The intervention of art and culture to recapture the livable inner-urban district

With the liberation of the global economy and the dominant participation of private sectors, over history, the first ring of the inner city of Jakarta undergone a considerable transformation and the strong forces of gentrification, marked by the development in favor of Modernist city planning. The area grew in a piecemeal fashion that significantly produced the free-standing individualistic buildings, which are more isolated, introverted, and dismissive of their immediate and broader urban context. However, in the secondary rings of the urban center, some parts retain its physical fabric that provides spatial and functional bases to create a sustainable life-work community. With the case of the mixed-use inner-urban old district of Cikini, Central Jakarta, we conducted survey mapping to outset the morphological analyses on how the fine grain and flexible, functional mixtures of urban fabrics provided the adaptable physical settings that promote the livable urban morphology. Furthermore, we tried to explore the potential of Cikini to become an "art and cultural district" through analyses of the principal characters that should be achieved, which consist of creative, expressive, enjoyable, and educative. This study remarked that the existence of Jakarta art school (IKJ) at Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) as the center of the art and culture in Jakarta significantly potent to recapture the diminishing interaction of various interest groups, which is a fundamental prerequisite for the creation of the lively, safe, sustainable, and healthy cities.