Identified Physical Settings Determinants of Public Activities in the

Sidoarjo City Square

Muhamad Ratodi

, Qurrotul A’yun

, Oktavi Elok Hapsari

, and Rita Ernawati

Department of Architecture, Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Ampe, Jl. A.Yani 117, Surabaya, Indonesia

Keywords: Physical setting, Public activities, Green open space, City square

Abstract: Physical environment settings are believed to be able to influence public activity patterns by facilitating the

interaction between physical spatial space with its users. As one of the public green open areas and main civic

activities points, the Sidoarjo City Square also has a variety of user activity patterns, which are both suitable

and unsuitable to its design purposes. This article attempts to identify the physical settings determinants that

affect public space activities in Sidoarjo Square. Behavior mapping and time budget techniques were used to

collect data and analysis was conducted through data tabulation. The study identified at least five physical

settings factors that influence the Sidoarjo Square user activities, including shaded spaces, sitting and relaxing

areas, plazas, pedestrian paths and artificial lighting.

1 INTRODUCTION

The provision of green open space in Indonesia is

regulated through Law No. 26 of 2017, which

requires a minimum of twenty percent of the city to

be public open space. A good public open space must

be able to function and be used by the community to

gather, interact, and move safely and comfortably

(Siahaan, 2010).

In reality, there was a significant reduction in

the number of public open spaces in urban areas due

to public open land conversion into urban

infrastructure (Dwiyanto, 2009). This condition will

certainly lead to a decline in the quality of urban

public open spaces in Indonesia where they serve an

important function by contributing to the quality of

life of urban citizens (Ostermann, 2010).

The decline of the quality of public open

spaces is often encountered as common problems

arise, such as the lack of seating and gathering places,

visually poor entrance accesses, dysfunctional

features, winding paths, dead zones and unreachable

bus stop locations (Siahaan, 2010).

This phenomenon was also found in the district

of Sidoarjo. As with other cities in Indonesia, the

existence of the city square as a public open space has

also become a feature of urban spaces (Nas, 1986),

including Sidoarjo. Sidoarjo City Square, as the only

open public space in the area, also experienced

problems related to the quality of its public open

space. (Bilqisa, 2014) in her research stated that the

comfort of Sidoarjo Square users was still not well-

optimized due to the various economic and

recreational activities that take place there and have

not been facilitated by a good physical settings

arrangement. A good physical settings arrangement in

an area is believed to be able to influence the

activities and social behaviour of its users (Rapoport,

2016). Understanding user requirement activities will

help designers set up appropriate public facilities

(Courage and Baxter, 2005). This article will attempt

to identify the various factors that affect the physical

settings of Sidoarjo Square’s user activities.

2 RESEARCH METHOD

A qualitative approach was used to ensure the

sharpness of the research analysis, objectivity, and

systematicity in obtaining accuracy in interpretation.

We used direct observation techniques in addition to

behavioral mapping and time budget techniques to

map user behavior related to the physical settings of

Sidoarjo Square.

The purposive sampling technique was also used

to determine the observation subject, which was

observed during five different time periods for five

consecutive days (Sunday to Friday). Data analysis

Ratodi, M., A’yun, Q., Hapsari, O. and Ernawati, R.

Identiﬁed Physical Settings Determinants of Public Activities in the Sidoarjo City Square.

DOI: 10.5220/0008906100002481

In Proceedings of the Built Environment, Science and Technology International Conference (BEST ICON 2018), pages 49-53

ISBN: 978-989-758-414-5

was carried out through the data coding stage and data

interpretation to obtain a research conclusion.

3 DISCUSSION

Located in the heart of the city, Sidoarjo Square has

become one of the landmarks of Sidoarjo City. In the

past, the square was more often used as a shopping

location by the residents of Sidoarjo. However, the

number of street vendors grew rapidly and caused the

square to become chaotic and disorganized, which led

to the square being revitalized into a green open

space. Broadly speaking, the activities in the Sidoarjo

Square are divided into several zones, comprising of

the sport zone, playground zone, and shelter zone (see

figure 1).

Figure 1: Zoning of the Sidoarjo square.

The next section will discuss the Sidoarjo Square

visitor movement patterns in the sports, playground

and shelter zones. We have observed the visitor

movement patterns in those zones at three different

time points: in the morning (9am), day (1pm) and

afternoon (4pm).

3.1 Movement in the sports zone

The visitor movement pattern in the sports area in the

morning tends to be more crowded in the park. This

is because the conditions around the park are shadier

and have more park seating compared to other points

in the sports area.

During the day, the movement pattern tends to

be more concentrated in parts around the Sidoarjo

monument. This condition is caused by hot

temperatures during the day at the observation site, so

visitors who have just arrived will consider where to

first sit and relax.

