Important Dates :
31 January 2020 : Deadline for abstract submission
28 February 2020 : Announcement for abstract acceptance
03 April 2020 : Deadline for early-bird registration & payment
29 May 2020 : Deadline for full paper submission
29 May 2020 : Deadline for regular conference fee payment
26-27 June 2020 : Conference

ABOUT WORKSHOP

“RE-JUVENATING OLD TOWN OF SURABAYA AS CHINESE INDONESIAN MEMORABLE CULTURAL HERITAGE”

Surabaya is an old town, located on the north coast of EastJava, close to the border of Madura island. Since as early as the mid century Surabaya has been a fairly crowded harbor for being a place to stop over for many travellers. As the second largest city in Indonesia now, Surabaya can be regarded as a developed city because of its rapid progress in the past decade (2010-2020). Surabaya Mayor, Dr. (Hc). Ir. Tri Risma Harini during a media interview in June 2019, stated that a port in a city is an important indicator to show how a city like this city of the Hero has been developed in East Java. How much a coastal city has been developded can always be seen from its port.

During the Dutch colonization in East Indies, the area of Kembang Jepun was the downtown of old Surabaya. Ships from far away places would stop over and harbor their vessels along the Kalimas river. This made the area become a crowded hub where trading were carried out. The traders from Arab would settle in the north part of the area, while the Chinese stayed in the southern part close to the Pabean market place. Meanwhile they use Kembang Jepun area as the border. Such division made by the Ducth at that time was to separate the Arab and the Chinese community. However, the division seems to stay that way to the present time. The Chinese trading area has been known as Pecinan, while the Arab settlement is known as Kampung Arab.

Within the past two years, Surabaya authority has expressed their interest in rejuvenating the northern area of Surabaya, which is located at the east side of the Red Bridge (Jembatan Merah).At present the area has been known as Surabaya Chinatown (Pecinan). The area includes the slum area in the south of Kembang Jepun street until the Pabean market. There are several reasons for choosing this area as the focus of our workshop. First, the LRT station has been planned to be built in front of the Red Bridge Plaza to cater travellers who want to go to Surabaya Chinatown. The new transportation can hopefully offer convenient and easy access for tourists who are interested in visiting some heritage buildings and other memorabilia attractions. The area will also become a potential business district if Surabaya people can manage the place properly by providing it with sufficient instrumental needs.

Maintaining our cultural heritage will offer interesting and meaningful moment for the people. Our heritage which is well preserved will stay in people’s memory and inherited for the generations to come. Rejuvenating the old place for the future generation to learn will make people aware of Indonesian diversed cultures and the struggle of being united. The documentation of our historical memory through the space and time should be the important means in the preservation of our heritage. Therefore, to anticipate the future development of Surabaya, the workshop we propose for this event adopts the theme “Rejuvenating Old Town of Surabaya as Chinese Indonesian Memorable Cultural Heritage”. The workshop will become Petra’s contribution for Surabaya authority in providing some idea to develop the old town district, especially the Chinatown area, as a tourist center of attraction in Surabaya.

Expected participants :

Students of Petra Christian University
International students
Petra academicians
Academicians from other institutions

Notes for the participants :
The main participants are expected to come from the architecture / Urban Planning / Interior Design majors who are interested in the study of old town, especially in the dynamic development of Surabaya Chinatown. (expected participants : 70 % from of all workshop participants.) Additional participants are participants from supporting studies such as students as well as academicians from cultural studies, visual design, history, culinary, tourism, language and literature, multimedia, animation, and informatics.

Click here to get a file about workshop focus and other details.

ABOUT CONFERENCE

“INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CHINESE INDONESIAN CULTURAL HERITAGE “

The Old Town is one of various valuable cultural heritage, which a society should preserve as a legacy. Several places in Indonesia, as well as in other countries outside Indonesia, the Old Town has been maintained and designed in such a way to become an attractive destination for tourists to visit. Tangible cultures such as buildings, monuments, landscapes and works of arts, as well as intangible cultures like oral traditions, language, performing arts, social practices, rituals etc. have become our heritage from past generations. This heritage requires our active efforts to safeguard them so that they can be inherited to the next generations. The committee for this Workshop and Conference decide to use Surabaya Old Town as the focus of this important event.

Several places in Surabaya have been named based on the ethnicity of the dwellers. One of them is called Pecinan. The word Pecinan comes from the word Cina, which refers to the Chinese or Cina who is the major ethnic group living in the area. Therefore, many buildings built in Pecinan display particular Chinese characteristics in their design. Pecinan is usually crowded with business activities in the morning till afternoon, but quiet at night after shops close and activities end. A few vendors may still work but most people stay inside their home for rest. This condition has probably made Pecinan unpopular for tourism.
Besides Surabaya tangible heritage like those buildings in Pecinan, another equally interesting cultural heritage worth noticing is the diversed community who live around the area in the Old Town. Unlike the static buildings in the Old Town, the people in the area are living in a very dynamic community as they adjust their lives to their contemporary fast changing culture. At present time, Pecinan, which was formerly occupied by ethnic Chinese as the major community, is now mingled with other ethnic groups. Such integration of many diversed ethnics has undoubtedly resulted in the uniquely hybrid cultures of the people, along with their various challenging problems. These unique hybrid cultures and their challenges have also been the focus of our attention to be discussed in the Conference. Here we would like to concentrate on the tangible and intangible heritage of Chinese Indonesians in particular. Topics on neighborly harmony, the maintenance or loss of Chineseness among Chinese Indonesians, inter-ethnic marriage, are some sub topics on intangible cultures to be discussed in this Conference.

The above suggested subtopics on Chinese Indonesians intagible heritage can be stated as follows:

  • Differences and harmony in mixed marriage family
  • Kinship terms used among mixed marriage family
  • Chinese Indonesian experiences in different localities
  • Hybridity in Chinese Indonesian tradition

Meanwhile, the rejuvenating of the Old Town and the architechtural hybridity are categorized in the following sub themes:

  • Infill Design for Old Chinatown
  • Adaptive Re-use of Chinese Architecture
  • Conservation Plan of Old Chinatown
  • Hybridity in Chinese (Indonesian) Architecture

Aims :

  1. To understand the culturally diversed society’s daily life and their problems, which have often been taken for granted and ignored. We will also want to learn how this diversed society face and cope their complex problems in order to achieve harmony and peaceful life.
  2. To widen our insight on cultural hybridity in general and particularly among the life of Chinese Indonesians in maintaining their cultural heritage.
  3. To gain new ideas in preserving and rejuvenating Old Town.