The image of Gresik Town Square based on participatory design of multicultural society in Gresik

Gresik Town Square, or Alun-alun Gresik, was originally an open space that was used by local residents for various activities. However, in 2017, the Gresik Town Square was converted into an Islamic Center, which caused pros and cons in the society. This refusal is based on the position of the Gresik Town Square as a cultural heritage and the conditions around the Square are not only based on Islamic culture. This is marked by the existence of the Pentecostal Church and Kim Hin Kiong Temple near the Alun-Alun. This phenomenon generates a “placelessness”, which describes the ignorance of special feature of places in the creation of the new landscapes. The existence of Alun-Alun Gresik, which is an Islamic Center, can slowly replace the special meaning of places, such as the Pentecostal Church and Kim Hin Kiong Temple which are also highly related to the cultural traditions. Based on this problem, the multicultural condition of the Old City of Gresik is the basis for restoring Gresik Town Square by respecting other cultures. Using participatory design approach, this project is trying to involve participants’ contributions in seeing this issue and giving aspirations on the design of multicultural Gresik Town Square. The research employs field observation, interview, survey, and literature review for data collection. The results showed that two groups (accepting and rejecting the design) are likely to have multicultural image of the town square, supported by activities and facilities that accommodate each communities’ culture.


Introduction
In Javanese cities, "Alun-alun" is a public square located in the center of the town for community gathering and other activities [1].Gresik, an old port town in East Java, also has Alun-alun surrounded by cultural heritage such as Jami Mosque and Pentecostal Church.However, in 2017, Alun-Alun Gresik, which was previously an open space with a fountain, was redesigned to be an Islamic Center.The initial design concept was to integrate Alun-alun as a square with the surrounding cultural heritage including Maulana Malik Ibrahim Tomb Complex.Due to budget constraints and rejection by group of people, the integration between the square and the Jami Mosque was eliminated.According to Rahmah (2021), the renovation of Alun-alun Gresik into an Islamic Center seemed to be too exclusive for certain religious group [2].It is because Alun-alun Gresik belongs to all multicultural, ethnic, and religious group.Another opinion was that the existence of the new Alun-Alun has changed the initial activities existed before, such as trading and meeting; This renovation has neglected the surrounding cultural heritage in the historic sites of Gresik [3].
The changes of Alun-alun Gresik to an Islamic Center has gradually faded other places significances, which is called as "Placelessness".Placelessness explains the ignorance of special or important feature in designing new place which generates a feeling of lack of uniqueness [4,13].In other words, IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1351/1/012003 2 placelessness is a phenomenon of a place that accidentally loses the meaning of 'place', so that it feels that it is not in accordance with the local character of place or identity of place.Thus, the current Alunalun Gresik or Gresik Town Square as an Islamic Center has unintentionally created placelessness for Gresik Old Town.
Geographically, Alun-alun Gresik is in the Gresik District, Gresik Regency, where the Old Town area located.This location is also the city center which is a connection between the surrounding places and communities from various backgrounds, such as Chinatown Village, Arab Village, Kemasan Village, Kepatihan Village, Pakelingan Village, Pekauman Village, Samanhudi Street Village, KH.Kholil Village, and Kampung Pahlawan Street.Alun-alun Gresik or Gresik Town Square now has an Islamic architectural style marked by the utilization of octagon symbol motifs that are identical to Islam.These symbols can be found in the skywalk railing area and ornaments on the building.Literature review on participatory design, human-centered design, placemaking, and phenomenology in architecture are chosen to identify the problems in Alun-alun Gresik as case study area.Participatory design aims to accommodate people's opinions into design and planning.Involving communities and local residents into design and planning may contribute to the sustainable urban design.Human-centered design involves people at the development design process.While placemaking proposes making a suitable place for people, and in this study is Gresik Town Square for surrounding communities.

Place and Placelessness
Placelessness presented by Edward Relph (1976), explains the erasure of special places and the creation of landscape standards resulting from insensitivity to the importance of a place [4].In other words, placelessness is a phenomenon of a place that accidentally loses its meaning of 'place' so that it is felt to be incompatible with its original significance or identity, even to the point that it is no longer suitable to be occupied.Meanwhile, place is a direct and genuine experience of the complexity of a place, in the sense that it is not mixed with clear social and intellectual modes of how that experience should be.This means that a place is in an authentic condition and is not artificial, so it is genuine according to the identity of the place [3].Reflecting on the case of Alun-Alun and the Kota Lama area, the existence of Alun-Alun Gresik as an Islamic Center has inadvertently eclipsed other places of significance and even eliminated the original activities of the people in the Old City of Gresik.So, Alun-Alun Gresik as an Islamic Center inadvertently creates a lack of space in the Old City of Gresik.

