05 April 2021
Anonymous Writer
THE DEVELOPMENT OF VERTICAL HOUSING IN MEDAN CITY
Lita Hanatri, ST dan Dr. Ir. Matius Jusuf ,M.M., M.B.A.
Student and Lecturer of USU Postgraduate School Master's Program in Valuation and Property Management
Recently, apartment development in Indonesia has increased due to lifestyle changes, the desire to display social status, and investment purposes.
Medan, a metropolitan city, is a primary destination for people in Sumatra, especially North Sumatra, to pursue their future. Newcomers from outside Medan flock to live, study, and work in the capital of North Sumatra province, leading to rapid population growth. Due to the lack of available land in the city center of Medan, developers have built many horizontal housing projects on the outskirts of Medan.
However, currently, many residents living on the outskirts of Medan want to live in the city center due to various emerging problems. The long commute between home and work, daily traffic congestion, and expensive fuel are the main issues that make living in the outskirts of Medan less desirable. To address these problems, one alternative is to return to living in the city center with easy access to daily activities. Considering the increasing density of residential land in the capital and the high land prices that demand optimal land use, one of the best solutions is to build vertical housing.
The term "vertical housing," when viewed etymologically, consists of two words: "housing" and "vertical." According to the Indonesian Dictionary, "housing" means a place to live or reside, while "vertical" means perpendicular from bottom to top or vice versa. From these two meanings, vertical housing is a dwelling configured perpendicularly from the Earth's surface. The development of vertical housing emerged to address land limitations and meet the need for space.
In general, vertical housing meets the increasing housing needs in urban areas, which continue to grow along with population growth. There are several types of vertical housing commonly found in urban areas, such as apartments, condominiums, and flats.
This type of vertical housing was first introduced in the United States. An apartment is a vertical dwelling that utilizes a small portion of a building, allowing for hundreds of apartment units within a single building. Initially, apartments could only be rented, but now they can be purchased along with the land.
Apartments are currently managed by property entrepreneurs, both individually and corporately. There are various types of apartments, such as Garden Apartments, Walked-Up Apartments, Low-Rise Apartments, Medium-Rise Apartments, and High-Rise Apartments. Currently, apartments are rapidly developing in Central and West Jakarta, where ownership can be claimed.
Before the apartment system changed, condominiums and apartments were different types of vertical housing. Condominiums were first introduced in Italy. Etymologically, "condominium" comes from English and consists of two words: "con" - together and "dominium" - ownership or control. Therefore, a condominium is a vertical dwelling with shared ownership.
Condominiums are more about ownership, while apartments are the physical form of a vertical dwelling. According to property professionals, a condominium is an apartment where the occupant can claim ownership. Unlike apartment occupants, occupants can use, rent, or even sell it to others. Over time, these two types of vertical housing have become difficult to distinguish because apartments can now be owned. The system of facility use in apartments and condominiums is not much different, where occupants use and manage the facilities together.
The government is currently promoting this type of vertical housing. Flats are claimed to have a lower price range compared to apartments and condominiums. The ownership system in flats is also diverse, ranging from rental to ownership, so there are two types of flats: Simple Rental Flats (Rusunawa) and Simple Ownership Flats (Rusunami). The number of floors in flats is not as high as in apartments and condominiums, and their development is vertical and horizontal.
As the world develops further, due to technological advances, communication, education, and increasingly modern development, people's social status also progresses and even becomes prestigious. This leads to changes in lifestyle, interests, preferences, and tastes, differentiating their status from others through the social symbols they possess.
Among the many development sectors in Medan, the property sector has shown the most significant growth. In 2016, Medan was considered on par with other major cities like Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Balikpapan, Pekanbaru, Solo, and Yogyakarta due to its property sector growth. One of the largest property developers in Indonesia, Agung Podomoro Land, through Podomoro City Deli Medan, for example, is completing the construction of an integrated apartment with a shopping center, hotel, and offices within a superblock area on 5.2 hectares of land.
Apart from Podomoro City Deli, several apartments have also been built in Medan, which may have experienced good development, such as the Royal Residence Apartment, The Wahid Private Residence, and others. These exclusive vertical dwellings equipped with supporting facilities are expected to create ideal living spaces and provide satisfaction for residents. The proximity of the residences to workplaces, schools/universities, and commercial centers in the Medan City area is expected to provide efficiency in space, time, and movement, directly impacting the conservation of natural resources, energy, and increased productivity of the population.
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