Can we afford to neglect cultural appropriateness in providing affordable housing?

A review of affordable housing provision in Bali, Indonesia

Shahed Khan and Ngakan Ketut Acwin Dwijendra

Department of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Built Environment, Curtin University,
Perth, Australia
Email: s.khan@curtin.edu.au and n.dwijendra@postgrad.curtin.edu.au

ABSTRACT: Governments in developing countries are often preoccupied in looking for ways to house the
urban poor. The strong focus on lowering costs to ensure affordability often means that the quality concerns
for the product are compromised. To an extent the relaxation of building standards and flexibility of
operations has been a welcome move and has allowed governments to better tackle the housing crisis.
However, the connection between affordability and appropriateness remains crucial. The house has many
meanings and performs many functions in any society. Starting from the basic form of shelter, the house has
numerous functional values in addition to economic value. In some cultures the house attains additional social
and symbolic values as well. In short, housing is a cultural product and needs to be seen and understood in its
cultural context before effective policies for housing provision could be established. Balinese culture has
strong architectural traditions that have been extensively studied and recorded. Faced with the issue of
housing its urban poor, the government promotes various schemes to ensure the provision of sufficient
numbers of housing units. The housing thus produced, however, may not be culturally appropriate or
acceptable. There is then the danger of stifling the expression of the Balinese living culture. This paper reports
on preliminary findings from a larger study looking into the factors related to affordable housing provision in
Sarbagita metropolitan area in Bali. It reports on partial findings from an on-going survey of selected
affordable housing projects that include both formal and informal sector developers. It also reports on basic
findings obtained from interviews with some developers and representatives of government agencies dealing
with housing provision in Bali. The paper concludes with some observations and comments and
recommendations for improvement of the cultural appropriateness of the housing projects in Bali.

Keywords: affordable housing provision, cultural appropriateness, traditional Balinese housing.

1. INTRODUCTION In meeting the various human needs, housing

attains a diversity of meanings and symbolism.
1.1 The meaning of housing
Blauw identified the meaning of a house as having
Housing in urban areas represents a wide
five functions. The first function is shelter,
range of issues worldwide, but most particularly in
considered to be the most basic function of a home
the third world (Wakely, Schmetzer, & Mumtaz,
and neighborhood. Second, the utilitarian function
1996). These issues include the gap between
is identified - the facilities that the dwelling and
supply and demand, lack of housing quality, issues
the neighborhood carry out (activities such as
of affordability and various problems related to
cooking and washing). Third is the domain
socio-economic and cultural appropriateness.
function, one that establishes the home as one’s
These issues are likely to increase in the future
own territory, a place that guarantees the dweller’s
with increasing urbanization and the consequent
privacy. The fourth is the social function – it
rise in demand for housing.
provides the facility to communicate from the
Those involved in housing provision need to
home base with the outside world. And, fifth is the
understand that the value of a house is not merely
symbolic or cultural function of a house (Blauw,
as a place to live, but has a variety of functions for
1994).
people. Good quality housing design must be able
The meaning of housing is thus clearly more
to respond to a range of human needs (Heywood,
complex than merely people’s way of sheltering
2004; Imrie, 2004); the meaning of a house,
themselves from weather and coming to terms with
therefore, needs to be taken into account by
the environment. It is also an expression of their
policymakers in housing provision.
culture and way of life, of who they are as
individuals, as a social group or community. It is
also an indicator of people’s fears and prejudices.
For some, it is a symbol of pride; for others, a
badge of inferior social status and poverty. It
seems that a house and neighborhood present
possibilities for preferences or design choices as a
living symbol of a way of life and the subsequent
values that the residents want to be associated with
(Bhatti & Church, 2004; Blauw, 1994).
In short, the nature and quality of housing as
shelter also reflects the levels of living, welfare,
safety, personality and culture (Silas, 2001;
Thomas, 2000). Housing cannot be seen merely as
being a living and infrastructure-facilities function,
for it also involves a settlement process and
functions as a way for people to communicate with
the environment (neighborhood, society, natural
surroundings). Therefore, housing is a means for
both actualization of the individual and for
integration with the environment.
1.2 Can we afford to neglect cultural
appropriateness of affordable housing?
Bali has a unique culture that dates back to
prehistoric times. Over the years, the Balinese
culture, including its traditional architecture, has
been extensively studied and conserved. Most
Balinese are well informed about these traditions.