Participatory Design and Human-Centered Design
According to Sherry Arnstein in Devisch et. al (2019), participation is defined as the redistribution of power and involvement from local residents who are currently not involved in political and economic processes [5].Within the scope of architecture, the role of the community needs to be included in the design process.By applying participatory design approach, the expectation is that everyone can contribute in the design process so that the output of the design is in accordance with the communities' preferences and expectations.In addition, it can create the meaning of place according to their perceptions as local residents.In Devisch et. al (2019), this participatory design has several metastrategies, including to diversify, to co-produce, to interrupt, and to document [5].Other studies conducted by Soemardiono et. al (2019) about the spatial design criteria based on people participation by using Focus Group Discussion (FGD).The study found the criteria for three areas, that are riverbanks, business area, and residence area.The design criteria are the use of various activities for different groups of people in open spaces; promote healthy lifestyle, make people comfortable, and improve social interactions; the design should be able to accommodate various activities for different group of people and utilize building as background for activities and should consider local content and involve local communities [14].Another research also conducted by Kharismawan et. al (2012) about the evaluation of city parks quality that is using former gas station land in Surabaya seen from the user's perspective.The study found that the idea of making the city park in former gas station land is a good choice.It can be seen from the interest of visit by the community [15].
Regarding how local communities should be participated in design process, the process will be more bottom-up rather than top-down.As stated by Lang (2010), there are two theories in architecture, which are positive theory or functional theory and normative or architecture theory.The more bottom-up process is shown on positive theory that considering the impact on the user and environment at first by understanding the phenomena to start making the design implications [16].But when the process is topdown, it will increase the possibility of rejection from the communities because the design might be not considering the local residents' behaviour and identity.Reflecting to how Alun-Alun Gresik changed into Islamic center, the process seemed to be top-down and gained rejection from the residents.Related to Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE), the activities happened now are not the same as the expected design.The user of the place used the place like the previous activities happened in old Alun-Alun Gresik.This phenomenon shown that Alun-Alun Gresik might get the phenomena of placelessness because the design process was not considering and not involving the local communities.
Positive theory stated by Lang (2010) shown that human would be the starting point in design or can be said as human centered.Understanding the phenomena based on how human behave with their environment and make the design criteria according to the phenomena.The Luma Institute (2012) explains three strategies that can be applied in the human-centered design process: strategies for looking, understanding, and making [6].From these three strategies there are methods that can be used.In looking, there are several methods for observing human experience, such as interviews, journaling, critique, etc. Whereas in understanding, there are methods for analyzing challenges and opportunities, such as bull's eye diagramming, experience diagramming, concept diagramming, etc.While in the making strategy, there is a method for imagining future possibilities which in this case is the possibility of future designs, such as storyboarding, thumbnail sketching, concept posters, etc [6].These methods could be useful to understanding people with their environment and the design could be more functional based on how the user would use the place.

Placemaking
This theory is used to create a suitable place for the community around Alun-alun Gresik or Gresik Town Square.According to Bohl and Schwanke (2002), placemaking is the creation of a pedestrianfriendly, dynamic, and distinctive urban environment through effective design and integration with mixed land use [7].Mixed land use is a mixing of three or more functions on a land that is influenced by economic, ideological, administrative, political factors that can create attractiveness, mobility, safety, etc.In this research, the possibility of mixing functions at Gresik Town Square in the design is considered through various activities around it, such as a trading area, museum, exhibition area, communal area, etc. Six aspects that can be used as the key of success for mix-use projects are parking lots, public spaces, pedestrian circulation, streetscapes, and the integration and inter-relationships of elements, and connectivity.These six keys aspect can create a sense of place for users [7].

Phenomenology in Architecture
The theory of phenomenology in architecture can also be used in the implementation of creating the meaning of place.According to Norberg-Schulz in Soltani et al (2019), the phenomenology method is suitable for use in tracing people's everyday life [8].In-depth research will be carried out in everyday life to find out about how the community lives and their expectation of creating the meaning of place.Soltani et al (2019) summarizes three features used in phenomenology architecture, namely experience, sensation, and meaning [8].

