(from left) Adisti Athanua Nada Salsabila, Solagracia Velinov Hasian Lumban Gaol, and Nabila Firzatullah Putri Santosa show an illustration of their ideas for cultural heritage preservation

ITS Campus, ITS News – Cultural heritage buildings are in danger of losing their existence in public spaces if they are not preserved through the entire community’s efforts. In a step to make this happen, students of the Department of Development Studies at the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh November (ITS) initiated an Architecture Fun Track (AFT), especially for Surabaya.

The Head of the ITS Development Studies Department, Dr Arfan Fahmi SS MPd, explained that the AFT designed by the students was a travel simulation to attract tourists. The streets in Surabaya will later be made wider specifically to see cultural heritage on the side of the road by utilizing the City Tour Bus belonging to the Surabaya City Government (Pemkot). “If the road in the cultural heritage is wide, it can be given a little touch to make it more attractive to tourists,” he said.

Arfan explained that the AFT developed will give a different impression to the tourists who follow it. This is because they will be spoiled by a more comprehensive view of the ornament or architecture of the cultural heritage building, which has its characteristics. “The difference in the architectural style of each building is the result of acculturation that characterizes the culture according to the place and time of the building,” explained Arfan.

The award was won by the ITS student team as the Best Policy Brief in the Soshum category for its idea to help preserve cultural heritage in Surabaya.

Furthermore, an idea similar to this tour was born because the current conservation policy only focuses on constructing or reconstructing cultural heritage buildings without any effort to disseminate them. “In fact, there are still many young people who come just to take selfies without knowing that the place actually has its own cultural value,” he said.

The idea of ​​the three students from the ITS Development Studies Department has also won an award as the Best Policy Brief in the Soshum category at the Airlangga Policy Brief Competition Awards at the national level, held by the Student Executive Board (BEM) Unair. It is hoped that this idea can be a reference for future policies. The three students are Solagracia Velinov Hasian Lumban Gaol, Adisti Athanua Nada Salsabila, and Nabila Firzatullah Putri Santosa.

Arfan hopes that this award can encourage all students to participate in achievements or contribute to the broader community. “Hopefully the acculturation of the culture in the cultural heritage can also be a learning material for the wider community, especially for the next generation,” added Arfan. (ITS Public Relation)

Reporter: Faqih Ulumuddin