The Square (Alun-Alun) and Development of Religious Tourism Objects: Cases in Gresik, East Java, Indonesia

The square was originally (colonial period) designed to be the center of growth and development in a city, and was intended to be the center of social, economic and cultural interaction of the people who are residents of the city and immigrants. The square in its current sense has a broader meaning that it no longer contains the ideology of the ruler's interests but as a public space where people from various walks of life mingle in various activities.

Courtesy of Freepick.com 

Gresik square, modernized by the government in an attempt to appease the feelings of the lower middle class like stories from the United States and European cities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries where there was a demand from the bourgeoisie to build cities according to their needs. . This bourgeois class is close to the ruling elite. In subsequent developments the city is not only designed to serve the needs of the dominant class but also to absorb the aspirations of the lower classes who want to work in the city. As part of society, this class also has access to policy making. Architects and urban planners in Barcelona, Berlin, Tokyo, London, Paris and New York modernized their cities in an effort to accommodate the interests of the bourgeoisie and solve urban problems, such as crime and other crimes.

In Gresik City, although not exactly like the development of the cities of Gresik City, although not exactly like the development of Western European cities, the construction and reconstruction of public spaces such as the square adopts the way of thinking of architects and urban planners from those Western European countries. This is reflected in the efforts to organize the city to be better, more organized, cleaner and the square space can be accessed and enjoyed by the lower and middle classes, both for economic and social needs. The public spaces of the square, in particular, have been cleaned, laid out but not commercialized. The transformation of the city's public spaces, such as in the square renovation project and the relocation of the Sentolang terminal to become the Matahari shopping center, plus various facilities to support a social engineering project that aims to discipline and cultivate people to behave consumptively and to regulate people's behavior to become modern.

Other public spaces, namely malls/plazas or agora are also not spared from the process of social engineering, where these spaces are converted into a glass-walled space where everything is seen, monitored and disciplined to create an urban image that is considered suitable and good for the City that will continue to be built. be advanced and have the character of an advanced and modern city. The city of Gresik was designed not to be a big metropolitan city by making the space and every corner of this city beautiful without reducing the religious meaning of the city which became the identity of the old city of Gresik. Sacred spaces such as the Cemetery of Sunan Giri, Sunan Maulana Malik Ibrahim and others are sacred spaces that can be accessed by the public and improvements or additions to facilities are continuously carried out by the government so that the City of Gresik gains economic benefits from this object. Religious tourism is one of the government programs that has succeeded in increasing local revenue without changing the vitality and traditions that exist in the community.