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Abstract

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The Yogyakarta sultanate enjoys a range of exceptional powers because of Indonesia’s Yogyakarta Special Region Law of 2012. The Sultan has utilised his charismatic authority, along with the legal and budgetary reforms of the law, to enhance conservation recognition of Yogyakarta’s royal palace and associated ‘cosmological axis’. This article details the key powers enjoyed by the sultanate through the Yogyakarta Special Region Law and how these strengthen its influence over spatial planning of the city. The article also elaborates two illustrative cases where royal influence has shaped spatial planning norms. The first involves the negotiation of royal norms about the height of buildings within the walled area of the palace. The second involves the relocation of semi-formal street traders from a street along the axis as part of Yogyakarta’s bid to gain UNESCO World Heritage status. In both instances, a logic of aesthetic governance is evident and is used to expand the authority of the sultanate through the traditionalising of the city.

Keywords

aesthetic rule heritage monarchy Yogyakarta

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Traditionalising of Yogyakarta’s urban landscape: The return of the cosmological axis

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