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THE 12 CONFERENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON URBANISM

BEYOND RESILIENCE: TOWARDS A MORE INTEGRATED AND INCLUSIVE URBAN DESIGN
Jakarta, 24 – 26 June 2019. Universitas Tarumanagara

DEBATING SUSTAINABLE RESILIENCE: THE CASE OF GAZDAR BANDH
1 2
Mamta Patwardhan , Shantanu Khandkar
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Assistant Professor, KRVIA, Visiting Professor, KRVIA,
Vidyanidhi Bhawan II, Vidyanidhi Marg, Gulmohar Road, MHADA Colony, J.V.P.D. Scheme, Mumbai,
Maharashtra 400049
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Informal conditions, arising out of the city’s inability to provide affordable solutions, force migrants to locate
themselves on the discarded and neglected land parcels that are what we today term as “vulnerable’ locations.
Emerging economies’ heavy investment in infrastructure tends to disregard planning for climate change impacts.
Mumbai’s rapid urbanization and infrastructural demand has ignored the bereavement of significant natural
adaptive measures of the mangroves, both inland as well as on the coast. Mangrove land has been the most
exploited under the garb of urbanization. The dynamic urban sprawl frequently surges into the natural existing
ecosystems in peri-urban or coastal areas proving to be pernicious to both the formal as well as the informal.
The study aims to examine the impact of the unsustainable resilient strategies of the Gazdar Bandh informal
community that translates into risks for the formal. The paper makes the argument that in absence of formal
strategies for resilience, communities are forced to come up with ad-hoc solutions. These resilience strategies,
especially in the case of informal settlements puts them in direct conflict with the formal citizens, further
reinforcing the distrust and adversarial relations between the two. This adds a different layer of vulnerability to
the existence of such settlements, making their resilience unsustainable in the long run.
Keywords: Coastal Communities, Sustainable Resilience, Gazdar Bandh, Informal Settlements, Vulnerabilities.
1. INTRODUCTION
This paper presents a unique case study which addresses several dichotomies that affect any
discussion of resilience in contemporary cities, especially in the current neoliberal environment.
Gazdar Bandh, a locality in Mumbai (the Marathi word ‘bandh’ is rendered in English as ‘bund’) is in
fact two communities, separated by a bund which was built to provide protection to one of them.
Located opposite from each other across the Gazdar Bandh Road, the two communities are
physically as well as notionally opposites of each other. The distinctions between the two
communities can be broken down into several arguments, each of which this paper shall address.
The primary concern of the paper is examining the idea of resilience vis-à-vis sustainability. In order
to do so, certain theoretical questions need to be addressed. Resilience is often seen as ‘bouncing
back’ or rebuilding after a disturbance. Another aspect of resilience is the ability to adapt to changing
circumstances and maintaining identity. In the case of Gazdar, we can see that the vulnerabilities in
question demand a very different kind of resilience. The main problem of defining this resilience is
the difficulty in determining the boundaries of who the resilience is for.
The paper shall therefore look at Gazdar from another lens; that of the dichotomy between the formal
and the informal city and how, in a situation where informality is seen as a hindrance to the pursuit
of order which is seen as a hallmark of sustainability, informal settlements are forced to come up with
resilience strategies which are inherently unsustainable.
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Turner (1968) observes that informal settlements are the products of uncontrolled growth of cities
driven by economic and political changes brought about by industrialization and urbanization. In the
face of the failure of the formal sector to provide adequate land, infrastructure, services and housing
to the poorest sections of society, informal settlements emerge as a solution for these sections.
Planning and zoning efforts of the formal city is at odds with this informality. Gouverneur (2015) notes
the adversarial relationship between the formal and informal settlements. Formal urbanites perceive
informal settlements as a threat and often demand their eradication from the city.
Figure 1. Gazdar Bandh Settlements

Source: Author, 2017
2. METHODOLOGY
2.1 Delimitation
The research has focused on the primary environmental aspect of debating resilience vis-à-vis
sustainability of the Gazdar Bandh coastal community in the city of Mumbai. The importance of the
ecology of the coast and the role it plays in the protection of coastal communities, in terms of the
informal as well as formal, to the impact of climate change, has been addressed.
The research has been conducted through the review of secondary literature and library study about
resilient and sustainable cities, field study, visual inspection and interviews carried out to understand
the adaptability of the informal community and interviews with stakeholders like the municipal
authorities and residents’ association.
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3. BACKGROUND AND CASE STUDY

Mumbai was an archipelago of seven islands that were gradually connected or unified to form the
present-day city. From what began as an attempt to control breaches where the sea overflowed into
these islands, the gradual endeavour developed to herculean efforts in recreating land, sensing the
potential of development. The primary intention was to confront inundation on the islands caused by
high tides and finally culminated into creating a single island.
Major reclamations included the 1880 acres of land reclaimed by the Elphinstone Land Company for
the Industrial and Port activities, the Back-Bay reclamation which took place in 1929 at where over
a thousand acres of land was reclaimed and a super promenade was laid that connected the entire
bay edge into one. This also resulted in creation of a large amount of housing stock to South Bombay
causing the south to swell further instead of distributing to newer growth centres toward the north.
The city authorities attempted to work with the existing fabric that resulted in this northward and linear
expansion along the transportation lines. This translated into the formation of a dual character of the
city where the squatter settlements and slums became the primary part of the built form of the city.
The FSI tool was then envisaged to boost development in what was thought as the underutilised
urban areas. Notwithstanding to say that resulted in densification that was irreversible and created
immense pressure on the infrastructure of the city.
Figure 2. Mumbai before and after reclamation

The concentration of growth of Mumbai city with the mainland has resulted in the city (as any other
city in developing countries) as a place of high population density as a centre of infrastructure,
investment, economic growth, networking, information and connectivity. Mumbai in other words is a
good example of urban flooding which can be categorised as Pluvial and Groundwater flooding as
well as River flooding.
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3.1 Coastal flooding and Climate change
Of the top ten cities exposed to sea level rise and coastal flooding, Mumbai is one of the more
vulnerable ones. A report on an OECD project on cities and climate change mentions that those
cities with greatest population exposure to extreme sea levels also tend to be those with greatest
exposure to wind damage from tropical and extratropical cyclones. The report concludes that these
cities may experience combined perils of growing storm and more intense winds.
The root cause of Mumbai’s susceptibility to flooding is its geography, both natural and manmade
(Duryog Nivaran 2005). Firstly, the city’s location leaves it exposed to heavy rainfall during the
summer; typically, 50% of the rainfall during the two wettest months, July and August, falls in just
two or three events (Jenamani 2006). This situation is aggravated by the manmade geography; large
areas of the land are reclaimed and are situated only just above sea level and below the high-tide
level. This inhibits natural runoff of surface water and the complicated network of drains, rivers,
creeks and ponds that drain directly in the sea, meaning that during high tides, sea water can enter
the system preventing drainage and in extreme cases, leading to salt water deluge.
0.5 m sea level rise
Gazdar Bandh
Figure 3. Mumbai Sea Level Rise

Source: MOEF.NIC.IN
India is bestowed with mangroves on the east as well as west coast with the Sunderbans being the
largest mangrove forest. Mumbai had originally around 45 km. of mangroves aligned on its coast.
These evergreen forests are prominently housed in estuarine conditions on wide mud flats on gentle
slopes. They can also be found in intertidal regions of shallow bays and creeks and form a complete
ecosystem by themselves. They nestle within them several species of plants, animals and marine
life. Mangroves protect shorelines from damaging storm and hurricane winds, waves, and floods.
Mangroves also help prevent erosion by stabilizing sediments with their tangled root systems.
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Mangroves are flood buffers and they also help in stabilizing the climate by moderating temperature,
humidity, wind and even waves. They are specially adapted to withstand salinity, wave action, and
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can grow in poor soils. They actually protect the land from the impact of the sea.
Rapid urbanization has seen a large influx of migrants in the city. Mumbai in particular has seen an
increase in population of around 43 percent of migrants every year. The scarcity of land in the city
has led to depletion of mangroves in the city for various reasons. Coastal development opportunities,
pollution and creation of land for informal housing has led to the escalation of depletion of mangroves
in the city. Mumbai has lost around 40 square kilometres of mangroves in the 1990’s that proved
disastrous in the July 2005 floods. The most recent has been a loss of 22 hectares of mangroves on
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the western suburbs that was reported on March 7 .
The current rate of destruction of mangroves is three to five times greater than the average rates of
forest loss. At the existing rate, South East Asia could lose 35 per cent of its mangrove cover of 2000
2
in the next 35 years.
The deluge of 2005 in Mumbai can be attributed to be a number of factors like failure at the planning
level coupled with the negligence of the part of the municipal authorities, unprecedented reclamation
of land and encroachment on mangrove land, choking of our natural drains i.e. rivers and failure of
the stressed drainage system. An inquiry conducted by the NIDM revealed the negligence and gross
lack of awareness and myopic view on part of the authorities supposed to manage disasters under
the detailed plan prepared for the city. Shekhar (2005) mentions neglecting archaic zoning
regulations, rent control policies and inflated land markets, in particular, have contributed to the
overall vulnerability of Mumbai and its inhabitants and have exacerbated Mumbai’s exposure to
disaster, specifically during the July 2005 floods.
The political marginalization of the slum dwellers compels them to develop coping strategies of their
own. In the case of Gazdar, the inhabitants over a period of time reclaimed land to increase their
levels above the Town Hall datum level that put them at a higher level than the formal edge. This has
led to the classic saucer effect that this area is now know as and exposed the formal to floods from
high tide as well as storm surges.

1
Conservation of Mangroves published by Conservation Action Trust, 3 January 2017.
2
Destruction of mangroves causes damages of up to $42 billion each year by DTE Staff; 7 March, 2016.
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Figure 4. Gazdar Bandh Demolition May 2004 (Along the 4 nallahs)

Source: Gazdar Scheme Residents Trust

Figure 5. Gazdar Bandh Figure
6. Gazdar Bandh High Tide Line(DP 2034)
Source: Google Earth Image Source: Source: Author, 2017

3.2 Case Study: Gazdar Bandh
Gazdar Bandh lies on the coastline of Mumbai’s Santacruz suburb that is situated in the No
Development Zone as identified in the new Development Plan 2034. It is a notified slum that originally
was nestled in the dense mangroves on the coast. Originally controller land, the bourgeoning
population effortlessly encroached upon this coastal land that lies in the prohibited CRZ as well as
NDZ (No Development Zone). Nestled in a dense mangrove patch, these encroachments lie towards
the Arabian Sea and are bounded by 4 nullahs viz the SNDT nullah on the west, the North Avenue
nullah, the P & T nullah to the east and the Main Avenue Drain and falls under the NDZ as well as
under the CRZ as indicated in the Development Plan of 1991.
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Figure 7. Gazdar Bandh

Source: Author during field study, 2017
Figure 8. Gazdar Bandh

While the destruction of mangroves is an offence under the Environmental Protection Act, 1986 as
well as the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975, the
mangrove habitat has often been encroached upon by both state and non-state players. For
example, a First Information Report (FIR) was filed with the Mumbai Police against a contractor hired
by the MCGM. Under the guise of desilting, the contractor was found to be dumping debris in the
mangroves surrounding the Mahim Creek. The debris blocked the entry of tidal waters into the
mangroves at high tide, which would ultimately kill the trees.
Informal settlements often grow on lands illegally encroached upon from these mangroves. In 2018,
a news report showed how a 1-hectare patch of mangroves had given way to a squatter settlement.
Satellite images show that the settlement, which consists of 500 shanties, used to be a mangrove
patch prior to 2005. Residents of an adjacent squatter settlement would regularly dump their garbage
in the mangroves, which would then be burned, killing the trees. Debris would then be dumped onto
the charred vegetation to reclaim the land for construction of more shanties.
The problem is often exacerbated by the lack of co-ordination on the part of the various agencies
tasked with the protection of the mangroves. Out of the total mangrove cover, about 4000 hectares
lies on government land, while 1800 hectares lies on private land. The protection of the mangroves
falls under the purview of the Mumbai Mangrove Conservation Unit (MMCU), while removal of
encroachments from government land is the responsibility of the collector’s office. NGOs and
residents’ associations allege that the different agencies engage in passing the buck rather than
taking any permanent action against the encroachments.
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1980 2017
Figure 9. Gazdar Bandh Mangrove Land Figure 10. Gazdar Bandh
Source: Gazdar Scheme Residents Trust Source: Author during field study, 2017
3.3 Flooding faced by Gazdar residents since 1995.

The Gazdar land parcel is at sea level putting it at direct risk of sea level rise. The WMO Statement
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on the State of the Global Climate in 2018, its 25 anniversary edition, highlights record sea level
rise, as well as exceptionally high land and ocean temperatures over the past four years. This
warming trend has lasted since the start of this century and is expected to continue .3
The floods of 1995 had the residents’ association initiate discussions with the BMC as well as IIT
experts to understand the repositioning of the sluice gates in order to reduce the impact of flow of
sea water into the residential areas. Evidently the location suggested by IIT Professors Shri Eldho &
Shri Jothiprakash is at SNDT as that is where the sea water enters the nallah. This suggestion was
based on the current conditions of the site and not as per the original circumstances of the basin that
housed dense mangroves providing a natural barrier to storm surges. Hence, the suggested position
of the new sluice gates at 200m into the sea, though acceptable, did not address the issue of the
creation of the drainage basin that helps in dissipating the flood waters in the nallahs at the South
/Main/ North/ Green Streets. The feasibility of installing pump stations at the time was ruled out. The
restoration of the original basin would mean bureaucratic intervention and joint efforts by the
Collector as well as the MCGM and did not come under the purview of the IIT. Hence a proposal for
only one floodgate at the entry point i.e. at S.N.D.T nallah outfall along with retaining wall & pumping
station was made.
The significance of restoring the original basin is tremendous in todays time in terms of climate
change impacts. Mumbai is prone to sea level rise as well storm surges and scientific studies how
coastal areas will face an aggravation in these events. (Sobel 2018).

3
Mumbai Before Development Plan. Accommodation Times; 31 July, 2009.
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Figure 11. Adjacent Road Levels in Comparison With the Town Hall Datum
Figure 12. Gazdar Bandh Nallahs blocked with garbage

Flooding
At V P Road
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Figure 13. Urban Flooding in Saraswat Colony, RBI Colony
Inhabitants illegally reclaimed land on the seaward portion on the foreshore beyond the existing
Gazdar Bandh Road and that has blocked free flow of rain water in the east to west direction sloping
through the drains into the sea as the illegal reclamation carried out by the hutment dwellers is at a
larger height than the surrounding area (datum point is -1m), especially the height of roads and drains
running from East to West.
The sluice gates performed the task of holding back the high tide waters from entering into the
Gazdar area preventing urban floods. They were operated at times of high tide as well as during
heavy rains in the monsoon. The gradual but definite expansion of the encroachments not only
ensured the depletion of the mangroves but also caused the blockage of the nullahs with garbage
generated from the encroachments. Blocked drains became the primary cause of water logging in
the encroachment area and the dwellers took it on to demolish the sluice gates keeping them clear
off the flood waters but exposing the formal edge to the surge of the high-tides as well as monsoon
water.
Gazdar Bandh Formal Edge
Land Reclaimed as self- Saucer Effect

adaptive strategy
Figure 14. Saucer Effect Gazdar Bandh

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Figure 15. Sluice gate and nallah

Source: Author during field study, 2017
On the one hand planners took cognizance of the fact that coastal areas especially laden with
mangroves played an important role in protecting the coast from inundation. the Coastal Regulation
Zone (CRZ) notification of 1991 by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) was a key
landmark in Indian environmental policy and legislation. The 2008 CRZ amendment comes in
contradiction to an attempt at securing the coast from climate change impacts and shielding the
inhabitants from flooding. The residents condemned it and termed it showing disrespect to the
natural environment as well as to the rights of the residents. Allegations proclaiming that the
politician-builder nexus in capitalising on the real estate returns that this parcel would bring, was one
of primary reasons in amending the CRZ act, were also presented to the MOEF. The dilution in the
act brings about a modification in the coastal zones and the area lying in the CRZ I now gets placed
in the CRZ II category which would mean that it now comes under the category of “already been
developed.”
The TDH or Town Hall Datum, the High Tide Line, Set-back lines, flooding due to the saucer effect,
illegal encroachments were disregarded while modifying the act. The Gazdar residents brought to
notice that the alteration of the position of the floodgates would lead to change in the High Tide Line
as indicated in the development plan. The members of GSRT argued that if the location of floodgates
is altered, the high tide line will undergo modification thereby entirely changing the definition of CRZ
(I) & CRZ (II). In addition, the members also mentioned that the S. B. Patil Marg is proposed to be
widened to 120 ‘as per D P Plan which is only 30 ‘at present.
Engineers from IIT were employed to review the case and present suggestions and design the sluice
valves that were believed to be the answer to the flooding in the saucer area. The IIT engineers
investigated the facts and made recommendations as to the position of the sluice valves. They
established that the sluice gates should be installed at a point where the sea water enters the nallah
which is the SNDT nallah. What was not taken into consideration was the phenomena of the impact
of climate change, due to which the HTL’s have moved landward due to a rise in sea levels. What
comes to the fore in these discussions is the fact that coastal inundation is in fact a reality that has
to be addressed.
Another aspect of the case which is worth exploring is the market value of the land which is currently
the focus of the conflict. This value is a direct result of the current market-based slum policy of the
state.
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In 1995, the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Clearance, Improvement and Redevelopment) Act, 1972 was
amended to allow for the formation of a quasi-government agency known as the Slum Rehabilitation
Authority (SRA). The SRA would oversee a new model of slum rehabilitation which consisted of
redeveloping slums with the help of the private sector. Under the scheme, slumdwellers form
societies which are registered under SRA. Private developers then submit schemes for
redevelopment of the slums for SRA approval. Under the scheme, the developer is obliged to give
each family a house free of cost. In return, the developer gains incentive building rights which can
be used to build market rate housing on the same site for sale, the profits from which cover the
expenses of building the rehabilitation component of the project.
Critics of the scheme have pointed out several flaws in the scheme. Firstly, the extremely high
densities mandated for the scheme necessitate relaxation of building norms which has led to
unlivable conditions in several SRA buildings. Secondly, the high-rise buildings which are built to
house the tenements often fall into disrepair due to lack of maintenance which the residents cannot
afford. Thirdly, the SRA has been criticized as a land grab, with only those slums which have come
up on land with high market value being targeted by developers. Currently, there are two SRA
projects which have been proposed on the Gazdar slums. The projects would mean that the land
which fell under the NDZ will be opened up for exploitation. The demand of the Gazdar residents that
the land which has been encroached upon be cleared of encroachments and the area be restored
as a mangrove forest stems from the use of the patch as a tidal basin. Any consolidation of the land
as a residential development would mean a continuation of the problem being faced by the residents.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The case of Gazdar is representative of the problematic conception of ‘public’ that comes into play
whenever terms like ‘public good’ are discussed. Baviskar (2011) speaks of a ‘bourgeois
environmentalism’ which is characterized by the exclusion of the poorer sections of society and the
prioritization of ‘mainly middle class’ concerns about order, hygiene, and safety. This exclusion
results in the displacement of the poor in the pursuit of hegemonic principles of ‘public good’. While
the ‘public’ here is meant as a term of inclusion, it actually excludes those that are not a part of this
hegemonical space that is paradoxically denoted as the ‘public sphere’.
Which is not to say that the ‘public sphere’ in this case, is an explicitly exclusive space. Fraser (1992)
observes that the public sphere is a space which produces consent through “…circulation of
discourses that construct the ‘common sense’ of the day and represent the existing order as natural
and/or just…”. Fraser goes on to state that the public sphere “… in its mature form includes sufficient
participation and sufficient representation of multiple interests and perspectives to permit most
people most of the time to recognize themselves in its discourses.”
In the case of Gazdar, we see this fractured idea of ‘public’ which is representative of the entire city.
Thus, resilience in this case is not merely about ‘bouncing back’ from a disturbance, but also about
addressing the various layers of vulnerability that the city faces and trying to figure out how the
various competing ‘publics’ can be reconciled in an effort to bring about a sustainable resilience.
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URBAN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS INFLUENCE TO URBAN KAMPUNG’S
SOCIO-ECONOMIC DYNAMICS
1 2
Yustina Octifanny, Dini Aprilia Norvyani
1 2
Regional and Rural Planning Research Group, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Center for Spatial Data
Infrastructure, Institut Teknologi Bandung
Mailing address
E-mail of corresponding author: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Urban kampungs are important for urban livelihood in Indonesia. Kampungs are the area where the
majority of urban poor reside, though close to informality, slums, and criminality. Aware of these
problems, the government infusing substantial funds through the variegated urban development
programs including slums upgrading, waterfront development, housing improvement, and more
programs. The government revitalizing slums' infrastructure and changing slums' land use, causing
shifts in the informal. Yet, the effects of urban development programs on socio-economic changes
remain understudied. This research will take Pontianak City as the case study, one of the national
targets for '10 New Independent Town Program' for 2015-2019 that employs several development
programs targeted to the marginalized community that lives in the urban kampung. Drawing on two
riversides urban kampung in Pontianak, Kampung Luar and Kampung Beting, through ethnography;
this study identifies how the urban kampung is produced and developed in the past decades. This
ethnographic study was done in the three-months field work. The qualitative data gathering methods
are an in-depth interview, observation, participatory observation, walking interview, and life history.
Moreover, the secondary literature, historical, statistic, and spatial data also collected to make a
compelling narration. The research will examine the urban development programs, socio-economic
respond from kampungs, who benefit the most from the urban development programs, and the
vulnerabilities of this informal economy. In our findings, the urban kampung improvement program
enables Kampung Luar to have a wider control over urban resources, thus enabling them to develop
new livelihood strategy from informal economic activities which support the social-economic mobility
of kampung community. In contrast, Kampung Beting earns informal economic benefit from its
interdependence to illicit business. Even if both of the kampungs are different, they both experience
the importance of females’ role in informal business and prone to business uncertainty and
discontinuity.
Keywords:, government-led development programs, informal economy, large-scale development, Pontianak,
urban kampung.
1. INTRODUCTION
In the contemporary human journey, we arrive at the age of urban dystopia. In the world-known
terminology, we know them as slums. The slum is a unique physical form that believed as a dense
settlement that lacks basic infrastructures such as sanitation and clean water (Minnery, Storey, &
Setyono, 2012). Slums, usually but not always, is the area where the urban poor life and the
informality exist (Roy, 2005, 2009, 2012). In Indonesia, we familiar with the urban dystopia enclaves
called “kampung”. These urban kampungs are not always the slums, do not always engage in
informality, and do not always poor (Widjaja, 2013). Urban kampungs are tremendously important
for urban dwellers and urban landscape making in Indonesia. Kampungs are the area where the
majority of urban poor reside, which they live close to informality, slums, and even criminality
(Widjaja, 2013).
This urban kampung becomes the subject of attention for the urban development programs that lead
and invested by the government. There are many types of urban development programs. The small-
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scale urban development programs and the large-scale urban development programs. Minnery et al
(2013) exemplify some such as the tenurial security; infrastructure and facilities provision; social
capital and community participation; economic and livelihood enhancement; and governance and
institutions (Minnery et al., 2013). These urban development programs on urban kampungs are not
novel acts by the government, it has been done from the new order era under the Suharto presidential
time. In Jokowi’s era, along with this new developmentalist governance where infrastructure
development boom and ad-hoc development are predominating his works (Warburton, 2016).
Through millions of dollars of the government budget per localities, the government revitalizing slum,
builds new infrastructure to cover the slums visual, giving land tenurial rights, and improving the
quality of the houses. We believe that these expensive investments accumulated could shift the
socio-economic condition of the urban kampung. Notably on the informal economic activities within
urban kampung that affecting their earning capacity, ability to control the urban resources, mobilize
their socio-economic status, and finally their ability to build a resilient community.
This research draws from two urban kampungs in Pontianak City, Kampung Beting and Kampung
Luar. Two of the urban kampung are categorized as slums by the city government, are located above
and nearby the river, has strong historical importance to the formation of the city, and are the target
of government-led large-scale development programs. This research took a microscopic
understanding of the kampung to provide a broader understanding of kampung to enrich the
generalized kampung knowledge. This research study about the social-economic through changes
in their informal livelihood strategies. This study focuses on the kampungs development after the
year 2000 until the present time. The purpose of the study is elaborated in these research questions:
1. What was the socio-economic condition of the urban kampung communities that live nearby and
above the river?
2) What are the urban development programs that directed towards urban kampungs?
3) How the urban kampung engage and respond to development programs on their socio-
economic changes: informal livelihood strategy and socio-economic mobility?
2. METHODOLOGY
The research uses ethnography research to study the urban socio-economic changes that occur
within the urban kampung. The fieldwork was started in January to April 2019. The ethnographic
research combined the in-depth interview, life history, oral history, walking interview, participatory
observation, and observation. The research obtains important data about the urban development
programs, urban development programs impact to the urban kampung communities, urban kampung
livelihood and changes, and the vulnerability of urban kampung communities as the community that
lives on and nearby Kapuas River, Pontianak. This data then analyzes through the perspective of
slums, livelihood profile, informal economy theories.

3.1. Introduction to Urban Development Programs in Pontianak’s Riverside
Riverside used to be the epicenter of the city but after a long action of disinvestment, city economic
transformations from resource-based (the boom and later bust of timber, plantation, and consumer
goods industry) to trade and services based, the road-based urban mobility, and the shift of city
center to the inland part of the city; the river life start to deteriorating. Starting from 2015, the local to
national government started to initiate New Town Incubation. This program revitalizes the riverside
of Kapuas and Landak River, the old town part of the city where the city began to develop in the past.
This area has now become the dense, populated, lack of basic services, lack of accessibilities, crimes
location. The riverside is where the old kampungs are situated, including our case study. The New
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Town Incubation Program is the integration of different programs by multiple levels of government
from national to municipal. The program consists of the slums upgrading program known as “Kotaku:
Kota Tanpa Kumuh”, a fishing village known as “Kampung Nelayan Program”, and riverside
promenade development. The dedication to these kampungs is done not to only revitalize the
physical aspect of the kampung, but to revive the riverside kampungs by turning them into the city’s
strategic tourism area. As planned on The Pontianak Spatial Plan 2013-2033, the program integrates
important historical landmark and the kampung: Kampung Beting, Kadriah Palace, and Jamik
Mosque as the tourism strategic area.
Table 1 Transformative Urban Development Programs

Urban
Development Finance Location Key Physical Development
Program
Concrete riverside promenade (Kampung
Beting-Kampung Luar-Kampung Tambelan-
Kampung Sampit)
Wooden broad walk or gertak kayu (Kampung
Luar and Kampung Tambelan Sampit)
Jamik Mosques restoration
Kadriah Palace Revitalization
Green open space aroud Palace
Kadriah Palace, Two entering gates
Jamik Mosque, A Bridge
Kampung National
Kampung Beting, The road access, drainage, pedestrian
Nelayan government
Kampung Luar, and Kampung Beting redevelopment:
the surrounding area • Concrete road access
• Canals
• Bridges
• Passenger crossing dock
• Domestic waste-water treatment
• Clean water distribution system
• Land consolidation, house and
facilities rebuilding for 200 land
parcels
Riverside Sub-national Riverside promenade development
Kampung Kamboja to
promenade and municipal
Kampung Tengah Open space
development government
Source: Octifanny and Norvyani, 2019
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Figure 1 Concrete boardwalk and wooden boardwalk side by side

Figure 2 Kampung Beting's New Canal and Bridge
3.2 Introduction to Kampung Beting and Kampung Luar
Kampung Beting and Kampung Luar are located in the Pontianak Timur District. The two kampungs
have a very relevant location for the City’s initiation back in 1771. Then until the present time,
Pontianak City is under Indonesia’s jurisdiction. These two kampung are located near and/or on
Kapuas, Kapuas Kecil, and Landak River. These two kampungs are densely populated kampungs.
There are signature physical characters of these two kampungs, in the present time, the people are
live in the stilts houses (rumah panggung) and the mobility around kampung using wooden, concrete,
or combination of the wooden and concrete boardwalk (concomitantly called gertak kayu, gertak
beton, and gertak beton gantung).
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Figure 3 Dalam Bugis and Tambelan Sampit Sub-District
Kampung Beting
Beting is a kampung that started in the early 20th century as a floating house settlement above the
river located at the intersection of Kapuas, Small Kapuas, and Landak River. It is a settlement for
different ethnic groups, including Malay, Chinese, Bugis, and more. In early 2000s, this kampung
emerges as the illegal drugs market of Pontianak City. In the 2000 onward, this majority of people
involved in drugs dealing business network. Starting in 2010, the gambling is open in kampung
dwellers houses. The drugs and gambling are the economic base for this kampung development,
building generating economic activities to support these two main economies. Then this area is
territorially stigmatized as the territory for home-based drugs and gambling business.
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Figure 4 Kampung Beting
Kampung Luar
Initially, Kampung Luar is the Kampung for the outcast of the sultans. Kampung Luar experience
erosion of Kapuas River during the 5 decades. That was when people start to use wooden broad
walk instead of land to walk on. After that, at the same time with Kampung Beting, Kampung Luar
received two parallel boardwalks, one from wood and one from concrete in 2016. The wooden
boardwalk is preserved because it is their important feature.
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Figure 5 Kampung Luar
3.3 Introduction of Economic Condition of Kampung Luar and Kampung Beting
Kampung Beting and Kampung Luar’s informal economy are important for the city economy by
absorbing the labor surplus. Though there are a minority of formal workers working as government
officials or working on private companies. The majority of male works in different informal sectors
such as labors in ports (called buruh suakang), construction workers, boat makers, crossing-boat
workers (called penambang), parking man, and river divers. Meanwhile, the female works in different
informal sectors such as sell traditional cakes, retail kiosk, food stalls, tailor, and domestic labor such
as washing and ironing works. Still, the majority of females are stay-home-mom who responsible for
domestic chores and child-bearing responsibility.
The informal economy in the kampung produces goods and services for financial benefit to the direct
client (Gershuny, 1979). The informal economy could have different forms in these two kampungs
including: home industry (services such as washing and ironing and trading such as retailing), street
economy (trading and services economy for this case food sales and transportation), domestic
services (in this case maids, laundress, and cooks), micro enterprises (services like electrical,
motorcycle, and boat repair), and construction works (day and project laborer’s) (data categorized
according to Friedmann, 1992). This informal economy is using low skills, low financial capital, and
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low labor capital (Tunas, 2008). The low skill works require minimal training or education, the low
financial capital requires relatively low capital to finance their business, and the low labor capital is
showed by the economic activities that either self-employed, employs family member, or working
with a small team with a close neighbor. There is no regular job or time because some casual or
contractual labor is working on the basis of job availability. Hence, there will be unstable income per
months factoring on job availability and profit. Therefore, income does not always reach the city wage
standard. In addition, most of the jobs also have high risk upon workers, but they are not supported
by health and accident insurance. This informal business also occupies informal spaces including:
public, semi-private, and private spaces in the kampung instead of utilizing designated commercial
spaces – which are not available either. Thus, the utilization of river area, house, terrace, or social
facility spaces are commons for economic activities.

Figure 6 Buruh suakang working in the Seng Hie Port across Kadriah Palace

Figure 7 Penambang carry passenger to cross Kapuas River
3.4 The Emerging Socio-Economic Changes in Kampung Economy After Urban Development
Programs
Kampung Beting
There are some new livelihood strategies that will inevitably develop along with urban growth. The
emergence of rooming houses, rented houses, laundry and ironing services, retailer kiosks, and the
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food stalls are examples of the livelihood strategies due to the urban development in Indonesia.
However, in this kampung there are two more reasons for a new informal livelihood strategy
development. First, due to the Kampung Beting coexist life with the river and the evolving river-based
tourism as the impact of the New Town Incubation scheme and the new informal livelihood strategy
to accommodate the illicit business within kampung.
In this part we will discuss the emergence of informal business due to urban development program
consist of the sightseeing boat, floating food stalls on the boat, and tambang for Kapuas River
tourism. First, the sightseeing boat is the double deck boat that can carry up to 100-200 passengers
from alun-alun or the city plaza down to Kapuas I Bridge. Not only touring, this boat also sells food
and beverage. Each passenger will pay Rp15,000 fees for 30 minutes tour. This boat can also be
rented for Rp800,000/hour. This is one of the capitals and labor-intensive business. The fully operate
and furnished with kitchen sightseeing boat enquires Rp200,000,000 funds and at least 5 workers (1
boat driver, 2 crew, and 2 cooks). There is a route right issued by the sightseeing boat community
by Kampung Beting for initially the Kampung Beting dwellers. The route right’s maximum cap is 8
boats. The route right can be sold – even to the outsiders – for Rp100,000,000/route. This route is
an ordinal route. Depend on the weather and visitors, the boat that can operate in a day is zero to
four boats.

Figure 8 Touring boat with passengers

Figure 9 Touring boat docking in concrete promenade
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Second, the city government bans the food stalls in the city plaza, but the visitors still looking for a
light bite. Hence, Kampung Beting’s people are making floating food stalls on the boat to
accommodate this demand. These food stalls are the make-shift food kiosks that build on the old
speed boat that does not have the motor anymore. This business requires around Rp10,000,000 –
15,000,000 of fund per fully furnish floating food boat. They sell food and beverages that can be
carried and cook on the boat, including grilled sausages, fried rice, grilled fish cake, and more. There
are 13 floating food stalls operating in the City Hall. This business also exclusive to Kampung Beting,
though there are three boats that coming from non-Beting community; but they are accepted by the
Beting communities. The permission to trade is in accordance with space availability in the city hall,
right now this place can accommodate 13 boats.

