Shifting from place to non-place: A case study on the central market of Banda Aceh

Abstract

The transformation of Banda Aceh, Indonesia, through the phases of political war and tsunami disaster leads to the alteration of the central urban areas. The impact of the temporary agglomeration is on the functions of public spaces. There has been a paradigmatic shift of culture transformation in this city from a place of local tradition to a multicultural environment opened to change. The complexity of this transformation was especially influential to its central market. By using the two-sided theories and framework of Jacobs and Alexander, and Auge and Koolhas, this study analyses the historical evolution and perspectives of the central market for urban space. Data collection was from field observations and interviews with the vendors and customers in the market. The results imply that without disregarding the importance of heritage and history, stakeholders that have the power to change the central market must be realistic and adjust the condition according to the current people's needs as users of this place. Nevertheless, despite some of the vendors' rejections towards the development of modern markets in the city, this realism of modern markets has been able to solve the problem of other cities by the concept of one-stop shopping for time efficiency and goods availability.