Designing the Colonial City: The Making of Town Planning in the Dutch East Indies, c.1905-1950

17 March 2011
14.00-15.00 hrs.

IIAS Lecture by Dr Pauline K.M. van Roosmalen

Venue: IIAS, Conference Room, Rapenburg 59, 2311 GJ Leiden

Far-reaching socio-economic changes caused by burgeoning private enterprise after 1870 in combination with new insights and demands in terms of hygiene, infrastructure, architecture and town planning, the direct confrontation of local administrators with local concerns and emerging anti-colonial sentiments among growing numbers of indigenous inhabitants created a prolific setting for modern town planning in the Dutch East Indies.

In my presentation I will sketch how, from 1905 until 1950, Dutch trained architects in collaboration with other professionals (administrators, lawyers) succeeded in rationalising and institutionalising town planning, and which plans were designed and executed.