Figure 10 Floating food stalls
Lastly, tambang is one of the versatile, mobile, and organized informal livelihood strategies in Beting.
Besides carry the passenger to cross from the dock in the kampung to the dock in the downtown
market, the tambang boat could carry the tourist for sightseeing or carry the floating food kiosks that
do not have the motor to move. The charge for crossing the river is Rp2,000/passenger, Kapuas
River tour is Rp50,000 – 100,000/tour, and transporting food stalls is Rp20,000/food stall. Each
penambang could carry 5 people per trip and have 10 trips per day. The tour for tourist is done
occasionally like a sudden bonus for the penambang. Meanwhile, transporting food stalls is depend
on their closeness to food stall owner, so the food stall owners have their preference on who the
penambang that can carry them. The income is relative for penambang. The daily take-home pay for
penambang could range from Rp100,000 – 200,000. Penambang is exclusive to Kampung Beting
dwellers. They also have route permission that can be owned by few.
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Figure 11 Penambang transport floating food stall

Though our study does not focus on illicit business - because the informal sector is a licit business-,
but we could not put aside the role of illicit business for people’s livelihood. There is an
interdependence relation between informal and illicit business in Kampung Beting, hence the
mushrooming informal business in the internal kampung. Kampung Beting is not only crowded by
the population that lives in the kampung, but it is also crowded for drugs and gambling visitors, which
both activities are illegal in Indonesia. Sure, there are some visitors who come to play kite or fish, but
they are not a big spender in the kampung. The visitors and worker for illicit business need informal
businesses to sustain their activities. They need food stalls and retailer kiosks for food, beverage,
and cigarettes supply; motorcycle parking services for visitors; tambang to transport kampung
resident, drugs user, and gamblers; rooming houses and rented houses for the kampung resident or
illicit business/activities. Many people that we interviewed said that there is a lot of growing number,
wealth, and followed by competitions in Kampung Beting’s informal business.
The informal businesses that enjoy socio-economic mobility are the retailers, the food stalls, the
parking men, the penambangs. Depends on the size and location of the business, but even for the
small stores, each household can earn more than 2019 city’s minimum wage of the city,
Rp2,318,000. It becomes the family business that requires an entire family member to participate in.
It can finance the entire family life, afford them the lifestyle that they desire, and accumulating new
assets (including house, motorcycle, car, jewelry, gold, or cell phone). The retailer kiosks could spend
around Rp10,000,000 – 15,000,000/week for their goods, the food stalls could earn gross income
around Rp300,000 – 500,000/day, and the penambang could earn Rp200,000/day. Their income is
better than open up business in the commercial area downtown or working as labors in the city with
daily wage around Rp150,000. The informal economy that supports the illicit economy has an
unwritten system of sharing of business and income opportunity. Because the illicit business is never
sleeping and has no holiday, the informal business has to open for 24 hours with morning and night
shift for business or the individual informal workforce. This system applies to the food stall business,
parking man, retail kiosk’s workers, or penambang.
The rented rooms or houses are available to provide cheaper housing supply in the city. They provide
daily rooming houses for Rp30,000/day or rented house for around Rp500,000 – 5,000,000/month.
This spaces usually occupied by the low-wage labors, such as fisherman or port labor. Recently,
there is a growing number of the college student that need cheap accommodation. Nevertheless,
there is a competition between space for cheap accommodation versus illicit business. Some
kampung dwellers rented or sell their land and house and live somewhere more inhabitable/family
friendly for them. It comes to a realization that this is more than an urban kampung, it is a space for
business with a façade home-based business inside of an urban kampung.
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Through the promenade and settlement investment in Kampung Beting is the most expensive from
all over riverside Kampung, the magnitude of illicit business as kampung’s economic driver is bigger
than the licit business. Off course, this is a two-way phenomenon. One, the territorial stigma that
places upon Kampung Beting also make the non-illicit visitors are hesitant to visit this kampung.
Kampung Beting has the least visitors from all riversides promenade in Pontianak. Two, the
kampungs community does not have the urge to orientate their business to the licit visitors, because
their costumer from illicit visitors are resourceful and abundant. The former resident’s businesses are
located in this kampung because it profits, even if they resettle outside Kampung Beting. The urban
development programs of this Kampung only make the illegal, informal, and kampung lives have
better access and pleasantly looking; but not turning them into the desirable tourism strategic area –
no matter how intriguing the kampung’s history.
Kampung Luar
Kampung Luar has new livelihood strategy due to urban development. It is a normal view in the
kampung to use different livelihood strategies, such as retailer kiosks, rented houses, and rooming
houses to fill the urban dwellers need for an in-the-neighborhood provider of consumer goods and
cheap housing scheme. Since the government-led development concrete promenade development
that offers both views of Kampung Luar and Kapuas River, this kampung responded by developing
a new livelihood strategy to accommodate upcoming tourism economy. The area that used to be a
residential area that supply labors shift to tourists’ services economy in the way that they are familiar
with. The emerging informal businesses are the food stalls, retail kiosks, tambang for river tour, visitor
parking services, and food makers (that does not have a store but sell it in the food stalls or the retail
kiosks). Except for the retail kiosks that open all day and night, the rest of burgeoning informal
businesses are operating or most busy during the tourist visit time, in the afternoon until midnight.

Figure 12 Penambang taking tourists around Kapuas River
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Figure 13 The Retailing kiosk on Kampung Luar’s Riverside
One of the developing informal economies is the food stalls because many visitors want to enjoy
food and beverages with the riverside view. These are the business that usually owned by women
and employs some female’s family member for cooking or washing dishes. The most successful food
stalls could earn gross income around Rp1,000,000 – 2,000,000/day with the fund around Rp200,000
– 500,000/two or three days. Even on a rainy day, they still can earn around Rp300,000 –
500,000/day. The less crowded food stalls could earn gross income around Rp200,000 –
300,000/day with the cooking ingredients capital around Rp350,000/two or three days.

Figure 14 The food stalls from the terrace occupying the promenade
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Figure 15 Food stalls occupying terrace
Gender Division in Informal Sector Development
There is an increase in female role in creating and participating in Informal business. They actively
contribute to the process of the household’s socio-economic mobilization. The business that requires
female participation such as the retailing kiosk, floating food stalls, sightseeing boat, and food stalls.
First, the retailing kiosks is a family business and done by the whole family member. There are a
clear role and time division. The male is usually responsible to purchase and transport goods supply
from the market during the day. The female is responsible for sales during the morning to afternoon
shifts and the male responsible for sales during the night to dawn. Second, the floating food stalls
usually own by one household who took the turn to cook and sale. But, during high season one food
stall could carry two family members (husband and wife) on the boat for business. Third, the
sightseeing boat requires at least 3 males and 2 females. One male will be responsible as a captain,
two males will be responsible as a ship crew, and two females usually working bank in the kitchen.
In Kampung Luar and Kampung Beting, food stalls from the terraces are owned by females who is
due to domestic experiences able to cook. The women’s entrepreneurial spirit in the kampung is the
driving factor to the development of kampung informal economy.
Figure 16 The lady sells a satay in the make-shift floor between gertak kayu and gertak Beton, Kampung Luar
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Informal Livelihood Strategies Uncertainty and Discontinuity
The informal economy that urban kampung community from Kampung Beting and Kampung Luar
hinge upon prone to business uncertainty and discontinuity. First, there is income uncertainty. The
tourism based-livelihood in the riverside is depended on the weather, sunny or rainy. Second,
insecurity of river-based livelihood. The tourism boat, food stalls boat, and the tambang boat have
the risk of drowning in Kapuas River. When this boat drowns, the substantial investment that people
invested in is drowning with it. There is no presence that the tourism boat ever drowns, but the food
stalls and tambang are frequent during big waves. Third, discontinuity of the business due to illicit
business discontinuity in Kampung Beting. As we know, narcotics and gambling are illicit in
Indonesia. There is the non-productive time when illicit business is on the police’s raid time. If one
day, this illicit network is able to be stopped, then the informal economy that the locals depend on
could not sustain their business.
4. CONCLUSION
The government-led urban development programs that dedicated to urban kampung on the riverside
might result in the large-scale urban promenade infrastructure, communal domestic waste treatment,
concrete boardwalk structure in and out of Kampung, and many physical developments targeted in
this area. These multi-year developments programs are neither cheap nor simply for physical
development. It is aimed for revitalizing river life by making it the front-face and tourism strategic
area of the city. Kampung Beting, Masjid Jamik, and Kadriah Palace are the epicenter for this
upcoming transformation. In contrast, Kampung Luar not receiving that much of investment and
dedication through in the adjacent area. Kampung Beting, the epicenter of tourism attraction, is one
with the least positive impact on the socio-economic changes. Kampung Beting might issue new
livelihood strategies, such as tourist boat, floating food stalls, tambang for tourist and to transport
food stalls. However, the informal business needs to detach the location identity of Kampung Beting,
thus locate in the city plaza across the river. The other informal businesses within Kampung Beting
are growing to support illicit business. Unlike Kampung Luar, the community lives nearby the
promenade develop new tourist-oriented informal culinary and retailing business. We suppose that
the tourist-oriented informal economy is more successful due to less territorial stigmatization on
Kampung Luar than Kampung Beting; and also, the inclination from Kampung Luar informal business
to respond to tourist than Kampung Beting that incline to illicit business visitors. Though, we must
say that the socio-economic mobility in Kampung Beting is more frequent than in Kampung Luar due
to the higher number of illicit business visitors than the licit visitors. We also found the importance of
female role in the informal business in both Kampung. They might be the main factor for informal
business development.
The findings make us questioned the marginality and poverty of Kampung Beting and yet the decision
for numerous past and upcoming investments. We found that Kampung Beting dwellers are obtaining
higher income than the majority of urban dwellers. They, if we must argue, are not poor. The
Kampung Beting current and formal dwellers also monopolizing the strategic river-based and
informal business within kampung. It is in contrast with Kampung Luar as the poor and marginalized
urban community that used to have minimum access to urban resources to improve their livelihood.
Through tourism, they have a better opportunity to the home-based informal livelihood strategy that
can mobilize their socio-economic conditions. We need to keep in mind that the urban kampung
informal business is also prone to uncertainty, insecurity, and discontinuity. For the tourist-based
informal economy, the income is uncertain on the rainy day and number of tourists which fluctuate.
Meanwhile, the illicit-supporting informal economy’s income is uncertain under police raid moment
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and has the adverse threat of illicit business discontinuity that will affect the whole kampung
economy.
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors thank National Geographic for the financial support for this research through Early
Career Researcher Grants Scheme. The authors also thank our field research assistant, Siti Asri
Heriyani Pertiwi, who helps us during data gathering process.
6. REFERENCES
[1] Friedmann, J. (1992), Empowerment: the politics of alternative development. Blackwell.
[2] Gershuny, J. I. (1979), Its role in post-industrial society. The Informal Economy, 14.
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[4] Minnery, J., Storey, D., & Setyono, J. (2012). Lost in translation? Comparing planning
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[5] Roy, A. (2005). Urban informality: toward an epistemology of planning. Journal of the American
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[6] Roy, A. (2009). Why India cannot plan its cities: Informality, insurgence and the idiom of
urbanization. Planning Theory, 8(1), (Pp. 76–87).
[7] Roy, A. (2012). Urban informality: the production of space and practice of planning. The Oxford
Handbook of Urban Planning. Oxford University Press, Oxford, (Pp. 691–705).
[8] Tunas, D. (2008), The spatial economy in the urban informal settlement. Internation Forum on
Urbanism.
[9] Warburton, E. (2016), Jokowi and the new developmentalism. Bulletin of Indonesian Economic
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[10] Widjaja, G. P. (2013), Kampung-kota Bandung. Graha Ilmu.
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PEOPLE-CENTRED PERSPECTIVES ON RESILIENCE:
A STORY OF URBAN KAMPUNG IN SURABAYA, INDONESIA.
1 2 3 4
Shirleyana , Scott Hawken , Riza Yosia Sunindijo , David Sanderson
1,2,3,4
UNSW Sydney
Faculty of Built Environment, Red Centre West Wing, UNSW Sydney, 2052
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Over the last decades, urban resilience has been high on the urban development research agenda. These
research efforts have yielded various resilience frameworks and assessment tools. Resilience is a broad
concept and needs contextualising. This research takes a people-centred approach, to understand what
resilience actually means to people, particularly low-income people. The research takes the position that
everyday risks and micro-economic phenomena have a disproportionate significance on the lives and
wellbeing of urban populations. These have not been well considered in research on resilience which tends to
relate the concept of resilience with disaster management. This paper seeks to address this imbalance by
focusing on resilience towards everyday risks as determined by local populations themselves. The research
uses the case study of urban populations living in Southeast Asia, a region with vigorous economic
development and rapid urbanisation. This paper aims to ascertain the meaning of resilience from the
perspectives of people living in urban kampung in Surabaya, Indonesia. Within Surabaya most people live in
kampung which are the main urban settlement type in Indonesia. These urban villages play an important role
in structuring the city and housing the majority of Surabaya’s population. Transect walks and 28 interviews
with community leaders and community members in kampung are used to capture how urban communities
manage daily challenges and build resilience. This detailed, bottom-up perspective provides insight into the
underlying socio-economic systems that exists in kampung. Findings such as the most important risk, the
resilience factors and the applied local resilience framework from the perspectives of people are important that
recommendations to build resilience for a dynamic and uncertain future can be made and implemented.
Keywords: Bottom-Up, Kampung, Low Income, Surabaya, Urban Resilience.
1. INTRODUCTION
Over the last decades, urban resilience has been high on the urban development research agenda.
These research efforts have yielded various resilience frameworks and assessment tools. They
were developed based on indicators deemed as suitable to measure resilience by national and
local organisations, international donor organisations and academic researchers (Sharifi, 2016).
Resilience is a broad concept and needs to be contextualised. There is a need for more innovative
and equitable approaches to understand resilience in the context of informal urbanism considering
that much of the current analysis is towards Euro-American planning perspectives (Jones, 2017).
The concept of resilience also tends to be related with big disaster events. Many scholars study
resilience in relation to naturally-triggered disaster such as flooding (Hellman, 2015; Sitko, 2016;
Wilhelm, 2011), earthquake (Bruneau et al., 2003; Renschler, Frazier, Arendt, & Cimellaro, G. P.,
Reinhorn, A. M., & Bruneau, 2010) and other large scale disasters (Arbon, Steenkamp, Cornell,
Cusack, & Gebbie, 2016; Cutter et al., 2008; Djalante & Thomalla, 2011). It is apparent that the
focus of current research is geared towards large scale disasters as usually the impact of these
events is extremely large. However, discussion on daily risks faced by local residents is rare, even
though they may be more significant for the residents given the frequency of occurrence and
relevance of these daily risks (Ziervogel et al., 2017). They happen more frequently and can have
chronic manifestations that impact on household and communities and result in economic loss,
social disruption and even death (Shrestha & Gaillard, 2013). Focusing on holistic urban setting
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risks is highlighted as critical rather than focusing on one single risk (Flower, Fortnam, Kol, Sasin,
& Wood, 2018). As such, this study focuses on daily risks that may affect households like financial
loss, theft, housing damage, injury, and also community as a whole such as flooding, fire, drugs,
crime, and disease outbreak.
For many, a key question in resilience to ask is, ‘to what’ and ‘for whom’, and ‘whose resilience to
care about’ (Vale, 2014). People-centred resilience attempts to answer the needs to understand
what resilience means for people. The bottom-up perspective has been recognised as more
practical (Hamdi, 2004), provides various benefits to communities (Sharifi, 2016), and reflects local
specific risks and perspectives (Flower et al., 2018; Kwok, Paton, Becker, Hudson-Doyle, &
Johnston, 2018). In fact, informal urbanism in Southeast Asia is a demonstration of bottom up
incremental approach in searching for affordable housing provision (Hawken, 2017). However, the
bottom-up perspective needs to be integrated as the top-down approach dominates the resilience
discourse (Kwok et al., 2018; Sharifi, 2016). The need to understand problems on the ground leads
to a bottom-up approach which has been seen as the work in practice (Hamdi, 2004). Therefore, it
is important to use a perspective derived from bottom-up or people’s perspectives, particularly low-
income people, who is the most vulnerable group. These vulnerable groups are most affected and
have lack of access to means of protection and exposed to socio-economic-environmental risks
(Hellman, 2015; Shrestha & Gaillard, 2013). Focusing on vulnerable people is important in
developing urban resilience because these vulnerable people develop resilient properties as a part
of an urban system. A resilient city is both a process and an unfinished product (Vale, 2014), the
need to response to changes is therefore the call for resilience.
“human-dominated social systems are different from ecological systems because of these
three things: they rely on the power of human stories, depend on the human capacity to
invent powerful symbols to guide action, and rise or fall in accordance with the human
ability to exercise political power” (Vale, 2014, p. 200).
Based on these reasons, this paper aims to reveal the meaning of community resilience in
Surabaya’s Kampung (urban traditional settlement) from people-centred approach. Kampung is the
main urban settlement type in Indonesia. This type of vernacular urbanism was also existed in
some countries of Southeast Asia like Singapore and Malaysia. An urban kampung in Surabaya,
one of the emerging megacities in Indonesia that is experiencing vast economic development and
rapid urbanisation, is the case study used in this research. In Surabaya, kampung covers more
than 60 percent area of the city and plays important role in the structure and the history of the city.
These urban villages play an important role in structuring the city and housing the majority of
Surabaya’s population. The housing conditions are also mixed as the kampung inhabitants range
from low to middle-income family. Previous literature (Shirleyana, Hawken, & Sunindijo, 2018) has
identified a local resilience framework for urban kampung: (1) social ties, (2) adaptation, (3)
community initiatives, (4) place attachment, (5) place identity, (6) security, (7) economic stability,
(8) environmental protection, (9) government support. To further understand communities’
perspectives of the risks and resilience within a local setting, this study adopts a people-centred
approach, which relies on people’s stories in developing resilience capacities. The next section of
this paper explains the methods employed to answer the objectives of the study. Following this, the
results of the investigation are discussed in the form of the dimensions of risks and resilience
based on people’s perspectives. This paper concludes with coping mechanism levels created in an
urban kampung setting’s practice: household level, neighbourhood level, and institutional level and
the applied local resilience framework.
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2. METHODOLOGY
The study was conducted to investigate how urban communities manage daily challenges and
build resilience. The study area is located in the inner-city location of Surabaya, in Kampung
Lawang Seketeng in Peneleh District. The kampung is mainly inhabited by low-income people and
exposed to different type of risks, including physical, social, economic, environmental risks. The
area has a strong historical value in the city and a part of urban kampung which is preserved by
the Municipality.
To obtain in depth information for the study, a number of research approaches were employed,
with findings triangulated. The field work for this paper was undertaken in March and April 2019.
Transect walk and interviews were employed. “A transect walk is an observatory walk to make the
profile of any given area or path” (Lassa et al., 2011, p. 63). The purpose is to get information
needed while walking across a certain section or path in the case study. Transect walk was done
in kampung alleyways during various time in weekdays and weekend. The observation was
looking at physical characteristics, social economic activities, visible risk and capacities of
kampung. Transect walk helps to observe an environment thoroughly based on specific criteria,
such as daily activities, physical attributes (alleyways, facilities), social economic attributes, visible
risks and capacities.
Interviews were conducted with 28 participants (Table 1), 19 women and 9 men. Of these, 7 were
community leaders (RW and RT leaders). The participants were selected using snowball sampling
method. The interviews used an interview guide which is intended to find out people’s perspectives
of what is important for them to stay in kampung and what makes them resilience. Participants
were asked how long they had lived in the kampung, things they like or dislike, and changes they
would like to see. The findings were coded and categorised to identify resilience frameworks
based on people’s perspectives. First, the interviewees’ responses were coded based on the
content. Second, the responses were group into themes. Then, the themes were reviewed based
on the responses and checked whether they fit in the developed local resilience frameworks
(Shirleyana et al., 2018). For the purpose of triangulation, additional interviews with 2 community
leaders were conducted to clarify social network in the kampung and the transect result.
Table 1. Interviewees profile in Lawang Seketeng

Length of
No. Code Position Gender Age Origin
Stay (years)
1 LWS I-IMS Comm. leader M >55 28 Outside Surabaya
2 LWSI-MH Resident M >55 59 Lawang Seketeng
3 LWS I-AW Resident M 35-44 17 Lawang Seketeng
4 LWS II-JSM Resident F >55 5 Others in Surabaya
5 LWS II-TH Resident F 45-54 50 Lawang Seketeng
6 LWS II-WN Comm. leader M 45-54 45 Lawang Seketeng
7 LWS IV-LN Comm. leader F 35-44 44 Lawang Seketeng
8 LWS IV-SF Resident F >55 28 Others in Surabaya
9 LWS VI-AL Comm. leader F >55 60 Lawang Seketeng
10 LWS III- NH Resident F >55 50 Others in Surabaya
11 LWS II-DP Comm. leader M 45-54 52 Lawang Seketeng
12 LWS III-AH Resident M 35-44 1 Outside Surabaya
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Length of
No. Code Position Gender Age Origin
Stay (years)
13 LWS VI-IR Resident F 25-34 32 Lawang Seketeng
14 LWS V-SY Comm. leader M 45-54 54 Lawang Seketeng
15 LWS V- WW Resident F 35-44 5 Others in Surabaya
16 LWS V-AH Resident M 35-44 3 Others in Surabaya
17 LWS V-ER Resident F >55 33 Others in Surabaya
18 LWS V-KS Resident F >55 8 Others in Surabaya
19 LWS V-HM Resident F >55 30 Others in Surabaya
20 LWS II-RT Resident F >55 20 Others in Surabaya
21 LWS V-EN Resident F 35-44 5 Lawang Seketeng
22 LWS IV-WD Resident F 45-54 9 Others in Surabaya
23 LWS I-DN Comm. leader M 45-54 31 Lawang Seketeng
24 LWS III-MN Resident M 35-44 3 Outside Surabaya
25 LWS III-PMH Resident F >55 10 Others in Surabaya
26 LWS IV-JL Resident F 45-54 48 Lawang Seketeng
27 LWS II-AS Resident F 18-24 2 Outside Surabaya
28 LWS III-SR Resident F >55 10 Others in Surabaya
The following sections present the case study area, dimensions of risks and resilience, and
discuss the risks and resilience from people’s perspectives.

Case Study: Lawang Seketeng, an inner-city kampung in Surabaya
Lawang Seketeng is located in Peneleh District (Kelurahan Peneleh), which is under Genteng
Subdistrict (Kecamatan Genteng) in Surabaya. It has a strong historical value in the development
of the city. During 1800s, the area was a cemetery area before being developed into a settlement
(Interview with community leaders). This urban kampung comprises 350 households in the
registry, but in reality, there are only 150 households reside in the kampung. This inner-city
kampung is located behind a secondary street (Peneleh Street) which is located next to the
Kalimas River. Kalimas was very important waterway for transportation and trading in the city’s
history. Many expeditions and export import companies are still operating on the street in front of
the kampung. The rest are hotels, small snack shops and old buildings. Behind this commercial
area is the kampung Lawang Seketeng, which comprises 6 neighbourhoods (‘Rukun Tetangga’ or
1
Resident Associations). It has six main kampung alleyways, gg I to VI. Next to kampung Lawang
Seketeng are kampung Pandean (South), Kampung Grogol (East), and Kampung Jagalan (North)
(Figure 1).
The observation was carried out in all 6 alleyways in the kampung Lawang Seketeng. Lawang
Seketeng gg I and IV connects the Peneleh Street and kampung Pandean gg V. Lawang Seketeng
gg I and IV are also the access to go to Lawang Seketeng gg VI from the street or from the back of
the kampung. Lawang Seketeng gg VI is also accessible from gg II, III, and IV. In between these
alleyways, there are smaller alleys which connect one kampung alleyway to the other. For
example, there are connecting alley from gg I to gg II, gg II to gg III, and gg IV to gg V. The small
alleys in kampung serve as connecting spaces, which make kampung similar to a giant maze,

1
gg – read as gang, is a name for small alleyways in the kampung, such as gang 1, gang 2, etc.
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especially to those who are not familiar with the area.
Figure 1. Map of the case study: Lawang Seketeng

Source: Modified from Google Earth image, 2019
Alleyways in the kampung range from 2.5 to 4 meters. These alleyways can serve many functions,
such as motorcycle parking, food stalls, sitting benches for chatting with neighbours, playing
spaces for children, hanging laundry, and in some parts of kampung, for doing household activities
like cooking and washing. Kampung alleyways are busy in the morning at around 8 am and in the
afternoon at 4 to 6 pm. During daytime, when some residents taking a nap, kampung tends to be
quiet. However, in Lawang Seketeng gg VI, the alleyway seems to be frequently busy. There are
always residents who stay outside, mingling with their neighbours or doing household activities.
Kampung gate is placed in gg I to V which are accessible from the main street, but not from the
back (from Kampung Pandean). From Kampung Pandean, only Lawang Seketeng gg I is
accessible through another gate. In gg V, there are gates which separate Lawang Seketeng with
kampung Grogol. These kampung gates were placed to increase kampung security from theft,
drugs, and gambling (Interview LWS IV-LN). Several houses open warung or kiosk in their house.
In gg VI, almost along the alleyway there are warung, food stalls, or a small table set up by
residents to sell food. Public toilet (‘ponten’) in kampung is also located in gg VI, and used by
those who rented rooms in boarding house (‘rumah kosan’) next to the public toilet.
Since the area was a cemetery before being developed into an urban settlement, there are still
some tombs left in the kampung. These tombs exist in gg III, VI, connecting alleys from gg IV to gg
V, and inside a house in gg II. Kampung dwellers maintain these tombs and conduct religious
ceremonies before the tombs in gg III and gg VI to receive blessings (‘slametan’).
From the transect walks, an urban kampung has specific characteristics and differences even
within the same kampung area (inter kampung). Among the six neighbourhoods, there are different
characteristics as follows (Table 1, Figure 2):
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Table 2. Six neighbourhoods in RW XV Lawang Seketeng
Neighbourhood Description
RT 1 (gg I) The largest numbers of residents (households) in the kampung neighbourhood.
The back of alleyways is livelier because warung/shops/kiosks are available.
Many residents had been staying for years in the kampung. Some of the
residents are relatives.
RT 2 (gg II) Many residents are old (aged 60-70 years old). There are only ± 20 houses, and
some houses have more than 1 household. For example, one house
accommodates 5 households, but only 3 households live inside, the other 2
households do not actually live in the kampung.
There are few residents, but they still have a monthly women group meeting
every month (‘arisan’). Some of the residents are newcomers (from riverbank).
The boarding houses where these residents stay are considered as a slum area
by other kampung members because they hang their laundry in vacant houses.
RT 3 (gg III) The smallest total household number in the kampung. Residents are passive.
Many residents are old people. Some local residents have left the
neighbourhood.
RT 4 (gg IV) The most active kampung in terms of community activities, but the alleyways
are quiet. RT leader actively supports and initiates activities for kampung
members and brought RT 4 into the green and clean competition and also win
MDS (‘Merdeka Dari Sampah’/ Free from Garbage) Award. There is a waste
bank to recycle kampung households’ waste.
RT 5 (gg V) The longest alleyways in the kampung neighbourhood. Towards the end of
alleyways, there are more children, making the place lively. There is no women
group meeting, no monthly meeting, no community activities except for
Independence Day celebration. RT leader serves as administrative purpose
only. Many of the residents are old residents (had been staying in the kampung
for years).
RT 6 (gg VI) The liveliest alleyways in the kampung. Residents mingling with neighbours on
terraces, doing households’ activities outside their houses, such as washing,
cooking, or just sitting around. This neighbourhood has the poorest housing
condition in the kampung. The majority of the residents are low income people.
Many are Maduraneses and relatives. This area is spotted as slum by other
kampung members, because they hang laundry, cooking and washing outside
their houses. Some food stalls are placed outside the houses.
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Figure 2. Six neighbourhoods in Kampung Lawang Seketeng
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Dimensions of Risks: What do kampung dwellers perceive as risks living in the kampung?
There are several risks identified in kampung, which affects individual households and the
community as a whole. When given the list of what could be the most important risks, terrorist
attack was mentioned by some kampung residents. This factor seems to be a result of terrorist
bombing which happened in the city in May 2018. Residents are terrified because it is easy for a
newcomer to enter the kampung area and then rent a room in a boarding house (‘rumah kosan’).
RT leaders in the kampung area has increased the security in kampung by giving instruction for
new people to report and provide ID when entering kampung (Interview with community leader RT
01,03,05).
Although kampung does not experience much flooding, it seems that flooding is also common in
the city and perceived as an important risk in the kampung. Some kampung dwellers perceived
flooding to be a risk that will affect their daily activities. Flooding happens in the kampung when it
rains for an extended period of time. The drainage level was not well designed to let the rainwater
flow.
“I experience flooding, but not too much like in television… Even though it rains hard, after
30 mins it will drain fast. If the city is flooded, kampung will be flooded. But if only some
parts of the city are flooded, it won’t be flooding here.” (LWS-IV-SF)
Crime is also perceived as an important risk in the kampung. Kampung dwellers reported crime
cases like motorcycle being stolen or mugging. Many motorcycles are parked outside the kampung
houses. Bag theft also happened especially near Hari Raya time. Crime acts are mostly happened
during daytime since it is the time where many kampung dwellers are not outside and the area is
quiet.
Diseases outbreak was mentioned as another possible risk. This was related to what happened in
the kampung recently, in which three kampung dwellers got Dengue fever.
Other risks in the kampung involved fire, drugs, lack of money, conflict with neighbours, housing
damage, and earthquake. In the case of drugs, some residents argued that there are no more
drugs in the kampung. The drug users and dealers have been caught (LWS-II-RT). Others still
believed that drug users still exist in the kampung (LWS-VI-IR).
Dimensions of Resilience: Why kampung dwellers like and choose to stay in the kampung?
Many residents, who have been staying there for years, were born in the kampung. Some of them
stay for more than 40 years. They were born and grew up in kampung and stayed for years
because they enjoyed living in the kampung. Most of the residents who are newcomers stay there
because they followed their relatives. For example, they moved to the kampung after married,
following their husband (LWS-IV-SF, LWS-V-HM), wife, or following their parents (LWS II-TH) or
children who stay in the kampung (LWS V-KS). Some of these newcomers also stay in the
kampung because they sold their previous house and then stay in the house which are owned by
their relatives (LWS-II-JSM, LWS-IV-WD, LWS-V-AH). Having relatives in the kampung might
attract newcomers to live in kampung (LWS III-AH).
Other reasons that may attract people to stay in kampung are from kampung characteristics,
particularly its environment and its central location. First, they chose kampung because of its
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environment (free from flood, safe, quiet, good neighbours). Second, they chose kampung
because kampung is located in the inner city. Therefore, it is easy for them to access various
facilities, including markets, shopping centres, education facilities, and hospitals.
“Since my marriage, I like to stay here. My children asked me to move out, but I like to stay
here. This kampung is safe. My neighbours, Chinese, are nice.” (LWS-V-HM)
The majority of kampung dwellers like to stay in the kampung. One of the main parts that the
kampung dwellers like about their kampung is their neighbours. They like their neighbours
because they are friendly and can help if something happens. When they leave the houses, they
trust that their neighbours will take care of their houses.
“If there is anything happened, neighbours are the first to know. We asked neighbours to
take care of our houses every time we want to go.” (LWS-IV-LN)
Kampung is also perceived as a safe place, having no thieves and no riots. Although in some
interviews there are some cases of theft in the kampung (LWS-I-MH), kampung dwellers did not
take it seriously. It is normal especially near Hari Raya (Eid Mubarak) celebration.
Strong togetherness or harmony (‘guyub’ or ‘rukun’) in the kampung also makes people like to stay
in kampung. They believe that kampung members will always help each other when seeing their
neighbours in trouble.
“Communal work is common in the kampung, when there is a deceased kampung

member, it will be announced through musholla, and all will come.” (LWS-VI-AL)
Other factors that they like about the kampung are free from flooding, the environment and
greeneries in kampung, and the community leader.
As neighbours have a high influence on people in kampung, few residents do not like to stay in the
kampung because of the conflict they had with neighbours (LWS-III-RT). Lack of cleanliness
because of dirty parts in kampung or because of animals are other aspects of kampung that they
do not like.
The way kampung dwellers view their kampung is influenced by the physical conditions of the
kampung. Most of them wanted changes in the kampung to improve the physical conditions, such
as improving cleanliness in the kampung, improving alleyways, adding facilities and greeneries,
and improving drainage.
Dimensions of Resilience: How do kampung dwellers cope with problems and build
resilience?
When talking about problems and daily risks, neighbours is the most important factor for kampung
dwellers to live within an urban kampung. They perceive good relationships with neighbours are
highly crucial to live in the kampung. Neighbours are people who they can ask for help, for
information, and the ones they can count on if something happens (LWS-V-WD).
However, kampung Lawang Seketeng also experiences problems with social ties in kampung.
Kampung is no longer like kampung used to be in old days. It is now quieter and difficult to find
residents mingling with their neighbours. The spread of technology may affect the way people
interacts in the kampung. Previously community meetings played an important role in social
interaction. Now the community uses Whats App group as a means of communication.
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“Before, we used to gather, so harmonious although there are many Chinese. Now, people
are getting old and not going out of the house.” (LWS-II-TH).
“When I was a kid, at 4pm we went to the mosque for ‘pengajian’, and then playing after
maghrib time. Now, only gg VI is still busy, because there are lots of kids. Here, many
children had grown up. Now, when kids are bored, they play with their mobile phones
instead.” (LWS-IV-LN).
The second most important factor for kampung dwellers is their income. Since the majority of them
are low-income people, livelihood is important.
Relatives in the kampung is also perceived as important. Most of the time, when kampung dwellers
face difficulties, they received help from their relatives.
Other supports, such as religious institution and government support are also important. For, those
who do not have formal income and live alone, these support means so much for them.
“It was good that the government provide KIP (Kartu Indonesia Pintar). I received IDR
500,000 per semester, which can be used to pay school needs for my daughter.” (LWS-II-
TH)
“Since my husband passed away, I receive 10kgs of rice every month from the church.
They know I live alone and they help me. RT leader also cuts my monthly fee into half.”
(LWS-III-PMH)
Supports from the community leader also make the residents feel that living in the kampung is
convenient. For instance, some new residents who came from the riverbank outside the kampung
feel safe because they are protected by the RT leader.
Education is also important for kampung dwellers to improve their living conditions. In addition,
there is one response who mentioned skills as necessary for everyone to have, especially when
having a low level of education.
“My father told me to have at least one additional skill, because I am only an elementary
school graduate. I learnt to sew and now who knows that my skill is useful. After my
husband passed away, I earn money from receiving order for sewing shirts.” (LWS-III-
PMH)
Another important factor to cope with problems in the kampung is security. Security in the
kampung include not being evicted, or asked to move out. This was the experience of two
residents in the kampung who were evicted from nearby kampung (Tambak Bayan). Previously,
they did not have a legal certificate for their house, but here in this kampung they finally have
ownership rights. Security here also means kampung is free from crime. When kampung dwellers
feel safe, they like to stay in the kampung.
Beyond Resilience: Understanding people’s perspectives and actual risks
Based on the story of kampung dwellers, there are several risks happening in the kampung (Table
2). The most prominent risks identified are social-related risks, such as terrorist attack, crime
(theft), drugs, and conflict with neighbours. The literature review (Putra, 2017; Shirleyana et al.,
2018) noted that physical risk is prominent, such as kampung may be evicted by urban
development in the city, lack of or limited open space. However, as explained by the kampung
dwellers in this research, social risk is perceived as the most crucial. They perceived social
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interaction with neighbours is important for them. Kampung as a traditional informal settlement
used to have high social ties. With the use of internet, the physical social interaction has
decreased. While kampung physically stays in the location, the communal spirit in kampung
gradually disappears. Hence kampung is no longer active like the traditional kampung. As a result,
crime rate is increasing. Some residents told a story about a motorcycle stolen in the kampung.
Until now, the only prevention taken by kampung dwellers are only to install the kampung gate,
which is closed at night until early morning. The problem is that crime tends to happen during
daytime where no one is around in kampung alleyways.
Kampung also suffers from environmental risks like flooding and disease outbreak. Flooding was
not perceived as something serious in the kampung, but it is still perceived as something that may
happen in the city. Disease outbreak like dengue fever is also one of the consequences of poor
living condition since the majority of kampung dwellers have low-income levels. For these people,
livelihood and financial matters are serious concerns. However, for those who have better
economic conditions in the kampung, cleanliness becomes their priority.
Table 3. Risks perceived by kampung residents