The Dutch colonial rulers in the 1900s initiated the
idea of cultural conservation by adopting the local
architecture style for new buildings in Denpasar.
The Dutch eventually declared Bali a living
museum and emphasized its tourism potential as
well. The government of Republic of Indonesia
similarly recognized Bali’s status and developed it
as the centre of the tourism industry adding he
airport an a major hotel in the 1960s. It has also
highlighted the need to preserve the culture and
norm of the Balinese way of life.
By 1980s, tourism development in Bali had
intensified bringing in three major resorts. By now
Denpasar has become the major growth centre of
development in Bali. Balinese population has
increased progressively over the past three decades
from a little below 2.5 million in 1980 to just over
3.0 million around 2000 (BPS 2008). The growing
population needs to be housed – but the provision
of housing should not contribute to the destruction
of the culture either in the shape of the built form
or in terms of the vitality of its living culture.
Housing should serve the shelter and housing
needs of the people in a way that is both affordable
and appropriate. For a third world country, the task
to provide urban housing that is affordable to the
urban poor and also culturally appropriate and
acceptable is a major challenge.
This paper reports on some initial findings of
a larger study related to the doctoral dissertation of
one of the authors, that looks into ways to improve
the quality and cultural acceptability of affordable
housing projects in Bali. This introductory section
provides a discussion on the meaning of housing to
highlight the complexity of the topic. This is
followed by the background section that briefly
traces past attempts by governments in third world
countries to provide affordable housing and the
issues that pertain to quality of housing thus
provided. The next section establishes the
significance of the study and reports on literature
on the meaning of house in Balinese cultural
context. A case study from Bali is then presented
in the next section which reports on preliminary
findings from on-going fieldwork of a larger study.
The final section draws conclusions from the initial
findings and presents summary recommendations
related to improving the cultural appropriateness of
affordable housing projects in Bali.
2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
2.1 Housing the urban poor
Tipple (1996) argued that, since the 1960s,
most international agencies and other actors, such
as planners, architects, builders, universities,
NGOs, and CBOs, have been greatly concerned
about housing provision for the urban poor in third
world countries. All the main urban services in
developing countries, such as health, education,
waste disposal, water supply and electricity, have
been largely dominated, either completely or
partially, by direct public provision (Batley, 1996;
Bennet, Russel, & Mills, 1995; Nickson, 1996).
Governments of newly independent
developing countries tried various approaches to
tackle the manifestation of acute housing shortages
due to high rates of urbanization in the shape of
squatter settlements, as far back as in the 1960s.
Starting from bulldozing the settlements to
relocating squatters into public housing, the results
were dismal failures. The British Architect John
F.C. Turner, among others, influenced the World
Bank to finance the upgrading of squatter
settlements by emphasizing the link between
security of tenure and consolidation of housing
over time. Turner (1976) promoted the concept of
“housing as a verb” or as a process rather then
merely a physical product. In doing so, he may
have forced the authorities to consider flexibility in
housing standards to enable the urban poor to
manage their housing needs incrementally. Various
forms of sites and services schemes sponsored by
the World Bank followed in the 1970s. Over this
time, NGOs and CBOs got involved in self-help community (Blauw, 1994; Cousins, 2009; Hayashi,
housing schemes in many cities across the third 2002; Landaeta, 1994).
world, promoting the concept of ‘urban villages’ in Attempts to measure housing quality are
terms of social organisation. complicated by the social, economic and political
While such concepts clearly put housing as characteristics of communities. Yet, perhaps all
part of daily living and hence part of individual government agencies dealing with housing
and community culture, most governments seem to provisions revert to the measurement of the
have readily accepted such ideas like Turner’s physical structure of dwellings and the facilities
because it allowed them a way out of providing offered by the house, including amenities like
public housing altogether or doing so at minimum water, electricity, size, number of rooms,
cost. Starting from the initial relocation schemes availability of kitchen, toilet and bath facilities; as
governments with limited resources have strived to well as the physical environment, including the
lower costs of public housing. This concern location. This could be explained in terms of the
prevails, understandably, as the government funds practical difficulty in measuring intangible aspects
remain limited while the demand to provide related to cultural aspirations or those that are
housing for the urban poor continues to expand. heavily subjective. Unless an aspect can be
measured with sufficient confidence, it cannot be
2.2 Quality issues in affordable housing provision
adopted as a criterion for minimum standards into
Over last decade, the provision of affordable
policies and regulations. However, it could also
housing has been largely dominated by the non-
reflect a mindset that physical survival and safety
public sector, which includes formal and informal
needs can be separated from cultural and
housing, and co-operatives. However, Keivani and
psychological needs – and that social welfare
Werna (2001) and Brown, David, dan Badanes
responsibilities of the State do not need to consider
(2004) blame the underdevelopment of
cultural and psychological aspects.
