Sustainability of spatial context of historical core areas in Indonesian cities

Colonization affected urban areas in Asian countries, where none had existed before because they were needed as administrative centres in the imperial system. As one of the great waves of globalisation, colonization covered the entire surface of Asian countries, including Indonesia. Colonial towns and cities left impressions and shaped succeeding built forms in the next period. Using some cases of former colonial cities in Indonesia and supported by a detailed study of Medan and Jakarta, this paper constructs the pattern of urban fabric through analysis of old city maps and images as well as observation of existing cities. The study reveals the typical morphology among those cities that demonstrates the linkages between colonial urban form and social, economic and symbolic dimensions during the colonial era. Beyond these urban development forces, much effort therefore should be applied to sustain the intrinsic sense of colonial urban context that is identified as the local language of the Indonesian urban form.