Physical Social Economic Environmental
Risks Risks Risks Risks
Housing damage Terrorist bomb Lack of money Flooding
Fire Crime (financial loss) Disease outbreak
Drugs Earthquake
Conflict with
neighbours
However, the risks perceived by kampung residents may not reflect the actual risks as “the
perception of risks is often relative and subjective” (Hamdi, 2004, p. 54). Most of the responses
were based on previous hardship experienced by the residents. The actual risks happen in the
kampung are related to kampung conditions. Most of the residents are low income people and
therefore struggle in managing their income with daily needs. Crime cases often happen in the
kampung and need preventions to be undertaken. Another type of actual risk is fire because of
housing density and it is difficult for a fire brigade to access kampung.
Despite all the risks experienced by kampung dwellers, they develop a system to be resilient to
daily risks (Table 3). Kampung dwellers are vulnerable to daily risks but they adapt to the kampung
where they live. They know that they do not have lots of money, but they use whatever means they
have to make a living. Although kampung situations have changed, many of kampung dwellers feel
attached because they were born in the kampung. Relatives are also found to be helpful for
kampung dwellers. A key support system outside the households and family is their neighbours.
Neighbours in the kampung will be the first to know if kampung members need help. Another
important source of support is the community leader, especially when they have difficulties like
having conflicts with their neighbours. Outside the community, religious institutions and the
government support kampung dwellers to fulfill basic needs and giving education to their children.
There are resilience themes developed based on the stories of kampung dwellers in the kampung:
(1) adaptation, (2) place attachment, (3) economic stability, (4) social ties, (5) community initiative,
(6) security, (7) environmental protection, (8) accessibility, and (9) institutional support. The most
important of these factors is the social ties, reflected as a good relationship with their neighbours.
Neighbours are the first support for the residents in the kampung, especially when they live far
from relatives. They are also a factor that support place attachment in the kampung. In supporting
economic stability, it is crucial that kampung dwellers are equipped with skills and economic
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generation opportunities. Accessibility factor actually shows that kampung is always related to the
city’s facilities. Kampung as a vernacular urbanism supplies labour, human resources and supports
local economies (Hawken, 2017). Despite all resilience adaptation efforts, support from the
Municipality is the one that make kampung resilient. Kampung is an important urban heritage of
the city. Although the traditional life in the kampung may change and adapt to the current
development, kampung is a part of the city’s structure and accommodates low-income people.
Therefore, the resilience policy needs to be strengthened in the city.
Table 4. Communities’ perspectives

Coping Resilience factors Responses from Interviewees
mechanism
level
Household - Adaptation “Like it or not I will just live with it.”
Family
Place attachment "I like to stay here. My children asked me to move out,
but I like to stay here. "
Economic stability “If only from this shop it is not enough, luckily I get
additional incomes from making snacks by order.”
Neighbours Social ties “If there is anything happened, neighbours are the first
to know. We asked neighbours to take care of our
houses every time we want to go.”
“In this kampung, neighbours are individual, at the front
part there are many Chinese, less Javanese. They just
say hello when they see each other. At the back part of
kampung there are Javanese and Maduranese.”
Community Community initiative "..there is no one who waters the plants. Always in this
leader area, only me. We are bored…We are also busy. If all
members contribute, it will be easier. I also want to
plant hydroponic like in my school. But when I want to
implement here, kampung members are ignorant
(‘cuek’). "
“Kampung alleyways used to be narrow, but because
drainage is now covered, alleyways are wider.
Ambulance can come in now.”
“No more PKK in this kampung... before the present
RT leader there was a PKK group.”
Kampung Security “Kampung gate was installed because there were
physical drugs and theft in kampung, especially approaching
attributes Ramadhan. They stole motorcycles. “
Environmental "I want kampung to be good…clean, especially with
protection more greeneries…"
Accessibility “We don’t know suddenly there are new renters.
Maybe because here is a central location. Easy to go
everywhere. Going to ITC is near, Blauran is near,
PGS also near, Siola is also close. If there are
parades, we just need to walk. Going to market is near,
Puskesmas is near. Everything is nearby.”
th
Religious Institutional Support “From pengajian, every 4 Friday, I receive 4kg of rice,
Institution 1kg of sugar, 1 litre of cooking oil, and fried noodle. If I
don’t get fried noodle and cooking oil then I get money
IDR 50,000.”
Government “The government provides lighting for kampung
alleyways.”
“Kampung also receives donation from the government
like sound system and tents.”
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4. CONCLUSION
The concept of resilience discourse to date has been largely directed towards big disaster events.
The discussions on daily risks are rare although they happen more frequently and have significant
impacts on households and communities. Further, many of the resilience measurements and tools
are developed from the top-down approach. This paper seeks to address this imbalance by
focusing on resilience towards everyday risks as determined by local populations themselves.
People-centred resilience attempts to understand unique perspectives of low-income people in an
urban environment on resilience.
Resilience is a process. The community develops a capacity as they learn to adapt with kampung
where they live. Neighbours in the kampung plays an important role. It is a must to maintain good
relationships with neighbours when living in such an urban kampung. The stronger the social ties,
the stronger the support system available inside kampung.
The risks perceived by kampung dwellers are based on the hardship they experience. These risks
may not reflect the actual risks are on the ground. While kampung is deemed as having social-
economic risks, in the urban development, kampung is not guaranteed to be untouched and still
prone to be replaced by large development projects, unless the government has put some
preventive measures.
Dimensions of resilience developed from peoples’ perspective in this paper include: (1) adaptation,
(2) place attachment, (3) economic stability, (4) social ties, (5) community initiative, (6) security, (7)
environmental protection, (8) accessibility, and (9) institutional support. Place identity is important,
but it is more of a result of resilience adaptation rather than a factor that promotes strength or
capacity to cope with risks that happen in the kampung.
A bottom-up approach is crucial in understanding problems on the ground, however, it does not
mean that a bottom-up approach can work alone. Therefore, further research efforts need to
integrate both top-down and bottom-up approaches to address urban resilience as a system.
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper is a part of a larger project in the first author’s doctoral study at Faculty of Built
Environment, UNSW Sydney. All the three co-authors have provided editorial and review
contributions.
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CROSS-BORDER URBAN GOVERNANCE AND THE INFORMAL MECHANISMS OF
SPACE PRODUCTION
THE ROLE OF NON-STATE ACTORS IN SINGAPORE-JOHOR-RIAU CROSS-BORDER
REGION (SIJORI)
1
Yassine Moustanjidi
1
University of Stuttgart, chair of international urbanism
ABSTRACT
This paper attempts to reconstruct the SIJORI Growth Triangle beyond the functionalist approach
which has long defined the region a mere economic integration project led by institutional
motivations. By adopting a social constructivist approach, this research tries track and depict the
hidden dimension of regionalism that stems from social interactions and the collective representation
of the region as a spatial, temporal, and cultural construct. Against this background, this research
takes the case study of Singapore-Johor-Riau Cross Border region in order to investigate the
mechanisms and processes of space production and urban governance that emerge in the absence
of a state-driven territorial project. By looking at the region not only as functional space, but also as
a socio-territorial unit equipped with a certain degree of strategic capacity (Perkmann 2003), the
research explores how non-state actors’ networks and alliances shape the socio-spatial geography
of the region, and what are the emerging spatial configurations that derive from the existing non-
state politics of regionalism. It also looks at whether the existing "informal" mechanisms could be the
basis of a territorial project of regional governance. The initial results of the research, which are
based on a previous investigative visit to the region, revealed a frustration on the institutional level
about the failure of SIJORI to achieve full integration due to the lack of trust and cooperation between
the three states. However, this frustration is hiding thriving non-state networks of exchange and
interconnections between different non-state actors. The agency of these actors and their interaction
across borders has clearly manifested itself in how they shape the regional space and how they
constantly reconstruct and negotiate the borders.
Keywords: Cross-border region, non-state actors, regional governance.
1. INTRODUCTION
The acceleration of the globalization of economic as well cultural exchanges has led to the
emergence of a new geography of capitalism, with a network of extended urban territories as its
assumed structural basis (Brenner 2016, Sohn 2014). Driven by regional and global geo-economic
forces, these emergent regional spaces tend to transcend the jurisdictional and territorially defined
borders (Soja 2015, Addie 2013). Indeed, the increasing permeability of political boundaries to the
thickening flows of goods, people and resources has pushed beyond the very notions of space,
place, scale and governance as we know them. Such has turned the process of regional urbanization
into an arena of continuous conflict, but also of wide opportunities for cooperation.
In this context, "the role and relevance of regions, regionalisations, and regionalisms has garnered
new interest" (Belina and Lehrer 2016), which does not only derive from a simple discourse on
territoriality, but also from an understanding of regionalization as a product of competing rationalities
and global assemblages (Keil et.al 2016).
This has been most relevant for the discourse on cross-border regionalism, where local and global
processes of economic/functional integration come strongly into play. Within this model of
regionalisation, actors engage actively and strategically to mobilise the borders as deferential benefit
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to generate value out of asymmetric cross-border interactions. Though functionally integrated from
an economic point of view, the emergent regional spaces are usually" riddled with inequalities and
fracture lines of a political as well as a social and economic nature" (Sohn 2014). It can be argued
that these urban pathologies are the manifestations of rising tensions between the unbounded and
networked nature of the region on the one hand, and on the other hand, the geographies of
governance that emerge from unbalanced politics of regionalism at this scale.
The impacts of these local-regional forces on the processes of space production, social and
demographic configuration, and human-environment interactions are clear and tangible. In the
perspective of elaborating regional schemes that mitigate growth externalities across borders, a full
understanding of the nested mechanisms of urban governance that recognize the role of different
actors in shaping and managing the territory is essential. While the national states could play a
leading role in the formulation of regional governance (Brenner 2004), we recognize that non-state-
driven urban governance is crucial if underexposed aspect of regionalism today (Jonas and Ward
2007, cited in Keil et al.2016).
The research is based on the hypothesis that despite the lack of a state-led cross-border governance
project, the socio-spatial development of the SIJORI-GT has been constantly shaped and influenced
by non-state networks of actors through informal processes of regional governance which go beyond
the mere functionalist model of SIJORI-GT.
In order to realize the objectives of the research, the study will be framed within the following research
questions:
1) How non-state actors and alliances shape the socio-spatial geography of the region?
2) what are the emerging urban governance mechanisms that derive from the existing non-state
politics of regionalism.
While the study adopts a regional approach to the topic of cross-border governance, the spatial focus
will be mainly on Riau Islands (Batam) and Johor (Malaysia) as they are the territories that faced the
most radical transformations since the inception of SIJORI-GT, and are manifesting the most
significant spatial transformations in the region.
2. METHODOLOGY
Based on the empirical research of transnational actors’ networks, this research taps into the
theoretical discourse on cross-border regionalism and social constructivism in order to investigate
the mechanisms through which non-state actors (seek to) shape and influence the socio-spatial
development of SIJORI-GT.
In order to elaborate an account of how actors’ dynamics and networks shape the geography of the
region, the research focuses on the empirical tracking of these networks by conducting interviews
and spatial mappings of study areas.
1_ Semi-structured interviews were used to identify the actors, how they operate, and the extent of
their impact. Local NGOs, investors coalitions, local communities, transnational religious groups
would be an entry point to the investigation. A snowball approach is adopted in order to track the
networks and follow the connections between different actors.
In July 2018, a two-month investigative visit to the region was conducted. This has allowed me to get
in touch with some informants and interview scholars, experts, and local planners in the three
countries.
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2_ Mapping of selected areas where local and trans-national dynamics come together to shape the
urban space. In order to contextualize these dynamics, the fieldwork will be conducted in Batam,
Singapore, and Johor, where specific sites will be identified as case studies for the research. This
part will be the subject of the next field research planned in July 2019.
Since 1989, the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore have been engaged in
promoting their transnational cooperation under a joint economic policy initiative, usually referred to
as SIJORI Triangle of Growth. This term, which refers to the city state of Singapore, the Province of
Johor (Malaysia), and the Province or Riau islands (Indonesia) "was coined to convey the potential
believed to be inherent in the synergistic interweaving of the comparative advantages of the three
nations"(McGee et al. 1996).
There were specific conditions that led to the identification of SIJORI GT. The economic restructuring
of Singapore's economy in the 1980s, which led to rising land and labour costs as well as an
appreciating currency, saw the reaching-out of the city-state to its neighbouring hinterland (Johor
and Riau islands) as "offshore" source of low-cost land, labour, and resources (Hutchinson and
Chong 2016).
Meanwhile, Malaysia and Indonesia, endowed with an abundance of land, resources and cheap
labour, were desperate to attract capital from Singapore to develop their industrial sectors. By
capitalizing on the aforementioned differences in factor endowment, good logistics, as well as their
geographical contiguity, the three limitrophes territories were indeed able to boost their economic
growth in a spectacular manner.
Within three decades of the GT inception, the provinces of Johor and Riau are now the fastest
growing regions in their respective countries, topping an annual growth rate that once reached up to
10% per annum. The structure of their economies has shifted from agro-industry and fishing to
manufacturing, leading to dramatic transformations in population dynamics due to the rise of in-
migration to these cities. The population of Riau has risen from a mere 75,000 in 1988 to almost two
million in 2017, while that of Johor grew by almost 60% between 1990 and 2015, reaching a
population of 3,5 million (Indonesia statistical year book 2016).
The emergence of the SIJORI Growth triangle as a cross-border region was an institutional product
driven the will of the three states to boost their economic performances through specific bilateral
arrangements (free trade zone). However, there is much more to this Triangle of Growth than just
comparative advantages and economic growth; this transnational policy intervention has had a
tremendous impact on the spatial and social structure of Johor and Riau, and has embedded the
region in an intensive globalization/regionalization process that continues to reshape the
geographies of the region as a whole.
Perhaps the clearest manifestation of these processes is the rapid and massive urbanization of
SIJORI, leading to the creation of a functional and spatial system where flows of people, goods,
capital and resources are thickening, and interdependencies among the three component territories
are getting increasingly intertwined.
What is witnessed in the region today is the emergence of an extended landscape of urbanization
that transcends the transnational borders of SIJORI, embedding multiscalar levels of
interdependencies and complexities, and dense routes of communication and infrastructure that
extend over land, air and sea.
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SIJORI from a social constructivist perspective
Growth triangle as a concept appeared in 1990s to refer to the phenomenon of intensive cross-border
economic interactions that were emerging in Asia. Tang and Thant (1994, p.2) define Growth triangle
as a "transnational economic zone spread over well-defined geographically proximate areas covering
three or more countries where differences in factor endowments are exploited to promote external
trade and investment". The enthusiasm was apparent among many works that saw in Growth
Triangles the crystallization of a borderless world where political boundaries become obsolete.
Ohmae wrote about the rise of "region states" as natural economic territories that, due to their strong
linkages to the global economy and their ability to transcend national boundaries, become more
viable than national-states (Othmae 1993, Hutchison et al. 2016).
Adopting a primarily functional and economic perspective, a bulk of this work concerned itself
primarily with the Northeast Asian context (Southern China Growth triangle, the Yellow Sea
Economic Zone, East ASEAN Growth Triangle) (Chen and Kwan 1997; Thambipillai 1998, cited in
Hutchinson 2016 ), and tried to explore the factors that led to the emergence of Growth triangles,
namely 1) economic complimentarily 2) sufficient geographic proximity 3) political commitment 4)
infrastructure development 5) and the role of the private sector (Ng and Wong 1991; T.Y: Lee 1997;
thant, Tang and Kakazu 1994; Wadley and Parasati 2000, Hutchinson 2016). Potential issues of
Growth Triangles such as widening income disparities, conflicts between national and sub-national
policies, rising prices of land and consumer goods, etc. are also highlighted in the literature (T.Y.Lee
1997, Kumar 1994).
However, and by adopting an orthodox functional approach to study the cross-border regions, the
Growth triangle literature tends to overlook the contingent historical and social factors that shape the
constituent territories and ties between them (Hutchinson 2016).
Furthermore, it tends to see borders uniquely as physical impediment to a natural economic territory,
and not as social constructs that reflect, refract and shape both actions as well as identities (Newman
2003). Moreover, it overlooks the important notion of power in shaping the regional policies by
implicitly assuming that the relationship of the constituents is built on a levelled field, with the
assumption that the process of regionalization implies a definite increase of exchange and
communication between the concerned territories.
As a contrast to this mono-dimensional approach, this research attempts to rethink the assumptions
around the functional representations of the SIJORI cross-border region, and reconstruct it as a
notion of space, time and culture which is shaped and negotiated through various formal and informal
practices that go beyond regionalism as a state-led product.
The social constructivism theory is adopted as a framework in order to study the social dynamics
that shape the collective identity of the region and how the strategic interactions/actions of non-state
actors mobilize borders as a resource in shaping their region.
Social constructivism provides a solid framework to understand the region as a social construct, built
around cooperation, conflict, interest, identity, ideology and values, and how these notions are
translated into collective actions. Emanuel Adler defines constructivism as “the view that the manner
in which the material world shapes and is shaped by human action and interaction depends on
dynamic normative and epistemic interpretations of the material world” (Adler, p. 322). Meaning that
regions as social and political phenomena could only be understood within their particular context,
structure and agencies that shape and are shaped by human interactions. Within this framework,
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and unlike mainstream theories, the interest is not exogenous to human interactions, but it changes
with it (Ghica, 2013).
Furthermore, this framework helps to explain the fluctuating dynamics in the region which sometimes
led to shrinking regional interactions despite the institutional effort to strengthen them. This contrasts
with the functional approach which assumes that integration and regionalization can only lead to the
strengthening of exchange and interactions.
The governance framework
The discourse on governance has evolved over time to line up with the constantly changing realities
of the global economic, social, and political milieu. The work of Brenner and Feiock, among others,
have highlighted overlapping forms of state rescaling including "new state space", "new regionalism",
"glocalisation", "Metropolitan regionalism", all reflecting a significant reconfiguration in the spatiality
and scale of governance, and more importantly, the strong shift from government to governance.
Regions have been perceived therefore as the "ideal scale for policy intervention in a globalized
world (Rodriguez-Pose 2008, p 1029). The process of state rescaling and therefore re-territorization
has led to the emergence of "new regional expressions of territorial cooperation and conflicts around
issues of increased competitiveness, infrastructure development, the collective provision of services,
and further governmentalised remapping (s) of state space" (Harrisson and Hoyler 2014). Such has
captured the attention of scholars to investigate the emergent governance arrangements on a
regional scale, as well as the new roles of state and non-state actors.
Within this debate on governance, there are three sub-strands that emerge: Urban and metropolitan
governance, multi-level governance, and regional governance.
Metropolitan governance emphasizes the new role of cities in a global city system, and looks at the
"changing conditions for political steering and strategies of coordination available to urban actors" to
compete over resources and external capital investment (Brenner 2003, Jäger and Köhler 2007).
While Multi-level governance, which derives from the analysis of the European integration process,
focuses on analysing the "changing significance and interplay between different levels of statehood
and political steering processes" (Jäger and Köhler 2007), regional governance refers to "complex
structures of steering or regulation within sub-national regional units, comprising formal and informal
procedures, state and non-state actors and at the same time hierarchical, competitive and
cooperative relationships between actors" (Pütz 2004, p 11).
By readapting the urban regime theory1, Barns and Foster (2012) usefully define regional
governance as "deliberate efforts by multiple actors to achieve goals in multi-jurisdiction environment.
By this definition, regional governance:
- crosses borders, by definition jurisdictional, and also usually sectoral (public, private, non-profit,
civic) and /or functional (environment, economic, social);
- Encompasses, but goes beyond, the institutions, tools, or structures that may establish and
implement decision-making and action;
- Involves purposes and goals -Solving a regional problem or seizing a regional opportunity - as the
object of a regional governance effort; and,

1
Stone (2005) defines urban regime as the informal arrangements through which a locality is governed.
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- Is a kind of politics and does not assume the attempt to exercise power on behalf of interests, ideas,
and values.
These emergent dynamics of regional governance are usually asserted through Governance
Networks (GNs), a concept that has been widely recognized as most descriptive of the
interdependencies, fragmentation of political geographies and irreconcilable differences inherent to
urban governance (Storper 2014). GNs are often represented as "consensus-oriented, problem-
solving arrangements, which are better equipped with resources, knowledge, and geographical
coverage to react more quickly and decisively than time-consuming state political and path-
dependent bureaucracies" (Van Dijk 2015, p 45). These networks are constantly redefining and
repositioning themselves to the regional scale through new coalitions, territorial compromises and
contestations (Leitner, Peck, and Sheppard 2007, cited in Keil et al. 2016).
Results from the first investigative visit to SIJORI
I conducted a first investigative visit to the region between July and September 2018 where I was
hosted as a guest researcher at the department of geography at National University of Singapore,
and later at the ASEAN Studies Centre at the University Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta,
Indonesia, which is research centre on international relations.
The goal of this visit was to test my pre-assumptions about regional integration in SIJORI and gain
an insight on the spatial and social dynamics in the region.
During my stay in the region, I visited the three territories several times in order to conduct interviews
with leading experts on the topic, planners, and scholars from a variety of disciplines (geography,
sociology, international relations), and some locals.
Although the interviewees had different backgrounds, there was a common tone of disappointment
and frustration about how SIJORI-GT failed to reach the high expectations behind its inception three
decades ago.
There was a huge ambiguity about the future of the region as whole, especially with the stiffening
borders and the wave of nationalism and national identity in the three territories. This stems from a
general frustration that SIJORI was unable to achieve a full integration due to the lack of trust and
political will among the three states. The changing dynamics in the region were also stressed, with
the strengthening of ties between Singapore and Johor, in contrast with the weakening relations
between Singapore and Batam.
Johor has been witnessing a growing surge in services oriented towards Singaporeans, including
healthcare, education, housing, shopping and leisure. A growing number of Singaporeans cross the
Malaysian borders to receive cheaper medical treatments, others are profiting from the affordability
of Johor’s housing market to secure better and cheaper living conditions compared to Singapore.
Many Singaporean schools are building annexes in Johor, both for Singaporeans, Malays, and
international students who want to pay cheaper fees and still profit from the proximity to Singapore.
These dynamics, which are enhanced by a cross-border spill-over effect, are a manifestation of
strong regional interactions and have direct impact on the spatial configuration of Johor. In this case,
the interaction between business coalitions, cross-border investors and commuters is leading to the
emergence of special urban development that serve the cross-border region.
However, these developments are also a source of conflict between local and regional interests. For
instance, local Johorians are complaining that the housing market is so focused on attracting
Singaporeans that it becomes out of their reach due to rising housing prices. Furthermore, the mega
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residential projects along the coast of Johor have raised concerns about their impact on the
mangrove and the local ecosystem.
On the other hand, Batam seems to be left in limbo, trying to reposition itself in a changing national
and regional environment. Batam was envisioned to mirror Singapore and become a modern city
with cutting edge urban infrastructure and a booming economy. Its thirst for foreign capital and
investments left it unable to manage the social and spatial externalities of rapid growth and
subsequently stagnation. The govenance scheme designed to develop the city did not make the task
easier either.
My visit to Batam and the interviews I conducted with local NGOs and urban planners at the
municipality revealed fundamental issues in the planning process of the city. Batam is run with a dual
governance system; an elected body (local government) which issues master plans, and an
appointed land management agency “Batam Industrial Development Authority” (BIDA) which is
responsible for infrastructure, the promotion of the island vis-á-vis foreign investors, and land
management. The conflict between these two entities as well as the political struggles between the
various governing parties was behind the perpetual deadlocks that the city has been witnessing for
years, and has given foreign developers seeking to purchase land for their projects a large margin
of negotiation and a strong impact on the spatial configuration of the island.
Batam is nowadays famous for its chaotic planning and the novel building structures that some
developers deliberately leave unfinished. This is a common practice to secure the right to use the
leased property, and a way to avoid the anti-speculation measures. Under these measures, the
permit to use the leased property is only valid as long as the developer clears the land and starts the
construction of the planned project within a specific deadline.
Such practices have distorted the city’s landscape, and contributed to the rising instances of
squatting by poor migrants who sometimes succeed to negotiate relocation compensations with the
private developers. This is one example in which non-state actors (in this case foreign investors and
the urban poor) shape the city through their actions and interactions.
During this investigative visit, it was hard to track NGOs that operate on a regional scale. There are
certain organizations in the three territories that have similar missions (exp. dealing with the
environmental degradation of coastal areas), but they only operate locally and do not have clear
regional connections. This will continue to be the focus of the next field research.
Similarly, some of the interviewees gave a hint about active religious networks especially between
Johor and Riau Islands where multiple Muslim pilgrimage sites exist. There has been also a surge in
Chinese temples on the island recently. These religious dynamics and networks will also be tracked
as the research advances.
4. CONCLUSION
Although in its early beginnings, this initial research work exposed some of the transformations that
the region is witnessing, and revealed that the institutional failure to develop SIJORI-GT as a full
integrated cross-border region hides thriving networks of exchange and interconnections between
different non-state actors. The agency of these actors and their interaction across borders has clearly
manifested itself in how they shape the regional space and how they constantly reconstruct and
negotiate the borders.
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There are well established networks in the region (ethnic families, religious and cultural networks,
historical ties, etc.) as there are new comers (foreign investors, migrants, NGOs, etc). They both
interact and redefine the region according to new representations and identities. Tracking these
networks and their interactions will be the next and crucial step of this research in the coming months.
5. REFERENCES
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RESILIENCE THROUGH INFORMALITY IN EVERYDAY LIFE OF SLUM
DWELLERS IN KHULNA CITY, BANGLADESH
1 2
Md Ashiq Ur Rahman, Astrid Ley
1 2
Urban and Rural Planning Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna 9208, Bangladesh, Chair of International
Urbanism, Institute of Urban Planning and Design, University of Stuttgart, Germany
E-mail of corresponding author: [email protected], [email protected]
ABSTRACT
This paper highlights the issues of everyday life of slum dwellers related to housing and livelihood
opportunities. This everyday life has been conceptualised as a process of informality that relies on different
attributes of social capital. The social capital which creates networking and synergic relationship among
individual households within the neighbourhood and with other stakeholders outside of that neighbourhood
often bring about favourable conditions for getting access to different service provisions. This paper is an
attempt to identify whether this networking process is creating a resilient structure or not. Therefore, this paper
conceptualises a vis-à-vis relationship between informality and resilience and exemplifies whether informality
in everyday life creates any resilience in terms of the capability of the slum dwellers. The paper analyses the
aforementioned theoretical propositions by using the case study of Railway Slum of Khulna city within the
Bangladesh context. The findings of the paper rely on the life-history interviews of the slum dwellers, key
personnel interviews and grey material analysis. The key findings of this paper are (a) in terms of social
capital, there is no formal platform of networking for the urban poor and an externally funded project assisted
community organisation and represents the basic notions of social capital; (b) this form of social capital is not
propulsive in nature and the everyday life of the urban poor relies on their absorptive and adaptive capacities;
and (c) transformation of the capabilities to move beyond resilience is threatened by lack of institutionalisation
of social capital and tenure security. Therefore, this paper concludes that transforming the capabilities of the
urban poor to become resilient requires an understanding of the notion of resilience; that goes beyond its
traditional meaning and reaches up to the notion of a ‘right to the city’ by transforming social capital to social
movements of the urban poor.
Keywords: Bangladesh, Housing, Informality, Khulna, Resilience, Social Capital, Social Movement.
1. INTRODUCTION
If we want to talk about beyond resilience then we need to identify two things why we are talking
about beyond and what are the available offerings beyond the notion of resilience. The term
resilience in its simplistic definition means the capability of a system to restore to its original state
after any shock (this shock can be external or internal). However, in urban context, resilience in
most of the literature has been conceptualised as social resilience with special emphasis on
natural disasters. ‘Resilience’ has been used in those studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of
social policy approaches in building asset adaptation of the extreme poor for vulnerability
reduction. ‘Resilience’ within risk-hazards research continuum is generally focused on “engineered
and social systems, and includes pre-event measures to prevent hazard-related damage and
losses (preparedness) and post-event strategies to help cope with and minimise disaster impacts”
(Cutter et al., 2008, p. 600). Considering the aforementioned theoretical context, Béné et al. (2012)
developed a resilience framework which includes three components: ‘absorptive’, ‘adaptive’ and
‘transformative’ resilience. This framework is useful to evaluate the effectiveness of social policy
approaches in mitigating the vulnerability of the extreme poor. The concept of ‘absorptive’ capacity
or resilience incorporates multiple coping strategies by which individuals and/or households
moderate or buffer the impacts of shocks on their livelihoods and basic needs (Béné et al., 2012).
However, when the absorptive resilience or capacity is exceeded, the individual will then exercise
their adaptive resilience (Cutter et al., 2008). This adaptive resilience refers to the various
adjustments that people undergo in order to continue functioning without major qualitative changes
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in function or structural identity (Béné et al., 2012). These incremental adjustments and changes
can take many forms (e.g. adopting new farming techniques, change in farming practices,
diversifying livelihood bases, engaging in new social networks, etc). Transformative resilience is
the “capacity to create a fundamentally new system when ecological, economic or social structures
make the existing system untenable” (Walker et al., 2004, p.5). For instance, when a household
adopts a new direction in making a living or when a region moves from an agrarian to a resource
extraction economy. It can be a deliberate process, initiated by the people involved, or it can be
forced on them by changing environmental or socioeconomic conditions. Béné et al. (2012) argue
that building resilience would require social sector approaches that strengthen the three
components (absorptive resilience, adaptive resilience, transformative resilience) together, and at
multiple levels (individual, households, communities, region, etc).
In this context, social resilience can be conceptualised as a people-centred approach including