institutional capacities and complicated and
A lack of full realization of the full breadth of
complex social, political, cultural and economic
the meaning of housing may have a correlation to
interactions between various actors and
the provision of housing quality (Batley, 1996;
mechanisms of housing provision for the general
Godish, 2001; Heywood, 2005; Karsten, 2007). A
failure to provide affordable and good quality
narrow understanding of housing tends to result in
housing in developing countries.
the production of housing that is not useful,
In most cases, such constraints limit the
substandard, and even harmful. Urban authorities
developers’ housing production capacity to meet
and housing agencies must realize that housing is a
the needs of large sections of the urban poor
reflection of human needs, so they also need to
(Adams, 1995; Keivani & Werna, 2001). Cultural
focus more sharply on specific needs and the direct
appropriateness of the housing product is another
implications of housing design. Some constraints
concern, as ever since the 1960s, concern for
on housing provision, of course, cannot be
lowering costs has mean small plot sizes,
avoided, but good quality, embracing of human
compromised design quality and lacking services
need, is fundamental to fostering the wellbeing of
(Kent, 2000; Turner, 1976). Moreover, Lewin
people.
(2001) noted that houses are built and given merely
Urban authorities in the developing world
as boxes to urban dwellers who may be unable to
would find housing quality unsatisfactory if it did
adapt housing to make it serve as an expression of
not meet official housing standards and regulations
their way of life or culture. Such factors often
(Firman, 2002; Godish, 2001; Hanson, 1998). This
combine to put culturally appropriate and
concern for quality needs to be extended to also
affordable housing far beyond the reach of urban
include cultural appropriateness of the housing as
poor households.
it determines the use-value of the housing product
Quality is a subjective dimension of housing
to the community. Waterson (1990) argued that the
that has implications for human beings (Apparicio,
value of a house is realized when it is suitable for
Anne, Naud, & Daniel, 2008; Garcia Mira, 2005;
people, satisfying their way of life and cultural
Redval, 1997). Quality is often tied to the notion of
values as well. House quality is not just the end
providing minimum standards that houses must
product, but correctly belongs at the start of design
reach for people to live in them (Duncan, 1971;
and ensures the autonomy and power for the end
Feijten & Mulder, 2005). Housing quality has
user in the design steps (Harrison, 2004; Wentling,
been differently defined by different attributes or
1995).
the extent of the housing problem in a given
3. SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY the rapid urbanization in developing Asian nations.
This study concentrates on Bali which provides a
3.1 The need to uphold cultural value in
context where the issue of product quality and
affordable housing provision
cultural appropriateness in affordable housing
The average Balinese dweller holds strong
provision is highly significant as the Balinese
cultural values and is well versed in local tradition,
lifestyle is affected by the strong influences of
especially in relation to housing. These determine
religion, customs, norms and behaviors.
their aspirations and expectations of housing that
Affordable housing projects in Bali have been
should be incorporated into the affordable housing
developed by both formal and informal sector
projects as far as possible. Local government
developers. The role of informal sector developers
agencies should potentially be able to guide
in providing housing and/ or home improvement
developers to respond to these local needs.
that meets the demand of the urban poor has been
However, unless a determined effort is put in to
duly recognised. According to Real Estate
guide and regulate the outcome, the projects may
Indonesia (REI), private developers have been a
neither guarantee the delivery of better quality nor
dominant sector in low-income housing provision
culturally acceptable housing that meets the needs
in Sarbagita. Many of these set ups operate at
of people.
