Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and Feng Shui

Photography By Creative Commons
11/13/2018

Indonesia is experiencing an infrastructure boom after the government pledged to develop new projects in all parts of the archipelago. This has brought a new trend in the development of urban and rural areas, which results in the large number of TOD (Transit Oriented Development) projects being constructed throughout the country. As we know, there are two kinds of TOD, namely Urban TOD and Neighbourhood TOD. In this article, I would like to talk about Urban TOD as seen from the perspective of feng shui.

A good TOD is one that fulfils the following criteria: it should be pedestrian friendly, attractive, safe, and it should also offer a good spatial experience.

Sometimes, the creativity of our students who happen to conduct a study about TOD in the urban environment has resulted in them designing masses of residential towers on top of railway lines, including LRT and MRT lines, or railway lines for commuter trains.

According to feng shui principles, our residences should have a relatively stable qi, which can be obtained, among other ways, by placing the building quite far away from high voltage towers—we all know how electromagnetic radiation that is emitted by the high voltage towers is detrimental for our health. However, aside from the extreme cases of high electromagnetic radiation from high voltage towers, sometimes we forget that danger is also lurking close to home. Electronic devices in our surroundings, such as televisions, sound systems, electric cables and especially our gadgets, are also transmitting quite a large amount of radiation. Therefore these electronic devices should not be placed near our body when we go to sleep.

In addition, we should also be aware of the positioning of the transmitter antennas of telecommunication providers, from which radiation emission can also emanate, and once again endanger our health.

A high-rise building that has a railway line passing through is surely not a good idea in the eye of feng shui because it would mean that the qi of the building is not stable. Ideally the railway line should be arranged in such a fashion so that they do not lie directly under a residential tower, the same way we don’t want underground water to flow right below the building.

In the norms of feng shui, a stream of cars, LRT, MRT or commuter trains will give the same effect as a flowing river, which causes the qi to become unstable and eventually will affect the occupants of the building so that they might lead lives that are incompatible with their potential and are likely to face troubles in the future.

Therefore, ideally the application of TOD concept should heed these probable disturbances towards the occupants, albeit intangible, and is not only concerned about the concept’s high efficiency rate. It would be a shame if the TOD concept that is originally aimed at making life easier for the building occupants will actually bring a negative effect for them as a result of a bad qi that makes them unable to live optimally and even undermine their performance.

An auspicious application of TOD that follows the principles of feng shui will certainly generate great benefits for the occupants, who have actually had the upper hand in terms of transportation means because their living area is at the crossroad of various modes of transportation. People living in TOD area can reduce the time they use to commute, which in effect will boost their productivity level and eventually improve their welfare and quality of lives.

After becoming aware of the unstable qi, hopefully the stakeholders of TOD will be able to arrange their properties better so that the end users can enjoy good feng shui and gain a superior performance in life, which will result in a more prosperous and thriving Indonesia.

That is all I can share with you in this article, reach equilibrium.

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Sidhi Wiguna Teh
Author
Sidhi is an architect whose thirst for knowledge has never ceased. He completed his architectural education at Tarumanagara University, then proceeded to study Feng Shui from Grand Master Yap Cheng Hai and obtained a license in elementary and intermediate teaching modules under the name of Grand Master Yap Cheng Hai.
Creative Commons
Photographer