coping, adapting and transformative capacities to face multiple shocks and stresses (Keck and
Sakdapolrak, 2013; McIean et al., 2014; Saja et al., 2018). Community resilience can be
considered part of this framework with the notion of capacities and resources of collective actors
(Ley, 2018). Some scholars argue that there is something to learn for the concept of community
resilience by studying the adaptive capacities of informal settlement communities (ibid). The
argument is that in this context there is a dynamic and continuous adaptation to changing
conditions (Mendoza-Arroyo and Chelleri, 2017; Chaskin, 2007; Wilson, 2014). The concept of
community resilience raises critical aspects in the context of informality where new tensions, forms
of exclusion and resistance emerge and the framing of community is often blurred and contested
(Mulligan et al., 2016). Therefore, community resilience needs to be critically reviewed against
sometimes conflicting rationalities within communities and between communities and other scales
of governance (Ley, 2018). However, to understand social resilience through community
perspective the attributes of social resilience identified by Keck and Sakdapolrak (2013) sets an
analytical framework that explains social resilience attributes with three main categories: (i) Social
Relations & Network Structures, (ii) Institutions & Power Relations and (iii) Knowledge & Power.
However, the most recent social resilience framework has been developed by Saja et al. (2018)
based on the critical review of existing social resilience frameworks discussed in different literature.
The inclusive framework outlines five dimensions (social structure, social capital, social
mechanisms, social equity, and social belief) as well as corresponding characteristics and
indicators. From the above dimensions we would like to highlight on the issues of social capital
described by Saja et al. (2018) under their social resilience framework. According to that research
the attributes of social capital includes social cohesion (community bond); social support (norms of
reciprocity); and social networks (social associations) (ibid). Therefore, this paper identifies
different form of social capital that exists in urban informal settlement and the everyday life of the
urban poor to understand their capability to be resilient. This capability has been assessed in
different level in this paper as described by Béné et al. (2012) as absorptive capacities, adaptive
capacities and transformative capacities.
2. METHODOLOGY
This paper analyses the aforementioned theoretical propositions by using the case study of
Railway Slum of Khulna city within the Bangladesh context. Khulna is the third largest metropolitan
city located in the south-west part of Bangladesh. In Khulna City Corporation area 5,080 poor
settlements exist with estimated 98,121 households (UPPRP, 2011). The case-study settlement
(Railway slum), is an informal settlement located on railway land and home to about 1,248 poor
urban households (UPPRP, 2011). Households have been living in the settlement for more than 30
years. Regarding tenure security, there are no legal titles and the households are always under
the threat of eviction. Infrastructure service provision in the case study settlement has been
provided by different aided projects by the NGOs. In this paper, we draw on secondary source
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material such as newspaper articles and publications by UPPRP and other sources as well as a
series of qualitative interviews as primary data. These interviews were conducted with community
leaders and residents in the aforementioned case study settlement, as well as other key
stakeholders such as representatives from different NGOs, government officials, UPPRP project
personnel and academics. The empirical findings are discussed against the critical aspects in the
context of informality where new tensions, forms of exclusion and resistance emerge have been
analysed in this paper to understand the different level of adaptive capacities of informal
settlement communities.
This section of the paper analyses the salient features of everyday life of the informal dwellers
living in the case study settlement in relation to the issue that resilience has been often
conceptualised in the aforementioned literature. In terms of social cohesion, it has been identified
during the interview that the social cohesion of an informal settlement implies a broad social
identity that legitimates the authority of the settlement leadership to act on behalf of all residents.
However, the identity of an informal settlement and its residents is subject to continual internal
confrontation, contention and negotiation. In the case study settlement, there was always a lacking
of leadership to raise the voice of the dwellers. It has been identified during the interview that the
first representative committee of the informal dwellers was established in 2004 under a project
called Local Partnerships for the Urban Poverty Alleviation Project (LPUPAP). This was an aided
project designed to address urban poverty in line with government policy and the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) framework. The most mentionable attribute of the LPUPAP was
that it established community development committees (CDCs). These were the central focal
points for implementing project activities and were comprised of leaders of primary groups of the
urban poor. The CDCs were the community-based organisations that acted similar to savings
groups. Following the completion of the LPUPAP, the Urban Partnerships for Poverty Reduction
Project (UPPRP) began in March 2008 and was completed in August 2015.This was the single
largest urban poverty-reduction programme in Bangladesh. It supported the improvement of the
living conditions and livelihoods of 3 million poor and extremely poor, in 23 city corporations and
municipalities, with an emphasis placed on women and girls (UPPRP, 2015). These two projects
laid the foundation for institutionalising informal networks of the urban poor by strengthening
community mobilisation programmes through the CDCs.
The interviews with the key informants show that in Khulna City, the LPUPAP adopted a
community-based approach with strong links to local government through the elected
representatives. The urban poor were the main partners of this project, and the project’s staffs
acted in a facilitating role. The project’s main objective was to establish informal networks of the
urban poor in an institutionalised form. Community empowerment began with the formation of
primary groups of about 20 families each. These primary groups then were grouped into
community development committees that represented between200 and 300 families. Of these
primary groups, 95% were women’s groups that were strongly represented in the leadership of the
CDCs. However, this initiative was not without its problems. For example, during the LPUPAP, the
CDCs were not very organised in terms of their organisational structure. Later, during the Urban
Partnerships for the Poverty Reduction Project (UPPRP) the CDC became the focal point of the
implementation of all of the activities of the UPPR project. To organise this network, CDC members
conducted a voting process to elect four officers to manage it and its activities. These officers
include the chairperson, vice-chairperson, secretary and cashier. Six to twelve CDCs make up a
CDC cluster. Two members each from of the adjacent CDCs are elected to form the cluster
committee as their representatives. These representatives elect four of their members as CDC
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cluster committee officers, also through voting. The cluster committee’s officers also include a
president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer. In this structure, a member of a primary group
who is also a principle may only hold a single position on either a CDC or a CDC cluster
committee. However, these CDC clusters were not organised into a city-level CDC federation.
Therefore, the organisational structure of this informal network failed to reach the scale that
resembles the idea of transformative resilience explained by Béné et al. (2012).
In terms of representativeness and networking, the CDCs were not linked with either the town- or
the ward-level coordination committees. It is also noteworthy that the CDCs in Khulna City are not
federated like other cities in Bangladesh under the LPUPAP and UPPRP project. During the
interview, it was observed that most of the households had no idea about the existence of town-
and ward-level coordination committees, let alone these committees’ roles. Moreover,
institutionalisation of informal networks of the urban poor requires the legal endorsement of formal
entities. However, as with all other informal settlements in Bangladesh, the informal network of the
case-study settlement in Khulna City lacks a legal affiliation. Reviewing the policy documents, it
has been observed that different government organisations undertook different sporadic initiatives
to work with these informal networks. For instance, in the case-study settlement, the informal
political connection the community made with the elected members of the local government
(Khulna City Corporation) underpins the existence of these informal networks. Khulna City
Corporation undertook several slum upgrading projects in partnership with the settlement’s CDCs.
However, these projects mostly received NGO aid and this aid was conditional on community
participation. Being a local government organisation, Khulna City Corporation failed to promote the
CDCs for participatory urban development as another central government organisation, the Khulna
Development Authority (KDA), performed the urban development functions. In the past, the KDA
had not been observed as encouraging the participation of the urban poor. Consequently, the
participation of the informal network of the urban poor in urban development has always been
overlooked. And even though Khulna City Corporation has the intent of working with the informal
network of the urban poor, the Local Government (City Corporation) Act, 2009, lacks this legal
provision.
In terms of community cohesion, these informal networks were established without any prior study
to understand their degree of togetherness within the community. Therefore, the existing informal
networks are the outcome of the project rather than the result of a self-sustaining effort of the
community, itself. The motivation behind participation in an informal network justifies this claim. As
the interview findings with the households show, even though community members feels that
community participation was essential to improving their living conditions and they became
members of an informal network after having been asked to do so by an NGO, most of the
households felt that community participation was essential to achieving better economic conditions,
and also felt that it gave hope for a better future for the community. The level of community
cohesion that was anticipated in the project did not achieve the level of resilience that could really
move up to the transformative level of resilience. Investigating the everyday life of the informal
dwellers, it was identified that the CDCs are not offering any reliable source of economic support
rather the households living in this informal settlement are relying on kinship for income generation
and savings. Diversified use of household member for income generating activities is the major
source of income generation but the ultimate income is lower and this marginal level of income is
restricting the ability to save. During the interviews, it was identified that the activities performed
under CDC includes community action planning; CDC federation; participatory identification of the
poor; settlement land mapping; Community Housing Developing Fund (CHDF); and community
contracting. The direct provision of income generation was involved in the last two activities that
include Community Housing Developing Fund; and community contracting. The first one was
meant for small loan for house maintenance and reconstruction and the second one was to
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develop communal infrastructure. The CHDF was never operationalised later and the community
contracting could involve few women from the community. Therefore, the everyday practice shows
that absorptive capacity based resilience is the common feature in the case study settlement. The
current structure of community based organisation had the opportunity to enhance that capacity
towards transformative resilience but having a critical look on the issues of community cohesion
and its role on income generation, it can be concluded that the structural means offered through
the level of social cohesion by CDC’s are not addressing the issue of income generation.
In different literature, social capital has been assumed as a success of group savings scheme
(Mitlin et al., 2011; D’Cruz and Mudimu, 2012). It seems that in the case study context that while
addressing the problem of eviction together in several times the households now feel more united.
They feel that now they are a group with an own identity and they have their own voice to negotiate
with any actor regarding their claim. Apart from this collective identity another major feature that
has been observed in the case study is networking and the process of empowerment. Before being
part of the CDCs the households who are now living in Railway slum had no connection with the
political leaders and they were not aware of their rights from the local urban government. But by
being part of the network, they got the opportunity to meet local politicians and officials from
different government authorities. One of the interviewee in Railway slum recounts how this
federated effort under CDC helped them to extend their networking with local political actors:
“Before UPPRP we never met the local politicians, nobody came to us during the election as well.
We have never been to any government offices before. But when UPPRP started their activities
then we became the part of CDCs and were taught about the procedure, how we can get in to
touch of the local government officials. During the relocation process we met local government
officials and few of our members of the CDC had the opportunity to discuss our problems. Different
politicians, NGO personnel, academics and foreign nationals who are working for different aid
agencies often visit us and talk to us about our problem and the process we went through to reach
in this situation”.
In the absence of a broad social identity that legitimates the authority of the settlement leadership,
the context of the everyday life of the case study settlement explains the presence of adaptive
capacities of the households that is actually based on the different informal process. In terms of
access to finance, all of the households are relying on micro-credit offered by different NGOs. The
most notable NGOs who are operating the loan include ASA, BRAC and Grameen Bank. The loan
size varies from 10,000 to 90,000 BDT. The collateralisation process works through group
guarantees. The main provision and use of the loan is income generation, but people often use it
for housing construction and maintenance. There is no requirement of pre-deposit for getting
access to the loan. The collection of the loan repayment is performed by NGO personnel. The
amount of the loan depends on the membership status of individual households. New members of
a particular micro-finance institution (MFI) receive usually a small amount of loan, while the amount
of loan increases for long-time members based on their repayment status. Considering the mobility
of the slum dwellers as they do not have any legal right on land and any means of tenure security,
getting access to a group for getting the micro-credit, sometime becomes quite challenging. It has
been observed in an interview that households who moved to this settlement in the recent past are
finding it quite difficult to get access to the loan. . The situation can be described from the voice of
one interviewee: “I was living in the site, where the new railway station was built. When the
construction of the railway station started, I was not included in the resettlement plan. Therefore, I
rented this unit in the Railway slum and I am still considered as a newcomer though I am living
here for last 6 years. Therefore, I am finding it difficult to get access to the micro-credit. I am a fish
vendor and form me getting the loans on a regular basis is quite important. So, I am now driving
rickshaw in the evening to cope with the challenges after relocation”.
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Apart from the aforementioned socio-economic attributes, poor environmental services are a
common phenomenon in the case study settlement. The settlement is poorly drained. The
involvement of different actors related to this service provision makes the difference. It has been
identified during the interview that social networking and NGO activities remain as an alternative
structure of service provision that is again informal in nature. In terms of getting access to water,
there is no provision of piped water supply but all of the households are using public hand tube
wells provided by different NGOs. Shared toilet facilities provided by NGOs with the support of
different aided project are the only available option in the case study settlement. The electricity
connection is also operated in an informal way provided by neighbouring households on a higher
rate for the usage. The housing conditions are worse, as the people living in this slum use
materials such as thatched bamboo partitions, golpata (palm leaf) or tin (corrugated iron sheet)
roofs – the use of bricks is limited at best to plinth and walls and only by a few households. While
asking about the housing condition, all of the interviewees mentioned the issue of tenure security
for not investing enough money to improve the quality of the house. It has been identified that the
households living in this settlement often do invest money for house repair but they feels that
investing more money for housing construction might be endangered by the threat of eviction.
Therefore this level of informality of tenure situation is affecting the level of resilience of the
dwellers in this particular settlement. Moreover, the service provisions created by the NGOs are
often under threat because of this informal status of tenure.
This situation can be explained through the issue of institutions & power relations among different
actors described by Keck and Sakdapolrak (2013). The perception of different actors towards the
problem of informality and the everyday life of the urban poor plays an important role for defining
the power relation structure. Actors who do not cater for peoples participation and representing
central government in the local level are often reluctant with the issues of informality and urban
poverty (Mitlin et al., 2011). This situation can be explained with the words of the estate officer of
Bangladesh railway, Khulna; while asking him about the settlement of the urban poor on railway
land. The estate officer commented “We do not have any plan to relocate these settlements as part
of the rehabilitation programme. There is no scope in the current legislative structure of
Bangladesh railway for sharing the land or to develop any relocation/ rehabilitation scheme. Thus
we need to evict them from the land to vacate the public property”. Apart from the perception
towards urban poor there is a problem of coordination and trust among the actors with
responsibilities in this area. Again quoting the estate officer about coordination and cooperation
with NGOs and local government: “While evicting the poor, the protests are coming from the civil
society organisations. In addition, the political connections of the slum dwellers have an influence
over the eviction process. Right now we are ignoring these hurdles to recover public property, as it
is the statutory responsibility of our institution. Though, KCC is the local elected representative but
this land is under the central government. So the local government institution has no right to take
decision about this property. We have heard that, few NGOs are operating physical infrastructure
development programmes but they are doing by their own. They even never informed us about
their projects. So, we are not considering these programmes as a permanent issue, as the roads
and other infrastructures will be demolished under the land clearance programme during the
eviction. Even more we are considering such physical infrastructures illegal as the providers have
not applied for any permission from us like the current informal occupants of the land’’.
In the aforementioned context, it is quite evident that tenure security is the major concern in the
case study settlement and that particular issue makes every other aspects of everyday life of the
dwellers informal. Therefore, the question raises, how the dwellers perceive this nature of
informality and what are the factors that is actually neutralising this issue of informality and giving
access to shelter in this settlement. It has been observed during the interview that the urban poor
are living in this settlement under the persistent fear of eviction. The influential members of the elite
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or political leaders assign some muscle-men or intermediaries to collect the monthly rent to ensure
their temporary tenure security. At the same time, these political leaders use the slum settlers as a
large supply of votes during the elections. A patron-client relationship exists between settlers and
political leaders which can be broadly categorised as occupancy urbanism mentioned by Benjamin
(2008). The poor consider themselves as vulnerable and powerless; as such they are not
interested to attend the protests against the urban government where political leaders play the
major roles. Basically they have accepted such practice and feudal social structure and pay more
attention to earning money for their survival. This political support became the key for the
households living in Railway slum, as one of them said that “they have built the new home by
negotiation with the Railway authority. They will not be evicted in near future. But when asked
about the legal documents they have answered that they do not have any, everything based on the
oral contact. They believe that the local councillors (KCC ward-21), city mayor will take care about
them”. Though they are enjoying this type of perceived tenure security, they also anticipate the fear
of eviction. Therefore, the everyday life of the dwellers in this settlement can be labelled as
adaptive strategies and fails to scale up to the level of transformative resilience. In this context, in
the following conclusion section we want to highlight why adaptive resilience is often not reaching
the level of transformative resilience in an informal urban settlement; and what can we being urban
practitioner/academic offer as a conceptual framing beyond such practice of building resilience in
different urban development projects targeted for the people living in urban informal settlements.
4. CONCLUSION
From the aforementioned understanding of the case study context, it can be concluded that all the
structured effort by different aided projects that works on building social capital and the individual
effort of the dwellers in this settlement can enhance the capacity of the dweller to reach up to the
adaptive resilience level. But social resilience has to be understood as a people-centred concept
(Keck and Sakdapolrak 2013, McIean et al 2014, Saja et al 2018). The multiplicity of the problem in
the case study context cannot be overcome without acknowledging the issue of networking and
power relations. The current resilience framework often fails to tackle the issue of power relations
in conceptual framing while implementing any development action in the ground. The current
structure of the community development committees (CDCs) in the case study settlement and their
role for redefining power relations through social support failed to transform the capacity of the
dwellers to overcome the multiplicity of informality they are facing in everyday life that is mostly
associated with tenure security. Therefore, the question arises about alternative conceptual
framing than the framework of social resilience to deal with the issues of informality. One
conceptual framing, we would like to highlight is the ‘right to the city’. We would like to apply the
‘right to the city’ framework in this context as a social movement by the urban dwellers living in the
informal settlement. Social movements crystallise when people organise to collectively claim urban
space, organise constituents, and express demands (Uitermark et al., 2012). This social movement
becomes essential when governments and their partners regain control over urban space and
labels any process as formal and informal without acknowledging the right of the people over
space (Nicholls, 2008; 2009).
The case study context presented in this paper is a classic example of that power structure that
exists between the state and the people. Urban dwellers living in the case study settlement are
living on the public land and developing their own adaptive capacities to survive whereas the state
organisations are creating a perceived threat of eviction to make their life vulnerable in the name of
overcoming informality. Therefore, a strong social movement by urban dwellers living in informal
settlement is essential to claim the right from the city. This type of movement often requires
networked action and strong group cohesion. The case study context shows the presence of CDCs
that has the prospects for such movement. But the lack of mobilisation within the community is
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restricting the capacity for networked action and strong group cohesion. The urban social
movement literature identifies that mobilisations beginning in cities tend to fragment and have great
difficulty in shifting scale and linking up to broader (nonurban) social movements (Uitermark et al.,
2012). The case study context is also struggling for moving towards a social movement for ‘right to
the city’ in this perspective. The social capital (social cohesion, social support and social networks)
that can be transformed to social movement through CDCs is facing difficulties that include broad-
based collaborations with and more inclusion in government decision-making processes, gaining
empowered participation, developing self-actualisation, becoming inter-connected within
community organisations, community mobilisation, and entering into partnerships and/
collaborating with other stakeholders of city-level governance. Therefore, a strong mobilisation
programme through trust-building activities among different actors and enabling both community-
level and government-level stakeholders under different urban development programme can
enhance the transformative capacity of the urban dweller to claim their right to the city.
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper was supported by the research stay of the corresponding author at the Department of
International Urbanism, University of Stuttgart, Germany under the research fellowship of the
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
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RURAL REGENERATION AT THE BRINK OF URBANIZATION IN
CONTEMPORARY CHINA: A SOCIO-SPATIAL PERSPECTIVE
1 2
Huaqing HUANG, Ling ZHOU
1
School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Nanjing University
22 Hankou Road, 210093, Nanjing, China
ABSTRACT
Rural regeneration, a nation-wide movement launched at the beginning of the 21st century in China, has been
reshaping its rural environment and the urban-rural socio-political relations. As another version of the
urbanization process, rural regeneration has managed to “urbanize” a large portion of its rural population by not
only the geographical relocation to the adjacency of cities, but also the introduction of a supposedly desirable
urban lifestyle embedded in the reconstruction of rural space. By reconsidering different approaches during this
movement, including the “Constructing the New Socialist Countryside”, “Beautiful Countryside” and
“Characteristic Town” initiatives, this article reflects on the social impacts on rural community brought by the
spatial transformation in which urban planners and architects are actively involved. It reveals that rural
regeneration, as both a spatial and socio-political tool, has by large part not stopped but even accelerated the
draining of rural resources. Only a paradigm beyond the existing urban-rural dichotomy could bring a brighter
future for rural regeneration projects, including equal functional positions for the countryside from an integrated
urban-rural spatial system, and a more inclusive socio-spatial mechanism that allows rural-urban migrants to
maintain their roots and dignity in the rural hometown.
Keywords: New townization, rural regeneration, rural China, new townization, socio-spatial relation, urbanism.
1. INTRODUCTION
In the past fifteen years in China, a nation-wide movement of rural regeneration as a way of “new
town-ization” has stormed more than half of its population, with millions of villages relocated or
reconstructed and an average number of 80-100 villages disappearing each day (Feng 2012). This
process is sometimes called the “Rural Beautiful Movement” (Huang and Zhou 2018), echoed with
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the “City Beautiful Movement” started in Paris and prevailed in North America from mid-19 century
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to early 20 century, which was not only a means of spatial transformation, but also an attempt to
restructure urban life and citizen politics. Top-down spatial regeneration has always been closely
related to political incentives. The “Rural Beautiful Movement” in 21st century China might as well be
viewed as an equally profound reform which has been reshaping urban-rural order in contemporary
China.
With this dramatic spatial transformation of the rural-urban territory, an increasing proportion of rural
population has been pushed to the brink of urbanization, either by the geographical adjacency to
cities and towns, or by the reconstructed rural housing that has introduced an urbanized lifestyle and
everyday space. However, most architects and planners, also major actors of this agenda, have
focused overwhelmingly on the cultural intactness of the rural built environment, while the social
impacts on the local community, how the local community has been getting used to their new living
environment, is largely ignored.
The process has been implemented in roughly three phases, with architects and urban planners as
major actors to transform the rural-urban territory. The first phase is the “Constructing the New
Socialist Countryside” (jianshe shehuizhuyi xinnongcun) initiative since 2005, characterized by mass
production of urban-style rural dwellings driven by central and local government. Initially, architects
mainly took part in small projects like charity schools in those villages in the remoted underdeveloped
parts of China, funded by private charity organization. About ten years ago, they began to get
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involved in rural projects by large scale, when the government became determined to invest
tremendously in the transformation of rural environment. The second phase is the “Beautiful
Countryside” (meili xiangcun) initiative since 2013. Bottom-up incentives of the villagers to renew
their houses for commercial purposes have risen as an equally important subjective as the top-down
state power, and the urban lifestyle as well as architectural style have been brought to the countryside
due to closer connection between rural and urban population. The third phase is the “Characteristic
Town” (tese xiaozhen) and “Characteristic Idyllic Countryside” (tese tianyuan xiangcun) initiatives
since 2015. The construction and management of rural space has been overwhelmingly taken over
by a strong union of urban capital and rural elites. A stylistic revival of vernacular architecture is
prevailing with the commercialization of rural environment. Historical villages are being remolded to
become touristic destinations, where boutique hotels are springing up by renovation or reconstruction
of historical buildings according to vernacular style. Most villagers have been relocated to urban
areas or collective dwellings near the cities, while the countryside is left for urban travelers as an
“urbanized” yet pastoral destination. Ironically, throughout fifteen years of intensive rural
regeneration, most villages continue to be empty in spite of the heavy investment. Local actors were
increasing isolated from the spatial transformation of their hometown, due to the unsettled urban-
rural dichotomy.
Figure 1. Distribution of rural regeneration projects by architects published in major journals from 2015-2018
Source: Huang Huaqing, 2018
Therefore, rural regeneration could not be effective without reconsidering and resettling the deep-
seated urban-rural relational issues. Two phenomenon is happening simultaneously to expand this
discourse. On one hand, rural residents are moving to the cities by large scale. This rural-urban
migration has contributed to more than 45% of the urbanization rate in China (Ren 2013). On the
other hand, the countryside itself has experienced a complementary process of “rural urbanization”,
where the rural productivity structure, operational modes, income standard and structure, lifestyle
and ideology are getting closer to those of the cities (Zhou 1995; Zhou and Guo 1996). In order to
theoretically analyze the spatial-social interactive mechanism behind this phenomenon, this article
understands the spatial transformation as an “agency” to facilitate the restructuring of the political
and socio-economic order in the countryside, by borrowing from the anthropological conception of
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physical space as a “social technology” (Bray 2017) which is able to reshape the “habitus” (Bourdieu
1976) of local subjects throughout their everyday practice.
Hiring fieldwork evidences from various reconstructed or relocated villages around China, this article
compares multiple rural reconstruction approaches by investigating their social impacts on the local
community. It thus interrogates the blind, usually state-led rural regeneration which has resulted in
not only the crisis of intergenerational relationship in rural families due to the weakening or
disappearing of their everyday space, but also challenges of enlarging social differentiation caused
by the monopoly of rural resources by rural elites and urban capital. It instead calls for an alternative
approach in planning and architectural design which creates urban-rural space with social inclusion
and dignity, towards an urbanization of the people itself.
1.1 RURAL REGENERATION 1.0: A NEW SOCIALIST COUNTRYSIDE

Since the Open Door policy in late 1970s, with most young elites recalled from twenty years’ working
reform in the rural People’s Communes (Chu and Tien 1974; Ahn 1975), China’s development has
been overwhelming focused on the urban territory. Shenzhen, a symbol of this era, has grown from
a small village to a world-class metropolis over less than three decades. However, at the turn of the
millennium, rural issue is back to the table due to external and internal imperatives. First, China just
experienced the severe blow from the Asian financial crisis, especially in Hongkong, and the
shrinkage of exportation prompted the government to look for new economic growth points within
the domestic market (Wen 2012). Meanwhile, the enlarging gaps between urban and rural economy
made the countryside such an unstable place full of social misfortunes and conflicts. It apparently
ran counter to the socialist ideology on which the communist party has been based. Moreover, rural
China, the supply of labor force undergirding the fast growth in its cities, was still home to more than
60% of its population at the turn of century. To construct the countryside also meant to bring out this
potential population to sustain the fast-running urban economic machine.
It thus made the central government determined to launch the “Constructing the New Socialist
Countryside” campaign. It began in the Third Plenary Session of the 15th Central Committee of the
Communist Party in 1998, with a “goal to construct a new socialist countryside with Chinese
characteristics before 2010”; and fully institutionalized in the Fifth Plenary Session of the 16th Central
Committee of the Communist Party in 2005, when an action plan of “comprehensively constructing
a new socialist countryside” (quanmian jianshe shehuizhuyi xinnongcun) was launched with the
requirement of “developed industry, well-off life, civilized rural custom, orderly rural environment,
and democratic governance” (shengchanfazhan, shenghuokuanyu, xiangfengwenming,
cunrongzhengjie, guanliminzhu). (Deng and Shen 2009; Zhu 2017)
Considering the physical environment, this phase of rural regeneration is featured by mass
construction of rural infrastructure, including highways, railways, electricity and water supply, and
rural social housing. However, the construction of rural housing has two major problems. First is the
relocation of villages. Under the initiative called “removing the villages and merging into residential
districts” (chai cun bing dian), those villagers from the natural villages in remote areas have been
relocated to centralized residential district (ju min dian) near major villages and towns, usually far
from their original home. For example, in a village of Gonghuduge Gacha in Alxa league in Inner
Mongolia, nomadic Mongolian people were relocated to a new village at the periphery of a half-
desert, supposedly moved to a better life. However, most people interviewed were not satisfied with
the new location, since they “need to take buses to the farmlands”.
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Figure 2. An empty new village in Inner Mongolia

Source: Liang Yushu, 2017
Second is the urbanized style of the architectural design in these new houses. Most architects and
planners involved in these projects are from urban offices who never did rural projects before. They
only copied what they designed for urban residential districts, only with a much lower budget and
quality. For example, the residential district in Huaxi village in Jiangsu, one of the first collective rural
housing projects, was built exactly like its urban counterparts. It embodied not only the desire of rural
elites to enjoy the urbanized living quality, but also the egalitarian concepts within the socialist
ideology that was crucial to the stability in the countryside. As shown in my fieldwork in the Hani (an
ethnic-minority people) houses in Honghe, Yunnan, the introduction of modern housing layout has
laid the traditional living space surrounding a fire pit (huotang) in danger, which is the core of their
family life and their connection to their spiritual world.
Figure 3. Changing of Housing Typology in modern Hani Houses in Yunnan

Therefore, rural social housing in this era has brought unforeseeable social crisis to the rural
community. Firstly, the relocation from natural villages to the adjacency of towns moved the farmers
far away from their farming land, leaving them no choice but to lease out their land to big households.
The loss of farming lands has cut their most important linkage to the countryside. Secondly, the new
rural housing typology in urbanized style has subverted the traditional housing space and the life
style, giving rise to social changes such as the weakening of inter-generational bonds due to the
lack of traditional family space. As a result, the reckless relocation, in both geographical and
psychological senses, has only added to the hollowing out of these so-called “new villages”.
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1.2 RURAL REGENERATION 2.0: A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRYSIDE
The second phase, the “Beautiful Countryside” initiative, is a romantic and more comprehensive
development of the first phase. Back in 2005, Xi Jinping, then the Party Secretary of Zhejiang
province, brought forward the assertion that “Green rivers and blue mountains are Golden and Silver
Mines” (Lv shui qing shan jiu shi jin shan yin shan) during his inspection in Anji county, which soon
became one of the first places in China to launch the “Beautiful Countryside” campaign in 2008. It
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subsequently became a nation-wide initiative in the Third Plenary Session of the 18 Central
Committee of the Communist Party in 2013, after President Xi step into office. Apart from ecological
concerns, the countryside is endowed with a culturally symbolic value to consolidate what Xi calls
“cultural confidence” especially within the new generation, who have been brought up in a cultural
environment with strong western impacts. During Xi’s inspection in Yunnan in 2015, he elaborated
again the “two-mountain” theory with new meanings: “to keep the green water and blue mountains,
and to remember the rural nostalgia” (liu de zhu qing shan lv shui, ji de zhu xiang chou). The term
“nostalgia” has been well-received by both urbanites and villagers, and thus located in the central
position of rural reconstruction in the past decade, since a large part of the urban dwellers have their
hometown in the rural area.
It is most typical in the preservation and touristic development of those historical villages. For
example, Hongcun, a world cultural heritage site near the city of Huangshan, became a popular
tourist destination before 2010. During the development, the whole village with more than one
thousand household was trusteed to a touristic development company. To make space for
commercial functions, many villagers rented out their old houses and moved to a new village called
Jicun across the river. However, the new village is in severe lack of public space compared to the
old village. Most of the villagers we interviewed “prefer to go back to the old village for a walk” and
“chatted with old neighbors”, while in the streets of the new villages very few people could be found.
More than 70% of the interviewees of our survey think that their public space had been squeezed
1
due to touristic development. In another new village near Hongcun, called Houkeng, architectural
style mimicking the traditional style is hired to make a new village with touristic potentials, though
rarely any tourists would come to this village for the purpose of tourism.
Figure 4. The historical village of Hongcun and a parody in a nearby new village
In these newly-constructed villages, traditional architectural style was used not only as a political
propaganda of the “beauty” of orthodox culture, but also a consumptive object for the urban
consumers, who have been tortured by the “city diseases” including food insecurity, housing
shortage, air pollution and traffic digestion (Zhao 2016). For instance, a new village constructed in

1
According to our survey of 110 local residents in Hongcun in July, 2018.
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Dongziguan, a suburb of Hangzhou, was designed by a professional real estate architect and
frequently nominated the “most beautiful village in China” by the media. It adopted a traditional yet
refined architectural style, which has been well received by both villagers and urban tourists. Actually,
it seems no difference from those luxury villas in the cities, except for the farmland in the foreground.
Those villagers, who spend most of their time in the big city of Hangzhou, certainly feel no difficulty
in adapting to the gentrified housing style in the new village. However, it remains a question how
much time these urban migrants will spend in such a village which provides nothing except for a
beautiful shot welcomed by urban tourists.
Tourism in a “beautiful” style brings very few economic incentives to the villages, but more negative
influences to the ordinary domestic life. In the case of Tongmu, a tea village in Fujian, rural housing
prototype has changed a lot in recent touristic development. In order to accommodate possible
tourists and tea consumers coming to the villages, local tea farmers have converted their “tangwu”,
the most important room in traditional Chinese houses for the worship of ancestors as well as daily
life, into tea rooms for the tourists. However, these tea rooms were rarely used in many tea farmers’
houses according to my fieldwork during 2015-2017. The commercialization of this sacred space has
not only cut off their connection with the ancestors, but also weakened the inter-generational bond
which used to be fostered by the everyday life embodied in the space like “tangwu”.
Figure 5. The commercialization of a traditional “tangwu” in Tongmu

1.3 RURAL REGENERATION 3.0: A CHARACTERISTIC COUNTRYSIDE

In recent years, the government begins to realize that the sheer investment on rural infrastructure
and housing is unsustainable. Without a robust industry, the villagers only continue to migrate to
cities, leaving the new villages deserted and dilapidated again.
As a result, the third phase of rural regeneration is featured by the industrialization of towns and
villages, with examples like the “Characteristic Town” initiated in Zhejiang in 2014 and the
“Characteristic Idyllic Countryside” initiated in Jiangsu in 2016. In 2017, the No.1 Central Document
proposed constructing a “Rural Idyllic Complex” (tianyuan zongheti) which would “integrate
agricultural, cultural and touristic development, improve productive, living and ecological conditions,
and merge primary, secondary and tertiary industry”. With the rural land policy continuing
encouraging farmers to lease out their farmland and housing plots to “new agricultural business
entities” such as professional big households, family farms and rural cooperatives, the anticipation
of rural land value has been raised constantly, attracting more private capital to invest in rural
industrial sectors. Meanwhile, industrial restructuring has brought working opportunities for the
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farmers, who are opening family factories for the initial processing of agricultural products, or home
inns for leisure tourists. It also coincides with the western discourse of the “post-productivist
countryside” (Wilson 2003; Zhang et al. 2014), which has been transformed into “a network space
shaped by the experience and representation of different actors including rural residents, immigrants,
agricultural workers, leisure tourists, travelers, land owners, policy makers, media professionals and
academic researchers.” (Yu 2017).
The characteristic countryside campaign is featured by the mass entry of urban capital and a
geographically and economically comprehensive development of the selected villages. For instance,
Sujia village, a village at the periphery of Nanjing, was developed into “Sujia Culture-innovative
Town” (wenchuang xiaozhen) during 2017-2018. The government first rented most of the houses
and lands in the village for twenty years from the farmers, and then leased them out to a touristic
development company from another city. Rural houses were then reconstructed to become boutique
hotels, nice restaurants, cafés, and other touristic properties. During my interview with the tourists in
the village, more than 60% of them are from middle-upper class families in Nanjing or other adjacent
big cities. Local villagers have either moved away, or worked as waiters or waitresses in the hotels
and restaurants. Although the income of the villagers has certainly been raised to some extent, the
profit from the touristic development in the village is in large part controlled by a strong union of urban
capital and rural elites, so is the future of the village as long as the land leasehold permits.
2
Figure 6. Household income of the interviewed tourists in Sujia
The scaling-up of agricultural industrialization has given rise to enlarging social differentiation within
the local community. As shown in my fieldwork in Tongmu village, an important tea production area
of Fujian, the dynamics of class differentiation continue despite the consumption revolution which
has supposedly created closer relationship between urban consumers and rural producers. While
one specific traditional tea factory, called tsinglou, has been preserved as a symbol of tradition by
the dragon-head enterprise, most of the other tsinglou have been abandoned by the majority of small
farmers, as their opportunity as individual producers in the market has been deprived by the
monopoly of the dragon-head enterprise. Disturbing conflicts and crisis are brewing with the
expanding gap between rural classes, as a farmer once told me categorically, “we could do nothing
to change it, unless there comes another Land Reform or Cultural Revolution to overturn everything
and start all over again!” (Huang 2019)

2
Interview with more than 50 interviewees, in Sujia village, July 2018.
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Figure 7. Abandoned Tea Factories in Tongmu village

2. DISCUSSION: A PARADIGM BEYOND URBAN- RURAL DICHOTOMY
In the past campaigns of rural regeneration since the turn of century, it is true that the environmental
and economic conditions of the countryside have been largely transformed and improved. The basic
infrastructure and housing needs in the countryside have been decently supplied with billions of
dollars of governmental investment; the ecological and historical resources have been cautiously
preserved by strict legal regulations and touristic motives; most importantly, the average income of
rural population has been raised exponentially, with the national poverty rate been reduced to 3.1%
in the end of 2017, compared to 97.5% in 1978 and 26% in 2010 (Liu 2018). However, is that all
what they deserve after what the cities have taken from the countryside?
Ironically, the fifteen years of rural regeneration has not stopped, or even accelerated the exploitation
of rural resources by their urban counterparts. The rural sector has either been used as the cushion
for urban crisis (Wen 2012), or the supplier of the insatiable urban development. As in the first phase
of infrastructural construction by “removing the villages and merging into residential districts”
(chaicunbingdian), villagers lost their farming land and moved into unfamiliar residential districts and
apartments that had no connection to their homeland. The loss of working opportunities and the
changing of lifestyle has prompted them, especially the young generation, to move permanently into
big cities to supply the vast needs of low-wage workers in the urbanization process. The vitality within
the rural community is still draining out, with only old people, women and kids left in the villages. It is
even more obvious in the latter phase of touristic and industrial development, as the farming lands
and rural houses were trusteed to a union of urban capital and rural elites, more rural residents have
been laid disconnected with their homeland and moved permanently to the cities.
As shown in this diagram, the rural regeneration is indeed hired to facilitate the restructuring of
geographical and socio-economic order of the urban-rural relations. By moving the villagers to new
villages in the urban peripheries, urban capital has not only acquired more “civilized” rural labor, but
also managed to convert the countryside into a romantic vacationland. It has also contributed to the
restructuring of rural political order within the community, with the few rural elites in control of the
historic entity inherited from socialistic collectivization, serving the urban consumers craving for an
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idyllic escape from the haunting globalization. On the contrary, most of the villagers gain limited
benefits from these campaigns, instead becoming victims of the urban-rural displacement. The
urban-rural duality, either in spatial, social or political senses, has been institutionalized through this
movement.
Figure 8. The reconstruction of the geographical and socio-economic urban-rural relations