stretched levels with little capacity to absorb
There have been few studies that have focused
financial shocks and hence depend heavily on any
on both demand and supply side factors while
incentives provided by the government. During
looking into the quality of housing products. There
recent regional and global financial crises that
seems to be a need to study the products of various
affected Sarbagita, most private developers
modes of affordable housing provision in specific
suffered, while some collapsed and went bankrupt
relation to the local cultural requirements of
for lack of capacity to sustain themselves. This
dwellers. It seems that there has been little research
implies that the government, through its incentive
within the context of affordable housing examining
programs, could potentially guide housing
the failure to provide quality products and cultural
development quite effectively.
appropriateness in housing provision and the
matching of housing products to people’s needs by
utilizing their local knowledge. 3.2. Meaning of a house in Balinese culture
This section examines the concepts and
In terms of cultural appropriateness, Balinese
meanings of the house for the Balinese in order to
people have a very strong cultural perspective and
understand how they define, perceive,
cultural identities that need to be integrated into
conceptualize and use the house. In Bali there are
housing planning and provision (Gelebet, 1998;
some terms which denote a house, such as umah,
98-106; Geriya, 1989: 77). Balinese communal
jero, puri, grya, pondok, bale, kubu, etc. Each term
culture is a significant aspect of everyday activities
has its meanings. It may mean buildings, houses,
and relates to the nature of the spaces required to
home, village, island, territory, state, the earth,
carry out daily activities. Houses have great value
globe, an institution, kinship, place, dwellings,
in Balinese culture in that each household has its
settlements and the like. Umah, jero, puri, and
own house and temple (Dwijendra, 2007; Gelebet,
grya all refer to a house for different social groups;
1998). The Balinese are concerned about their
for the common people, noble families, the king
houses as part of their lifestyle in terms of layout,
and for the priest families, respectively. These
plot size, orientation, style, material, construction,
terms may refer to family house or compound,
etc. (Dwijendra, 2008; Samadhi, 2001; Salija,
housing unit or buildings, and in a metaphoric
1975).
sense to define units of kinship and origin. Umah
Greater efficiency in the delivering of
and bale may be used interchangeably, to indicate
affordable housing of higher quality and cultural
buildings. A compound is an umah within which
acceptability to suit the needs of urban poor is a
key motivation for this study. Through assessing one or more households reside, share some
product quality, developer’s constraints in housing common facilities while each household may also
provision mechanisms, the role and perceptions of own a house unit in the compound. A household
dwellers, and cultural appropriateness of housing shrine is almost always provided within a single
dwelling or compound.
provision, the results of the study will have
significance for housing planning and policy in the The role of the house as a temple, or dominant
Asian context. In Bali, as in the rest of Asia, there function of a compound as a place to conduct
are strong and distinctive cultural identities, which ceremonies, particularly in Balinese societies
are being exposed to various forces resulting from undoubtedly support the arguments that a house is
more than just a dwelling and is culturally and
socially constructed. The house is key concept to
categorize social grouping or kinship patterns.
The Balinese believe that like a human being,
a building has a head, body, feet and a soul. This
practice is based on the philosophy in Hinduism tat
twam asi, meaning “You are that” (Eisman, 1990b:
18). The process of building construction is full of
ceremonies, from the beginning (digging a hole for
the foundations) until the first occupation. This is
part of the ritual harmonizing process necessary
between the dwellers and the dwelling. The final
ceremony, called mlaspas is a purification rite that
“brings the building to life,” (Eisman, 1990b: 199).
This process imitates the myth of the creation of
the universe through sacrifice (Khambatta, 1989).
In addition, Eiseman (1990a) notes that the
adjustment in building measurement called urip,
which means “bring to be alive”, recognizes the
building as a living entity. In other words for the
Balinese a building, like a human being, consists of
the same structure and elements; the body, the
soul, head, body and feet.
In Bali, space has multiple values and
directions of sacredness. The most sacred direction
is mountain ward, called kaja – this refers to where
gods live. It is towards this direction (mountain
ward) that the Balinese position their temples, their
head when they sleep, their face when they pray,
and the most sacred pavilion in their compound.
This idea was influenced by Indian Hindu
mythology that regards the mountain as a holy
place, and the centre of the cosmos. The opposite
(seaward) direction called kelod is profane. The
second sacred direction is toward the sunrise,
called kangin (east) and its opposite is called kauh
(west). Balinese traditional houses are planned
with multiple orientations acknowledging the
mountain and sea directions, the sunrise, the sky
and earth orientation, and with regard to internal
orientation such as the inner courtyard. The inner
courtyard, called natah acts as a ritual attractor
around which most activities take place and are
organized. All buildings in the compound will face
onto this space.
