Comparative Study of Public Open Spaces in Singapore and Yogyakarta

Abstract

Public open space is a facility that must be available in every city, be it a small city or a big city. Because public open spaces such as city parks or town squares are able to provide the basic needs of every community, especially people in big cities, to interact, recreate, exercise, relax, and enjoy their free time. In cities in tropical countries, public open spaces or city parks should also be equipped with adequate shade trees so that the microclimate formed in the public open space is comfortable and cool so that people are more enthusiastic about doing activities in it.

Public space is closely related to landscape, humans, and design. So first we need to understand the relationship between these three aspects and public space. According to Matsuoka and Kaplan (2008), there are two approaches to analyzing public space needs. The first is nature-based needs, and the second is human-interaction-based needs. In the nature-based needs approach, there are three categories of human needs that can be the basis for designing a public space: (1) contact with nature, (2) aesthetic preference, and (3) recreation/play. As for the human-interaction-based needs approach, there are also 3 categories of human needs: (1) Social Interaction/Privacy, (2) Citizen Participation, and (3) Sense of Community Identity.

This research takes two case studies in Singapore and two case studies in Yogyakarta. The case studies in Singapore are Tiong Bahru Park and Public Space in Raffles Place, Singapore Riverside. The case studies in Yogyakarta are public space at the Syuhada Grand Mosque in Kota Baru and public space in the area near the Tugu Jogja Monuments.