Reading the potential of urban pocket through narrative approach

Abstract

Building setback areas in the commercial area have the potential to be social spaces due to its characteristic as an intersection between public and private. In fact, they are mostly used for vehicle mobility and parking. The purpose of building setback is usually related to security consideration, thus the building's owner tend to make a clear separation between public and private. Building setback areas are interesting to be examined, especially when there are a lot of activities going on in them. Building setback area in Taman Kemang Street is one example which creates some urban pockets with different characteristic. The configuration of urban pockets will make some arrangement of urban void along the street with pedestrian connectivity. Taman Kemang Street has different activities between daytime and night. From the early observation, it is found that there are some actan, setting, and story. Those three elements can be observed and examined further as elements of narration. This paper attempt to find the characteristics of daily activities in building setback areas of Taman Kemang Street and try to read the story through narrative approach. The objective of this research is to get some design recommendation by reading the potential of urban pockets through narrative approach.