The Urban architectural concept of the tidal river area in Banjarmasin's old town in the pre-colonial and colonial eras

Abstract

Banjarmasin is known as the City of a Thousand Rivers, one which can be characterized as a diurnal tidal river city in Indonesia. As a Tidal river area or so-called Kasupasut,it displays distinctive urban architectural characteristics. The Martapura river is one of the major tidal rivers, dividing the old town center as the forerunner of Banjarmasin’s urban development.The dynamics of the town centre’s architecture has determined the built environment for 489 years, in terms of urban architectural characteristics that are representative of Kasupasut. The developmental phenomenon of today’s architecture related to Kasupasut Martapura has featured a variety of issues related to the context of the era. This is due to the planning and decision-making process in urban planning, but tends to be erroneous in terms of reading, understanding, and interpreting the concept of local architecture and the potential of this Kasupasut context. The purpose of this research is to attain the ability to read, understand, and interpret the architectural environmental concept behind the Kasupasut Martapura in the old city. This research has been conducted by the environmental structural approach, making use of the constructivist-interpretative method at five research sites in the Kasupasut Martapura located in the town center of the Pre-colonial and Colonial Eras, which has transformed urban development. This research reveals the existence of five (5) concepts underlying the tidal urban architecture as observed in Banjarmasin’s old quarters. The concepts can be used as sources of knowledge about diurnal tidal urban architecture, and may serve as an important frame of academic reference for structuring, planning and development in preparation of sustainable guidelines for Banjarmasin city, especially in Kasupasut Martapura.