Methodology
This research employs field observation, interview, questionnaire survey, and literature review for data collection.Observation is carried out for understanding the problem within the context.Interview is conducted for understanding the communities' perceptions and opinions deeply.While questionnaire survey is to quantify the preferences of activity and image of the Alun-alun town square.The literature review is used as secondary data which aims to review the existing literature discussing the Alun-alun Gresik.Method used for data analyses in this research are questionnaires, scoring, and comparison of the theories and the field data.The participants and respondents involved in this research are fifteen person that are from the community around Gresik Town Square, who represent each cultural area, such as Kampung Arab, Kampung Pecinan (China Town), and other areas.Religious background also considered for the participants, which are Muslim, Christian, and Hindu.

The Comparison Between the Design Concept of Town Square as Islamic Center and The
Realisation Today The design concept of Gresik Town Square was widely published by the mass media when the project was just completed.According to Taufik, M (2016), the concept of Gresik Town Square is a place as a religious tourism area that is connected to the Jami Mosque in the western area.In the document of design, the Town Square is planned to have a round two-storey building in the central area which will be connected to the pedestrian paths and the Jami Mosque [9].This two-storey building is planned to be a function of a library and religious museum [12].The pedestrian paths are on the 1 st and 2 nd floors, where the 2 nd floors' pedestrian is using a flyover or skywalk as a concept.The functions of the main area of the square are a green area, such as fountains, parks, and other facilities.As for the northern part of the square, the government office complex is planned to be demolished.The area, later, is designed as building complex that supports the Islamic Center area.The design concepts are shown in Figure 4, 5, and 6 below.Based on the design concept presented by mass media, there is a difference with the realization.This difference can be seen through the concept of mass, spatial zoning, and the realization of community activities in the Town Square.Table 1 shows the difference between the concept and the reality.
Table 1.Comparison of the concept and the reality of Gresik Town Square as an Islamic Center.• The concept of a flyover that is integrated with the Jami' Mosque was not found in the realization.

Design Concept Realization
• The presence of stairs in the 2-storey building area in the center of Square (joglo), was not realized, but the stairs then were modified to be inside of the building.
• The fountain was only placed in the eastern part of the Square; while in the concept, it should be located in the main part of the Square.• The northern part of the building, namely the area of government office complex was not converted into a supporting building for the Islamic Center.

Concept of Zoning.
The results found that the differences between the proposed spatial zoning and its realization are in programming of 2-storey building or known as joglo.The area that was originally planned to be a religious museum and library was not realized in the stage of construction.This area is used as an empty space with undefined activities, or multipurpose space.
Because of this differences, there is discrepancy between the design and the program.

Community Activities.
When the design is seen from the perspective of community activities, the concept of an Islamic Center, the design should accommodate a lot of activities with Islamic nuances, which is rarely found in the Square.Before COVID-19 pandemic, Haul was held at Gresik Square.However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these activities are now rarely happening.Instead, people's daily activities such as trading, exercising, playing, gathering are still easily found in the Square.Based on this phenomenon, the design of Gresik Town Square, which is very Islamic, is not in accordance with the activities in it.Where the expected activities should be dominated by Islamic activities, in fact they are more dominated by daily activities in general.

Analysis of Cultural Heritage Around Town Square
Significant places around Alun-Alun are dominated by places of worship of three religions.However, other significant places are also scattered in the old city area as cultural heritage and historical evidence of Gresik City.The following is a distribution map of the Gresik Old City cultural heritage.The Chinese temple, which has been built since August 1, 1153, is one of the oldest temples in Java according to the Gresik Tourism and Culture Agency.As reported by surabaya.liputan6.com.This building is not too big and is decorated with red and yellow colors and Chinese ornaments as the hallmark of a pagoda.Based on the interviews, before the pandemic, lion dance festivals were often held around the Temple and prayer activities were held during the Chinese New Year.Cafe De' Lodji was once a center of trade and government in the Dutch East Indies era.Then now it is reused or can be called adaptive reuse as a café [9].

Post Office
Source: Putranto, 2018 [9] Similar to De' Lodji Cafe, the post office is also an adaptive re-use of the VOC building.The building has an Empire style appearance, this building has been changed on the terrace to maximize its function as a post office [9].Hidayah Depot is also an adaptive reuse of Dutch offices and commerce which are now used as restaurants.This building is a row of flute substations that function as alarm sirens [9].