The Balinese use most parts of the house to
perform ritual ceremonies, these including lebuh
(space in front of the house gate), inner courtyard,
pavilions and household temple. (See previous
section). The central usage of the house for ritual
sites leads to the rationale of immense
‘investments’ being made to maintain the structure,
even though it is not frequently used. The Balinese
for example build and conserve their pavilions and
the household temples, which are most used for
religious ceremonies, with wooden carving and
expensive finishes.
A house is not merely a physical entity but
falls within a cultural category. A house does not
just constitute a physical domain but also can
signify the group of people who claim membership
to it, or ‘house societies’. The role of the house as
a temple, or dominant function of a compound as a
place to conduct ceremonies, particularly in
Balinese societies undoubtedly support the
arguments that a house is more than just a dwelling
and is culturally and socially constructed.
The Balinese recognize space as not neutral
but meaningful. In Bali, space has multiple values
and directions of sacredness. The most sacred
direction is mountain ward and toward the sunrise.
It is towards this direction that the Balinese
position their temples, their head when they sleep,
their face when they pray, and the most sacred
pavilion in their compound. The opposite direction
is seaward or sunset is profane. Based on this
spatial orientation, Balinese traditional houses are
planned.
4. CASE STUDY
4.1 Affordable housing projects in Sarbagita
Metropolitan Area, Bali
The Metropolitan Region of Sarbagita
(Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar, Tabanan) is one of
the fastest growing urban populations in Indonesia,
which consists of 4 big cities and 15 districts, and
168 sub districts. It is a large area (72,399 Ha, 65%
urbanized) with 1,327,737 inhabitants in 2007
(53.7% of Bali), and a growth rate of 2.13% (BPS,
2008: 10). It has an important role to play as the
centre of commercial, tourism, industrial and urban
housing development. The economic growth is
3.11%, GDP per capita is 7,166,142 rupiahs (USD
700), the labor force participation rate is 80.79%,
and the unemployment rate is just 2.57% (BPS,
2008: 12). Rapid population growth and rural-
urban migration in the Sarbagita Metropolitan area
has produced a very high demand for land, housing
and infrastructure.
The State Ministry of Housing and Settlement
assumes the responsibility to regulate the
development of housing and settlement through
national housing policy, supporting legislation and
regulations. It also provides guidelines for
developers to facilitate the implementation of
housing and settlement development policy. The
Public Works agency is responsible to put in place
major infrastructure, which it uses to enable and
guide housing and settlement development. It also
regulates development on the basis of national
standards for housing development.
Previously, the power of local government to
regulate development and co-ordinate public and
private sector development initiatives was very
restricted by central government. This led to
constraints on the flexibility of standards in
relation to the local context, making it difficult for
example to promote both formal and informal
sector initiatives in affordable housing provision.
However, since the laws of decentralisation (Law
No. 22/1999 and Law No. 25/1999) issued in 1999,
local government in Sarbagita Metropolitan has
been significantly empowered to assume greater
responsibility in urban housing development.
The Local Development Planning Board in
Sarbagita has been delegated the responsibility to
guide the allocation of housing and new settlement
development in urban areas through RUTRK
(Master Plan). They also encourage the
development of housing and new settlement to
respond to the rapid growth of tourism and
industrial development in Denpasar. The
municipality has responsibility to The overall
control and monitoring of the housing and
settlement growth in urban areas is entrusted to a
municipality team that collaborates with the
municipality, the planning board, public works and
other institutions.
There has been a significant input by
government agencies to provide affordable housing
in Sarbagita Metropolitan Region. It has increased
affordable housing provision projects, including
formal and informal housing projects that are
provided by public, co-operative, private
developers and individual owners. They are aimed
at addressing the housing needs of low-income
groups by imposing a requirement of providing
60% ‘very simple’ houses. The housing ratio in
these projects is required to be 1 luxury house
(high income), 3 simple houses (middle income)
and 6 very simple houses (low income). This target
is part of co-operation between institutions to
provide development costs (public, private, co-
operative, BTN*/National Saving Bank, and
community as beneficiaries). Therefore, low-
*
In 1974, Government appointed BTN as the source to finance
housing development programs. Then, BTN as a saving bank started
to provide additional service began offering housing loans. BTN
took their responsibility by drawing up housing loans programs
called home ownership credit program (KPR). BTN established its
home ownership credit program (KPR) in 1976 with goal of
increasing the supply of housing finance to low and middle income
households. Initially, the KPR Program only provided finance for
homes built by Perumnas. However, in 1978, housing built by
private developers became eligible for KPR financing.
income groups can borrow long-term loans at
subsidized interest rates from the BTN. Low-
income groups benefit from the programs having
access to housing loans (mortgage finance) to
purchase shelters with soft interest.
