Siti Cassandra

City life is blanketed in gray. How and when this color became the preference happened way before most of us were born. Once cement and asphalt became the new norm, the city metamorphosed into a gloomier version of the jungle, a concrete one.With the gray comes the suffocating heat.Urban Heat Island Effect is a common phenomenon of urban areas whereby cities experience higher air temperatures and become much hotter than surrounding areas that are surrounded with more greens, such as the countryside. The occurrence of heightened air temperature then intensifies heat waves which can cause heat stroke, heat exhaustion and risks of other illnesses like heart attacks. Sadly and worryingly, we currently have more than half of humanity living and working in environments under this intense urban heat. With this heat then comes severe air pollution.Urban heat and air pollution are two phenomenons that often coexist and influence one another. Areas that suffer from severe air pollution often are those experiencing intense heat island effects. And like extreme heat waves, air pollution has been linked to many health risks such as respiratory, heart and lung diseases.With the climate crisis intensifying, it is not only heatwaves and pollution that becomes exacerbated. Extreme weather events, rising sea levels and stronger storms can cause urban flooding, infrastructure failures, scarce freshwater supplies and detrimental health impacts to our society. With urbanization projected to only speed up, it is predicted that more than 70% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. With more people comes more homes, more buildings, and more roads. From our current perspective of growth, every spot of soil, every tree and every pond are all areas available for replacement. Natural surfaces are bullied out of existence and cities become the ticking time bomb of chaos that it is today.So we are now faced with the imagination of almost 5 billion people at risk of climate-induced consequences because the incapabilities of our cities reverse or even mitigate a changing climate. Witnessing this, it is hard to negate those who say that city life is doomed. That we, all of us, are doomed.But I refuse to see it this way. As a girl born and bred in the bustling city of Jakarta, accepting its design flaws does not mean staying passive in the face of climate danger. Whilst waiting for major climate action from government and industry players, we can look for creative solutions and deploy nature-based solutions. And the most obvious approach in this case is vegetation. Grow greens for goodness sake!Reintroducing more trees and greens to the urban landscape is a valid solution to counter and mitigate the many risks our cities are faced with. Expanding green parks, planting more trees along our streets and greening roofs with plant life, all introduces natural landscapes that provide ecosystem services for lasting environmental, social and health benefits. One could even go farther to imagine a rewilding of the city, a forest within a concrete jungle. Why not? Why shouldn’t forests in cities become the new norm?Such is the solution offered by pocket forest, also commonly referred to as Miyawaki Forest, a small-scale, densely planted forest that mimics the natural ecosystem, grown in the urban zone. An approach coined by the Japanese botanist professor by the name of Akira Miyawaki, pocket forest has become a relevant natural approach that can fit into our limited urban landscapes, often transforming neglected, underutilized or barren areas into tiny patches of forest greens. Purposely designed to be tightly-packed, these miniature forests have on average three to five trees planted per meter squared to optimize the ecosystem services gained from small plots.The benefits of pocket forests are far and wide. Just like traditional forests that naturally grow and develop over time, pocket forests also act as green lungs that absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. The presence of trees also modifies air quality by capturing and filtering pollutant particles on their leaf surfaces. Alongside air quality improvements, pocket forests also help cool surrounding temperatures through the shading effect of its tree canopy and the process of evapotranspiration on its leaves. Last but not least, pocket forests support the conservation of biodiversity and contribute to capturing, purifying and storing rainwater which helps reduce the risk of flooding in urban areas.Beyond these environmental benefits, pocket forests also offer numerous health advantages to the urban community. Natural spaces have been found to provide stress relief, mental relaxation and promote physical wellbeing through active, outdoor lifestyle. Socially, pocket forests also function as recreational spaces for people to connect and collaborate with one another, enhancing the role of our landscape in strengthening social cohesion.This is why Kebun Kumara is collaborating with various partners to grow pocket forests across the greater Jakarta area.We grew our first pocket forest in December 2023 at the Prasetiya Mulia University campus in BSD, Tangerang Selatan. As part of the university’s sustainability project, we transformed a small plot of 30 sqm located in front of the School of Applied STEM into a pocket forest with 30 different plant species planted in 207 planting points. Staying true to its principles, we prioritized endemic, native trees and shrubs to help optimize long term sustainability. As pocket forests require maintenance in the first three years of its growth before achieving self-sustenance, we conduct monthly and quarterly observations and continue to educate the university on maintenance techniques for their plot.As we witness the healthy growth of our first pocket forest, we are currently designing and will soon be planting another sizable one on a 2,000 sqm plot in Jakarta. It is such an exciting endeavor and we are keen to continuously learn more about growing healthy forests for a healthier city.We have in our hands a viable solution that synchronizes urban life with nature. Kebun Kumara is embracing the concept of pocket forests as a step towards a healthy, resilient and liveable city for our future.If at the start we imagined our cities as gray, let us in the end realize it as green.

