Navigating Space with Poor Signs (1 of 2)

It’s been a while since I passed through Meruya in West Jakarta until the other day when I found that the otherwise straight route now has two additional detours. The first detour enforces vehicles to turn left into a side street right into a housing area and before turning left again to reach the main street. The second detour enforces vehicles to turn left again, makes a U-turn before turning left again to reach the main street. Along with a previously existing detour, now when you passed through the main street, you would have to detour three times with a total distance of a kilometer or two.

I am not going to complain about the shortcut regulations again here. But as I was trying to ignore my growing anxiety of being lost in an unknown area so I wouldn’t lose my orientation towards the main street, it suddenly dawned on me why I dislike detours in Jakarta. It’s because most of them only have one sign pointing towards the direction of the detour, and then no other signs could be found to direct you back to where you want to go in the first place. It wouldn’t be a big deal if the streets are laid out in grid or if you have good sense of orientation. But otherwise, I’m sure you’d agree with me that it’s not easy to navigate ourselves in Jakarta in an unfamiliar area, and especially if there happen to be some detours in the area.

A phrase from Learning from Las Vegas makes perfect sense in relation to this:

“A driver 30 years ago could maintain a sense of orientation in space. At the simple crossroad a little sign with an arrow confirmed what was obvious. One knew where one was. When the crossroads becomes a cloverleaf, one must turn right to turn left, … [but] the driver has no time to ponder paradoxical subtleties within a dangerous, sinuous maze. He or she relies on signs for guidance – enormous signs in vast spaces at high speeds.” [1]

And where are those signs in Jakarta?


Note
[1] Venturi, Scott-Brown & Izenour, "Learning from Las Vegas", MIT Press, 1977:9.