The visitor movement pattern in the afternoon

tends to be more crowded in the area around the

Sidoarjo monument, specifically in the gazebo and

group seating areas close to the fitness area. This

condition is most likely due to visitors preferring to

sit and relax together.

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 2: Visitor movement patterns in the sports zone at

(a) 9 am, (b) 1 pm, and (c) 4 pm.

The observation results in the sports zone

show that the most frequently passed points and a

large number of activities occur in the park area and

around the sports field. There were no striking

differences regarding the movement of visitors in the

morning or evening. A difference was only seen in the

age group of visitors, where there were more adult

visitors in the morning and evening who tend to visit

the sports zone just to take a break after their daily

routine.

BEST ICON 2018 - Built Environment, Science and Technology International Conference 2018

3.2 Movement in the playground zone

The visitor movement pattern in the children's

playground zone in the morning tends to be more

crowded in the children's playground area. The cool

morning atmosphere encourages visitors to take their

children to play or just watch the children's

playground. During the day, the visitor movement

pattern in this area tends to be more concentrated

around the children's playground and seating area

near the shady trees. The scorching heat of the sun

encourages visitors to rest in a shady spot, but tends

not to use the play equipment. Whereas in the

afternoon, the movement of visitors also tends to be

concentrated around the children's playgrounds and

seats close to the shade of the trees. Visitor activities

were dominated by recreational activities as well as

watching over their children play.

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 3: Visitor movement patterns in the playground

zone at (a) 9 am, (b) 1 pm, and (c) 4 pm.

From the observation results in the playground

zone, it can be seen that the children's playground and

seating areas were the most frequently passed points

where most activities were conducted.

3.3 Movement in the shelter zone

The visitor movement pattern in the shelter zone in

the morning tends to be concentrated around the plaza

area. The cool morning atmosphere encourages

visitors to do various physical activities such as

walking, jogging, doing gymnastics etc. The grass

tends to be moist due to dew, which causes visitors to

be reluctant to step on it. During weekdays, the

pavement on the side of the field was often used for

exercise and morning jogging. These activities were

generally carried out by middle-aged to elderly men.

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 3: Visitor movement pattern in the shelter zone at (a)

9 am, (b) 1 pm, and (c) 4 pm.

During the day, the visitor movement pattern at

the plaza area tends to be less crowded than in the

morning, where this area was often traversed by

visitors. This was because the area did not have an

adequate shade, so visitors tended to look for other

shady locations. In the afternoon, the movement

pattern of visitors tends to become more crowded

around the plaza and park. This area was not only

Identiﬁed Physical Settings Determinants of Public Activities in the Sidoarjo City Square

used for sitting, the green grass area was very popular

among children and adolescent visitors for playing

football. The plaza area was also used for certain

community activities, such as the photography,

dance, and automotive communities. Conducive

weather conditions also encourage visitors to be more

active in this area.

3.4 Identifying the relationship between

physical settings and visitor activities

From the observation results, we attempted to analyze

the correlation between the physical settings variables

with user activities utilization (see Table 1 below).

Table 1: The relationship between physical settings in

influencing visitor activities

Shading area

Sitting points

Outdoor Lighting

Accessibility

Sanitation

Food facili

ties

Park

Plaza

Shading

area

Seating

points

Outdoor

Lighting

Accessibilit

Sanitation

Food

facilities

Park

Plaza

remarks:

* : weak influence

** : sufficient influence

*** : strong influence

From the results of the analysis, it can be seen

that the visitor activity of Sidoarjo Square was more

likely to be influenced by spatial factors (such as

shading areas and plazas) and supporting elements

and facilities such as seating, accessibility, outdoor

lighting and food facilities.

4 CONCLUSION

From the analysis results it is concluded that there

were at least four physical settings that were found to

be the public activities determinants in the Sidoarjo

Square, which include shaded areas, relaxation and

resting spaces, the plaza setting, and visitor

accessibility. Shaded area has become the most

important element in shaping visitor behavior,

considering that many Sidoarjo Square users

preferred to engage activities in shady areas. Seating

was the second most important element; however the

usage of the park benches in Sidoarjo Square was also

influenced by the location and shade patterns of the

seating areas. Meanwhile, the existence of the plaza

as the center of activity was the third most important

element considering the very large plaza area and

high frequency of activities conducted there

compared to other areas. The characteristics of the

square users were also varied and came from all age

groups.

Accessibility was the fourth most important

element in Sidoarjo Square. This is due to the

pedestrian pathway in Sidoarjo Square becoming a

gathering point for visitors to conduct various

activities such as sitting, resting, and holding

meetings among communities. There are also a

number of vocal points in this pedestrian area, such

as the Sidoarjo Monument and Jayandaru Monument,

which have become photo spots for visitors.

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BEST ICON 2018 - Built Environment, Science and Technology International Conference 2018

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Identiﬁed Physical Settings Determinants of Public Activities in the Sidoarjo City Square