Research period: Jan – April 2024
Team: Yun Hye Hwang, MLA students (class 2024)
Bali is a popular tourist destination in Indonesia, known for its stunning beaches, rice paddies, mountains, and unique Balinese culture. However, the island’s rapid growth in population and overtourism have resulted in a significant rise in waste generation, putting a considerable strain on its environment1. Despite the local government and NGOs’ efforts to tackle this issue by implementing decentralization facilities, recycling and clean-up initiatives, and waste regulation practices, the shortage of adequate waste management infrastructure and the proliferation of illegal dumping sites have led to alarming increases in urbanizing areas. These factors are causing environmental degradation and jeopardizing the sustainability of the tourism industry, as well as the livability of local communities.
Key studio questions were; How wastes* have transformed the physical form and social dynamics of the Bali’s landscapes? How the boundaries of agricultural management regions, watersheds, banjars (traditional village system), tourism systems, and contemporary political administrative regions overlap or does not overlap, and how that relates to the intensity and distribution of unmanaged waste in the territory?; To what extent can landscape interventions contribute to socio-ecological benefits, in particular environmental enhancement, social inequity, human behavior, and public health?; Which temporal and spatial landscape interventions and technologies would be appropriate to interlink for the resource efficiency in local waste management?
The studio works will be updated.