What is the future for rural regeneration or rural population then, if we still consider it an equally
important developmental issue alongside the urbanization agenda? With the urbanization rate
increased to more than 50% in 2012 and estimated to further increase in recent years, a new
paradigm beyond the urban-rural dichotomy must be offered in order to foster a more sustainable
rural regeneration plan. Actually, the connection between urban immigrants and their rural hometown
is far stronger than the spatial distance implies. As several scholars have pointed out, urban migrant
population and their left-behind family members in the villages have formed a new family business
model based on intergenerational division of labor and half-industrial-half-agricultural income
structure (He 2013). A village is not “hollowing-up”, but a “spatially-expanded village” (Zhu 2019)
made up of both the rural hometown and the city they temporarily reside in, with the spatial and
temporal distances greatly shortened by modern transportation and communication technology.
Thus, only by re-examining the unequal urban-rural relations can we find a path for the future rural
regeneration projects. Firstly, the countryside must acquire an equal functional position in a more
integrated urban-rural spatial system (such as “new townization”). It may not only bring dignity to
those choosing to live in the countryside, but also provide more desirable working opportunities to
sustain a decent life. It is especially relevant in the recent discourse of the development of
metropolitan area, which has created chances for villages, small towns and residential districts in the
urban peripheries to take on not only agricultural functions, but also other necessary functions for
the economic development of a metropolitan area that have been transferred from the over-crowded
urban area (Yin 2019). Secondly, people is the key for rural vitality. The “Hukou” system now has not
only prevented some rural migrants from better enjoying the social resources in the cities, but also
stopped others from moving back to their rural hometown to contribute to its development, as all the
successful businessmen and bureaucrats did in historical China. In this sense, to keep the possibility
and incentive for them to return becomes so important. For example, “tangwu” or “huotang” in the
rural house, as mentioned above, creates crucial connection between the rural migrants and their
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spiritual hometown, which should be better respected during the spatial transformation of rural
housing. For urban planners and architects, only by creating urban-rural space with better social
inclusion and cultural dignity, can we help to reserve this possibility for a more sustainable, resilient
countryside.
3. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to Professor Ding Wowo from Nanjing University, and Professor Cary Siress from
ETH Zurich for their valuable feedback on earlier drafts of the article. Research for this article is
supported by the National Keypoint Research and Invention Program [2017YFC0702502] and
National Natural Science Fund of China [51678287].
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THE CONCEPT OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND THE PROBLEMS OF ITS
IMPLEMENTATION IN THE GLOBALIZED ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT: THE
CASE OF INDONESIA
1
Jo Santoso
1
Universitas Tarumanagara
Letjen S. Parman Street No.1, RT.6/RW.16, Tomang, Grogol petamburan, West Jakarta City, Jakarta 11440
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Since the 1970’s the urbanization in Indonesia has reached its highest growth in history. Despite the efforts in
the form of housing upgrading programs and providing subsidized housing for the low income, the Indonesian
cities have failed to address the problems of housing, resulting in an even bigger problem of substandard
housing and squatter in the cities. Since 2015 the new regime under President Joko Widodo has been showing
serious intention to solve the national housing issues. This paper discusses the current initiative of the
Government of Indonesia (GOI) to conduct a housing provision program, namely National Affordable Housing
Program (NAHP). One of the main targets of this program, which has long-term financing backed up through
loan from The World Bank, is going to substitute the previous subsidized housing programs, which was declared
by GOI itself as ineffective. The core concept of affordable housing is to enabling the housing market in
Indonesia to work more efficient. According to this concept, the housing will be more affordable if we can
overcome the distorted market factors and increase the disposable income of the people. The paper intends to
show that a successful implementation of the NAHP in Indonesia cannot be achieved without reforming the
current housing delivery system. Several preconditions, such as securing the long term housing fund,
overcoming land speculation, Improvement of the local government capacity and institutional development on
local levels should be executed before the concept NAHP can be successfully implemented. Another
precondition is that the national government should find a way how to protect the newly designed housing
delivery system from negative impacts of the globalization of Indonesian cities, which continuously reduces the
capability of Indonesian cities to anticipate the rapid urbanization.
Key Words: Affordable Housing, Housing Delivery System, Indonesian Housing Policy.
1. INTRODUCTION
At the beginning of the 1970’s, the Government of Indonesia (GOI) introduced a liberal, market-
oriented housing policy, which was embedded in the economic growth-oriented urban development.
The main goal of the new housing policy consisted of prioritization of housing ownership and
privatization of the housing sector on one side and housing upgrading program on the other side.
Further, the GOI has accordingly initiated the establishment of real estate & property sector.
Additional to that the GOI has established different housing subsidy schemes to support the
ownership program of housing.
In the next 30 years, the urbanization in Indonesian has reached its highest growth in the history
(Silas, J., 2005, Santoso, J., 2016), Indonesian cities were not ready to address problems about
urbanization. The national government has tried to overcome these negative impacts between 1970
and 2000 through the establishment of two strategic programs; housing and settlement upgrading
program and housing subsidy programs. Despite the efforts to overcome poverty issues and housing
for the poor in urban areas, the social discrepancy within the cities is becoming thicker, resulting in
an even bigger problem of substandard housing and squatter in the cities.
After the end of Authoritarian Soeharto Regime (1998), Indonesia has gone through difficult political
reforms. The two most important ones were to establish a democratic political system and, in close
relation to that, to decentralize the governmental-administrative structure. In the year 2000, still in
the middle of the recovery phase of Asian Monetary Crisis, the GOI has started with a study called
“Enabling the Housing market to work in Indonesia”(HOMI), which was supported by The World
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Bank (Hoek-Smit, M., 2001, H0MI Project Kimpraswil, 2002). In their final report in 2001 (Kimpraswil,
The World Bank, 2002), the HOMI study criticizes the housing subsidy program from the GOI as too
costly and ineffective. The HOMI-study introduce a new doctrine, that housing can become more
affordable only if the market can work more efficient. Accordingly, the HOMI study makes a
recommendation to the GOI, to enable the housing market and to reform the housing delivery system,
with other words to integrate the housing subsidy program to the market mechanism. In the same
time, the housing market increases its efficiency; the housing subsidy should be reduced (Hoek-Smit,
M., 2005).
On the contrary to those recommendations, the GOI continues the old supply-oriented housing
subsidy program. Although since 1999, the housing sector following the decentralized government
structure already hands over to the local government, the subsidy housing program is still under the
absolute control of the national government institutions. In the same time, The GOI is also continuing
the housing upgrading program under various names.
The need to overcome the housing problem has become actual since the appointment of Joko
Widodo for the presidency in 2014. The new administration has identified, that both of programs are
not able to overcome the problem of housing, partly because of its top-down characters, but basically
because it could not stop the production of poor housing especially in big and metropolitan cities.
Besides continuing the different subsidy programs and the upgrading program City without Slum
(Indonesia: Kota Tanpa Kumuh - Kotaku), the new government plan to implement a new program
called National Affordable Housing Program (NAHP). The program of Kotaku is a new variation of
housing upgrading program, but with a more ambitious target to clean the whole 30,000 hectares of
the sub-standard housing area in Indonesia and at the same time to avoid the reproduction of the
sub-standard housing. The NAHP has a more complex objective with two stages, a short-term and
long-term stages. The short term includes a continuation of the previous program that was to
implement the housing subsidy program in Indonesian cities and the conceptualization of affordable
housing. The long-term objective includes the development of a decentralized housing delivery
system as the basis for the implementation of the NAHP. The decentralized housing delivery system
implies the involvement of local stakeholders, which the national agencies should establish an
insititutional framework and play a role that would promote local stakeholders participation.
Therefore, the paper attempts to answer how far the affordable housing approach can be applied in
the Indonesian context under the current neo-liberal economies. Although the NAHP is
conceptualized as a market-conformed housing program, the author argues that the program can
only achieve its target with a preconditioned of the establishment of a decentralized housing delivery
system that is appropriate to the local condition of each region.
Urbanization and the problem of Housing
The effect of urbanization in the housing sector in major Indonesian cities is prevalent. This paper
tries to offer an understanding of the unique characteristics of urbanization in Indonesia, such that
speed, dimension, gender, and spatial distribution of the migrants moving from region to another
region in the very large Indonesian geography are very diverse. Some cities with lower growth of
population may take benefits from the incoming migrants, while the majority of the cities with higher
growth rate are not. In the following, the negative impacts of the rapid urbanization on the existing
urban environment will be discussed in the paper (Santoso, 2016; Santoso 2018/I).
Between 1961 and 1971, the population of Indonesia increased from 97.1 to 119.2 million people,
which was more than 20% in a decade. After the 1970s as the total population growth began to slow
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down, the urban population was increasing faster than the average population growth. The
population of Indonesia between the years 2000 to 2010 increase around 1,5% yearly and the
percentage of the urban population also increased from 42% to 50,6%. Urbanization in Indonesian
cities has a big variation, some cities, i.e., in the surrounding urban areas from Metropolitan shows
the highest growth more 4 % p.a., some others are not growing at all, and some small cities are even
losing its population. In more developed parts of Indonesia like in Sumatra, Java, and Bali, the
average of population growth has been relatively higher than in less developed areas in East
Indonesia. Between the year 2000 and 2025, the population growth of Indonesian cities is expected
to reach its peak. In those 25 years, the urban population will be almost double from 87,7 million to
170 million. The general assumption is that after 2025, the growth will incrementally slow down.
Between 2025 to 2050, the urban population of Indonesia will only increase by around 35% from
170,0 Mill to 230,0 million (Santoso & Winayanti, 2019).
But the slower urbanization growth does not reduce the housing problem at all. Rather cities will face
two new issues. The first is the decreasing number of household’s members, and the second is the
need for more land areas to expand the urban-land coverage. Those two contributing factors will
result in negative impacts on the availability of residential land. The decreasing average person pro
household will create a higher demand for housing units by the same amount of population; from the
year 2000 to 2010, the number of housing units has grown from 21.4 million to 30.0 million units,
while the average number of person/ household down from 4.10 to 3.90 people/household. Between
2025 and 2050 the average number of person per-household will continue to decrease from 3.75 to
3.60 person/household and by that, the number of households will increase from 44,1 to 63,9 Million
(see Table A).
At the same time, higher income/capita will increase the average size of the housing unit. Table A
shows that as the population from 2010 to 2050 is expected to grow at around 90%, the urban land
coverage will grow at around 115% from 30,600 to 65,280 Sqkm and, consequently, the average
density will decrease from 3,922 to 3,488 person/Sqkm. All of these factors will create additional
pressures on the affordability of housing (Santoso 2016). Table A above shows that between 2000
and 205, the average population density of Indonesian cities has a downward trend, from average
51,59 person per-ha in 2000 to 34,88 person per-ha in 2050. One explanation to the lower in density
is because the newly-developed urban areas have a much higher percentage of non-domestic land
use, such as commercial use and other land uses dedicated to productive activity and urban service.
Table 1. Urban Population of Indonesia
Year 2000 2010 2025 2050

Population total (Mio) 208,8 237,6
Urban Population (Mio.) 87,7 120,0 170,0 227,7
Percentage (%) 42,0 % 50,6%
Households (person/unit) 21,4 (4,1) 30,8 (3,9) 44,1 (3,75) 63,9 (3,6)
Urban Land Coverage (Sqkm) 17.000 30.600 45.850 65.280
Density person/Sqkm 5159 3922 3708 3488
Source: Urban Laboratory Tarumanagara, compiled from different sources
The increasing growth of urban land coverage is calculated by using a method described in Angel,
S., (2012). The population density in the inner-city areas is reduced mainly due to the conversion of
existing its domestic area to non-domestic land use (Santoso, 2007). Other records show a big
difference between the national average of urban density and the actual densities of big and
metropolitan cities in Indonesia. Big and Metropolitan cities like Jakarta, Bandung, and Surabaya
with high economic growth have a density between 70 to 150 p./ha. Table C shows that currently,
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the average density of 6 Metropolitan/Big cities with 114,86 person per-ha is more than 2-3 times
higher than the average city density of 34,88 person per-ha in Indonesia. Alone from the different of
the density is to consider, that the problem of housing in Indonesian cities cannot be generalized.
Every housing program has to develop an appropriate implementation strategy on how to
accommodate the different characteristic of the cities.
Table 2. Population Density in Indonesian Big and Metropolitan Cities (2015)
City Area (ha) Population Density (p/ha)

Jakarta 65.600 10,075,310 153
Bandung 16.700 2,470,802 147
Surabaya 35.000 2,853,661 81
Medan 26.500 2,191,140 83
Bandar Lampung 12.900 960,000 73
Denpasar 12.398 863,000 70
Total 6 cities 169.000 19.412.914 114,86 p/ha
Average Density 34,88 p/ha
(from Table A)
Source: Urban Laboratory Tarumanagara (compiled from different sources)
The Indonesian Housing Policy
The previous section of this paper described that since the beginning of the 1970s, the GOI had
adopted a liberal, market-oriented housing policy. This new liberal housing policy gives an absolute
priority to the privatization of housing supply and, at the same time, supports the demand on
homeownership. This policy has negative impacts on the housing situation in the cities and the
capability of the cities to anticipate the urbanization process. This negative impact of the liberal urban
policy should be overcome through 2(two) strategic housing program; the first is the housing &
settlement upgrading program, and the second is the housing subsidy program. In the following is a
short description concerning the actual implementation of the two housing programs, with special
attention to the period from 1999 to 2016.
The Housing & Settlement Upgrading Program (1999 – 2016)
From 1999 to 2016 the GOI has implemented several housing and settlement upgrading programs
under different names. The Indonesian current housing upgrading program City Without Slums can
be understood as a new variant of a similar conception. The following is a summary of the differences
programs since they were implemented in 1999. During these uncertain times, when Indonesia
managed to escape from the Asian Monetary Crisis, the GOI initiated a project called “Urban Poverty
Alleviation” (Bahasa: P2KP: Proyek Penanggulangan Kemiskinan di Perkotaan). The program that
was implemented until 2006 consisted of two phases, namely the rescue phase and consolidation
phase. The basic concept of P2KP was to empower the urban poor to increase their ability to come
out from their poor social condition.
In 2007, the project P2KP was replaced by a new program called PNPM – Program Nasional
Pemberdayaan Masyarakat Perkotaan (Empowerment Program for Urban Populations). The target
of this new program was not limited to the urban poor but the low-income urban community in
general. The remarkable character of the two programs (P2KP and PNPM) was its focus on the
empowerment and no more on physical aspects. In this regard, poverty is understood as a result of
helplessness, which should be overcome through a community-based social transformation. The
focus of empowerment has a strong correlation with the fact that the Indonesian state at the time
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was on the brink of bankruptcy. But the concept of community-based social transformation was not
an excuse for the lack of funds but based on positive experiences in similar Kampong Improvement
Program (KIP) that was also started in the early 1970s; even the poorest part of the urban population
still has significant potential to help themselves leaving their poor social-economic and environmental
condition.
The replacement of the PNPM through City Without Slums (Kotaku) was due to other reasons. The
first reason was to accommodate the consequences of the “Decentralization Law.” This
Decentralization Law No.22/1999, which later subjected for adjustments until its last version of Law
No.23/2014 that obligated the government to decentralize its administrative structure. Following the
law, housing sector belongs to the full responsibility of local government. The decentralization of
housing sector is also supported through the new housing law (Law no.1/2011). Following the spirit
of the new housing law, the main activity of the national housing agencies should be moving to
housing affairs related to capacity building and institutional development. Kotaku does the first
initiative to accommodate the new decentralize structure by giving local government more authority
in the coordination and execution of housing upgrading program. The second reason is still related
to the first: The mobilization of local financial resources. Aligned with the concept of empowerment,
the financial resource from national agencies should be allocated for capacity building needs, as for
physical aspects, which should gradually take over by local stakeholders, such as local government
agencies, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), community-based organization, NGO, etc. The
third innovation in the Kotaku-program, which pertains to the establishment of so-called Kelompok
Pemanfaatan dan Pemeliharaan (Operation and Maintenance Committee) on neighborhood/district
level, which is responsible for the management of the housing settlements. One of the explicit tasks
of this committee is to avoid the upcoming of new poor houses in the district area.
But these innovative components of the current upgrading program City Without Slums is at the same
time its weakness. However, because of its high grade of complexity, Kotaku can only be successful
if executed by highly experienced specialists. Such know-how like defining the appropriate size of
the upgrading area, understanding the importance of a certain degree of community awareness, to
know the timing and in which way the local government institutions should be or should not be
involved and other prerequisites, can only be delivered by qualified and full experienced field
managers. These eligible persons are not easy to find, although Indonesian has already more than
half-century-long experiences doing similar programs. The main weakness remains that such
upgrading program does not have a significant influence to increase the production of affordable
housing nor avoiding the replication of new substandard quarters outside the project locations
(Santoso, 2018).
The Subsidized Housing Program
The Indonesian subsidized housing program began in 1976 in the form of a reduction of mortgage
interest for the low-income group to buy houses. To support the program the government of
Indonesia (GOI) has established a special mortgage bank (Bank Tabungan Negara – BTN). Further,
the GOI established a state-own developer “Perumnas” – National Urban Development Agency.
Between the 1970s and 1980s, Perumnas has developed several large-scale housing projects, some
of them in the outskirts of Jakarta and other big cities as also smaller scale housing projects in the
inner city. Entirely Peumnas has built around 500,000 housing and apartment units in more than 300
locations spread all over Indonesia (http://www.perumnas.id/perum-perumnas). After the 1980s, as
the “oil bonanza” is over and definitive after the monetary crisis, 1997-1998 Perumnas effectively
does not continue its particular mission in the housing sector, and Perumnas become an ordinary
state enterprise with a limited social mission (Silas, J., 2005).
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The program of mortgage subsidy of BTN consists of an allowance to reduce the interest of the
housing loan eligible for a defined target group; the government is paying the difference between the
market and the actual interest. In the implementation of this program, the government is working
together with the private developer. The houses should be developed by the private developer, and
sold under a maximum price only to them, who are eligible to get the subsidized mortgage credit.
Since the program started in 1976, it has undergone many revisions, especially in the last 20 years,
i.e., the maximum housing prices must repeatedly be adjusted to the inflation. The other problem is
the providing of financial resources. According to the new version of Decentralization Law
No.32/2004, the authority and responsibility of housing affair should be decentralized to the local
government. But years after the law was validated, there was not a single local administration that
was able to initiate the low-income housing program (Kusno, 2012).
From experience in different subsidy housing program between 2005 and 2013, a conclusion can be
made that the implementation of a different “top-down” housing programs is generally ineffective.
The main reason is that on one side the national institutions cannot control effectively what happens
on the ground and the local government cannot play their important role as mediator between the
stakeholders on local levels and the government institution at the national level. The financial support
from the national government is misused as an opportunity to take short-term benefit and not as an
opportunity to try-out decentralization. The local government and other local players also fail to adjust
the program to the local-specific condition. An indicator for that is among others the need to adjust
the program to the local condition such as using local building materials, adjustment the price of the
house with the local minimum salary; the UMR (minimal monthly salary) and others. In Jakarta and
Surabaya, the UMR is around Rp 3,6 million (around 250 US), but in some areas like in east
Indonesia, the UMR is only 45-50% of the amount. (Santoso, 2018/I). The effort to enable the local
players is insufficient. There is no significant improvement in the awareness of the involved
stakeholders about the importance of housing programs. The goal to transfer the housing affair from
the national to the local level failed.
Another important finding is that in general, the quality of subsidized housing is far from acceptable.
Bad coordination between the responsible institutions, the attitude of profit-oriented contractors and
housing developers are creating a situation that the involved players are accusing each other, and
nobody is doing their homework. In the end, all the risks are to take over by the buyers of the houses,
who have to give extra efforts to maintain the condition of the houses. The biggest risk is if the buyer
cannot cover the high cost of depreciation in the early years. In this case, the buyer has to move to
other houses, and they will stop to pay the mortgage installment. The results are a big number of
abandoned houses on the fields and the rapid increase of non-performing loans (NPL) by the
mortgage bank.
The Concept of Affordable Housing
The notion of housing affordability became widespread in the 1980s in Europe and North America.
In the words of Alain Bertaud, of New York University and former principal planner at the World Bank,
"It is time for planners to abandon general objectives and to focus their efforts on two measurable
outcomes that have always mattered: workers’ spatial mobility and housing affordability” (Bertaud,
A. 2014/II). Most of the literature on affordable housing applies to mortgage programs and many
other programs that exist along a continuum – from emergency shelters to transitional housing, to
non-market rental (also known as “social housing”), to the formal and informal rental, indigenous
housing, and ending with affordable home ownership. In many countries, there are affordable
housing committee consists of experts and a government representative. The Australian National
Affordable Housing Summit Group developed their definition of affordable housing as housing that
is adequate in standard and location for lower or middle-income households and does not cost so
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much that a household is unlikely to be able to meet other basic needs on a sustainable basis
(Australian Council of Trade Unions, 2012). In the United Kingdom, affordable housing includes
social rented and intermediate housing, provided to specified eligible households, whose needs are
not met by the market. The affordability is calculate based on the capacity of those specific income
group, to use a percentage of their disposable income to pay the “total housing expenditures.” It
seems a simple solution but the actual calculation is rather complicated while it must pay respect to
a number of factors in the demand or in the supply side of the housing market, like willingness to
save and spend money for housing, the number of person in particular household, the actual
operating cost of the housing, the construction cost of the houses, the inflation rate, the cost of
capital, the quality of the infrastructure and utilities, etc. One of the greatest strengths of the follower
of Housing Affordability Concept is to develop what they called the Housing Affordability Index (HAI).
Following the MIT team, Housing Affordability Index is the ability of a group of a household to capture
the “total cost of occupying of individuals housing” consist of the cost of rents or mortgage payments
with all the housing expenditures. In regards to the affordability, this total housing cost is more
relevant than the housing (market) price. This statement means that the housing price is indeed a
“relative cost” about the affordability (MIT Center for Real Estate, 2011). Therefore, understanding
affordable housing challenges requires understanding trends and disparities in income and wealth.
The conventional approach of the affordability of housing is to measure the relationship between
income and housing price. The better method to measure the affordability of housing has been to
consider the percentage of income that a household spends on (total) housing expenditures.
Further, if the market-oriented way of thinking to buy housing is to understand as an act of property
investment, then its quality should be measured in the relation between the amount of the investment
and the actual value of the property. The core idea of this approach is to define affordability in relation
to the local-specific condition. So many elements of HAI like minimum wage (Indonesia: UMR), living
cost, construction cost, operation cost, etc. are very strong local specific and the percentage of
people with income less than 60% of the median income is very city specific (Rodda, 1994).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordable_housing - cite_note-economist.com-18
The other strong influence factor is the dynamic of the world economy. Since 2000 the world
experienced an unprecedented house price boom regarding magnitude and duration, but also of
synchronization across countries. Never before had house prices risen so fast, for so long, in so
many countries. Prices doubled in many countries and nearly tripled in Ireland as the country became
one of the targets for foreign investors. The bursting of the biggest financial bubble in history in 2008
wreaked havoc globally on the housing market. By 2011 home prices in Ireland had plunged by 45%
from their peak in 2007. In the United States, prices fell by 34% while foreclosures increased
exponentially. In Spain and Denmark, home prices dropped by 15%. However, in spite of the bust,
home prices continue to be overvalued by about 25% or more in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France,
New Zealand, Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden (Cox W., Pavletich, H., 2012). Many
researchers argue that a shortage of affordable housing is caused in part by income inequality. The
same condition is to find in other globalized cities in Europe, Australia, and Asia: In many of these
metropolitan, globalized cities a new form of “illegal rental condition” is coming up uncontrolled by
the city administration. Typically, only legal, permitted, separate housing is considered when
calculating the cost of housing. The low rent costs for a room in a single family home, or illegal garage
conversion, or a college dormitory are generally excluded from the calculation, no matter how many
people in an area live in such situations. In cities like Singapore or Hongkong, we find that the house
owners subdivided their apartment to meet the ability to pay off the users. A similar phenomenon is
to be located in cities like Jakarta, where the investors have constructed insufficient rental shelters
to meet the ability of the user to pay the rent.
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Faced with few affordable options, many people attempt to find less expensive housing by buying or
renting farther out of the city. But long commutes often result in higher transportation costs that erase
any savings on shelter. Some called this the "drive 'til you qualify" approach, which causes far-flung
development and forces people to drive long distances to get to work, to get groceries, to take
children to school, or to engage in other activities. A well-located dwelling might save significant
household travel costs and therefore improve not only family economics, but the overall quality of
family life. The trend is going more to sacrifice domestic life for a “better” house. But that is not the
case by a minimum-wage worker of an industrial factory in the outskirt of Jakarta. They usually are
sharing a rental shelter with so friends to reduce the dwelling cost as low as possible. The
background is that migrant workers want to save money for their family, who are still living in the
home villages. They don’t need a house to buy, what they need is a simple dormitory. The conclusion
is that housing affordability Index is moving following the dynamic of the market. In many countries,
housing becomes less affordable because the market economy is deepening social inequality. The
reaction of home seekers tends to lower their expectation as low as possible. The process mentioned
above is the real reason for the replication of the poor squatters in a high-density urban area. This is
the consequence of integrating the housing sector as part of the market economy.
The Difficulties to Implement NAHP in Indonesia
The notion of housing affordability is to move away from housing programs as part of the “social-
corrective” program and to integrate housing delivery system as a part of the market mechanism.
Because the market has the trend, continuously to increase the efficiency than the housing market
will also work more efficient, so that their products will be more available, and there is no housing
policy conceptualized to remove the reasons for the production of substandard houses. Following
the concept of new-liberal housing, housing becomes more unaffordable through so-called “market
distortion.” The HOMI Study (2001) has the goal to overcome that distortion by enabling the housing
market in Indonesia to work properly. The precondition is that the distortion should be overcome
before the housing market can work more efficient and able to supply more affordable housing. HOMI
study accepted the importance of the relation of social disparity and housing problems and did
recognize the importance of the subsidized housing programs, but the subsidy should be reduced
simultaneously as housing becomes more affordable. The team leader of the HOMI study Marja
Hoek-Smit repeatedly underlines the importance that the subsidy programs should be modified step
by step following the increasing efficiency of the market. (Hoek-Smit, M., 2005). This is exactly the
idea of Alain Bertaud that the core of the housing problem is how to integrate the housing delivery
system to the market mechanism. The weakness of the HOMI study is that the study does not pay
respect to the importance of the local characters of the housing problem, although the study was
done after the Decentralization Law Nr.22/1999 was issued.
From different praxis of the concept of affordable housing mentioned above, can be concluded, that
housing expenditure, local income disparity, and local economic condition are the most critical
indicators of HAI. This has the consequence that the HAI indeed should be observed at the local
level. Otherwise, it does not give us the real picture of the housing problem. Housing is, in general,
a local matter. The quality of housing in a city is strongly determined by the willingness and ability of
local stakeholders to be involved in the housing delivery system. If the willingness is not there, no
national government can change that. The central government must continue to play the role of “fire
brigade” to upgrade the substandard squatters. Even if the Kotaku is successful in establishing the
Housing Management Committee, nobody can avoid the coming up of new miserable squatters
somewhere else in the city.
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Indeed there are several essential roles the national government still have to do to support the
decentralization of housing sector. With regards to the limited availability of housing finance
resources, many experts in Indonesia have the opinion that this should be the core of the housing
policy on the national level. Especially the mobilization of long-term financial resources cannot
transfer to the institution at the local level. The availability of long-term housing fund can protect the
housing production from up and down of national conjuncture cycle. The investment in the housing
sector should be protected by government policy from short-term speculative economic maneuvers
although the nature of housing development is a long-term enterprise. Although people build houses
for 40-75 years or a longer life, it is not easy to mobilize the funding.
The concept of affordable housing sees buying a house as an act of (property) investment, as an
individual act, which belongs to a domestic affair. The housing stock is an individual asset, which can
be used as a collateral guarantee to borrow money from the bank. Also, having a house enable
somebody to be involved in the process of economic accumulation. Affordable housing needs can
be addressed through public policy instruments that focus on the demand side of the market,
programs that help households reach financial benchmarks that make housing affordable. National
government policies define banking and mortgage lending practices, tax and regulatory measures
affecting building materials and professional practices (ex. real estate transactions). The purchasing
power of individual households can be enhanced until a certain degree through tax and fiscal policies
that result in reducing the cost of mortgages and the cost of borrowing. Public policies may include
the implementation of subsidy programs and incentive patterns for average households. The other
thing the national government must do is to develop the platform of a housing information system,
which should be installed in every city who want to deal with housing problems. The information
should also include the condition of people who are working and living outside the market system.
Furthermore, the national government, in relation to enabling the housing stakeholders, should help
the city with the formation of housing affordability committee. Other issues where local stakeholders
still need the intervention from national agencies are the management skill how to secure the quality
of the design, and of the housing construction. The trend today is that the quality of housing is
sacrificed for the benefit of lower cost. This has an impact on reducing the lifetime of the product.
The development of technology which is at the same time increasing the quality by avoiding the
higher cost. To make use of local specific building materials and traditional building culture are a
possibility in that direction.
What national government cannot do is to protect the housing condition from the negative impacts
of the rising and downfall of the global economy. In all globalized cities the appearance of a foreign
worker with much higher income, sometimes with some additional allowance for housing, have an
impact on an over-proportional increase of rental and housing prices, especially if the city
government allow them to buy the properties.
3. CONCLUSION
The prerequisite for a successful NAHP in reforming the entire structure of the housing delivery
system should start with the empowerment of all local stakeholders to participate in the housing
development. Next, is to continue with the mobilization of non-governmental financial funds from
private sectors and communities. The most difficult task is to establish decentralized housing delivery
system appropriate to the local condition of each region.
In the middle of 1970s, the GOI starts to establish a liberal housing policy, which is consist of
privatization of market-oriented housing delivery system and prioritizing the ownership of housing. In
the same time, the GOI has issued two strategic programs, with the goals to upgrade the substandard
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housing and to give mortgage subsidy for the low-income groups. Three decades later, Indonesian
has to face the reality that the housing condition becomes worse than ever. Although the Indonesian
economy during that time grows continuously, it does not make housing automatically more
affordable. After the end of Soeharto regime in 1998, the GOI made an effort to erase substandard
housing especially in the urban area and simultaneously try to increase the efficiency of the housing
production and the number of subsidized housing. But 15 years later the GOI has to realize, that the
problem of housing in the cities cannot be solved by permanently increasing the housing subsidy
and the number of upgraded housing. The paper shows that the successful implementation of the
NAHP in Indonesia cannot be achieved without to reform the current housing delivery system.
Several precondition, such as securing the long term housing fund, overcoming land speculation,
empowering the local government and institutional development on local levels, etc. should be
executed before the concept NAHP can be successfully implemented.
Indonesia has to learn that the problem of housing can be solved only if the production of new
substandard housing can be stopped, and it needs big efforts to make housing more affordable. To
achieve those goals, the GOI has issued two housing programs “City without Slums” and “National
Affordable Housing Program,” which have a long term financial back-up from the World Bank. The
paper shows that the two programs can be successfully implemented only if two main problems can
be overcome, the first is to enable local housing stakeholders to take over the leading position in a
decentralized housing delivery system. The second is to find the way how to control the main factor,
which makes housing in market-oriented economic system unaffordable: the gap between the
housing expenditure and the disposal incomes of peoples who need housing. The last goal can be
achieved only if social inequality can be reduced.
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SUB URBAN TRANSFORMATION CHALLENGE CONFRONTED BY PUBLIC
AND PRIVATE SECTORS IN TANGERANG
1 2
Carolina Carolina , Nilam Atsirina Krisnaputri
1 2
Universitas Agung Podomoro, Universitas Agung Podomoro
ABSTRACT
Tangerang are facing a huge transformation for the past ten years. As its convenient,
Tangerang sub-urban area are becoming one of the most favourable affordable living areas for
people working in Jakarta. Along with that, Tangerang is growing to be a new urban area. Within its
fast growing, not only government (public sector), but also real estate developer (private sector), are
contribute to developing Tangerang area into living and working area. They see opportunities to catch
since the property market are doing too well for the past years. All this bringing a vibrant development
in Tangerang area. During the growth, within their limitation, slowly the public sectors are stepping
back while the private sectors keep moving forward. Private sectors with their resources and big
master planning have transform Tangerang into a visionary “urban” area. While altogether seems
good, actually this transformation is bringing impacts towards the Tangerang area integrated
development. Big number of private sectors created segregate urban area development. Private
sectors usually think based on their own territory and their own business development. This approach
created several problems, such as uncontrolled land price, limited affordable housing, law cases,
and environmental problem. Actually, government trying to control by its land use and other
development regulations. Motionless, with their economic power and landbanks numbers, such
regulations are not reliable enough. This research will used qualitative methods overlooking
regulations, theories, and cases which would be useful for this problem. By this research PPP
schemes with commitment collaboration would be a decent strategy for this sub-urban transformation
challenges, in order to balance the conflict of interest confronted by public and private sectors in
Tangerang
Keywords: conflict of interest, public-private sectors, segregate urban transformation, PPP Schemes.
1. INTRODUCTION
While urban area could not provide housing options any longer, people tend to look for an alternative
by looking from the urban’s neighborhood. This alternative searching indirectly created urban
expansion towards the sub-urban area through its infrastructure as well. By its continuously demand,
the growth of sub-urban area into new urban areas are inevitable. Development of new urban area
mostly takes public and private sectors involvement for permit, funding, landbanks, regulations, etc.
Despite the limitation of public sectors, in most cities in the world, the new urban area development
usually dominated by the private sectors. Private sectors with its economic power actually could be
strengthen and accelerate the new urban development. Apparently, large-scale new urban projects
by private sectors are well appreciated by governments as they enhance the attractiveness of cities,
and support growth of people and community through their attractive planning and design which
creates vibrant social spaces, delivers innovative public facilities and urban infrastructure.
Meanwhile, their profitable urban development approach usually evokes problems.
Private sectors with their economic powers usually generated several problems, such as (Priasmoro
P., Soemargono K., 1994):
• Leads to monopoly or oligopoly for an area which bring suffers for mostly low-income people.
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• Financial and law inequality within their privileges. They usually used their economic power
as their bargaining to afford privileges. One common example is lawsuits cases of land
dispute between people and private sector developers.
• Urban development inequality between public and private property. In broader definition, the
issues debated relate to the efficiency, equity and sustainability of private property as
contrasted to common property (E. Ostrom, 2000).
Along with any other urban areas, due to Jakarta rapid growth, in the early 1980’s, following the
construction of toll roads connecting Jakarta with Tangerang and Merak in the west, a new trend of
residential development emerged (Winarso, 2002). This new trend pioneered by several large
property group companies. Together they launched the idea of new urban area in Serpong, located
about 20 km southwest of Jakarta. This was followed by others which scattered throughout
Tangerang Regency, City of Tangerang, and South Tangerang.
Figure 1. Map of Jakarta, City of Tangerang, South Tangerang, and Tangerang Regency
Source: Palapanews.com, 2019
2
According to the 2016 province’s statistic data, from total area of 9,662.92 km , Tangerang Regency
2 2
has total area of 1,011.86 km , City of Tangerang has total area of 153.93 km , and South Tangerang
2
has total area of 147.19 km ; with accumulated into 13.5% (131,298 ha) area of Banten Province
(BPS Provinsi Banten, 2016). As for the land development right, in 2002, there are around 60% of
Tangerang Regency total area which are under private sector development (Winarso, 2002). As for
those private developer’s buyers, 55% of them ages around 30-40 years old, with 59% are well
educated graduated from university. Looking at the buyer’s workplace, study reveals that most
buyers are young professional who works in Jakarta area. They usually drive their private car (56%),
while some of them have more than 1 car. Commonly they decided to live in Tangerang for affordable
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reason, while proximity to working place, accessibility, entertainment, and educational facilities also
become major consideration.
In these three cities, there are several private developers whose owned the area (land bank) and
land development rights. List of major private developers whose take part in cities development could
be seen in table below.
Table 1. List of Major Private Developers in City of Tangerang and South Tangerang
Land Bank Data Land Development
No. Private Developers Area
in ha Right in ha
1. PT. Bumi Serpong Damai Tbk. South Tangerang 2,931.76 5,950
City of Tangerang &
2. PT. Alam Sutera Realty Tbk. 800 1,250
South Tangerang
South Jakarta &
3. PT. Jaya Real Property Tbk. 1,705 2,499
South Tangerang
Tangerang Regency
4. PT. Summarecon Serpong 750
& South Tangerang
5. PT. Modernland Realty. Tbk City of Tangerang 400
6. PT. Hanson International Tbk. South Tangerang 850
7. PT. Intiland Development City of Tangerang 105
8. PT. Lippo Karawaci Tbk. Tangerang Regency 165
9. Paramount Land Tangerang Regency 1,200
10. PT. Prima Inti Permata South Tangerang 35 36
11. PT. Garden Polis Tangerang Regency 1,187 1,830
12. Ciputra Group Tangerang Regency 2,760
12. Suvarna Sutera Tangerang Regency 900
13. PT. Metropolitan Land City of Tangerang 62
14. PT. Agung Sedayu City of Tangerang 150
15. CFLD Tangerang Regency 60 2,600
16. DIGM Tangerang Regency 68,62
17. BAS Tangerang Regency 8,47
18. PT. Pacific Millenium Land South Tangerang 1,388 3,000
Total of Tangerang Regency 6,349.09 (6.2%)
*cumulation of either land development
Total of City of Tangerang & South
15,052 (50%) right (if available) and land bank data
Tangerang
Source: various source, 2017-2018
The data above shows that almost 50% of total area in City of Tangerang and South Tangerang
would be developed by private developer, while the private developer owned 6.2% of land area in
Tangerang Regency. As for the building typology, most of them built as landed housing. In fact, City
of Tangerang and South Tangerang are in high preferable demand due its proximity toward Jakarta.
This demand urges private developers to expanding their area to growth their business. In its
expansion process, there are several problems occurs, such as:
1. Since the private developers need capitals to growth their business therefore, they are
becoming profit oriented. This resulted in limited access towards affordable housing and
public facilities. This fact proved by the buyer’s profile mentioned above.
2. Since years ago, in their expansion process, there are many administration and law problem
occur related to land acquisition. This process habitually difficult and lengthy. Compensation
as the only way facing many debates towards settlement numbers (Group, n.d.).
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Figure 2. Land Owner’s Complaint to Private Developer in South Tangerang, Back in 2013
Source: Palapanews.com, 2019
Figure 3. Land Owner’s Claims for Private Shopping Mall Land in South Tangerang
Source: sindonews.com, 2019
3. As they seen the development area as their private property, commonly the development
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planning is segregated from the public areas. Usually they build physical boundaries as tools,
as well as public transportation ban to enter the development area.
Figure 4. Small Alley Connected New Urban Area by Private Sectors to Its Surrounding Local Villages
Source: google images, 2019
Figure 5. Physical Boundaries and Small Access for Surrounding Villages