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Rumah Merah Kemasan Village Source: Putranto, 2018 [9] Rumah Merah is a house that used to belong to Bak Liong, a gold trader.In 1890, Haji Umar bin Ahmad set up a leather tanning business at the house.This house also has a history related to the swallow marked by the symbols on the interior [9].This building was also owned by Haji Umar bin Ahmad as a series of Gresik trade and economy at that time.The style of the building is similar to the Architecture of the Kalang House in Kotagede, Yogyakarta and other buildings in Lasem, Central Java.(Putranto, 2018).Now this building is used as a Batik shop.

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Gresik Old Railway Station This station was an old station during the VOC era which was intended for the transportation of agricultural products and the mobility of people.Now this station is no longer use and not maintained.However, the building still exists and is used as a stall and vehicle storage by local residents.
Based on the analysis of the locations of these cultural heritages, several cultural heritages have activities that are usually carried out by the surrounding communities, such as the lion dance festival which is usually held in the Kim Hin Kiong Temple area and services in the Jami Mosque area and the Pentecostal Church.However, the current existence of Gresik Town Square rarely accommodates these activities.Through interviews with local residents, the lion dance festival activities were only carried out in the village area near the Kim Hin Kiong Temple.As for Islamic religious events, they are sometimes held in the Alun-Alun area.However, the COVID-19 pandemic made this activity less visible due to activity restrictions.Therefore, the cultural activities which are accommodated in Gresik Square are dominated by activities with Islamic nuances.

Community Opinion Regarding the Change of The Town Square into an Islamic Center
There are two sides of opinion regarding the change of the town square into Islamic center.The reactions are grouped into group who rejected and group who accepted the decision.From the group who rejected the decision, they said that the town square design should be reconsidered because of the diversity of community around the town square.Other said that they are disagreed because in the realization, the function of the Islamic center itself is not shown.The activities are still the same as the old town square.The other said that Islamic center removes the memories about the town square.
From the group who accepted the decision, they feel no problem about the changing of the town square.But they also said that there are oddities regarding the changes.Most of them said that the function of Islamic center is not shown, and the same as the ordinary activities.Also, there is also argument that they are minor community, so that they tend to accept the changes and not making any rejection.They have no power to interrupt the decisions.But they also want to be considered and to be heard.

Community Opinion Regarding the Desired Image of Town Square
From the interview, participants said that they want the image of town square are green and clean, restore the Gresik Town Square's identity, providing communal area, feels comfortable, familiar, and warm.They also said that it should be inclusive for all the surrounding communities.One also said that Gresik Town Square should be the representation of tolerance followed by accommodating facilities of cultural activities.Regarding the identity of Gresik Town Square, the fountain becomes the identity that stick in communities' memories.So that, it can give familiarities to them and invites visitors to come to Gresik Town Square.Through the data above, it was found that 87% of participants stated that they liked the idea of a more multicultural or neutral design.Other participants, namely 6% stated that they really liked the idea of multicultural town square, and 7% stated that they were neutral with the idea.So, it can be concluded that most participants liked this idea.Related to the previous question, it can be concluded that the minor community, indeed, feels that they accept the existing design.However, if the minor community pay more attention to being involved in the design concept, they would feel happy.
4.9.The Questionnaire Result Regarding the Desired Activities in the Town Square At this point, participants are invited to think about the activities that can be done in the Alun-Alun.The method used is to give a list of several choices of expected activities.Participants can choose more than one, and add other activities that come to their mind.The following, Figure 9, is the data obtained.Based on the data obtained above, the most frequent activity is relaxing/walking around and watching cultural performances.While the least interested activity is trading.This is due to the professional factor of the participants, most of them are students and private employees.However, because eating and drinking activities get a relatively high score (66.7%), trading activities are certainly would be good idea for traders and can be included in the design considerations.Based on the data, it can be concluded that viewing cultural performances gets a high score (93.3%).So, if multicultural activities highlight their culture, they can become potential activities that attract attention of the surrounding communities.

4.10.
The Questionnaire Result Regarding the Desired Facilities in the Town Square In this point, participants are invited to choose some of the facilities they want based on data collection on the desired activities beforehand.In addition to choose, participants are also allowed to add the other possibility of desired facilities.The data is shown in Figure 10.Based on the data obtained, the most desired facilities by the participants were sitting areas, mini fields (multifunctional), and parks with a score of 86.7%.The second most desirable facilities are exhibition areas and toilets as supporting facilities with a score of 80%.The facility with the least interest is the museum, with a score of 33.3%.The low interest in this museum facility makes the urgency of its existence that need to be rethought.
The conclusion from carrying out the aspiration is the feelings or opinions of the minor communities who tend to accept the existing designs.However, if they pay more attention to and are involved in the design concept, of course they will feel more satisfied.In addition, regarding the program and design initiation, data processing can be carried out using a spider diagram to find out the trend of participants' opinions regarding program and design initiation as shown in Figure 11.

