Cyberspace-Enabled Ephemeral Architecture for Tropical Public Spaces: Green-Smart Resilient Infrastructure
TL;DR
This paper proposes an ephemeral architecture approach for Malang City Square, Indonesia that preserves the square's green core while introducing slide/fold/shift modules that create distributed digital micro-spaces, rapidly clear for civic and religious events, and improve tropical comfort and rain resilience through adaptive shading, elevated dry routes, rainwater reuse, and IoT-ready operation.
Abstract
Public squares in tropical cities increasingly operate as hybrid environments where embodied co-presence is negotiated with smartphone-mediated cyberspace. Yet many tropical public-space upgrades still rely on fixed zoning, generic comfort devices, or event-only infrastructure, offering limited guidance on how digitally mediated micro-activities can be translated into reconfigurable, low-carbon spatial support. In line with green and smart engineering agendas for the environment, energy, and resilient infrastructure, this paper proposes an ephemeral architecture approach for Malang City Square, Indonesia. Using design-based research, the study combines structured time-window behavior mapping, activity typology coding, anthropometric footprint translation, and a rubric-based scenario evaluation. The approach is explicitly framed as a decision-support design study rather than a measured post-occupancy performance test. The resulting strategy preserves the square’s green core while introducing slide/fold/shift modules that create distributed digital micro-spaces, rapidly clear for civic and religious events, and improve tropical comfort and rain resilience through adaptive shading, elevated dry routes, rainwater reuse, and IoT-ready operation. The scenario evaluation indicates potential gains in Adaptability, circularity, outdoor comfort, safety, and operational intelligence, while identifying the need for future structural, thermal, and operational validation.