Degree Level of Publicness Through Meaning of Public Sphere In Bandung City, West Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Bandung city public area at this time is experiencing a rapid growth due to economic growth and the influence of globalization. The development of public spaces that tend to be limited to the people who live in them, makes it difficult for the public to enter the area of its public sphere. Public sphere are formed based on the economic, political, cultural, developmental, and changes that occur in the area of today's public sphere, making it limited and inaccessible to the public at large. This is caused by the hierarchy of public space formed by the changes of the functions, forms, and meanings. This study focused on the relationship between form, function, and meaning of public sphere to the degree level of public spaces of the city of Bandung. The purpose of this study is to reveal all the relationships that exist between the concepts of public space and its influence on the degree level of publicness in the space of the city of Bandung in the context of its change. This research is descriptive-analytical and interpretive based on structuralist approach and empirical evidence obtained from study cases. This approach is used to read public sphere in Bandung's urban spaces to get a reference to the interpretation of relationships from an empirical condition. The degree level and its meaning in Alun-alun Bandung Square with surrounding buildings has been changed and has blocked the accessibility to some buildings and their facades.