Source: google images, 2019
As described above, actually there are similarities problems bringing by private sectors domination
in urban area development in Tangerang and in any new urban areas in other cities. Meaning to
prevent these problems, actually the central and local government provide several major
development regulations, such as:
a. Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia No. 26 Year 2007 about Spatial Planning
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This regulation mentioned about spatial planning classifications, central government
authority in spatial planning, local government authority, spatial planning process, spatial
planning description, land used regulation description, main infrastructure development plan,
land use control, general cities’ area land use plan, general area village’s area land use plan,
and punishment for any violations.
b. Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia No. 1 Year 2011 about Housing and Residential
Area
This regulation consisted of countries responsibility in providing housing, responsibility of

local government, housing execution, housing descriptions, housing planning and design,
public facilities, housing construction, occupants, housing control, affordable housing supply
by government, residential area development and planning, used of residential areas, and
land supply process.
c. Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia No. 2 Year 2012 about Land Procurement for Public
Interest Development
This regulation described about land definition, land procurement for public used, land
procurement planning, land procurement teams, land database, land ownership, land
compensation, right, obligation, and participation of community, and land transfer.
d. Indonesia Agrarian Law No. 5 Year 1960 about Basic Regulations of Agrarian
This regulation described about land, water, and spatial right. This regulation also described
about types of land rights, land transfer, and land violation punishment.
e. Indonesia Presidential Decree No. 65 Year 2006 about Land Procurement for
Implementation of Public Development
This regulation contains description and compensation related to land procurement for
Implementation of Public Development.
f. Rencana Tata Ruang Wilayah (RTRW) Kota/ City Land Use Planning
Every city in Indonesia has its RTRW which commonly used for 20 years. It is contained land
use planning/ zoning for each area which used as general guidelines. This regulation is the
only technical guidelines commonly used for area development since it is containing future
infrastructure planning, land use zoning, public facilities, etc. Despite its validity period,
commonly RTRW are open for discussion between all stakeholders related to the
development.
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Figure 6. RTRW for City of Tangerang 2012-2032

Source: City of Tangerang Government, 2019
In accordance from what stated above, central and local regulations control more in general situation
about economic, social, environment, and spatial development. In most of regulations, it contains all
necessity description, process, and general procedures, support with aspects protect by law. But
there are less in technical regulations or guideline related to economic, social, environment, and
detail spatial development. In addition, there are no detail development strategies or action plan as
bond between public and private sectors. The only general technical guideline could be seen in
RTRW. Still the guidelines are too general and rather weak, since it could be adjusted without any
justification as long as government and private sectors feels acceptable. While actually the detail
technical regulations become the strongest tools to control the development, this shortage becoming
the gap in the regulations itself. Habitually this gap become opportunities for private sectors to take
advantages.
Looking on other cities, such as Hong Kong, Hong Kong’s adjustments of private rights to property
are demonstrated in national development codes, policies, laws, and regulations. All of these are
actual or proposed policies that increase public (political) control over property (Allen, 1986). Unlike
the land policy in China, which urban land is owned by the state of China (Xu, Guthrie, Fan, & Li,
2017); and all the development control by the state, Hong Kong remains supple in the urban
development schemes. As urban development approach, there is infamous urban development
strategies called R+P Project. R+P is a form of Public Private Partnership used in Hong Kong. As
brief, R+P scheme involving the government who gives permit, MTR company who responsible for
Hong Kong Mass Transit Rail (MTR), and the private sectors who own capital for developing property
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projects along the MTR station. The relation between all stakeholders involved could be seen in the
Figure 7 below.
Figure 7. R+P Development Scheme

Source: (Kong & Transit, 2015)
As for the procedures, there are planning steps following every new development, which consist of
(Mass, 2015):
1. Urban analysis which covered market condition, financing gap for infrastructure construction
and operation, and government requirements.
2. Railway Development Strategy which periodically update by Hong Kong Transport and
Housing Bureau. The strategy itself contain feasibility studies which direct into project
proposal which would be submitted to Hong Kong Government for permission, and held
officially by MTR Corporation. The permission includes specific site location, land used,
building heights, building densities, etc.
3. According to project permission, MTR Corporation will make a masterplan as project TOR.
The process than continue to open tender for investment and involvement of private sectors.
While MTR Corporation did not sell the development rights to the private sectors but being
partnership during the whole development process.
Even though, R+P scheme are profitable enough, still more importantly R+P scheme means to
encourage broader social interests (Yan Ki Lo, 2016). One of the famous R+P Project is the
successful of Lohas Park which build on the ex-waste dump area.
In addition, looking at the other South East Asian Cities, Ho Chi Minh. As a developing city, Ho Chi
Minh City (HCMC), additional financial funds are important for speeding up public transport
infrastructure establishment. As the city growth, the city faces a high demand of public infrastructure,
while conventional public funding is really limited. Similar with others developing countries or cities,
Vietnam also has introduced Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to attract additional private sector
funding, which acknowledged as the Doi Moi Policies. Within its Doi Moi Policies, Vietnam has
accomplished significant achievements in the areas of economic growth, openness to trade, poverty
reduction and human development (Kien;, 2008). For a glorious success of this PPP scheme, HCMC
tested two systems of partnership: the international scale called Built Operate Transfer (BOT) model
and the Build-Transfer (BT) model, which frequently applied for local scale. There are 3 types of BOT
which already happened (LAN, 2016), such as full investor funding in form of loan, capital
contribution, full financing from government. While for the BT, usually it would be an exchange
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between investment from private sectors into land development permit from the authorities. As for
this BOT and BT partnership scheme, there are local authorities and private investor involved. The
authorities will distribute a large zone of land, then convert the land use of it into residential or
commercial used; after that, with an open tender, the projects are offer to investor who can develop
the area. The success of this mechanism is based on the mutual benefits that both authorities and
private investors derive from it. The authorities get the funding to running the project, while the
investors generate profits from the urban area development (Nguyen, Krabben, Musil, & Le, 2018).
2. METHODOLOGY
This research mainly used current used law and regulation; and land bank data owned by private
sector in Tangerang Regency, City of Tangerang, and South Tangerang City. The data comes from
the Private Sectors Annual Report, National Land Bureau and Local Government which created the
urban land use plan. This research will used descriptive comparative by describing the physical
situation of research object, and compared it to relevant theories and case studies to conclude
significant strategies to solve the research problems. As for the main tools, this research will used
urban mapping to understand deeply about the problems and its transformation.
As for the working procedures, there are several stages used, such as:
1. Information and data collection from all related bureau. This process done to understand the
initial urban planning and regulation by the government as well as their policies towards this
sub urban transformation.
2. Area mapping from the data to check the private sectors impact in Tangerang with all related
problem happen along with its development.
3. Learning from cases studies to look for alternative schemes or strategies could be used in
Tangerang cases.

In the case of Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh City, even without referring to its state regulation, the
urban development strategies they used in terms of development scheme bringing a harmonious
development between public and private sectors. There are several points which bring success to
these cases, such as:
1. With their specific form of Public Private Partnership (PPP), they encouraged involvement of
public and private in their respective roles which could be prevented conflict and supported
each other during the development. A large urban-development project, whether residential
or commercial, is a big responsibility which required big amount of capital and resources
used for land acquisition, engineering tests, planning, platting, designing, permits and other
costs. Therefore, working together on the whole process with all related stakeholders will be
the best way.
2. Discussion, commitment, and coordination in the whole development process create synergy
between all stakeholders, while in the same time they can always had periodically evaluation
and developed the strategies better altogether.
3. The nature of these projects is driving new forms of collaboration between the public and
private sector and is creating a new integrated approach to designing, building, financing
and operating large scale urban developments and infrastructure. Traditional boundaries
between the public and private sector and between consultants and principals are becoming
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increasingly blurred as their roles become interdependent by advantage of their enhanced
planning and delivery capabilities. This new collaboration would be created an integrated
planning and delivered model, required public officials, consultants, developers and
investors to proactively seek to jointly plan and deliver successful large-scale urban projects.
As resulted from description above, sub-urban transformation challenges in Tangerang could be
happened because of detail guidelines, regulation, laws, and strategies lacking from the central and
local government. While the regulation itself apparently emphasize more on description, process,
and explanation; there were gaps between regulation and implementation process. Actually, official
law and regulation were not the only way, there are ways to control the public private challenges by
creating applicable strategies, such as PPP, which are appropriate to Tangerang cases. Strategies
could be planned for short term or long term, with periodic evaluation. The successful key in created
those strategies was committed collaboration between all stakeholders while they are working
together on the whole process on their respective roles. Thus, this collaboration process would be
an interesting step for further discussion.
4. CONCLUSION
There is a necessity to set a rule that really defines the private and public property rights. It is
including who has the right, which activities contained, the procedures, punishment, etc. (V. Ostrom,
2007). In other words, rules and rulers are required to established, monitor and enforce a property
system (A. M. Elmanisa, A. A. Kartiva, A. Fernando, R. Arianto, H. Winarso, 2017). Despite of its
power, establishing series of development laws and regulations are a long and hard process. While
the cities are dynamic and fast growing. Looking over that, in order to minimize the sub urban
transformation confronted by public and private sectors in Tangerang, they could create a
development scheme. PPP scheme with its promised is actually popular at the moment, especially
in developing cities or countries. While in Tangerang case, the stakeholders in their PPP scheme
could be consisted of Indonesia government; Tangerang Regency, City of Tangerang, and South
Tangerang government of each related cities; private sectors (developers), urban planner,
environmental engineer, economist, as well as community. Along the way, the most important thing
is that all the stakeholders need to maintained the commitment, collaboration and communication for
greater aims.
5. REFERENCES
[1] Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia No. 1 Year 2011 about Housing and Residential Areas
[2] Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia No. 26 Year 2007 about Spatial Planning
[3] Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia No. 2 Year 2012 about Land Procurement for Public
Interest Development
[4] Indonesia Agrarian Law No. 5 Year 1960 about Basic Regulations of Agrarian
[5] Indonesia Presidential Decree No. 65 Year 2006 about Land Procurement for Implementation of
Public Development
[6] Rencana Tata Ruang Wilayah (RTRW) Kota/ City Land Use Planning
[7] A. M. Elmanisa, A. A. Kartiva, A. Fernando, R. Arianto, H. Winarso, D. Z. (2017). Land Price

Mapping of Jabodetabek, Indonesia. Geoplanning, 4(1), 53–62.
https://doi.org/10.14710/geoplanning.4.1.53-62
[8] Allen, J. W. (1986). Private Rights to Property: The Foundation of Freedom, Prosperity, and
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Harmony. Texas: Real Estate Centers.
[9] BPS Provinsi Banten. (2016). Luas Wilayah Menurut Kabupaten/Kota di Provinsi Banten, 2016.
[10] Group, O. B. (n.d.). The Report Indonesia 2012. Oxford Bussiness Group.
[11] Kien;, T. N. Y. H. (2008). Doi Moi Policy and Socio-Economic Development in Vietnam, 1986–
2005. Sage Journals, 11(1).
[12] LAN, B. T. H. (2016). Study on Model of Public Private Partnership Using in Road Transport
Infrastructure Development in Accordance with Condition in Vietnam. Proceeding The 13 Th
International Asian Urbanization Conference: Rapid Urbanization and Sustainable
Development In Asia, 328–339.
[13] Mass, H. K. T. (2015). Case Study Hong Kong Mass Transit Rail Corpora-, 415–425.
[14] Nguyen, T. B., Krabben, E. Van Der, Musil, C., & Le, D. A. (2018). ‘ Land for infrastructure ’ in
Ho Chi Minh City : land-based financing of ‘ Land for infrastructure ’ in Ho Chi Minh City : land-
based financing of transportation improvement Thanh Bao Nguyen , Erwin van der Krabben ,
Clément Musil & Duc Anh Le. International Planning Studies, 0(0), 1–17.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13563475.2018.1477581
[15] Ostrom, E. (2000). P RIVATE AND C OMMON P ROPERTY R IGHTS (pp. 332–379).
[16] Ostrom, V. (2007). Some Developments in the Study of Market Choice, Public Choice, and
Institutional Choice (Handbook o). New York: CRC Press.
[17] Priasmoro P., Soemargono K., H. W. T. (1994). Konglomerasi Ekonomi Indonesia Dalam
Rangka Persatuan dan Kesatuan Bangsa: Suatu Tanggung Jawab Sosial. Jakarta: Lembaga
Pengkajian Strategis Indonesia.
[18] Winarso, H. (2002). Access to main roads or low cost land? Residential land developers’
behaviour in Indonesia. ON THE ROAD: The Social Impact of New Roads in Southeast Asia,
158(4), 653–676.
[19] Xu, W. (Ato), Guthrie, A., Fan, Y., & Li, Y. (2017). Literature review and evaluation of TOD
potential across 50 Chinese cities. Journal of Transport and Land Use, 10(1), 743–762.
Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/26211754
[20] Yan Ki Lo, C. (2016). The Effects of R + P Projects on Residential Property Value : An Empirical
Analysis Using Hedonic Price Model. The University of Hong Kong.
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INSECURITY AND RESILIENCE IN PERI-URBAN METRO MANILA: HOW
RESETTLEMENT “BENEFICIARIES” URBANIZE THE DESAKOTA
José Edgardo Gomez, Jr.1
1
University of the Philippines (Diliman campus)
2/f School of Urban & Regional Planning Building, Emilio Jacinto Street, U.P. Diliman Campus, 1101 Quezon
City, Metropolitan Manila, the Philippines
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Although urbanization of the peri-urban edge of megacities in developing countries might seem to be
the result of government’s extension of infrastructure, it is also the upshot of the movements of people
and their ways-of-living as they cope with the insecurities of the city on a daily basis. This research
takes a closer look at the dynamics of resettlement of the urban poor and homeless in the urban-
rural fringe of a representative megalopolis from Southeast Asia, Metropolitan Manila, in order to
establish that urbanization’s expanse is a phenomenon wrought of and by the masses themselves,
often inadvertently, as they are forced outwards by the neoliberal market forces that seek to control
the prime lands of the capital’s Central Business Districts. Using a combination of key informant
interviews, field visits with photographs, and analysis of maps done between April 2015 through May
2019, it is shown that through aspirational behavior, associational connections, and prior habituation
to the urban, the relocated individuals and families themselves carry the germ of urbanization into
the receding rural hinterland, or what McGee labeled as the “desakota” (village-city) where a
checkered landscape consisting of built-up and non-built up agricultural lands may prevail as a norm
for fairly long periods of time. The working conclusion of the research is that resettled families and
individuals are active, if unwitting agents in the urbanization of the peri-urban area.
Keywords: insecurity, urban, Metro Manila, peri-urban fringe, resettlement.
1. INTRODUCTION, BACKGROUND, SIGNIFICANCE OF RESEARCH
This research looks at that same phenomenon of urban transformation of what McGee in 1991 called
the desakota, which describes the mingling of urban and rural land uses at the city’s often informal
fringe. The basic query was: how does resettlement of the urban poor and homeless in public housing
alter the peri-urban desakota? This research however, attempted to approach urbanization of the
people themselves from a more grounded perspective of citizens who have been relocated to such
remote places by government, and who have had to find ways and means to settle into a viable
workaday routine, given their limited means and drive to survive. Often, such populations have been
both physically and socially marginal urban poor groups, who once occupied prime inner-city lands
where their shanties had become eyesores in contrast to the advance of steel-&-glass edifices
resulting from neoliberal policy shifts of big business. By trying to understand the so-called
beneficiaries as both active and passive agents of urban transformation, the author shows that the
gradual shifts and pushing-out of the fringe are traceable to the everyday actions and relationships
of many individuals who have been trying to retain the advantages that city life has given them, in
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addition to the cheap public housing provided by government in sites that are remote from the hustle
and bustle—and lucre of the metropolitan center.
This research contributes to the literature on the experience of resettlement, particularly to peri-urban
areas, and focuses on the “urbanization” of the rural through the behaviors and everyday practice of
citizens. In contrast to past conceptions, say in the 1970s and 1980s, of migration as consisting of
rural folk flooding the primate cities of developing countries, this study examines a countervailing
tendency of the urban areas to push into the rural fringe through the ejection of its less-empowered
(or less-desirable) members, who bring with them the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of inner-city
dwellers. The study is also important as it adds a grounded perspective to the evidence of coping
strategies by the urban poor, in so far as these can be innovative and effective ways of dealing with
the challenges of resettlement. The research is limited in geographic scope to Metropolitan Manila,
in the Philippines, although its findings suggest that its insights might resonate broadly with similarly-
situated Southeast Asian megacities, like Jakarta or Bangkok.
Relevant Literature: Urbanization, the Desakota, Human Insecurity, and Urban Behaviors
In order to understand the way the masses “make and remake” the city, it is important to understand
the present global context of socioeconomic forces that has turned urban space into a multifarious
aggregate of sites contested among many citizens. As Van Naerssen (2003) points out, current
globalization forces the large cities of the South to offer modern infrastructure and communication
facilities, cheap labor, and tax incentives in order to attract foreign capital and to develop export
industry, and in so doing forms the backdrop of urban struggle in Metro Manila and other like cities,
including Bangkok and Jakarta. Part of this immense and complex dynamic and drive to “modernize”
may be traced to the oft-criticized neoliberal turn of many contemporary states. Neoliberalism itself
may however be conceived in a variety of ways: (a) as a modality of urban governance; (b) as a
spatially selective political strategy; and (c) as a form of discourse, ideology and representation
(Brenner & Theodore 2005), which in broad strokes, try to impose a private-sector logic on a state’s
economy and society, with corresponding changes wrought upon public space. But the sites which
market agents’ eye are often also the destinations, historically, of those who have sought to migrate
from impoverished rural areas into the capitals of Asia. The result, spatially, has often been a
checkered primate city, especially in the developing countries of Asia, where the aspiring middle and
lower classes have taken root close to potential and actual sites of employment. While being suited
to redevelopment for higher and better use, these sites also frequently happen to be the living and
working areas occupied by the economically and politically weaker strata of urban society, who have
few alternative courses of action (Viratkapan, Perera, and Watanabe, 2004), and whose numbers
have ballooned over time, compelling many states to provide either in-city low-cost housing or
resettlement at the peri-urban area. After the half-century of independence of many Southeast Asian
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developing countries, governments are now trying to address the housing problem more efficiently,
as market forces from globalization may insist on taking over prime lands closer to the Central
Business District/s (CBD/S), such as for example in Hanoi, where three belts of growth have been
showing heavy private sector investment, ever since the 1990s (Tuan 2008).
In the meantime, the rural hinterland, interlocked and mottled as it is with pockets of urbanism’s
physicality was first described by McGee in 1991 as a “desakota” (from the Indonesian village-city),
and has since come to overlay what were originally two types of cities in Southeast Asia: the trading
port, and the sacred city, over which Western powers established the basic urban network (McGee
2008, in Tran 2012). This peripheral zone over time becomes a receiving area both for those who
are trying to make their way into the metropolis, as well as those being compelled to move out of it.
Migration data suggest that the poorer a region is, the more migrants it sends to Metro Manila
(Malaque & Yokohari 2007), and yet these same migrants, or their children, are currently being
moved towards the edges of the metropolis while new development and redevelopment is injected
into the older areas, sometimes with resistance from long-time dwellers. As Danley & Weaver (2018)
point out, a legacy of exclusion and unwelcomeness in new development is a catch-22; investment
is called for because of historic disinvestment of urban communities—or lack of ability for upkeep,
but opposed by local activists out of fear of displacement and exclusion. Taken together, from a
spatial perspective then, the desakota has come in recent times to represent not only the shifting
growth edge of an urban area, but also the intersection of inbound and outbound movement of human
groups, which bring their own subcultures with them. Apart from the spatial fact of the periurban
area, the word “urban fringe” itself suggests a topological category, not a sharp divide or edge, but a
border zone of an urban area (Meeus & Gulinck 2008) that somehow exists in a liminal state.
Cutting across the entire dynamic globalization of megacities, and the concomitant persistence—
even growth, of urban poverty and homelessness is the reality of everyday urbanity, or the decision-
makers’ dilemma of how to encourage and guide the manifestation of a healthy urbanism, consisting
of knowledge, skills, and attitudes of citizens across all socioeconomic strata. This affective
dimension is a determinant of many relevant issues on the ground. For example, one might take the
issue of social capital, which is supposed to be disrupted by relocation. According to Carpenter,
Daniere and Takahashi (2004) who studied Vietnamese and Thai communities, there may be
conceptual confusion here though, as social capital can be more behavioral (i.e. having to do with
intrinsic abilities to trust and cooperate) or more associational (i.e. having a network of persons that
enables one to cope and progress), but is needed in whichever form for a poor individual or a family
to deal with the insecurities of day-to-day life, especially if newly transferred to the urban periphery.
And yet the old forms of risk still remain, such as violence, to which certain defensive and behaviors
and attitudes must respond. It is important to distinguish between structural causes of violence
(generally related to unequal power relations) and trigger risk factors (situational circumstances that
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can exacerbate the likelihood of violence occurring), to which citizens must respond (Moser 2004),
especially those in unstable inner city areas or peripheral locations where law enforcement comes
seldom. Therefore, just as important and simultaneous in its relation with the unfolding of urban
attitudes and behaviors in the peri-urban areas is the quality of everyday life itself, especially in so
far as it is often affected by a whole new set of post-resettlement insecurities. It is “life as lived” that
is increasingly becoming the concern of scholars since the development of the concept of Human
Security by the United Nations in 1994, which has been an indicator of subtle but profound shifts in
policy orientation that have transpired showing an unmistakable concern with how resources are
sustained, distributed, and mobilized within national borders (Umegaki 2009). This broadened,
multidimensional concept of Human Security moves the scholar and decision-maker from looking
solely at the threat and dynamics of overt violence in the city to include types of ‘structural violence’
that create and maintain urban disadvantage and marginalization. Exploitation, exclusion, and
discriminatory forms of structural violence by institutions and powerful private interests can create
and perpetuate cities of massive socioeconomic divisions (Bollens 2008), as well as smaller, yet no
less grating, sources of friction and disamenity that prevents citizens from living prosperously, let
alone achieving self-fulfillment. Since Human Security is a relatively new concept, there is still much
opportunity to ground it and do research on the particulars in different countries, which this study
hopes to contribute to. As Lemanski (2012) has pointed out: because the scale of analysis and
actions of Human Security are largely operationalized through `development' institutions and actors,
it is still dominated by macro-scale policy focus and top-down interventions, versus the micro-scale
insecurities faced by urban dwellers every day, which are localized and influenced by individualized
subjectivities. Relating this to the urban context, one should note that the ability of large cities to act
as magnets for economic activity is seemingly mirrored by the way they may bring together threats
to peace and security, which are may come in the form of social and income inequalities, which may
be linked to violence (Macaluso & Briscoe 2014).
Taken all together, this abbreviated review of related literature reminds us that while there has been
much scholarly attention focused on the broad sweep of metropolitanization in the cities of Asia,
there is still a need for a more sensitive understanding of the way ordinary people take situations into
account and act accordingly to improve their lives, even while unconsciously transforming the urban
landscape over time, and through their everyday activities in the resettlement sites. While
infrastructure built by government may be more visible, it is actually the citizens as potential and
actual users who are likely prior determinants of when and where new building should take place,
especially where there is some political mileage to be gained by extending services to constituents
whose families have been removed to distant sites. It is also the citizens who become unwitting or
accidental catalysts of urbanization, in so far as some of them were originally inner-city dwellers who
have been compelled to resettle at the urban periphery, where they bring habits, skills, and attitudes
that transform the rural communities that host them.
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Figure 1. Metropolitan Manila as a Melting Pot of Urban Coping Behaviors Source: Gomez, 2016
2. METHODOLOGY
In terms of methodology, the study’s approach may be broadly classified as qualitative-descriptive,

and focused on three methods to determine how the resettled urban poor colonize and diffuse their
urbanity onto the rural fringe: (1) windshield/driving surveys of sites in the peri-urban areas some 15-
20 kilometers away from historic Manila, in the cities of San Jose del Monte (Bulacan province),
Antipolo (Rizal province), Calauan (Laguna province), and Dasmariñas (Cavite province), with
photographs taken as needed, (2) key informant interviews of at least thirty urban poor
representatives (usually household heads or community leaders) in at least two sites (15 each and
counting), and interviews of government agents concerned with dealing with the housing
beneficiaries, specifically staff from the National Housing Authority and an official of the Housing &
Urban Development Coordinating Council and (3) a policy survey and analysis of government
documents relating to housing. This study itself is part of an ongoing larger research on urban poor
and human security in cities, which started in April 2015 and is continuing at the time of this writing.
Specifics of the qualitative approach may be found in Merriam (2009).
Part of the methodology was a survey and analysis of relevant policies. Before examining the
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people’s responses, it was important to appreciate the statutory environment that affected them,
especially because politicians and bureaucrats were held accountable by such legalities in pursuing
both local development and shelter provision mandates. These are included in the table below.
Table 1. Representative Laws or Policies That Affect Resettlement in the Philippines
LAWS (in order of direct relevance) RELEVANT PROVISIONS SPATIAL OR ADMINISTRATIVE

