Penglipuran

Image 11.1.1 Rows of neat and tidy houses in Penglipuran traditional village, Bangli, Bali, which has become a tourist attraction teem with local and foreign visitors. (JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi) – click on the image to find out more about this interesting village

This is Penglipuran, the 3rd cleanest village in the world, awarded in 2016. It is located in Bali and it is very grounded in their ancestry rituals and culture. This is a reason why Penglipuran can maintain its cleanliness and neatness. The rituals and some of its ways that may seem rural give a glimpse of the ancient societies which hold sacred environmental values. However, this does not stop them from incorporating modern ideas into their society. with the help of conservation ministries, they managed to ensure that they maintain the bamboo architecture.  This helps to maintain a natural theme throughout the community as well as into their individual homes. On top of that, the community works together in ensuring the cleanliness of the village through little to no usage of plastic, making sure garbage is placed in its rightful bin, and they even have designated smoking areas. The women of society also have an important role to play, in collecting and sorting out the rubbish once a month.

The main reason why they can maintain such a clean and disciplined way of living is that they are economically incentivized to take good care of this village. The cleaner this village is, the more the world will take notice of this village. Eco-tourists are also very attracted to their conservation movements and tourist is one of the biggest sources of income for Penglipuran.

Perhaps, this is very different compared to a development driven city, surrounded by Batam and Singapore, where industrialization is important. Tanjung Balai Karimun is different from Penglipuran in that although both aim to be tourist sites, it is more difficult for Tanjung Balai Karimun to do away with modernization. This leads to the next example of a very modern yet clean city, Surabaya.