Malang City - East Java Province - December 8, 2022

Malang City like other cities in Indonesia in general only grew and developed after the presence of the Dutch colonial government. At that time the city layout was designed in such a way by the colonial government with the main aim of meeting the needs of Dutch families and other European nations. Meanwhile, the natives had to be satisfied living on the outskirts of the city with inadequate facilities.

In 1879, the city of Malang started operating trains and since then the city of Malang has developed rapidly. Various community needs are increasing, especially for space to carry out various activities. As a result, there was a change in land use, and the built-up areas sprang up uncontrollably. Changes in land use have changed very rapidly, such as from agricultural functions to housing and industry.

The spatial planning of Malang City at that time could not be separated from the works of Herman Thomas Karsten. This architect who was born in Amsterdam in 1884 was appointed as an adviser for planning the city of Malang in 1929. Karsten was actively involved in the city's development plans, called Bouwplan I-VIII, in which he prepared development anticipation for the next 25 years. One of his works is Ijen Boulevard which until now has become one of the heritage landmarks of Malang City.

In line with the developments mentioned above, urbanization continues and the community's need for housing increases beyond the government's capacity, while the level of urbanist economy is very limited, which in turn will result in the emergence of illegal housing which generally develops around trading areas, along the green belt, around rivers, railroads and land that is considered no man's land. After a while, the area became a settlement, and degradation of the quality of the environment began to occur, with all its innate impacts. These symptoms tend to continue to increase, and it is hard to imagine what would have happened had the problem been ignored.

Malang City has an area of 114.26 Km². Based on data from Malang City in Figures for 2021, the population of Malang City is 843,810 people. The population density is 7,667 people per square kilometer. The population is spread across 5 (five) Districts, namely:

Klojen District: 94,112 people
Blimbing District: 182,331 inhabitants
Kedungkandang District: 207,428 people
Sukun District: 196,300 inhabitants
Lowokwaru District: 163,639 inhabitants
The administrative area of Malang City is further divided into 57 Kelurahan, 551 RW units and 4,278 RT units.

The ethnic people of Malang are known for being religious, dynamic, hard-working, straightforward and proud of their identity as Arek Malang (AREMA). The composition of the native population comes from various ethnicities (mainly Javanese, Madurese, a small part of Arab and Chinese descent).

The ethnic and cultural wealth of Malang City influences the existing traditional arts. One of them that is famous is the Mask Dance, but now it is increasingly being eroded by modern arts. This art style is a manifestation of the meeting of Central Javanese art styles (Solo, Yogya), East-South Java (Ponorogo, Tulungagung, Blitar) and Blambangan art styles (Pasuruan, Probolinggo, Situbondo, Banyuwangi). To find out more about other areas around Malang City, please visit: Areas Around Malang City.