Kali ini (lagi-lagi) saya coba posting hasil essay yang telah saya buat untuk tugas akhir mata kuliah Bahasa Inggris. Sekarang, jumlah kata yang harus tersedia dalam satu essay minimal 2000 kata (baik banget tuh yang ngasih tugasnya...). Tapi sekarang jangan dilihat dulu dari segi aspek tugas kuliahnya, tapi dari kenyataan yang ada. Saya tinggal di Bandung, dan yang namanya Ruang Terbuka Hijau itu makin lama makin sempit, atau tetap ada tapi tidak terawat dan rawan dialihfungsikan. Jadi maklum sajalah kalo misalkan orang-orang yang datang ke Bandung bakal ngerasa kalo Bandung itu makin panas (meski tidak sepanas kota-kota besar lainnya seperti Jakarta atau Surabaya). Di essay ini juga, saya nambahin argumen-argumen mengapa RTH itu penting untuk ada di suatu kota dan kendala-kendala yang dihadapi terhadap eksistensi RTH saat ini. Silahkan dibaca... :) (Maaf kalo misalnya ada kata atau kalimat yang sulit dimengerti atau salah dalam penyusunannya, manusia memang ga ada yang sempurna kan :p )
Green Open Space: The Heart of Our City
Nowadays, our world is getting more developed rather than in the past. Every side in our live is improved significantly such as science and technology. This means that the way we live in this world is changed time by time. We can take the development in the city as an example. If we compare between our cities in 1980’s and now, we will see so many difference. The quantity of building exists in the city, the space used to build highways, and also the quantity of vehicle which across the highways everyday is grown. Actually, this kind of development doesn’t seem to have any negative effect. But recently, the environmental issues come as a side effect of the city’s development. We know that global warming become a hot issues that spread widely entire the world, and the air pollution containing many harmful gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) is the major factor why this problem happened. The main source of air pollution in the city area is coming from the vehicles. The quantity of vehicle is increasing, proportional with our necessity to stay mobile in order to do many activities in this global life. So, we cannot reduce the quantity of vehicle easily. In the other side, there is another way we can do in order to reduce the side effect of the development. The rearrangement of city’s system is an alternative solution. The way our cities is arranged, it must concern with the maintenance of the environment. One way to keep the environment safe is expanding the quantity of green open space in the city. Although there are not enough space to build some green open spaces, and the green open space that exists now in the city is vulnerable to be damaged, but basically it have many benefits for the society in many aspects of live. Green open space can balance the development in the city, control and maintain the city’s environment from any damage, and reserve the natural biodiversity. Green open space also can be used as a place where people can gather each other and do social activities, or as a landmark that can attract tourists from other cities or country, so the city government can take additional regional income.
Green open space (Indonesian: Ruang Terbuka Hijau) is defined as a tree-planted public places in a city. The definition of green open space include the variety of city park with trees that standing close each other, or open space in the city that also containing trees. In many countries, including Indonesia, the existence of green open space is ruled by the government. The government makes the policy about the environments, including the existence of green open space, to keep them protected. In Indonesia, every city must have at least 30% green open space from the total area of the city, and 20% of them must be the open space that accessible for public. The remaining space can be maximized by the city government to expand the infrastructure for citizen’s activity like office buildings and highways. The arrangement of the city has a great role to create positive city image in every people’s view.
Every city in the world, especially metropolitan city, is known by its appearance. This appearance can be seen by the high building standing in the center of the city, the wide highway that moved across by a large amount of vehicle, and many things. People who come at first time to the city will be excited by this kind of view. But, it will be an irony if a large city don’t have or only have little space of refreshing-look places like a city park. How can we still stand in such hot weather in a huge city without any shaded-cool places? So, the development of city must be balanced by adding some green open spaces in city area. This area will make the city’s appearance is more different. The view of city that known as a high polluted area, with many traffic problems in the highways can be balanced by a refresh scenery coming from green space area like city park. Outsiders will enjoy the city more if they can see a nice arrangement of city that combines high tall buildings with wide city parks exist entire the city.
The environmental issues, as explained above, come as a side effect of the city’s development and also the way people live now. The increasing of earth’s temperature caused by global warming can be felt by us now. The air pollution is getting more and more serious. Eventually, we will be hard to take a fresh breath when we stand in the edge of the street. The air is contaminated by smoke coming from the vehicles, which contain several dangerous substances like carbon monoxide gas, and lead. Carbon dioxide gas will be emitted by vehicles and basically it’s not too dangerous. But, if the amount of carbon dioxide is more increasing, then it will be dangerous for the environment. As we know that global warming is caused majorly by carbon dioxide gas. Actually, the trees that exist in the city park or in the street can control the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. The trees need this gas to do a photosynthesis process. This cycle will produce oxygen gas which needed by people. Therefore, the existence of green open space in the city is so important in order to control and maintain the environment from getting any damage. It can keep the amount of air pollutant and also produce useful substance for our life. By this action, we can keep the environment in stabilize condition even though it can’t be reduce the amount of pollutant coming from the vehicle.
