Ethnic identity and its response to the growing environment in the urban space of Glodok, Jakarta

The diversity of ethnic groups in Indonesia has been one of the basic factors of the growth of identity in a settlement. Ethnic Chinese has been one of the minority ethnic groups that have become a part of that diversity, after migrating from China and have settled down in Indonesia from the early century (around 1st century B.C. according to Melalatoa [1]), thus making the name Chinatown known as the settlement whereas ethnic Chinese (now Chinese-Indonesian) lived. One of the biggest Chinatown in Indonesia, Glodok area had the identity known as a trading area managed by Chinese-Indonesian from the colonial era until now, and has become a very iconic place in Jakarta for the characteristics as a Chinatown. Glodok that was formed in the colonial era became the place where Chinese identity and Dutch identity interact, and then followed by the interaction with local ethnic groups identities in the following era. Advancement in architecture that was developed in those times became the very uniqueness that makes Glodok distinctive in Jakarta. In that phase, the settlement grows in response to the society and environment growth, especially in times of modernization and new technology. In this case, does the Glodok settlement still maintain its identity in the visualization of the settlement? Or the identity itself has already succumbed through the intense modernization and rapid changing in the environment? This paper aims to identify those changes of the settlement in response to the growing environment, especially in Indonesia whereas the country has a tropical climate that affects the use of building materials in the urban space of Glodok. The methods used to obtain the data needed are literature research on the development of Glodok throughout the history and observation on the growth through the documentation of both the past and the present of the Glodok settlement, and its growth in the aspect of architecture. Therefore, knowing that Glodok does have changes in the terms of settlement, the form and facades of building, the materials used, along with the identity growth.