MANIFESTATION
1987 Philippine Constitution Declares commitment to Appears in most official reports
(Article XIII) alleviate problems of homeless on shelter/land
R.A.7279 of 1992 Urban Provides definitions of Resettlement projects and
Development & Housing Act informality and prioritization of relocations
lands for government purchase
B.P.220 of 1982 Standards for Specifies minimum metrics for Size of smallest decent housing
Economic & Socialized Housing sheltering poor for the poor
P.D.1096 of 1977 National Specifies building standards and Characteristic “Filipino” built-up
Building Code materials use for the country areas
R.A.7160 of 1991 Local Decentralization of duties and Site character of local
Government Code powers to local officials settlements
E.O.90 of 1986 Agencies for Created Housing & Urban Dev’t. Coordinated plans among all
National Shelter Program Coordinating Council shelter agencies
R.A.7835 of 1992 Comprehensive Provides for additional Facilitates funding for public
and Integrated Shelter Finance capitalization and trust funds for housing
Act housing-related agencies
P.D.957 of 1976 Regulating Sale Rationalizes and regulates Orderly and regulated
of Subdivision Lots & subdivision and condominium subdivisions
Condominiums construction
R.A.10121 of 2010 Philippine Rationalizes and redefines the Setup of disaster response units,
Disaster Risk Reduction and entire disaster preparedness evacuation areas, and
Management Act and response mechanism for administrative/funding units
the country.
Notes: R.A. = Republic Act; P.D. = Presidential Decree; B.P. = Batas Pambansa [National Law]
The Lack of Rural Predisposition: Urban Ways-of-Doing as Fallback
Of at least thirty (30) respondents in the resettlement sites and ocular inspections of other housing
areas, it became apparent that the majority (>50%) of resettled beneficiaries preferred, or were
engaged by default in some form of blue-collar job in their areas-of-origin in Metro Manila, or were
employed in the services sector as manicurists, masseuses, or day-laborers, rather than as
agriculturists. Although the design of the houses by the well-known Non- Government Organization
(NGO) Gawad Kalinga required small planting boxes that served as front yards for their low-cost
houses, only some of the households were observed to plant these to herbaceous items such as
tomatoes, dill, turmeric, sweet potatoes and eggplant. Only those households whose elder members
had a childhood of farming in the provinces were inclined to augment their wage-based jobs with
home-grown agriculture. The Dreamlandville site in barangay Kaypian, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan
had a community planting strip which took some three years to organize, but even so had only
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cassava as initial crop, while the sites in PCUP-RPGVille in Antipolo had no such planting strips. In
comparison, inner-city resettlements like the Pabahay sa Riles along the railroad beside the South
Luzon Expressway in Manila could only show potted plants.
What this underscored, apparently, was a lack of rural predisposition, or rather the “default mode” of
resorting to urban survival strategies as a means of survival. As narrated by one assigned social
worker, R.A., in the resettlement site of Makati City in Calauan, Laguna, initial conditions were very
difficult, as the resettled youth had taken to cannibalizing the communal facilities by ferreting away
light bulbs, faucets, metal cladding, and other appendages that could be easily prised apart from built
structures, in order to resell the same as scrap metal or reusable junk later on. As for the
communities’ adults (heads of household, their spouses, and extended families), initial coping took
various forms from the men hiring themselves out as tricycle drivers to the women finding weekly
work as laundresses, cooks, or nannies in better-off households of the nearest urban center, usually
a kilometer or two away. It should be qualified however, that there has been no a priori expectation
of acquaintance with rural ways and predilections, either by government’s agents or the author
himself, hence should not be perceived as a lack in the sense of being incomplete, but rather in the
sense of being without the savoir faire that would otherwise have allowed a different way of life to
unfold for those resettled in areas that were proximate to wilderness and meadows.
Split Households
Another salient feature of resettlement sites that demonstrated how the people “urbanized”
themselves and their surroundings was the intentional splitting of families in order to maximize the
benefits of both sending and receiving areas. One may take for instance the case of M.S. (male),
who worked as a company driver in the city of San Juan in Metro Manila. He would leave his 30-
square meter home in a remote barangay of Antipolo city in Rizal province every Monday before
dawn, and commuted into the metropolis, where he stayed for the rest of the week, sleeping in
driver’s quarters at his boss’s office, in order to save on commuting fare till he returned home on
Fridays. In contrast, his sister M.G.P. (female) remained at home in a nearby house while her
husband also had a similar routine of working in the metropolis during the week, making do with
whatever half-decent dormitory he could avail of. A similar situation prevailed for R.T. (male) who
drove a taxi in the metropolis throughout the day, and who made do snatching sleep at gasoline
stations or other safe haunts were taxi drivers used to congregate at night after they had finished
their “boundary”—that is, obtained the minimum limit of income required by their owner-operators
(after which any income made accrued to the drivers themselves). Because it is expensive to
commute home everyday, such splitting became an economic necessity, but had a yet-unmeasured
social impact in terms of partly-absent parents, who could otherwise be spending weeknights
interacting with their children. This role was fulfilled by grandparents, if they were still alive and
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capable of looking after, and socializing the youth. Also, it may be mentioned that children who had
reached the age of majority, or who had finished schooling (usually no more than High School)
sooner or later found their way back to the big city in search of jobs, or assisted their parents in
seeking out productive work.
Another, possibly less socially-harmful, but no less practical coping strategy that inevitably linked the
urban to the rural was the decision of families to maintain dual affiliation in their place of voting
registration. That is, the husband might typically remain registered as a voter in the city where they
had originally lived as slum-dwellers, while the wife registered as a voter in the city where the
resettlement site is located. In this way, the family could avail of the social safety nets, political
largesse and sundry benefits that accrued to voters, especially because the cities-of-origin in
Metropolitan Manila were typically prosperous, like Makati and Quezon City, where hospitalization of
indigents was free or highly-subsidized, and there were substantial food giveaways during Christmas
and often during election time. The dual affiliation extended to other forms of membership as well,
including local self-help, religious, and community associations, whether formally or informally
organized, which either member of a productive couple would tend to join, as long as costs in time
and money were minimal, and where tangible and intangible benefits could be derived.
One little-appreciated effect of such splitting, from a long-term and group-oriented perspective, and
as evidenced by the content of conversations that the author had with the respondents, is that the
resettlement community effectively became a conduit for information and influences spilling out of
the urban centers. News of current events, job openings, mass organization of the proletariat, and
a thriving informal (including black market) trade all found links from the centers of commercial and
sociopolitical activity to the rural border zone. At first motivated by survival instinct, such grassroots
networking might later have evolved to become the basis of more sustained gregarious activity and
partnerships revolving around economic gain, such as joint business ventures, or chains of referrals
by trusted person to potential employers. What was transmitted need not have been material or
financial, but reliable tips per se could have far-reaching and lasting benefits for those astute enough
to act on precise and solid information.
Political Action Brings Infrastructure
Over time the community itself, through its leaders, learned to leverage some political power in order
to obtain what they needed from local officials. Those communities that were unified and organized
beforehand (and not disbanded by the occurrence of resettlement) possessed a distinct advantage
ab initio, as they could begin negotiating for a proper and decent resettlement on their own terms, or
at least meet government halfway, staving off unreasonable impositions. This was the case for the
Dreamlandville community in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, which was already organized from
among the informal settlers in Makati City. As a result, through their leader V.A. (female), they were
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able to hold off demolition until the roads in their site had been prepared and a basic communal water
system was in place. The acquisition and use of influence by the disadvantaged did not come by
easily however; respondents narrated that often it involved years of cultivating relationships and
making the right contacts, and not a little bit of dramatics and tough talk, especially when politicians
were blindly pushing for eviction or other rash actions that could throw an entire neighborhood into a
state of extreme insecurity. In other cases, well-meaning but less-imaginative agencies like the
Philippines’ National Housing Authority routinely offered cookie-cutter housing (i.e. row housing in
remote areas) that could otherwise be improved, modified, or individualized given a few cosmetic
retouches and not too much added investment on the part of the sponsors and sending government.
Furthermore, from the point of view of the bureaucrats interviewed, this arrangement of negotiated
settlement would work out in the long-run, as it allowed local government to be more attuned to the
needs of its constituents, and could be counted among its achievements, especially in terms of
“corporate social responsibility” or the like.
Analysis and Discussion
One question that arose out of the fieldwork findings of this research was this: why were the people
(i.e. the resettlement beneficiaries) who had been brought to the desakota area “urbanized” rather
than “ruralized”? The evidence appears to point to some basic explanatory factors, supported by the
narratives of the urban poor and the local government bureaucrats themselves:
First, notwithstanding the fact that many of them had already been habituated to living deep in the
recesses of the inner-city before being resettled to the outskirts, most beneficiaries of public low-cost
housing had close socioeconomic ties to the CBDs, where they had 40-hour a week jobs and what
remained of their past associative social capital in terms of contacts with petty officials, local
bureaucrats, and former neighbors. Collectively, these constituted a sort of survival lifeline for many
of the resettled families, hence could not be controverted in terms of its importance and influence on
their lives. The potential counterbalancing force would be a set of consistent overtures by the hosts
Local Government Units (LGUs) that surrounded the metropolis: cities and municipalities in the
provinces of Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, and Cavite, but these were often not wealthy enough to provide
the same close-in community nurturing for multiple sites that might reorient the relocatees towards a
more agricultural mode of life, given that the same provinces themselves were urbanizing rapidly in
the areas adjacent to Metro Manila.
Second, the resettled beneficiaries themselves, despite their self-reported poverty, may have been
better-off and more knowledgeable than their rural counterparts, so that their influence tended to hold
sway. Simultaneously, in order to return to agriculture, they would have to purchase or be allowed
to use farmland of their own, which was unlikely to take place at the fringe, as farmers were either
lucratively harvesting from their own plots to feed the metropolis, or were holding on speculatively to
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their land. In order to survive on a day-to-day basis, it was simply not feasible for the resettled
community to become totally dependent on traditional agricultural subsistence, especially when there
were job opportunities that would sooner or later arrive either in the immediate neighborhood or in
the cities of Metro Manila, provided that the wage offered were substantial enough to cover daily
costs, commuting, and the need to save up for one’s family needs (e.g. daily meals, children’s
schooling, medicines, etc.).
Third, the government itself appears to be partly responsible for the forward march of urbanization,
as it tended to extend roads and provide communal facilities that enabled communities to survive,
thrive, and expand spatially. This was in contrast to the alternative possibility of providing irrigation
facilities, drying platforms for harvested produce, or even barns and other warehouse-type facilities
for agricultural products. The residents simply did not request for the latter structures, and instead
more predictably requested for hospitals, schools and streetlighting. Typically, the most important
government presence at the onset has been the sending entity that instigates the resettlement, which
itself was usually wealthy and thoroughly urbanized, hence could not be faulted for an inability to
provide any sort of training and reorientation towards the agricultural professions that might still have
been viable in the outskirts of Metropolitan Manila. At some later point in time, the receiving local
government became more active or would take over entirely, and may have provided a different array
of career opportunities and associations that were rooted in the new location.
It would follow then, given the analysis of evidence at hand, that the individuals in the resettled
communities unwittingly became the agents of urbanization themselves. Not that urbanization per
se is anything negative to avoid or delay, but rather that it is the sprawling, unguided quality of
settlement that often becomes a problem, because utilities and social services fail to catch up with
the arrival of new residents, who thereafter clamor incessantly for better government service, from
whichever forum they can obtain best (or fastest) results—which is not necessarily from the host
LGU itself, as one would otherwise expect according to the institutional and spatial logic of population
placement. In the latter sense, one might more accurately describe the early stages of resettlement
as a period of sorting out mismatched or mistimed supply versus demand for assistance, usually in
the form of livelihood training, basic utilities (e.g. potable water and inexpensive electricity),
education, and rudimentary health care.
Moreover, it should be appreciated that the peri-urban area by itself, though superficially washed
over by the tide of urbanization, does not have an everyday quality of life that duplicates that of the
CBDs in any political, economic, or sociocultural manner. What prevails is still what one expects of
the frontier: run-down houses, small shops interspersed with grassy lots and vegetable plots, or
everywhere the signs of trial-&-error activity that characterize informality and only the token presence
of law and traffic rule enforcement. This then, is sensory proof that the non-urban character of the
landscape is still present and provides a less-stressful, more tolerant sort of surrounding for the
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people, albeit one without all the latest modern amenities nearby. Whether, or if this latter situation
will prevail as is, or will formalize over time may depend on various factors, not least of which is
government’s eventual decision to extend utilities, public transit and communication lines (including
the internet) progressively outward to reach the pockets of resettled families that it had ejected from
the vicinity of CBDs in the first place. Nonetheless, this author maintains that the center cannot
expand forever: in due time a gradation must form, and many of the observed residential areas will
probably remain as is, if only because they are already 20 to 25 kilometers removed from the
historical and coastal center of the entire Metropolitan Manila.
4. CONCLUSION
The study has shown that the experience of resettlement, along with insecurities that it may
temporarily bring, becomes inadvertently a vessel for urbanization, first in a sociocultural sense, and
not soon after, also in a physical sense, notwithstanding the fact that political boundaries may not
have changed between an expanding primate metropolis and a receding rural hinterland. That is to
say, even if a receiving area were not officially designated as a city, it might still acquire urban
characteristics attendant to the nature of its residents’ employment, their sheer number, and
ultimately their lifestyles. It is, after all the coming together of diverse peoples that define a city, as
may happen at a micro-urban scale in mixed resettlement sites where the seed population may have
been brought in from various informal sites, as illustrated by the opening anecdote of this piece. As
in the cases reviewed, the onset of an urban character is often more a function of the knowledge,
skills, attitudes and associational capital of the people themselves, especially when they have been
moved out of the inner-city neighborhoods to remake their lives anew at the periphery of the
metropolis.
As this study is part of a larger continuing effort, it remains to be seen whether the conveyance of
urban character in one direction, or rurality in the other, has specific patterns and characteristics that
can be predicted and or influenced, especially through the individuals whose knowledge, skills, and
attitudes are constitutive of the changes in overall landscape and sociological character of their
surroundings.
5. REFERENCES
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[2] Brenner, Neil and Theodore, Nik. (2010). Neoliberalism and the Urban Condition. City: Analysis
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[3] Carpenter, Jeffrey P., Daniere, Amrita G. and Takahashi, Lois M. (2004). Cooperation, Trust,
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Organization, 55, 533-551.
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urban-insecurities-in-fragile-contexts.
[7] Malaque, Isidoro III R. and Yokohari, Makoto. (2007). Urbanization Process and the Changing
Agricultural Landscape Pattern in the Urban Fringe of Metro Manila, Philippines.
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[8] McGee, T.G. (2008). Revisiting the Urban Fringe: Reassessing the Challenges of the Mega-
Urbanization Process in Southeast Asia, Chapter 1 in Tran, Ton Nu Quynh et al. (2012)
Trends of Urbanization and Suburbanization in Southeast Asia. CEFURDS & University of
Provence. Ho Chi Minh City: General Publishing House.
[9] McGee, T.G. (1991). The Emergence of Desakota Regions in Asia: Expanding a Hypothesis.
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
[10] Meeus, Steven J. and Gulinck, Herbert. (2008). Semi-Urban Areas in Landscape Research: A
Review. Living Reviews in Landscape Research, 2, 3-45.
[11] Merriam, Sharan B. (2009). Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation. 3rd
Edition. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass – a Wiley Imprint.
[12] Moser, Caroline O. (2004) Urban Violence and Insecurity: An Introductory Roadmap.
Environment and Urbanization, Brief 10, October 2004 Issue.
[13] Tuan, Dao The. (2008). Urbanization and Periurbanization in Hanoi, Chapter 2 in Tran, Ton Nu
Quynh et al. (2012) Trends of Urbanization and Suburbanization in Southeast Asia.
CEFURDS & University of Provence. Ho Chi Minh City: General Publishing House.
[14] Tran, Ton Nu Quynh et al. (2012). Trends of Urbanization and Suburbanization in Southeast
Asia. CEFURDS & University of Provence. Ho Chi Minh City: General Publishing House.
[15] Umegaki, Michio; Thiesmeyer, Lynn and Watabe, Atsushi. (2009). Human Insecurity in East
Asia, Tokyo: United Nations Press.
[16] Van Naerssen, Ton. (.2003). Globalization and Urban Social Action in Metro Manila. Philippine
Studies, 51(3), 435-450.
[17] Viratkapan, Vichai; Perera, Ranjith and Watanabe, Seisuke. (2004). Factors Contributing to the
Development Performance of Slum Relocation Projects in Bangkok, Thailand. International
Development Planning Review, 26(3), 231-260.
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A STUDY OF POPULATION SHRINKING CITIES IN LIAONING, CHINA
1
Qi Huiyang
National University of Singapore
ABSTRACT
With the transition of social structure and regional differentiation, many studies point out that the
population shrinkage phenomena has occurred across China, and coexisting with the urban
expansion. The paper reviews relevant literature, evaluates the history and shrinking trajectory of
Liaoning province and chooses Fushun prefecture city as a case study. The paper reveals the
paradox of coexistence of shrinking and expansion in the city and analyzes the consequences, the
paper also finds out that the shrinkage phenomena is not only caused by coal resource depletion but
also due to the economic competition between cities, unrealistic planning goals and other unsolving
inner social issues. Corresponding planning concepts and policies are proposed.
Keywords: Community social problems, Economy restructuring, Population shrinking, planning role in transition.
Regional disparities.
1. INTRODUCTION
Since the beginning of China’s reforming and opening up revolution, China has experienced
unprecedented economic growth for more than 30 years, however, with the speed of economic
growth varying from region to region, the national internal migration emerged and aggravated the
regional development disparities, acting as a fundamental feature of economic and social change in
the nation(Li, Richard, & Min, 2016). In consequence, 180 cities in China were found encountering
population shrinkage phenomena from the year 2000 to 2010(Ying & Kang, 2016). Most of the
population shrinking cities are resource-based cities, which are more vulnerable due to the scenarios
of resource depletion and single industry economy structure, however, within these 180 population
shrinking cities, 169 cities were found experiencing spatial expansion(Dangfeng, Ying, Wenshi, &
Hui, 2015), indicating the urban development strategy of growth supremacism is still prosperous in
the local governance and policymaking. The paradox between objective population growth and
subjective spatial expansion might lead to old neighborhood dilapidation and ghost new town, also
pressurize on social segregation(Dang & Jingxiang, 2018). Despite planning for city growth based
on the population and economic growth simulation, there lays a need to formulate alternative
approaches of planning, catering the real needs of the population shrinking cities in China.
In the year 2013, the state council published a report showing that among 36 prefecture cities in
northeastern China, 21 of them were resource-based cities, and 8 of them had started encountering
the resource depletion problem (China, 2013). The statistics yearbooks of China also addressed that
all the provinces in northeastern China, Liaoning province, Jilin province, and Heilongjiang province
had started encountering total population shrinkage since 2015, presenting a striking contrast to the
total population continuos growth situation of the state (China, 2018). In 2017, a public cognition
survey has been conducted, showing that most of the participants were aware of the declining
economy and shrinking population of northeastern China, worried about the social and environmental
problems emerging there(Shuqi & Ying, 2017). In such cases, the population shrinking phenomena
is severe in this region, it is crucial to review current plans and policies for bridging the gap between
planning and real social problems. Liaoning province, with the largest population and most prefecture
cities in northeastern China, is taken as the study area, the historical background and spatial
distribution of the population shrinkage is analyzed both provincial level and prefecture level to
evaluate population shrinkage trajectory, and then, Fushun, the prefecture city with the most dramatic
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population shrinkage in the province is selected as a case study to analyze the appearance and
reveal the causes of the phenomena, corresponding planning strategies will be recommended at the
end of the paper.
2. BACKGROUND AND SHRINKAGE TRAJECTORY
2.1 Provincial level
The Liaoning province was once extolled as the “eldest son of the nation” for its superior natural
resource endowment, strategic location, and early development of basic and heavy industries before
the Republic of China founded. With the primary target of state investment and Russian financial aid
in the 1950s, the province has contributed 71% of iron production, 63% of steel production, and 58%
of steel products to the national economy by 1957(Shueller, 1997). However, holding 10% of the
nation’s large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises, with the heavy and resource-base
industrial economy, the province suffered crippling consequences of provincial development in the
ongoing national transition from planned economy to market economy. In the 1980s, When the rapid
economic development flourished in the coastal provinces, Liaoning province suffered difficulties
from transforming single and standardize Ford production model to diversified and refined Post-Ford
production model. In the early 1990s, the reducing needs of military industry output, the depletion of
the mining resources and the overcapacity of steel industry have led the provincial economy affected
more intensely from the Asian financial crisis. In some estimates, in 1997, among eight million
workers in the state and collective industrial units in Liaoning, 21.4% were officially registered as
unemployed or laid-off workers, 30.77% were retired workers, 33% were redundant workers(Ching
Kwan, 2007), the excessive development of secondary industry has led to the province with low
resistance against shock and vulnerable economic system(Liangang, Pingyu, & Xin, 2019). After
2003 the central government announced the plan of ‘Revive the Northeast’, the state has given more
preferential policies to the province, however, the deep-rooted conservatism and management
corruption have constrained the power of reform(Jae Ho & Hongyi, 2009). In such cases, the
preeminence in the days of the planned economy has led to the drastic reversal of economic decline
and unemployment issue, which directly impacted on the inter-provincial population migration.
On the other hand, At the early stage of reforming and opening up, relying on the national leading
industrialization level, the province has become the region with a comparably higher level of
urbanization until now, and the higher urbanization level made Family Planning Policy well
implemented, led to today relatively lower fertility rate and higher aging ratio. As recorded in 2016,
the crude birth rate of Liaoning is 6.60%, comparing to 12.95% of the nation; the elder population
support ratio of Liaoning is 17.37%, compared to 14.96% of the nation (China, 2017). In 2018,
Liaoning Provincial People’s Government published the population development plan (Liaoning,
2018), where addressed the current provincial population issue, announced the full opening of two-
child policy and encouraged the delayed retirement policy in the province, the expected population
development indicators have been shown in Table 1. However, with the declining fertility trend across
China, the plan of increasing fertility rate may not be realized in the near future, more policies and
financial incentives needed to be enacted to drive the population birth.
Table 1: Expected population development goal of Liaoning province
Domain Indicator Unit 2015 2020 2030
10,000
Total population Total population 4382.4 4385 4500
people
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Total fertility rate 0.9 1.4 1.8
Population structure The sex ratio of birth 105.88 105.5 105.5
Life expectancy Year old 78.9 80 80.5

Population quality
average education year
Years 10.5 11 12
of labor population
Resident population
Population distribution % 67.4 72 75
urbanization rate
Source: Liaoning (2018). Translated by the author.
2.2 Prefectural level

As the provincial population shrinkage is mainly caused by the inter-provincial migration and
declining fertility rate, the intra-provincial migration has aggravated the dilemma of some prefecture
cities in the province. According to the Liaoning provincial statistics yearbook 2001-2017, six
prefecture cities have experienced population shrinkage in this period, which are Fuxin, Jinzhou,
Liaoyang, Dandong, Benxi, and Fushun, Among them, Fuxin, Benxi, and Fushun were identified as
resource depleted prefecture cities, and Fushun owns the highest negative ratio of population
increment, which is negative 5.37%, experiencing the most dramatic population shrinkage
phenomena (Liaoning, 2001-2017). For geographical distribution, five of the population shrinking
cities are surrounding the provincial capital Shenyang, suggesting a regional siphon effect as shown
in Figure1. The remaining one, Dandong bordering North Korea, which is relatively more affected
by the policies of the neighboring country. On the contrary, the population growth ratio rate higher
than 5%, still could be found at Shenyang, Dalian and Panjin, in where, Shenyang holds
administrative privilege as the provincial capital, the other two hold trading privilege as locating
surrounding Bohai Bay, these three prefecture cities also have the average per capita GDP of top
three in the province. The intra-provincial migration trajectory has shown a similar routine with inter-
provincial migration, which is heading for higher administrative level, better economic environment,
and coastal location, indicating the competition among the cities has accelerated the development
differentiation, caused consequences on some cities with insufficient competitiveness under the
limited or shrinking population and resources. In the meantime, these population shrinking cities have
experienced different degrees and forms of urban expansion, and current planning is playing an
instrumental role in the urban expanding process, which might not help in solving population
shrinkage phenomena, but might create an undesirable spatial, social environment for the residents,
to get a deeper understanding of the current situation and existing problems, Fushun prefecture city
is chosen for evaluation.
Figure 1: Liaoning Province’s prefecture-level cities population increment ratio, 2000 to 2016
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Source: Compiled by the author from Liaoning yearbooks (2001-2017).
3. CASE STUDY: FUSHUN (RESULTS AND DISCUSSION)
3.1 Historical background
Fushun prefecture city is a highly industrialized area and nicknamed “The city of coal”, with a long
history which could be traced back to the middle Neolithic age. The Ming dynasty first built the walled
city and named it as “Fushun”, which literally means “to pacify the frontiers, to guide Yi foreigners”,
the Qing dynasty regarded Fushun as the cradleland of the dynasty. Fushun’s coal resource was
discovered centuries ago, however as the land of Qing royal ancestors, the exploitation was strictly
controlled by the Qing government, the mass scale exploitation only began until late Qing dynasty,
when Fushun was occupied by Japan until 1945, the coal mining industry were tremendously
developed, peaking at 1937 with 9.24 million ton production. After the Republic of China founded,
owning the largest open coal mine in East Asia, the city was developed as one of the main pillars in
the rapid industrialization process of the state, with a peak of coal production of 18.3 million ton in
1962. However, the city began to decline in the 1980s, when China’s economic liberalization drive
no longer favored heavy industry, when the coal reserve started to deplete(Yifu, 2015). After a
decade of over-exploitation, the city currently is facing demographic, economic and social issues,
which is urging for economy reforming and adequate planning.
3.2 Shrinking appearance and Inner issues
In the nearest decade, Fushun prefecture city has experienced a continuous population shrinkage,
from 2.239 million in 2006 to 2.148 million in 2016 in total, meanwhile, the situation varies among
different age groups. As shown in Figure 2, all the age groups below 60 have encountered shrinkage,
and the age “18-34” group of population shrunk most, with a total reduction of 141 thousand, only
the age “60 or plus” group’s population increased, indicating the demographic structure has changed
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dramatically from a relatively healthy structure to a problematic structure with high aging ratio and
low birth rate. The people of age “18-34” group are mainly born between the 1980s and 1990s, which
are with higher education level, stronger employability, and more choices, as such, the main cause
for shrinkage of this group of people might be emigration for better jobs and living environment, and
their emigration impacted a consequence to the shrinkage of age “0-17” group.
The employment opportunities are highly related to the city economy environment, and in the nearest
decade, Fushun prefecture has encountered a big economy fluctuation of nominal GDP between
2010 and 2016 as shown in Figure 3, which might be due to the fake data reported by the local
government, the real GDP might have encountered a total decline within this 6 years, in sharp
contrast to the state GDP growth, also, the main contribution to GDP is still the secondary industry,
there lays difficulties for the city to restructure its economy structure, the declining economy and
unfavorable economic structure have led to the city to an uncompetitive employment environment.
On the other hand, Before 2005, there were 81 shanty towns in Fushun, covering 318 thousand
population, 29% of them are in subsistence allowance system, 1.34 people among 10 households
are formally employed(Zhongxuan, 2007). The shanty towns were originated from the simple
settlement houses near the coal mines which accommodated coal mining workers, developed by the
informal settlement building up to accommodate the new workers. With the depletion of coal
resources, a lot of workers have retired or been laid off, and the low education level and unhealthy
physical fitness made them suffering from different levels of poverty issues and difficult to move
out(Xiangfei & Chunyan, 2010). After 2005, several of Improvement Projects of Settlement have
been constructed, most of the people in shanty towns have been resettled, however, most of the
resettlement projects are located far from the urban core, and the residents are suffering from
marginalizing and poverty, which is mainly due to the hardship of re-employment, resettlement debits,
and increasing daily life expenses(Chunyan & Xiangfei, 2016). Therefore, despite the economy
declining situation, the social problems arising from history also needed to be resolved for creating
a better living environment.
Figure 2: Fushun prefecture demographic structure, 2006 to 2016
DEMOGRAPHIC STRUCTURE 2006-2016

250
200 32,1 32,8 34,4 35,8 37 39,1 41,0 42,9 44,6 49,4 52,3
60~
150
101,2 104,2 105,7 107 35-59
105,9 104,7 103,5 103,0 99,5 98,4 96,6
100 18-34
56,8 0-17
55,7 54,4 52,3 51,5 50,8
50 50,0 47,8 47,5 44,6 42,7
33,8 31,1 28,7 27,5 26,5 25,5 24,8 24,3 25,8 23,4 23,2
0
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
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Figure 3: Fushun nominal GDP statistics, 2006 to 2016
NOMINAL GDP STATISTICS 2006-2016

1600
1400
1200
451,10
1000 414,52 490,38 Tertiary
369,38 523,99
Industry
800
314,88 Secondary
370,95
600 Industry
242,18 259,94
204,49 736,74 794,77 693,12
400 171,92 673,51 594,47 Primary
525,46 435,82 Industry
200 376 392,13
254,48 306,2
0 31,43 36,55 44,26 46,56 54,82 70,48 85,11 94,58 93,09 98,02 58,30
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

3.3 Spatial expansion and Current planning
There are 3 counties and 1 urban region in Fushun prefecture city, and the urban region consists of
four districts. Despite the dramatic population shrinkage happened across the city, even the urban
region has a negative population growth rate of -3%(Shuqi & Ying, 2017), however, in the Fushun
city master plan of 2010-2020, it is planned that in 2020, the total population of the prefecture would
reach 2.30 million, the urbanization rate will reach 77%, with there, 1.50 million citizens will live in
the urban region, and the urban construction land parcels were planned according to the per capita
land area of the projected urban population(Fushun, 2015). However, with the population declining
trend, the projected population goal might be very hard to be realized, but the speed of urban
expansion process does not slow down under the planning guidance. A study of redefining city’s
spatial morphology by using points of interests (POI) method has reflected the urban expansion of
Fushun city from 2011 to 2016(Yongze, Ying, & Peng, 2018). As Figure 4 represented, the urban
expansion process could be witnessed in the urban region and the area surrounding the three county
seats, but mainly the urban region. Figure 5 shows that in the urban region, despite the expansion
originated from the old urban core along both banks of Hun River, expansion could also be found at
the southern part of the region, near the huge mining pits, where several resettlement projects and
new real estate projects have been built up. Another expanding area is located at the western side
of the urban region, near the eastern side of Shenyang, which is a new district called Shenfu new
district, under the plan of integrating of Fushun and Shenyang.
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Figure 4&5: Fushun urban morphology, 2011&2016
Source: Yongze Song (2018). Redrawn by the author.
Shenfu new district was planned since 2005, and started construction in 2007, with a total
construction area of 171 square kilometers, Fushun owns 102 square kilometers. The district was
planned to be a special economic zone with the high-tech manufacturing, medicine, and modern
service industries, which could integrate Shenyang and Fushun both physically and economically,
however, there are several potential issues embedded before the construction. With the disparities
of administrative level and economic aggregates between two cities, and the fact that Shenyang city
is still under the development stage of absorbing factors of production and economic expansions,
the new district might open a door for capital and resource flow from Fushun to Shenyang, creating
negative impacts on the development of Fushun’s economy, especially on the tertiary industry(Ming,
2007). In the meantime, the new district was planned to rely on investment to stimulate its economic
development, however, with the downward pressure on the economy in the province continues to
increase, the rate of economic development in the district has slowed down markedly. It is reported
that in 2014, compared with last year, the total GDP of the district has declined 10.34%, social fixed
assets investment has declined 30.8%, actual use of foreign capital has declined 31.61%, only the
industrial output has an increase of 6.07%(Jianqiao, 2016). There is not only one new district
surrounding Shenyang urban region, Hunnan new district at the south, Shenbei new district at the
north, special economic development zone at the west. These three new districts all belong to
Shenyang city, and they own other advantages of education, transportation and international
connection comparing to Shenfu new district. As such, with limited resource and population in the
province, Shenfu new district is unfavorable in the current situation for competing investments or
talents of innovation technology and modern service industries, the district is facing the difficulties to
integrate Shenyang economic development at present. The problems of capitals and resources
outflow from Fushun started emerging as well, which adversely impacted on the economic
stimulating and restructuring process. In consequences, several stop-constructing real estate
projects and a lot of vacant shops could be witnessed in Shenfu new district as Figure 6 shown, the
new district is becoming a “ghost town”.
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Figure 6: Photos of Shenfu new district
Source: Ruobing (2016)
In the growth period, urban planning is always used as a tool to retrieve more profits from the lands
in Chinese cities. Large-scale plannings were used to transform rural land to urban land and increase
the added value to the urban land, which could stimulate the economy in a short period. Therefore,
many urban decision makers regard urban planning as the tool to achieve performance goals during
their tenure for the short period growth target, lacking concerns about long-term sustainable
development(Jingxiang, Dan, & Hao, 2013). For Fushun city, with the declining situation of population
and economy, planning only for growth could not promise the city with a harmony in the future. In the
reply of state council on the master plan of Fushun city 2010-2020, the council has stated that
controlling the urban land area within a limit rather than achieving a goal, forbidding to set up
development zones or new districts out of the master plan, promoting a compact layout of the city,
and increasing the potential use for existing land stocks to improve the land use efficiency (China,
2017). Therefore, the plan for Fushun city, and other shrinking cities, the value orientation of planning
should turn to the pursuit of comprehensive and diversified long-term development goals catering
the real needs of people, resolving the economic, social, cultural, ecological and governance
problems.
4. CONCLUSION
With the declining fertility rate throughout China, slowing down economic growth rate, and the
increasing regional disparities caused by globalization competition, the shrinking city phenomenon
will arise more severe in the near future, however, the process of ‘shrinking’ may open a window to
undertake actions aimed at redressing existing inequalities and empowering citizens in the planning
and enhancing social capital(Shih, 2018). As such, urban planning is standing at a crossroad of
exploring alternative approaches to stabilize shrinking cities in transition, point the way to a more
sustainable future.
4.1 RECOMMENDATIONS
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In order to solve the problems caused by population shrinking, it is crucial for the local government
to admit the shrinking realities, redirect the urban plans and development strategies fighting against
the emerging problems, making the city more liveable and sustainable in long term. After all, the
public image of the city has nothing to do with the absolute size or numbers, population shrinking
and urban retreating is not strongly related with the daily lives of citizens, physical convenience and
mental health are more essential for the urban lives. Under the state policies of land use tightening
and the facts of population shrinkage, the master plan of Liaoning shrinking cities should take in the
compact development concept, focus more on how to increase the existing land use efficiency,
densify the living area, and establish a more convenient infrastructure network for the urban cores.
Longtime unfinished projects and vacant houses should be investigated for further redeveloping and
reactivating purposes. It is the priority to maintain and renovate the past physical environment to
rehabilitate it with more attractiveness for working and living.
For economy, from a global perspective, many cities in Eastern Germany also suffered from sudden
post-socialist competitiveness shock and hardship to restructure economy into modern industries, it
takes a long time and various government subsidized schemes to revival the local economy(Florian,
2014). It is unrealistic to restructure and revival the local economy of a prefecture city within a short
period or a single plan. At present, though economic revitalization policies have been enacted for
Liaoning province, however, the whole province is still facing downward economic pressure.
Therefore, the intra-provincial competition for investment and talents for modern industries through
plans will only aggravate economic burdens on specify cities like Fushun. It is crucial for the
prefecture cities to set up a close partnership, work as a whole to interact with the regions in the
nation or international, and the leading prefecture cities such as Shenyang and Dalian should
decentralize some industries and functions to the surrounding cities, help them stimulating the
economy. In the meantime, the local government should conduct in-depth investigations of the local
market, historical and natural contexts, discover local advantages and subsidize meaningful projects,
which would help in diversifying the business to sustain the economy. For example, Fushun is rich
in the natural landscape resources and historical culture, but poor at the promotion and infrastructure
for the scenic spots. The tourism industry could be stimulated if the local government subsidize in
improving tourism infrastructures and involving the local public to renaissance traditional folk customs.
For social perspective, in-depth surveys should be conducted in the local communities, especially
the resettlement communities, to elicit the difficulties of residents. Community-level plans should be
introduced to resolve the issues and activate marginalized groups to rejoin the communities and back
to society. Simultaneously, local spontaneous activities should be studied and promoted through
plans for local residents to participate and interact with each other. For example, urban farming could
be often witnessed, but there is no regulation or plan to legalize or promote the activity, and it does
not only provide ecological and recreational benefits, but also supply some temporary jobs for the
laid-off workers. Eventually, public-oriented community plans could empower the citizens, enhance
a harmonious neighborhood, attracting the emigrants back and new citizens to move in.
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author is grateful for the opportunity to join academia of urban planning, and personal guidance
from professor Jurgen Rosemann.
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EMERGING SPATIALISATIONS OF RESILIENT URBAN COMMONS.