Theoretically, the green open space is categorized as an ecosystem, comprising both living (people, shrubs, herbs, animals, microorganisms), and nonliving parts or physical environment (light, moisture, soil, rocks). The ecosystem itself is formed by the interaction between living and nonliving parts. The living parts like animals and herbs can make a symbiosis mutualism, which allow them to get the usefulness from each other. Also, the living parts can use physical environment to do their activity and keep them life. Those interactions will keep both of them preserved. Green open space can be analogized as a miniature of forest exists in the city. It can reserve natural biodiversity like trees and other vegetations. We will see plenty kinds of tree standing in the city park, which can grow without taken any damage because of human activity. It can be happened if the green open space is maintained and preserved time by time.
As mentioned above that the green open space is so useful for the environmental side. Moreover, it can be useful in social aspect too. Nowadays, the city has its own place where people can gather each other, for example in the shopping district, food court, or gaming zone. Actually, it doesn’t seem bad if people often meet each other in that place. But, it will be more meaningful if people not only interact with the other, but they also interact with other living parts like nature. The green open space like a city park can be used as a place where people can gather each other and do their social activities like doing some exercises. The advantage of the green open space is that people can also interact with nature. We can imagine the daily activity occur in the city park. Many people, young and old, come to this place, especially during the daytime. They can do many things and eventually will feel refresh because of the scenery and condition of this place. The children also can play with the other, for example play football or hide and seek, which cannot be done if they are in the place like shopping district or food court. As we know that the playing court available in many cities is getting more slightly. Children can’t play in the edge of the road or they can get an accident. So, the green open space can be a solution for this problem.
Many cities in the world not only exist as a center of industry or business activity, but they also become the destination place to be visited by some people, especially during the holiday. The city in other countries like Singapore is visited by so many tourists each year. It can be happened because the image of the city itself is excellent in people’s view, mainly in the environmental side. Although the center of interest of a city can be many things, like the luxurious of the city, but the nature of city itself can be an important reason why people can come to the city. As we know that many places are known by their landmark, for example Paris with its Eiffel Tower or China with its amazing Great Wall. The city government can maximize the function of the green open space, not only for the environmental aspect, but also for being a center of interest from the city. The green open space, like the city park, can be existed as a landmark. The image of the city isn’t decided only by its glamorous appearance. A small city can be popular, same with metropolitan city, if that city can arrange and optimize its city’s system correctly. By maintaining and keeping the environment and the important place like green open space as a landmark, the city can attract many people to come to that place. The city government itself will earn many advantages, especially increasing the amount of city’s income. It can grow up the economic side in the city too, because it can open the opportunity for the citizens to get the job, for example as a guide tour. Overall, the optimizing of the green space area’s function will create remarkable advantages for the city development.
The green open space will give many advantages for the city, but the reality that exists now is different. We will see that the advantage itself is hard to be proven. The city development is getting faster, and the necessity to add and expand the infrastructure of the city become more important. As a center of business activity, the city government will concern more in building some factories to maintain the increasing of economic rate growth or widening the highways to make the citizen’s activity become easier. It seems good if the development itself can be balanced by the maintaining of the city environment. But, we must aware that although the development is getting more increase, but the city itself won’t get wider. It means that there will be a time that the city becomes more and more pressed. The space available in the city will used up only for the commercial interest. And this will sacrifice the city environment, especially the existing green open space. The amount of green space area will get no significant increasing. Instead, it will get more pressed. As mentioned above that in Indonesia, every city must have at least 30% green open space from the total area of the city. But we can see the actual fact that only less of the space in the city is used for build the green space area. In several cities, they take only 10% of the total area of the city to build the green space area. The other thing, it seems to be a tragic fact if we see the edge of the street now. It only has a few of tree standing there. Some of them is damaged because lack of maintaining. So, it will be ordinary thing that we will feel so exhausted if we walk in the street for a long distance now.
The other fact we will see about the green open space is the existing green open space now is vulnerable to be damaged. The lack of maintaining by the government or the citizen is a major factor why the green open space will get damage easily. We usually see the city park which not maintained in right order. Rubbish scattered everywhere, the vegetation in the park is withered, and the other physical properties like trash can or bench’s park is broken. It seems to be like an irony if the green open space is only exists as a formality for the city. Next, some green open spaces isn’t owned fully by the city government, so the function of them sometimes will be changed or eventually those existence will be no more because some people will be interested in the commercial aspect rather than environmental side. So, they will prefer to build the shopping district rather than keeping the existence of the green open space if they see that the green open space isn’t too benefit for them.
Finally, the world development makes the environmental issue becomes more complicated. This thing can threaten our life, except if we can handle it and also balance both the world development and the environment condition. The existence of green open city is so important now. It’s like a “heart” of our city. It’s like our real heart which can maintain the circulation of blood bringing the oxygen for our life. We can’t life pleasantly in such a big city if the city itself has no or only a few of green space. The basic benefit of the green space area as a center of environment control in the city can explain the importance of the green open space. It can serve the citizen’s necessity to take a fresh breath, as a place to take shelter from the hot weather, and also as a space where people can interact with other. The city government has a great role in order to keep the environment entire the city. The city government has made a rule about the land usage or the specific policy about the green open space. The strict rule will prevent non responsible persons doing something bad to the environment. But, the citizens, including us, can do the things better than the government can do. Although it won’t be easy to get full of the advantages, but we still can get those by keeping and maintaining the green open space. Doing little things like throw the rubbish in the trash can or planting the tree in the street is better than do nothing. One little step done by us now will serve better future for our world.
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