this particular context. Proto Tamansari aims to develop appropriate planning instruments for the development of these areas. The proposed strategies aim to offer farmers an alternative for the urbanization of their land, by improving the economic, social and ecological feasibility of agriculture. They clearly steer off from the creation of radical new foodscapes, but use the existing landscape as a base for agricultural innovation. The existing sawa-system is turned into a farming-smart-grid, integrating strategies on three levels: production, processing and trade. Besides agriculture, strategies were proposed for other themes such as water, infrastructure, and economy. All strategies were presented and discussed during a workshop in Indonesia, combining local and international knowledge, connecting scientific and design-driven expertise. As a result of this workshop, different strategies are combined into development frameworks for a number of pilot projects in Yogyakarta and Bantul. These pilots will be used as showcases for other desakota areas in Indonesia and elsewhere.