As city kids, we are accustomed to seeking nature beyond the city lines. Mountains, beaches, and forests become the ecosystems that we come to associate the word “nature” with. Environmental stewardship becomes a concept rooted in a nature that is far away, beyond our homes, far from everyday routines and everyday sight. Rarely do we “see” or even seek nature within the city, especially when the city does not provide ample greens within its built-environment.This is a major problem faced by many cities, including those in Indonesia.In 2023, Jakarta achieved only 5,2% of the targeted 30% green space as the standard ratio for the proportion of green open space within the city area. This is in accordance with the mandate of Law Number 26 of 2007 concerning Spatial Planning. This scarcity is made even more obvious when compared to the 96 malls and trade centers alongside the whooping 149 skyscrapers across Jakarta. The gray concrete jungle leaves almost no space for nature’s greens. Faced with this ambiance, it almost feels more natural to forget about nature.The thing is though, urban dwellers long for it. Whether we are attuned to it or not, nature is embedded within our very being. We are born interconnected with it – we breathe it, we are soothed by it, we innately respond to it. Connected and aligned with nature is how humans are evolutionarily meant to thrive and survive.So how can we bridge a reconnection with nature inside the city walls? How can we build a life that integrates nature within our homes, our habits, our routine? How can we strengthen the underlying awareness that each one of our decisions and actions impacts the environment around us and nature as a whole?Kebun Kumara believes that we can bring back nature in our daily lives by nurturing gardens and growing our own “fresh supermarket” at home, at school, at work and even in communal spaces. We believe in reconnecting with our role as Earthkeepers by redesigning the urban approach to living into one more interconnected and mindful of nature. Growing a little bit of food and medicine on our balcony? Raising a few chickens for eggs and compost? Planting a pocket forest in our yard? All are possible!Since 2016, Kebun Kumara has designed learning programs and fun, nature-based activities for urban dwellers of all ages. We invite people to come and witness the garden up close and personal. We get them to reimagine their living spaces, their schools, sometimes even their Air B&Bs to one teeming with life, blanketed with the vibrant texture and colors of diverse flowers, herbs, fruit trees, vegetables and medicinal plants. We reintroduce the many forgotten indigenous plants and the local wisdom ingrained in its traditional and cultural application so we can all regain our understanding of how rich and impactful nature has been in shaping our ways of life. And finally, we get children to discover, interact and explore the garden so that they can reap the physical, mental and social benefits of nature play.Our programs vary and cater to a wide range of demographics. We host monthly gardening, composting and farm-to-table workshops for the general public seeking more environmentally-friendly solutions to their everyday needs and habits. We design and facilitate programs for schools needing more ecologically-oriented learning for their students. We support parents of toddlers with nature-based programs so that their city-born-and-bred children can have their dose of Vitamin G (green) to support their holistic development and growth. And we also customize programs for companies needing more sustainability-focused activation for their internal employees as well as external beneficiaries. All of these programs have one shared silver lining, which is getting others to observe, interact and establish meaningful relationships with the nature around them as an entry point in building environmental stewardship and more mindful everyday choices.Starting in 2018, Kebun Kumara also begin offering design and build landscaping services for anyone looking to grow gardens and pocket forests. We provide expertise in permaculture-design that prioritizes a functioning ecosystem alongside an aesthetic ambiance. Our services aim to support land owners in achieving their landscape needs whilst elevating the environmental functionality of their space. This includes reviving dormant potentials of the space to include rainwater harvesting, water filtration, pocket forest, composting zone, and other functional design elements. All in all, a design approach to realize the full potential of space so that both nature and people can reap benefits and enhance long term positive impact for the long run. Kebun Kumara believes that being in a garden allows deep, intimate interactions with nature. From the billions of microorganisms alive in a handful of fresh compost, or the earthworms making home in the soil where that eggplant and chilly are growing, or even those grasshoppers eating lunch from the leaves of the sunflower plant we purposely grew for them so that their appetite can be satisfied without it needing to devour our veggie greens. The garden bridges us to a holistic understanding of how nature works, its principle of biodiversity, its eternal balancing act and the reality of today’s world that contradicts these values of sustenance and survival.A garden is a beautiful manifestation of all the intricate rhythms of life composed into a melodious, unified tune. Every complex structure works for the prosperity of a greater system that benefits all. If everyone could just sow one seed, nurture one plant and grow one tree, we will rediscover what modern life made us collectively forget. We will come to understand that it is through nurturing that we are nurtured and through loving that we are loved.So let us reconnect with nature, one plant, one pot, and one garden at a time.

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Siti Cassandra

Pocket forests for healthy cities

Reconnecting urban life with nature