Cultural heritage as city identity case study of Ngawi, East Java, Indonesia

Cultural globalization has an impact on the loss of the distinctiveness of places, so place identity becomes an important issue in urban design. Ngawi is located in the western part of East Java Province and is often passed by tourists heading to cities in East Java. However, tourists are unfamiliar with Ngawi and only pass it on their journey. This underlines the need to form a city identity to lift the image of the city of Ngawi. Several cultural heritage sites can be appointed as city identity, namely Van Den Bosch Fort, Trinil Museum, Pesanggrahan Srigati, Kediaman Radjiman Widyadiningrat, Sien Hien Kiong Temple and Soedhono Sugar Factory. This study aims to identify factors of cultural heritage that can be used as a city identity as well as the way to manage these identity factors. It uses mixed methods through physical assessment, butterfly diagrams to assess cultural significance, and expert interviews to achieve robust results. The results of the study show that Van Den Bosch Fort is a cultural heritage site that can play an important role to represent the identity of Ngawi City. Consequently, appropriate management of the site is needed to maintain its role as a city identity.