<p><strong>Aim:</strong> This study examines the current living culture of riverbank residents by observing the choice of factual house and the house preferences. A house is the physical characteristic of cultural products indicating the current living culture. The riverbank settlements are part of the historical development of the city of Palembang. <strong>Methodology and Results: </strong>This research focuses on the physical form of residential buildings from the perspective of socio-cultural preservation. Restoring the characteristics of the riverbank area is a necessary potential. The design process can be directed toward technical innovation, social aspect and the use of materials that correspond to the features of the area. Furthermore, the cultural ecological interaction has created a living culture in the riverbank. This is evident in the constructed houses of residents with structure, technology, and material conforming to the fluctuating conditions of the ecosystem. The settlement’s characteristics generate an image of a river city, which have also become a tourist attraction in Palembang. However, the living culture has changed due to the innovation in building technology, the shift in the focus of development, and the availability of natural resources which diminish these features. <strong>Conclusion, significance and impact of study:</strong> This will encourage tourists to visit the developed areas with a preservation approach, integrating new cultural living with the conservation of the river city features for tourism interest. Furthermore, the preservation of tourism activities are not only unchanged, but also an adaptation flexibility to continuously look for new forms for the symbiosis between man and nature.</p>

Ineffective local development due to globalisation and urban agglomeration causes a significant gap between urban and rural areas. The need to promote the contribution of local development in rural areas has been a topic of debate and could be fulfilled by an innovative method. This research proposes a village alliance as the innovative framework to analyse the local potential within the case study area of Lubuk Sepang Village, South Sumatera Province, Indonesia. The framework of village alliance fits in the sustainability concepts that integrates Lubuk Sepang Village with eight other villages as an alliance as well as an applicative method that is representative of most dominant context of the rural area development, especially in Indonesia. Regarding the local potential, this research uses a case study method to explore a sustainable tourism scenario by using multiple tools: field survey, expert interviews, maps analysis, and SWOT analysis. The research aims to explore the local potential and outline the integration of the heritage richness with other potential elements based on the tourism advancement perspective. The result is an initial stage for the prospective method of protection, valorisation, and development of the local heritage richness.

The riverbank has a unique landscape and socio-cultural character of the community. The area is the transition of the innerland and river ecosystem. The ecological function is very important for balancing the both ecosystems. The Living activity of dwellers creates a socio-cultural bond to the river. This study plans the housing riverbank with a socio-ecological approach. The approach considers the sustainability of the ecosystem and social culture of the dwellers. The research was conducted in Palembang, a big city in Indonesia that has evolved in wetlands on the riverbanks. The current development eliminates the character of the physical and socio-cultural landscape. This study uses the Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) method which is part of the Multi-criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) method. MAUT can determine alternative planning through attribute assessment by predetermined objective criteria. The decision making is based on the assessment by experts from various fields. It shows the best alternative depends on the attribute level of the house type. The attribute value is very dominant compared to other attributes. Environmental attributes quite influential are the size of the buffer zone and the construction of riveredge wall. The best alternative result indicated that the planning should accommodate the activities of residents who interact closely with the sustainability of river ecosystems.

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