Asep Darmana
Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Architecture, Landscape architecture and Digital landscape architecture
Biography
Asep Darmana is a PhD candidate in landscape architecture at the Faculty of Architecture, Building, and Planning. He is also a lecturer at the School of Architecture, Planning, and Policy Development, Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB). Before entering academia, Asep worked as an associate at DP Architects Singapore, contributing to projects across Singapore, India, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka. With a rich background in residential and hospitality design, his passion for digital technology now shapes his research focus on data-informed design. He specifically explores the nexus of social media data and landscape architecture, aiming to leverage digital insights to advance the field.
Thesis
Bandung’s Data Narrative and Flood Design: Linking Social Media Data and Landscape Architecture Praxis in Bandung
Asep's research explores the intersection of social media (big) data and landscape architecture in Indonesia, focusing on Bandung’s recurring floods as a case study. The rise of digital technology and social media has transformed data generation, offering high-volume, near-real-time insights into urban challenges like flood responses. While conventional landscape architecture often relies on environmental data, social media provides localised, community-driven perspectives that capture sentiment, behaviours, and rapidly changing spatial conditions during floods. In Bandung, where social media is widely used, the city government adopted it in 2015 as a platform for citizen reporting on issues like flooding, revealing both social responses and infrastructure performance. Despite its potential, this resource remains largely untapped in flood design.
This study employs precedent studies, interviews, and a longitudinal analysis of social media data from floods in 2016, 2021, and 2025, integrating data mining, site observations, and spatial analysis. By assessing social media’s relevance for flood-responsive landscape architecture in Bandung, this research proposes methodologies to enrich design practices with community-driven data. It aims to bridge the gap between real-time social insights and flood-responsive design, offering a framework to enhance landscape architecture’s role in urban resilience.
Contact
- Email adarmana@student.unimelb.edu.au
- ORCID Profile ORCID