And like everywhere else, this town loves its bicycles.
The average person in Jakarta sees things differently. Logic is non-existent. Instead, they make decisions based on how they feel. On the roads, there are rules only if it suits you.
Motorcycles cross busy intersections if there's no traffic, red light or no. On an average day, the traffic is near gridlock for eighteen hours, and there’s no room for pedestrians, much less bicycles. I cannot adequately describe the chaos that is a Jakarta roadway.
In response, Jakarta had its first carfree Sunday in 2007. The main avenue of the city -Jalan Sudirman and Jalan Thamrin - is barricaded to allow the common man to breathe for six hours a week, on Sunday mornings. On a regular day, Sudirman is madness. The air is thick with exhaust. This is the situation at 9 a.m. on Sundays:
Looking for routes around the city on a weekday, I began cycling through the backstreets. To find these alleys and sidestreets, you need a GPS because they have no names. This is where the middle and lower class live. There’s very little room for trees, so people fill planters that crowd their doorways. We all crave green space.
There are no front lawns. Your open door sits right on the road, which in some cases is three metres across. Children play on the pavement. The common man is out doing laundry, cooking, playing, washing his motorcycle... families live on the street.
These people don't want or need anything else. They smile as I crowd their living space with my bicycle. The children high-five me. Women and youths delightedly call out, "Bule!" (which means foreigner in Bahasa).
You can also ride through the more moneyed neighbourhoods, which are lined with exotic palm and date trees. The air quality is much improved here and the trees look less stressed.
Recently, a friend showed me an index from a survey on happiness and the GDP. Indonesia was listed as the happiest country in the world. He also shared photographs he had taken of Indonesian people. Each face was brimming with contentment.
Against the odds, cycling is alive in Jakarta. And so are the trees.
As part of the lead up to our "International Influences: Inspiring ideas for trees in public space" presentation featuring Brendan Stewart, Landscape Architect and Urban Designer at ERA Architects, Thursday, August 16, 2012 - 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. at Metro Hall, we will be sharing our own international experiences, and reflecting on how the urban forests around the globe have inspired us. Watch this space for more in the series.