Conclusion
The people of Gresik are aware of the position of Gresik Town Square as a public facility surrounded by cultural heritage and diverse communities.It is said that the position of Alun-Alun Gresik, which was converted into an Islamic Center, has gradually removed the significance of the surrounding cultural heritage, which has become a 'place' for the people of Gresik.Based on the aspirations of the participants, there were two opinions: first, group who accepted the decision; and second, group who rejected the decision of Gresik Square into an Islamic Center.The group that accepts the decisions, mostly are from the minority who do not have the power to participate in making decisions.However, if their opinion is included, of course they will feel more respected and have a sense of ownership of Gresik Town Square.Those who feel disappointed, have the opinion that the Islamic Center in Gresik Square has not changed the activities in it.The existence of Islamic centers is being questioned.The activities that people want to have in the square include leisure facilities, culture, sports, interaction, etc.While the desired facilities are also aligned with their activities, namely communal areas, areas for cultural performances and exhibitions, multifunctional areas, etc. Broadly speaking, the participants like the multicultural idea that can be applied to Gresik Square to restore the significance of the cultural heritage around it.Based on these results, the communities of Gresik Old City are from various background and thick with their different cultures.Although majority of the communities are muslims, other communities are also one of the factors that shaping Old City of Gresik with its multicultural identity.This research can be the starting point to understand the phenomena happened in Old City of Gresik and evaluating how Alun-Alun Gresik should be designed to be more multicultural and considering all the communities.By making the local communities participated in the design process, the more they will gain sense of belonging of the place, in this case is Alun-Alun Gresik.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Octagon Symbol Motif on Skywalk Railing (Source: Author, 2021).Even though the current Alun-alun has been labeled as an Islamic Center with a lot of Islamic geometric pattern, the activities in the Alun-Alun are still open for local residents, such as exercising, playing, relaxing, buying and selling, and community gatherings for all communities including local residents.

Figure 4 .
Figure 4. Bird's Eye Perspective Design of Gresik Town Square as an Islamic Center facing North [11].

Figure 5 .
Figure 5. Bird's Eye Perspective Design of Gresik Square as an Islamic Center facing West or Jami Mosque [11].

Figure 6 .
Figure 6.Bird's Eye Perspective Design of Gresik Square as an Islamic Center facing East [11].
Source:Jepe, 2016 [11]   Source: instagram.com/alunalungresik4.2.Concept of Massing.Four points that make the design concept of Gresik Town Square as an Islamic Center different from the realization.

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Tomb of Maulana Malik IbrahimSource: cagarbudaya.kemdikbud.idMaulana Malik Ibrahim's tomb is also a historical place in Gresik City.Where the tomb of the guardian who was influential in the spread of Islam in Gresik is often visited by people from outside the city.3KimHin Kiong Temple Source: Author, 2021

4. 8 .
The Questionnaire Result Regarding the Initiation of Multicultural Town Square In this point, participants were invited to provide opinions regarding the design of a multicultural Alun-Alun or Town Square.Based on the opinion, the following data in Figure8was found.

Figure 8 .
Figure 8. Pie diagram of The Initiation Idea of Multicultural Town Square (Source: Author, 2021).

Figure 9 .
Figure 9.The Graph of The Desired Activities in Town Square by Participants.

Figure 10 .
Figure 10.The Graph of The Desired Facilities in Town Square by Participants.

Figure 11 .
Figure 11.Spider Diagram of The Idea of Multicultural Town Square, Collaborative and Cultural Facilities.

Table 2 .
Description of cultural heritage from Figure7.
Distribution Map of the Gresik Old City Cultural Heritage.7. Figure The Jami' Gresik Mosque is an old historic mosque in Gresik City, according to historian M. Toha, reported by gontornews.com.Based on its layout, this mosque has been existed since Maulana Malik Ibrahim who spreaded Islam in Gresik, in 1400 AD.Located in the west of the square, this mosque is easily recognized and has become a large mosque with gradual development until now.