[M II A II R II K]

Suburb In The Sky: How Jakartans Built An Entire Village On Top Of A Mall


5 Aug 2019

By Kate Lamb

Read More: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2...-top-of-a-mall

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Cosmo Park is a village in the sky, perched 10 storeys up on top of a shopping centre and car park, a world away from the heaving megalopolis below. It is a surreal urban bubble, where normal life unfolds at an abnormal altitude. To access ground level, resident drive their cars down a ramp. A tall metal fence runs around the perimeter to make sure no one falls or drives off. Peer beyond the fence and you can spot the city’s landmarks below. Cosmo Park was built 10 years ago but was largely unknown outside Jakarta until last month, when a drone photograph broadcast its oddness to the world.

- Home to 10 million people and almost three times that including the greater Jakarta area, the Indonesian capital is buckling under the weight of its problems, from chronic floods and unbelieveably bad traffic to severe pollution, overcrowding and the fact that it is literally sinking. So severe are the city’s problems the president has once again raised the idea of moving the capital. Is Cosmo Park some kind of postmodern dystopia or, in a city beset by perennial woe, an ingenious use of urban space? While some outsiders are unconvinced, those who live at Cosmo Park offer glowing reviews. Situated amid a cluster of mega malls in Jakarta’s centre, Cosmo Park is one of two such developments in Jakarta by the Indonesian property developer the Agung Podomoro Group, and was built according to regulations. The second is above the Mall of Indonesia in the city’s north.

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