While substantial progress has been made in
terms of increase in affordable housing numbers,
however, it appears that most housing projects
ignore the fact that a house means more than a
comfortable shelter with physical value, but that
the most important value is its socio-cultural
appropriateness (Balipost, 2007: 7; Indriyati, 2006;
Sueca, 2003: 87). It is doubtful whether the quality
of various modes of affordable housing projects
(housing condition, infrastructure, public facility
and service delivery) meets minimum acceptable
standards and cultural acceptability of the dwellers.
4.2 Conserving Balinese culture value in
affordable housing
Cultural traditions that have survived to this
day are those reflected in the daily lifestyles of the
Balinese people. Housing, or the home of the
activities associated with the living culture or
lifestyle, should facilitate and promote those
traditions. It is important, therefore, that design
elements reflect the traditions or at least be
sympathetic and respectful to those. To this end,
we developed a checklist of design elements that
could promote the cultural traditions of the
Balinese people and Balinese traditions of housing
design. The following section reports on our initial
findings of a survey of affordable housing stock in
the study area. The information was collected
through visual observation of the physical
conditions and by soliciting verbal response from
residents to a structured questionnaire. While the
former served to record the description of the
physical structure of the house, it also took note of
how residents may have adapted the original
design to suit their lifestyles. The latter served to
assess the satisfaction levels of users (residents)
with the product (house) and also assess their level
of involvement in the design conception,
construction or maintenance of the housing.
The checklist of cultural sensitivity indicators
was developed in consideration to the following
elements:
1. Application of the concept of “sacred“ and
“profane“ areas
a. Zoning – allocating praying place within
sacred area, while inner coutyard and
kitchen allocated within profane area.
b. Orientation and Circulation - room
position/ furniture arrangement in
 conformity with the rule that facing/
pointing towards the sunrise and mountain
is considered sacred while facing sunset
and beach is considered profane)
2. Respect for Balinese traditional architecture
and built form
a. Building layout – seen as square or
combination of squares
b. Height of building – should remain under
the height of a coconut tree, i.e. less than 15
meters
c. Elevation/ facade – should be readily
identifiable as comprising three parts: head,
body and foot (in line with the Tri Angga
concept)
d. Balinese ornament – presence and
compatibility of ornamental elements
within the house and the gate.
5. FINDINGS FROM FIELDWORK
5.1 Field Survey Observations
From visual observation made during the
survey of residential projects, a number of
violations Balinese cultural values in the physical
design and layout were noted. The most frequent
ones related to:
ƒ Absence of Balinese ornamentation and
decoration
ƒ Undistinguishable “head, body and foot”
segments of the façade
In addition to the cultural points, the following was
also noted:
ƒ Insufficient public facilities and low levels of
maintenance of public facilities, in particular
lack of communal praying place
With regards to observations relating to
infrastructure and service delivery, it was noted
that formal sector developers provided better
infrastructure and service delivery as was
evidenced from road conditions, water supply
provision, drainage and sanitation. However, the
level of garbage disposal management was poor.
Meanwhile, the informal projects provided lower
infrastructure provisions as apparent from poor
road conditions, low levels of water supply
provision and also poor solid waste management.
Interestingly, however, some informal sector
projects tended to have better drainage and
sanitation and even better water supply provision.
Informal sector housing projects tended to
offer larger plot size compared to formal sector
projects. They also made provision for relatively
more adequate communal areas for praying. It was
noted that the informal sector projects seemed to
rely on service delivery by the community. In
terms of house unit price, informal sector projects’
affordable units tended to stay just within the
ceiling price set by government, while formal
sector projects often surpassed the ceiling price.
