The Great Mosque of Demak is the oldest mosque dating back to the Demak Sultanate. The founder of this mosque is thought to be Raden Patah, the first king of the Demak Sultanate around the 15th century AD. The historic Great Mosque of Demak is also a tourist destination in Demak. However, currently the Great Mosque of Demak has several problems, including lack of transportation mode, the availability of tourist support facilities that still do not meet the needs, street vendors selling in the red zone and not organized, the lack of attractiveness of food courts and Wisma Khasanah.
Based on the problems of the Great Mosque of Demak, an excursion was carried out to further explore and identify the problems and potential of the Great Mosque of Demak. This excursion was carried out on April 19, 2024 by the Urban Design and Development Laboratory, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Engineering, Diponegoro University. This excursion activity also aims to enable students to learn directly in the field about the management of heritage areas, the arrangement of settlements and urban villages around the Great Mosque of Demak, including the arrangement of street vendors and public spaces, as well as the riverbank area behind the mosque. This excursion is related to the group assignments of each elective course.
The excursion was attended by 39 sixth semester undergraduates students and accompanied by three lecturers, they are Dr. Ir. Retno Widjajanti, MT, Retno Susanti, ST, MT, and Novia Sari Ristianti, ST, MT. During the excursion activities, the team from DPWK Undip was accompanied by the Demak Regency Tourism Office, especially during field observations. In addition, interviews were also conducted with the Takmir of the Demak Great Mosque.
This activity is very relevant to efforts to achieve SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.