5.2 Dwellers’ perspective
Residents of affordable housing projects that
took part in the survey were asked to assess the
quality of their houses. A full list of comments and
complaints relating to the cultural sensitivity
indicator checklist are summarized below:
ƒ Area for praying – either they were not
provided for or else their location was
problematic (zoned within the profane area)
ƒ Ornament and decoration – they were either
found to be inappropriate or missing
ƒ Elevation/ Façade – the breakdown of façade
into “foot, body and head” was unclear
ƒ Inner courtyard – either the size was too small
or it was located in the wrong zone
ƒ Orientation of bedroom – it was found not
conducive to a furniture layout that allowed
beds to be placed in the culturally correct
orientation – i.e. pointing to the sunrise or the
mountain
ƒ Main door was not in proximity to kitchen
ƒ Gate of house did not conform to Balinese
culture
In addition to issues related specifically to
Balinese cultural traditions, residents also raised
some other issues that related to the quality of their
housing. These generally included complaints and
expressions of dissatisfaction generally related to
poor building standards, building materials and
room size.
Most residents also complained about garbage
collection and road conditions. They were
concerned especially about the rainy season when
they feared serious flooding, while they believed
the rainwater drainage system in place was not
reliable. The residents generally were able to
access groundwater of sufficient quality by means
of their private wells. There was concern that if the
overall environment was allowed to deteriorate,
their access to useable ground water may be
affected.
Frequent concerns were raised about the fact
that public facilities had not been completed
despite the occupation of houses in the project for
some time. These related to the inadequacy of
facilities like praying area, education and health
facilities, parking area, public service and
playgrounds. While the residents pointed to the
planned public facilities that were not yet built,
there were also instances reported where certain
areas designated as praying place, open space and
playground area were, in effect, turned into
parking areas for the adjacent housing units.
When asked, most residents of affordable
housing said they were not aware of any
mechanism or forum to lodge complaints or
engage otherwise to influence the quality or
cultural value of the house in various stages of the
project.
5.3 Developer’s constraints
Interviews with developers and government
representatives and secondary data from Real
Estate Indonesia were used to understand the
constraints faced by developers in providing
affordable and culturally appropriate housing
product. Based on the nature of developers
involved, most of the housing projects include
private and private-public partnership ventures;
other projects are public and cooperative. In terms
of the nature of operation, housing projects in the
area include both types - formal and informal
projects. The investigation focused on determining
company profile and organisational culture of
developers active in the field.
The key indicators focused on during the
investigation include:
a. Access to government support/ incentives
b. Capability of human resources of design team
c. Cultural awareness and commitment towards
conservation of Balinese cuture
d. Room for community engagement in the
design, implementtion and/ or maintenance
stages of operation.
5.4 The influential factors of affordable housing
provision projects
a. Government Support: Developers reported
having access to a range of incentives from the
government including subsidies, soft loans and
other support such as infrastructure and services
finance available for larger projects. Housing
projects undertaken by public agencies
including those in partnership with private
developers seem to have more access than
others to government support. This especially
applies to infrastructure provision,
administration processes and even financial
support. Public agencies have significant
advantage in land acquisition and obtaining
financial support and accessing legal permits. In
construction phase, they have easy access to
road and water supply connection to the main
pipeline. As a result, the infrastructure and
services provided by public and partnership has
better quality than the private developer
projects.
b. Capability of Human resources: Developers
seem to have sufficient numbers of staff
assigned to their projects. Formal sector
developers, representing both private and
private-public partnerships, also tend to employ
project management techniques in each project.
Developers generally tend to employ more non-
local than local staff on their project design
teams. A very rough average shows a 40:60 per
cent split of local and non-local employees
respectively.
c. Cultural awareness and commitment towards
conservation of Balinese culture: Skill and/ or
knowledge of the Balinese culture is not used as
selection criteria for employment. None of the
developers interviewed provided any formal
induction or training session related to
familiarization to Balinese culture or Balinese
traditions in architecture for their staff. Staff
members are however expected to familiarize
themselves with the regulations and any specific
information related to Balinese culture from
government publications and websites.
d. Dwellers Involvement. From the point of view
of developers, clients/ dwellers, especially those
belonging to low income group, do not get
involved in planning and design construction
stages of the project. They, however, get
involved after the occupation of the units, that
is, in maintenance and home improvement
stages of the project.
Discussions with developers also revealed that
there were generally low levels of monitoring and
enforcement of regulations particularly in the
lower cost housing projects. There appears to be
little control exerted through monitoring and
accountability of the projects except in the initial
phase of seeking building approval for the project
proposal and then later on once the project was
completed and handed over to residents. There
were complaints from some government agency
representatives that some developers do not
complete the provision of public and community
facilities that are part and parcel of the project
which make it difficult for government service
providers then to take over. A significant degree
of lack of clarity in defining responsibility for
project upkeep and maintenance was reported by
government agency representatives as well as
developers. It is interesting to note that the private
developers seem to have implemented better
building standards.
6. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS national government is actively engaged in trying
to house its urban poor. In the case of Bali, the
Residents of the affordable housing projects
significance of ensuring that the housing thus
were well aware of the elements and features of
provided is also culturally appropriate is most
traditional Balinese housing and showed great
enhanced. This is underscored by the extensive
empathy towards them. The checklist used during
symbolism that house carries within the cultural
investigations seems to have been validated as
context of Bali, both historically as well as in the
being relevant and generally comprehensive. The
current day and age.
quality and appropriateness of the housing product
The local government should use the
were seen by some as deficient, but this should be
support incentives it controls to ensure that the
expected if affordable housing is essentially
housing products are designed with due regard to
concerned with lowering costs. The sources of
cultural appropriateness. There should be a
complaints from residents were a combination of
requirement for developers to train their
both cultural inappropriateness of the product
employees, especially those on their design teams,
design as well as general deficiencies in delivery of
in Balinese traditional architecture.
services.
Simultaneously, the government needs to develop
There were different views among residents
appropriate and effective training programs –
and developers regarding the status and role of
perhaps with the collaboration of local educational
community engagement. The community didn’t
institutions and professional institutes.
seem to be aware of community engagement
Informal housing sector developers seem to be
opportunities in initial stages of the project
playing an effective role in delivering affordable
inception, design and even implementation. The
housing in Bali, with commendable results
developers seemed to believe that there was a lack
compared to the formal sector as seen in the case
of interest on part of residents to engage in the
of Sarbagita. In relative terms, informal sector
earlier phases of the project design and
developers tend to produce more affordable
implementation. Residents do get involved in the
housing with better regard to Balinese cultural
maintenance and home improvement phases, that
values. There could be a number of reasons for this
is, once they have moved in and occupied the
– such as the socio-economic make-up of their
housing.
clients, or their better awareness of the local
In case of housing projects provided by
conditions. These factors should be further
informal sector developers, the residents’
explored and their role should be further enhanced
community seemed to be more self-reliant in terms
and encouraged. An obvious way forward would
of service delivery. This could be seen as a result
be through further improving their access to
of more social cohesion or lower affordability to
government subsidies and financial incentives.
pay for those services. This could be indicative of
Currently the public agencies seem to have better
difference in socio-economic status of the residents
access to such support. This indicates there is room
of the two types of projects and should be explored
for further streamlining the delivery of the
further. Confusion about monitoring and
government support by improving access.
accountability often surfaced in the discussions.
Monitoring and evaluation of projects is an
area that needs immediate attention. There is a
7. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
need to develop an institutional framework that
While the government is actively engaged could effectively guide the development of
in supporting and promoting the provision of large affordable housing projects. There need to be
numbers of affordable housing in Bali, the organisational units that are responsible to monitor
products seem to fall short in terms of appropriate and track the projects through all the stages starting
quality. Of course quality always suffers where from inception design to various phases of
quantity increases while funds are limited. implementation to post-occupancy. The role of
However, form the initial findings reported in this NGOs and CBOs could also be explored in this
paper, it is clear that there is room for regard.
improvement and hence reason for optimism. To improve the quality of affordable housing
The living culture of Bali is well and settlement projects, it is necessary to establish
established and needs to be conserved and effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
protected. It not only makes sense in terms of Such mechanisms are not only required to enforce
heritage conservation and the right of the Balinese accountability but also to institutionalise the
to express their culture, but it also makes good recording of successes and failures of various
economic sense in terms of tourism potential. The
operation models over time. This would ensure
that past ventures with various types of developers
and their operational models could be studied and
lessons learnt from those. This could provide a
valuable basis for government agencies to establish
guidelines for developers.
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Note: A modified version of this paper was
presented at the UI-KAAS International
Conference ‘Asia in the Midst of Global
Transformation’, Jakarta, 20-22 July 2010.