RE-THINKING ASSOCIATIVE NETWORKS IN THE AGE OF ADVANCED TRANSLOCALISM,
TRANSDUCTION AND META-PUBLICNESS
1
Manfredo Manfredini
1
School of Architecture and Planning, The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Engaging with the discourse on the challenge to resilience building posed by the crisis of inclusionary urban
commons, this paper submits that the translocalisation and digitally augmented networking of contemporary
urban communities have created a novel form of associative engagement that eventuates in transformative and
metastable spatialisation patterns. These patterns institute a novel type of commons with a highly redundant,
persistent, robust and supple socio-spatial relationality. This type is analysed to understand strengths of and
challenges to its agency in reassembling the fabric of urban communities by contrasting the commons’
colonisation, financialisation and displacement processes enacted by opposing dominant hegemonic forces.
Elaborating upon the critical urbanism tradition, this paper analyses the spatial implications of the “right to the
city” question, consistently concentrating on the dynamics of the relationship between power relations and
spatial production that have enabled the new commons to produce counterspaces within the most segmented
and commodified public realms. The proposed interpretation highlights the spatial conflicts emerging from
changing relationships between two antagonist forces: the abstractive spectacle of exclusionary domination and
the differential commoning of inclusionary reappropriation. Concluding notes claim that, given the detected
structural vulnerability of the new inclusionary commons, there is urgent need to reframe the question of the
commons through a better understanding of their recent transformation. Specifically, more research on the
radical changes in their spatial production is necessary to enable projective spatial disciplines, such as
architecture and urbanism, to efficaciously contribute to the affirmation of a universal “right to difference” towards
a democratic, resilient, and autonomous development of cohesive urban communities.
Keywords: Public Space, Resilience, Translocalism, Urban Commons, Urban Mobility.
1. INTRODUCTION
In the increasing cosmopolitan condition of our cities, inclusionary urban commons grow their civic
status of stabilized institutions for encounter, dialogue and collaboration. Their non-commodifiable
and universally accessible asset facilitates processes of differentiation that engage citizens in and
contingently articulated collaborative practices. Their commoning of heterogeneous values and
paradigms, personalities and spheres of thought, and material and intangible elements transforms
antagonist in agonist relations, where conflicts became productive of and support the creation of
critically engaged associations (Connolly, 1995; Mouffe, 1999, 2008). By reclaiming, defending,
maintaining, and taking care of the “coming together of strangers who work collaboratively […]
despite their differences” (Williams, 2018: 17), they constitute free, open and participatory networks
for social, cultural and material production, recreation and creativity. The networks favour a political
mobilization towards the reappropriation of urban space that is progressively alienated starting from
the dispossession of its conception into closed circles of expert managers (Butler, 2012: 141–143).
They are free and independent associations that combine spheres concerning multiple dimensions:
a) the civic – regarding justice, law, and morality of the political sphere b) the economic – including
trade and exchange of goods and services c) the cultural –concerning intercultural intellectual
engagement and discourse. In short, they contribute to the construction of a safe, healthy, resilient,
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pluralistic, and democratic society founded on principles of freedom, equality and solidarity (Borch &
Kornberger, 2015; Flusty, 1997: 11; Garnett, 2012: 2012–2018). Creating context-specific
organisational formats, these networks generate “possibilities for self-forming publics to appear, to
represent themselves, to be represented” (Mitchell, 2017: 513), instituting an integral socio-spatial
relationality that promotes citizens’ participation, responsibilisation and conscious decision making
(Villa, 1992). These processes are effective in sustaining collectivities in the everyday query for
political identity and affirmation of citizenship, liberating their relationality from externally imposed
constraints. They empower local communities in their own relevant contexts, balance power
structures, and strengthen the exercises of the fundamental ontogenetic right of citizens to participate
in the creation of their own material, cultural, and social spaces.
The discussion of problems affecting these commons has progressively grown in the last three
decades and concentrated on the critique on the decay of their public agency (Hardt & Negri, 2009;
Harvey 2011, 2012; Lefebvre, 1996; McQuire, 2008; Purcell, 2002; Stanek, 2011; Susser & Tonnelat,
2013; Sennett, 1977, 2008, 2018; United Nations, 2017). Fundamental references in this discussion
are theories on the modern crisis of political sphere and citizenship rights that have addressed how
the market economy has transformed public space into a pseudo-space of interaction (Arendt, 1958)
and how the passive culture of consumption has led the state and private sectors to colonise the
public sphere and alienate citizens from their political dimension (Calhoun, 1992; Habermas 1958).
Key elaborations have addressed the specificity of the contemporary urban condition of increased
segmented publics and counter publics (Benhabib, 2000; Fraser, 1990; Harvey, 2007) with critical
stances individually articulating crucial questions concerning spatial control (Dehaene & De Cauter,
2008a, 2008b; Foucault 1995; Harvey, 2003), privatisation (Dawson, 2010; Kohn, 2004; Lee and
Webster, 2006; Low, 2006; Minton, 2012; Soja, 2010;), spatial justice (Low & Smith 2006; Mitchell,
2003), socio-spatial segmentation (Dawson, 2010; Harvey, 2003; Hodkinson, 2012), consumption
and alienation (Debord, 1983; Firat & Venkatesh, 1995; Miles & Miles, 2004), and selective
deprivation of public space (Davis, 1990; Harvey, 2003; Mitchell, 1995, 2003; Sorkin, 1992).
Furthering this discussion, this paper provides innovative insights into one of the major socio-spatial
challenges to urban-resilience building related to recent the transformation of the socio-spatial and
technological frameworks of the commons: the development of both physical and functional
redundancy in emerging mobile and digitally augmented spatialisation patterns of associative
collaboration, vis-à-vis the augmented vulnerability of their infrastructure consequent to its expanded
control, displacements and financialisation. Arguing that their novel spatialisation patterns have the
potential to make the commons bounce forward from the crisis caused by the withdrawal of direct
state involvement and their subsequent private colonisation, this paper explores the contribution of
three processes concerning their modified frameworks: pervasive translocalisation, recombinant
transduction and publicness hybridisation. The focus on these processes enables to disentangle the
complex changes in power relations, which affect the exercise of the Right to the City and the
capacity of urban communities to reverse the decay of their political agency.
Hypothesising that the emerging commons distinctively transform the roles of their infrastructure and
activation decoupling presence (eventuation of the digitally augmented institution) and present (fixed
material infrastructure and activation), the paper claims that their traditional understanding as
geographically bound institutions requires a profound revision. A review of their description as
establishments instituted by performative enactments is proposed, recognising their metastable,
more-than-spatial status. Their production of more efficacious, robust, supple and redundant chains
of associations is discussed elaborating on a relational paradox found in one preeminent urban
laboratory type: the emancipatory ambivalence of augmented relationality in the semi-public space
of shopping-based urban enclosures: the most active and technologically enhanced nodes of the
city’s public life.
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The speculation on the emerging topology of territorialisation patterns revolves around two main
ideas: Henry Lefebvre’s Right to the City, as recognition of citizens’ entitlement to “centrality” and
“difference” (1991, 1996, 2003, 2004; Harvey, 2008, 2012; Goonewardena, Kipfer, Milgrom &
Schmid, 2008; Mitchell, 2018; Purcell 2002, 2014; Soja 1998, 2000; United Nations, 2017) and ANT
and territoriology’s urban assemblage theory, as understanding of associative processes of
productive territorialisations on the basis of the logics of becoming, emergence, multiplicity and
indeterminacy (Anderson & McFarlane 2011; Brighenti, 2014; Deleuze & Guattari 1987, 2000; Farías
and Bender, 2010; Kärrholm, 2007; 2012; Latour 1999, 2005; Law, 2009; McFarlane 2011; Merriman,
2012; Murdoch 1998). The analytical methodology developed from this framework (Manfredini, 2017,
2018; Manfredini, Xin, Jenner & Besgen, 2017) was tested in the discussed studies by the author on
Asian and Australasian cities. It enabled the detection of relevant spatial instances pertaining to
associative processes for the exercise of the Right to the City, and the critical evaluation of the
agencies that support or suppress their evolution. Its focus on material, social and cultural practices
of spatial control supported the evaluation of exemplary strategies, tactics and acts of appropriation
and association of established commons appreciated against sustainability and resilience goals.
2. URBAN COMMONS AS PERFORMATIVE INSTANCES
The inclusionary urban commons are constituted by two necessary components: infrastructure and
activation. The infrastructure is a coordinated and regulated assemblage of resources, which form
reiterable and non-specific concatenations. It includes wide-ranging systems of spaces, objects,
technologies, media systems, interfaces, and social relations that provide the concrete basis for the
institution of integrated civic nodes and urban amenities, such as central squares and community
centres. Its shared asset also includes less stable elements that combine material and intangible
components of social (e.g. practices, routines and networks), regulatory (laws, codes and rituals),
and cultural (codes, knowledge, techniques and creative expression) kinds in unstable discrete
“transductive” “sociotechnical assemblages” (Bollier, 2002; Corsín Jiménez, 2014; MacKenzie,
2006). Activation, the other essential constitutive component, is the institutive process that
transforms the latent or potential status of the infrastructure into actual and factual commons. Various
forms of commoning practices of appropriation, co-production, and sharing sustain this performative
process that combines concrete and intangible resources into stabilised institutions, associating them
to socio-spatial contexts in dynamics of clustering with different degrees of operational persistence:
permanent, recurrent or iterative.
Permanently operational institutions have uninterrupted activities and continuous support of

substantive resources. They include primary elements of the urban structure, mostly localised in
central areas, which deliver public services for cultural, psychological, physical and social wellbeing
in the form of libraries, multifunctional gathering spaces, activity centres and the like). Their
infrastructure includes the dedicated availability of physical (e.g. buildings and related facilities and
equipment), digital (information technology and services to support usage, operations, management,
and decision making), human (dedicated staff combining physical and digital resources), and
financial (e.g. long-term public funding) means. They are steadily kept in operation by a mix of actors
and routines that integrate actual and virtual presence and performance. Their usage combines a
wide range of activities of necessary (non-discretionary commitments, such as home–work
commuting), optional (discretionary behaviours, such as participating in public events) and resultant
(socialising activities, such as communicatively engaging with strangers) kinds (Gehl, 1996: 11–16).
Recurrently operational institutions have discontinuous activities that do require infrastructural

assemblages, similar to the permanent ones, but do not require (or do not comprehend) their
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permanent availability. They are the sort with the highest diversity and occurrence. They are less
centralised and are often hosted by permanent institutions. They constitute regular collective
practices whose performance is massively enhanced by the use of locative digital media. Examples
of these instituted practices are the rituals of spontaneous spatial appropriation that make certain
urban spaces cyclically become mass-gathering places, rather than, mere movement spaces. A
renowned case is the Italian passeggiata: the daily collective evening stroll that takes place in core
urban places, such as Milan’s Galleria and Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, and is performed as a scripted
choral action that turns a nodal movement space into a vibrant temporary stage for interaction and
self-representation (Cova, Cova & El Jurdi, 2017).
Iterative operational institutions are also relatively frequent as they eventuate from repetitions of
stabilised assemblage sorts in form of recursive associations of actants (people, material and digital
elements and practices) in more topologic than geographic kinds, which change spatial contexts but
maintain their distinctive patterns. These manifestations are characterised by the shift of venue
caused by independent variables. Instances of the passeggiata also belong to this group when they
present recurrent migration for social or environmental circumstances. Weather conditions (e.g. rainy
days or cold seasons) may shift them from outdoor to sheltered spaces; collective social practices
(e.g. summer holidays in seaside towns) shift them, from cities to towns. An important manifestation
of this kind is the growing phenomenon of aggregations in irregular and unpredictable locations of
translocal communities (e.g. gatherings of migrants in celebratory rituals facilitated by social media
networks).
3. MORE-THAN-SPATIAL COMMONS: TRANSLOCALISM AND DIGITAL

AUGMENTATION FOR BOTH PHYSICAL AND FUNCTIONAL REDUNDANCY
Whilst functions, perceptions, and ownership of both tangible and intangible urban commons are
progressively multiple and interconnected (Carmona, 2010), their disruptive transformation into
agency-oriented institutions with complex spatialisation processes directs their “more-than-property”
questions (Williams, 2018) towards complex more-than-spatial issues. A major agent of the
transformation of the commons is translocalism. It affects urban society with a profound
transformational process involving patterns of socio-spatial association and identity formation of
communities. New territorialisation patterns dissipate the traditional bounds of social networks to
continuous, discrete and fixed geographical territories. Networked actors with fragile affiliations and
distributed across multiple geographical levels establish alliances for creative collaboration, open
confrontation as well as struggles over a combination of intra-urban, inter-urban, inter-regional, and
even transnational scales (Brickell & Datta, 2011: 4–6; Greiner & Sakdapolrak, 2013; Parr, 2015:
87). The mobilisation of communities and their atmospheres (Kazig, Masson & Thomas, 2017) has
a significant impact on their commons, transferring its complex dynamism and dissolution of
permanent localization constraints to them. The new degrees of freedom make them translocal
institutions with a topological process of actualization that is spatialised through itinerant movements
from the virtual to the actual. When the instability of their situated embodiments becomes constitutive,
it creates contrasting effects: on the one hand, frequent re-emplacements require adaptation,
appropriation and reassociation of their infrastructural constitution and activation process,
strengthening the factors of vulnerability regarding their management and planning, as well as their
cognitive (identity, perception, representation) and bodily (sensory and rhythmic visitation) integrity.
On the other hand, the redundancy generated by the multiplication of potential availability and
reconfigurability of infrastructural and activation resources, and the amplification of self-organization
capacity and inclination towards change, enhance the resilience of communities, providing a form of
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dynamic rootedness that prevents their diasporic decay and emancipating their associative
processes from crises generated by local power unbalances.
The dynamic spatialisation of the material, social, cognitive and chronological elements of the
mobilised commons has introduced new forms of production of situated manifestations based on
contingent local–local events and on an efficient and efficacious networkability guaranteed by
information technology. Opportunistic logics of appropriateness (March & Olsen, 1995: 197–198) are
used by translocal networks to grasp context-specific circumstances, actualise their commons and
catalyse the recombination of their infrastructure and activation. The power of the commons to be
actualised in embodiments situated where and when possible and relevant, choosing, selecting and
recombining local and remote infrastructural and activating actants, sustains their vital capacity to
fully associate meanings in evolutionary and dramatic becomings. Digital media and virtual,
augmented and mixed (VAM) reality applications provide situated collaborative instances with
enhanced transductions that grant access to the necessary social capital and the opening of the
public sphere. Transduction, intended as the original notion proposed by Simondon’s (2013: 32), is
a transmutative operation. It refers to operations implying the coming together of heterogeneous
forces in either progressive iterative or irregular processes that restructure a given domain into a
provisional unity through the diffusion of an exogenous activity (MacKenzie, 2006: 16). Through
digital devices and services, transduction enables an actualisation of a “metastable state” (Deleuze,
1994: 246), combining the heterogeneous potentials of local and tele-presences. By introducing
scalability in everyday practices, VAM not only makes it possible to retrieve and diffuse information
on the global scale, rather, most importantly, embodying, in particular situated instances, forms of
active presence of various actors and things, independently forms both their spatio-temporal location
and their belonging to pre-existing networks. The embodiments move to act dialogues, encounters
and collaborations that exponentially increase the intensity and complexity of each productive,
reproductive and recreational activity. The connections established by each digitally enhanced
transduction have high community-building potential, since they can strengthen and expand the
inclusivity and openness of the networks, supporting actor-centred, multi-stakeholder, interactive and
dialogue-based processes (Kitchin, & Dodge, 2015; Manfredini, 2017).
The VAM’s augmented transductions strengthen the decoupling of presence (the immediate) from
present (the simulated) (Lefebvre, 2004: 23, 47), making it possible for commons’ embodiments to
elicit only the former – i.e. actively engaged actants – whilst repressing the latter – i.e. the insensitive
displacing simulations. In other words, whilst the digital advances enable the activation and diffusion
of commoning practices that engage actants through presence and intensify their incremental
productivity and differentiation through both conflicts and alliances (Dekker & Engbersen, 2014;
Greiner & Sakdapolrak, 2013; Jost et al., 2018), they also favour the exclusion of pseudo-
engagement of fallacious mirroring repetition, hindering the homologation of social meaning and the
demise of identity (Lefebvre, 2004: 6; Manfredini, 2018). Most importantly, the inversion of the
relationship between immediate and mediated presence of the actants – the active engagement of
which in a collaborative occurrence is no longer dependant on their material presence – expands the
involvement potential of the networks and the continuity of their interaction of over space and time,
enhancing and maintaining cohesion in otherwise loosening scattered communities.
Geographically, the manifestations of composite presences situated at the intersections of the

multiple analogue and digital components convey to the commons the translocal character of their
communities. The material infrastructure of each context in which they eventuate merges with the
immaterial one and enables swift transmutations and “tuning” (Coyne, 2010) of contexts and related
embeddedness. Adjustments depend on individual actors and involve iterative processes that can
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be either fully recursive – as in scripted routines of theme park attractions – or articulated by individual
creative, occasional or chance engagements – as in alternate reality games that employ transmedia
storytelling. These transformational routines enact multiple transductions of time/rhythm,
things/actants, and places/ecologies that, ranging from augmented continuity to kaleidoscopic
antagonism, open the actual setting to potentially limitless spatial metamorphosis. They have the
capability to extend, re-frame or even entirely substitute the references of a given event. Extensions
provide subsidiary supports that enable real-time integration and coordination between multiple
events, such as merging remote public forums with videoconference systems. Reframing can
reposition and reprogram entire environments, such as transforming a public park into a political
forum, with digital media as the core exchange platform. Supplantation can subvert consolidated
spatial conditions and practices, such as by gamifying a shopping environment with augmented
reality games (Manfredini & Jenner, 2015; Manfredini, Xin & Jenner, 2017).
The increased degrees of freedom of translocal commons also relate to their temporal dimension.
The presence–present decoupling also liberates the commons from the cyclical rhythms externally
imposed by the organisations that control the permanently situated infrastructures and activations,
enhancing their dynamism and independence from homogenising collaborative frameworks. The
reappropriation of chronological articulation of spatialities also defeats the external dominance of
rhythms – one of the main causes of the atrophy of the public sphere – overcoming hindrances to
the integral immediate of presence, the core lever of any collaborative creative act.
Progressively becoming translocal, urban communities have instituted multiple spatialisations that in
the reshuffle of their collaborative associational social, material and chronological geographies have
generated new issues. The transformation has profoundly re-established their basic characters of
“eventalisation” (Pløger, 2010), permanent becoming, and multi-stakeholdership through a disruptive
process. The rootednessless threat of the new erratic canon requires major absorptions and
adaptations to relational mobility have paradoxically made situatedness even more relevant. The
actualisation of their commons is a passage from virtual to actual that entails a local integration.
Composite spatialities connect its actualised form with others at the global scale, reframing the core
characteristic of the space of place – nearness, the sense of belonging and authenticity – in the
socio-spatial synchronisation of the space of flow. The VAM’s decisive contribution to
translocalisation of the commons has introduced a place–time redundancy that has further expanded
their self-determination and overall resilience. However, this status has created new challenges,
since, with the establishment of permanent infrastructure (physical) and activation (functional), the
navigation through the new spatialities has had to overcome the difficulties created by their multiple
iteration, repetition, multiplication, and superimposition (Manfredini, 2018: 10–12). The place–time
self-determination of these fluctuating networks present daily challenges to their commoners in the
exercise of the power that the new degree of freedom offers to enable effective communicative
acting, mobilisation and deliberating capacity for individuals to collaborate in networked autonomy
and constitute multitudes with enhanced democratic capacity (Bresnihan & Byrne, 2015; Hardt &
Negri, 2009: 352). Foremost, personal involvement is required to overcome the new threats, as
demonstrated in the establishment of major political commons in recent protests (Jost et al., 2018),
such as in the Arab Spring, the Occupy Movement (Fuchs, 2014: 83–87), and Gezi Park Movement
(Manfredini, Zamani Gharaghooshi & Leardini, 2017).
4. UNDERSTANDING MORE-THAN-SPATIAL COMMONS’ PSEUDO-CIVIC INSTITUTIONS
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The new form of spatialisation that reflects distributed, translocal, and transitional situatedness,
commoning, and incrementalism requires a profound re-thinking of the theoretical approach. A
framework for understanding their spatial production that combines physical, social and cultural
components with socio-spatial practices and rhythms is found in the Lefebvrian scholarly tradition of
the Right to the City. It provides specific critical methods that can be adapted to disentangle the
complexity of their translocal spatialities (Lefebvre, 1991, 2004; Soja, 1989; Stanek, 2011).
Specifically, it enables the apprehension of a fundamental political criticality of the contemporary
commons: how socio-spatial contexts within advanced neoliberal frameworks and multifarious virtual
extensions redefine the power relations and collaborative processes of translocal urban communities
in a progressively hierarchical society. The dual perspective of the Lefebvrian approach – which sees
the space as both a socio-spatial product and as an ontological means of production – is specifically
efficacious in the analysis of current hyper-networked frameworks, since its triplectic articulation –
identifying lived experiences, routines and conceptions – facilitates the detection of imbalances in
power relations of conflicts that heighten the vulnerability of their associative processes. Addressing
the redefinition of power relations that impact on commons’ livelihood is central to understanding
those contexts where the agency of their embodiments is subject to neutralisation by
commodification processes set up by powerful antagonistic forces. The control enacted by
hegemonic powers on the infrastructure of colonised commons favours their deterritorialising agency
against reappropriating representational commoning forces and can compromise the struggle of the
latter in freeing alienating conditions that hinder the exercise of the Right to the City. Specifically, the
Lefebvrian approach exposes the way the organisations that externally govern these spatialities
surreptitiously displace and decentre the social, political and cultural forms of relationality,
endangering the formation of adequate territorial claims and associations of urban communities.
This approach also reveals the peculiarities of the basic conditions and equipment of the
infrastructure that supports the irregular local embodiments of advanced more-than-spatial
collaborative routines. These highly specialised environments offer both exceptional urban qualities
and state-of-the-art ambient technologies. Urban qualities include comprehensive availability of
urban amenities and services; prime accessibility, with both public and private transport; high internal
connectivity; and outstanding character, enclosure and referentiality of the streetscape. Ambient
technologies comprehend systems to guarantee optimal psychophysical and relational
environmental comfort. Digital infrastructure and services are particularly important to support VAM-
assisted local embodiments in creating suffused, spectacular, highly connective, and immersive
atmospheres with artificial intelligence implements, and the internet of things through multiple user
interfaces for fixed, personal handheld or virtual devices.
Resources deployed for the emplacement and maintenance of their infrastructure are extensive and
often come with critical trade-offs. The neoliberal devolution agenda of many city administrations has
favoured their externalisation to third parties that can afford to produce it. Large-scale commercial
organisations step in aiming at colonising the commons and commodifying them. They provide and
grant access to such a valuable infrastructure, compensating for the scarce equipment of genuine
public space under a strict condition: the isolation and economisation of specific instances of
cooperative citizenship. Since the commons’ infrastructure is introduced into semi-public space to
expand its patronage and revenues, its conception model is subverted. It no longer pursues social
wellbeing, rather – as we will discuss later – its surrogate: pleasurable and participatory consumption.
Overdetermined spaces with a marketing-engineered mix of functions and rhythms, displaced
relationality, disjunctive territoriality, enclosing introversion and filtered accessibility, take the place
of spatial indeterminacy with collectively regulated polyfunctionality and eurhythmic, situated
relationality, territorial continuity, integrative openness and universal accessibility. Capitalising on this
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controlled infrastructural dominance, semi-public space has rapidly expanded, casting separated and
nested individual elements into an amorphous aggregate for conspicuous consumption.
The most relevant of such elements are the integrated enclosures of shopping and entertainment.
They are larger bodies of displaced central places that constitute the primary structure of civic-
antagonist extensive rhizomatic networks that are a good representation of what Sloterdijk has
described as agglomeration of technospheres: a foam made of spheres “layered over and under one
another, yet without truly being accessible or effectively separable from one another” (2016: 56).
Their urban domination has dramatically expanded the role and the problems of their predecessor:
the shopping mall. As ultimate anthropotechnical bubbles for controlled social activities (Sloterdijk,
2011, 2014, 2016), these new “cathedrals of consumption” have furthered the spectacularised
(Degen & Rose 2012) internalisation of public space (Carmona 2010: 169), as widely discussed in
the last wave of literature on the “end of the public space” (Gosseye, Avermaete & De Meulder, 2018;
Kitchin & Dodge, 2015). Their multiple segmentation in adjacent and nested anthropogenic islands
(Sloterdijk, 2016: 457–465) has instituted redundant self-referential circles, simultaneously
strengthening and dissimulating the distinction between inside and outside by iteratively defining the
latter to include it via representation.
Within the foam of the novel consumerist spheres, various degrees of privateness are overlapped,
intertwined and mirrored, manifesting the multidimensional coextension of public and private in
today’s personal lives. The novel kind of space, previously described as “meta-public” (Manfredini,
2017), nurtures and merges maximal consumption and maximal socialisation, consolidating eventful
assemblages of commercial, productive and recreational “inverted space” (Dovey, 1999: 125–133)
and up-scaling, which Rem Koolhaas defined as junkspace (Koolhaas 2002: 176), into an hyper-
connective meta-civic system.
The augmentation of hybridity and ambiguity of these pseudo-civic networks steadily recombines
both the normative and performative frameworks of the opposing private and public realms. The
divide between the networks and the rest of the city in regulations and control practices of public
spaces has increased. Spaces operate as Foucauldian “disciplinary mechanisms” (Foucault, 1995:
170–194) for the perpetuation of hierarchy, dissymmetry and disequilibrium in power relations
through the establishment of enclosed, spaces that guarantee the invisible, yet uninterrupted, spatio-
temporal supervision, examination and normalisation of each visitor. The machines are segmented
in functionally coded areas that permit a full internal, articulated and detailed control through ever-
improving “techniques of subjection and methods of exploitation” (Foucault, 1995: 171). Specific to
consumerism space is the repression of any public agency that could rise from actions and
discourses of autonomous social associations. Hypervisibility of panoptical systems has
comprehensively integrated active and passive surveillance with both traditional (human
observation) and advanced (automated audience-detection devices) means. Disciplinary policies to
prevent “hazardous” events (e.g. gatherings and protests) progressively refine controls on customer
access and behaviour. Meticulous admittance regulations, micro-behavioural codes of conduct, and
restrictions are implemented with segmentational exclusionary precinct planning, which includes
deterrent regulations (e.g. playground ban on adults unaccompanied by children, and restricted or
supervised access of young people in licensed premises) and ingenious environmental technologies
(e.g. the teenager anti-loitering Mosquito alarm or the user-filtering bodily synchronization through
piped music). Their invisibility and camouflage produce reassuring realms with elitist segregation and
spatially flexible, incremental, informal and indeterminate appearance, which deceptively avoid the
over-determination that in modern commercial environments had to rely on explicit threatening
policing methods (Manfredini, 2017).
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The implementation of digital control capacity has also multiplied the power of compromising
relationality. Comprehensive and coordinated public space narratives have been endowed with
advanced eventful and spectacular transductivity that manipulates relationality over space and time
– sometimes even using explicit theming after idealised historical models of cityness, such as in the
clustered and interconnected glitzy mini-city replicas of Venice, Paris and London in Macau by Sands
Corporation. If the hyperspaces of the analogue simulations of the pre-digital age had the capacity
to produce glossy mirages that provided access to sublime realms, derealise reality and transcend
“the capacities of the individual human body to locate itself” (Jameson, 1991: 44), the transductive
power of the all-embracing digital atmosphere has transformed ambivalence into hyper-valence and
dislocated the individual through limitless cross-contextualisations between concurrent and often
contradictory layers. The experience of these layers is no longer exclusive, enabling contextual
navigation through multiple merged contexts, whilst granting simultaneous shared access to same-
place and remote othernesses.
The displacing effects of these networks exacerbate the socio-spatial fragmentation of the city
system and, given their capacity to capture and polarise large sectors of public life, profoundly
contribute to the deterritorialisation of its social spaces (Manfredini, 2018; Manfredini & Hill, 2018).
The inclusion of fundamental public services, such as libraries or employment agencies, in their
exclusionary ultra-consumerist semi-gated spatialities leaves behind a large number of communities
and individuals who either cannot access or are not welcomed, constituting a further threat to the
sustainable development of the city.
5. THE PERFORMATIVE PARADOX OF COLONISED COMMONS
Whilst economic hegemonic players have advanced the colonisation of the commons, displacing
them within their semi-gated and ultra-consumerist networks, the structural order of their
infrastructure has redistributed duties and responsibilities in unstable hybrid ownership and
governance patterns involving the state, private corporations or third sector (Savas, 2000). In social
environments, the profound rearticulation of the public realm, brought about by the scalability
introduced by the amalgamated physical and digital spatialities, has been furthered by the
exponential growth of a phenomenon: participatory consumption. This phenomenon has pervaded
the commercial sector, intermingling its productive and consumption roles, orders and practices
(Belk, 2014; Manfredini, 2018; Ritzer & Jurgenson, 2010). Its impact on collaborative life has been
specifically relevant to the actant-ecology-rhythm activation systems of the colonised commons: the
socialisation of production has extended the contributor base and made the new prosumption
patterns an intimate mix of formal and informal elements that seamlessly combine the various
associational levels – the private, the parochial, the communal and the public (Manfredini, 2017).
The weakening of the external control, isolation and imperviousness of the physical and immaterial
barriers that affected the relational life in the foam technospheres that host the more-than-spatial
commons has opened extraordinary opportunities for its reconciliation with the civic component of
the city. The opening, though, depends on a performative paradox: the more the infrastructure of
colonised commons is developed with highly performative “spatialities of code” that attract translocal
communities and subjugate them to consumerism imperatives within the enclosed environments of
enchanted segregation and enticing distraction, the more their externalities reverse the enclosing
process and foster the decoupling of presence and enhance the resilience of mobilised urban
communities and of the institutions that guarantee their associative life. This inconsistency is highly
unstable, since it is generated by the uncontrolled externalities of the colonisation process. The
fissuring of the environments of the enclosures has opened unplanned paths towards their
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reconciliation with their civic environments and propped up the regeneration of the commons onto
thoroughly emancipative institutions that positively engage conspicuous consumption with
participatory production. Their dominant players, on a mission to deeply restructure the global
economy on civil models based on economisation principles have produced total simulacra that,
whilst depriving the others through wasteful abundance rather than privation (Mitchell, 2018), picture
satisfaction to struck strong alliances with their counterparts. Leveraging on the pleasure of the
mirage and the revanchism against alienating translocalism, they have progressively exploited the
technologically enabled participatory actions of the made-accomplice prosumer to enhance their
control power (Fuchs, 2014: 98–122) and used their free labour (Fuchs, 2014: 52–88, 98–122; Miles,
2010; Ritzer, 2005) to swiftly shut any gap opened by the widening contradictions of the advanced
cognitive-cultural economy.
6. CONCLUSION
This paper analysed the contemporary commons and detected an emerging type of commons
described as an institution with mobile, metastable, and metapublic spatialisation patterns generated
by digitally augmented processes. This new type is credited with the potential to produce efficacious,
robust, supple, and redundant chains of association that countervail the colonising power of external
hegemonic forces and prompt the overall commons to “bounce forward” after their crisis driven by
the withdrawal of direct state involvement. The effectivity of these novel spatialisation patterns is
attributed to their capacity to decouple their actants, separating productive, autonomous, and non-
mediated presences from constraining, dominating, and externally controlled presents. This
decoupling is associated with three major processes: pervasive translocalisation, recombinant
transduction, and publicness hybridisation. These processes are described as game changers in
communities’ relational life and identified as the origin of the subjection of the new commons to a
crucial trade-off: the concession of relevant degrees of independence and self-determination against
the usage of necessary infrastructure for the materialisation of the ultimate embodiments of the
commons. The trade-off involves the antagonist use of semi-public realms of the advanced
consumption enclosures that offer, at no direct cost, access to prime translocal and transductive
urban technospheres with outpacing centrality, relational hyper-activation, and state-of-the-art
technological equipment.
This inquiry, built upon the critical tradition of the right to the city, shapes theoretical instruments to
disentangle the changes in power relations that underlie the struggle of the new antagonist
commoning force for the collective appropriation of historical relationality of people, cultures, and
territories in all practices of everyday life. The way the new commons grow their prime counterspaces
at the core of the places that are responsible for the fastest decay of the traditional commons’ social
agency is unpacked and described. This performative paradox delineates the multidimensional
vulnerability of the new commons. It sets a major challenge to the stabilisation and further
development of the emerging counterhegemonic and nondominative modes of relational and
associative life. However, the radical changes in the socio-spatial production of these metamorphic
institutions that the research discussed in this paper tentatively ascribes to an emerging ambivalent
complicity between irreconcilable antagonist forces require more research. Problems specific to the
new impermanent, eventual translocal, transductive, and semi-public characters of the new
commons have been poorly investigated. This would lead to a substantial reframing of the question
of the commons and their resilience concept, and enable projective spatial disciplines, such as
architecture and urbanism, to efficaciously contribute to the affirmation of a universal right to
difference towards a relationally augmented democratic, resilient, and autonomous development of
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urban communities where that paradox develops into – paraphrasing– a whole new order where the
scripted spaces of the chimerical, abstractive spatialities became meaninglessness structures
(Jameson & Speaks, 1992) that organise and supportive the “demand” of productive desire
(Manfredini, 2018).
7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is funded through the New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
of programme Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities, National Science Challenge contestable
fund - Give Us Space project.
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EXPLORING AN ALTERNATIVE TO BRIDGING HONG KONG AND
SHENZHEN: LOK MA CHAU LOOP AS NEW URBAN COMMONS
1 2
Ching Yan Lam , Ye Zhang
1 2
Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore, Department of Architecture, National
University of Singapore
4 Architecture Drive, Singapore 117566
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Standing on the belief of effective cross-border interactions and expanded upon the recent
collaboration opportunity of Lok Ma Chau Innovation Hub, this paper proposes an alternative to
bridging Hong Kong and Shenzhen through urban commons and challenges the existing rigid
typology of border control points as a space of separation. The proposal taps into the potentials of
e-waste recycling by turning the trash into a treasure shared by the innovation community and
envisions the innovation hub as new urban commons. Adopting the framework of co-operative as
the set of rules to manage the urban commons, the proposed innovation hub engages four critical
players - academia, industry, government, and media-based and culture-based public, and responds
to five main needs of New Technology-Based Firms - innovative technology, physical space for
activities, funding to support research and production, market evaluation for technical and business
improvement, and management resources. It serves to catalyze start-up formation and incubate
high-tech enterprises and acts as a testing ground for nascent technologies and innovative products.
This paper explores an alternative to building an open community beyond territorial demarcation and
to softening Hong Kong-Shenzhen border, thereby contributing to social cohesion.
Keywords: Border-crossing, Co-operative, Cross-border Collaboration, Open Community,

Urban Commons.
1. INTRODUCTION
When Hong Kong was handed over to China sovereignty in 1997, the constitutional principle of “one
country, two systems” was formulated. The agreement is that, upon reunification, the established
economic and administrative systems in Hong Kong will remain unchanged for 50 years, with a high
degree of autonomy. Thus, although being an integral part of China, Hong Kong is permitted to
function as a special entity in many circumstances.
However, what will happen after 2047, when the constitutions of ‘one country, two system’ comes to
the end, has never been publicly stated (Cheung and Cheung 2017). The negative feeling brought
about by uncertainties has been worsened by the fact that with the rise of many well-developed
mainland cities, Hong Kong is gradually losing its uniqueness and prosperity. This further generates
the fear that Hong Kong would have little say in the “Year 2047 Problem” (Awai, 2016), and little
control over its future.
This paper stands as a critique on the widespread pessimism and passive attitude towards the future
of Hong Kong. Rather, we argue that this uncertainty should be responded with a positive attitude to
build up trust for the coming future. Through cross-border negotiations and interactions, effective
collaborations at various fields and levels can be established and implemented between Hong Kong
and Shenzhen, thereby bridging the two sides and soothe the tension.
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With three more decades of high-degree autonomy to pro-act to the “Year 2047 problem”, how Hong
Kong can grasp the collaborative opportunities and leverage “one country, two systems” framework
is the question that this article attempts to answer.
2. METHODOLOGY
This paper will firstly present the background of tense Hong Kong-Mainland China relations, and
then discuss how an alternative approach to promoting effective two-way interactions and
collaborations at multiple levels is possible. Subsequently, cross-border collaboration will be
elaborated with a hypothetical example of joint Innovation and Technology Hub in Lok Ma Chau
Loop, an island – located on Hong Kong-Shenzhen border – formerly owned by Shenzhen and now
under Hong Kong’s administration. Based on this case example, we argue that the alternative
approach proposed in this paper sees cross-border collaboration as a valuable opportunity for
healing the divided society, beyond solely economic agenda.
Tense Relations Between Hong Kong and Mainland China

The surging economy of Mainland China has resulted in Hong Kong’s awkward position that,
although it still plays a significant role in the regional and global economy, it is no longer the “jewel”.
Hong Kong is losing the uniqueness and advantages it once held pride in, and is no longer the
prominent city it used to be. The decline has led to insecurity and fear, spurring Hong Kong’s society-
wide anxiety and hostility towards Mainland China.
Due to the rapid economic development between 1960s and 1990s, Hong Kong has risen to
prominence as one of the Four Asian Tiger economies (Steinbock, 2017). At the time of the handover
in 1997, Hong Kong’s economy was equivalent to one-fifth of mainland’s total (The Economist, 2017).
However, after the handover, especially in recent years, there have been signs showing Hong Kong’s
economy being less competitive. Its GDP is now less than 3% of the mainland’s total (The Economist,
2017). The four pillar industries in Hong Kong – financial services, trading and logistics, tourism, and
producer and professional services (HKSAR Census and Statistics Department, 2018) – are facing
stiff competitions from mainland cities.
In comparison to the rapid development in Mainland China, the once-vibrant Hong Kong’s economy
has been stagnant over the past two decades. In his book of A system apart, Simon Cartledge (2017),
the former editor-in-chief of the Economist Intelligence Unit Asia, argues that “Hong Kong is stuck,
with remarkably little change to show for the last two decades… Despite living on the doorstep of the
world’s most dynamic economy of the last two decades, and despite having played a role in that
economy’s initial opening and development, Hong Kong has gone sideways.”
Specifically, Hong Kong has been overtaken by its neighbor, Shenzhen – which was a small fishing
village three decades ago, but is now a technology-heavy megacity – in economic size in 2018 (Sun,
2018). Due to the “one country, two systems” framework, a border is drawn between Hong Kong and
Shenzhen. The hard border, as territorial demarcation, separates the land into two seemingly
different entities, and is prone to be read as a statement of separation than connection. The rigid act
of border-crossing – entering the main hall, queuing for identity check, and exiting for transport – is
not conducive to bridge the two sides. Rather, to a certain extent, it hinders effective interactions,
exacerbates gap and worsens identity crisis in Hong Kong.
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In addition to the border division, a series of social conflicts also emerge as a result of the decline of
Hong Kong’s economy and the competition between the two sides. For instance, the influx of parallel
traders and tourists – a large number of them from Shenzhen – into Hong Kong has sparked
discontent in Hong Kong society, due to social disruptions in non-tourist destinations like
neighborhoods, and occupation of public resources and amenities. This is because the visitors see
Hong Kong as little more than a supermarket with a large variety of quality goods, and they often
shop in residential districts, which were formally quiet and intimate but now have been affected and
disrupted. The large number of mainland parallel traders and extensive demands by mainland
customers sometimes result in shortage of daily essentials like infant formula, which has sparked
discontent and anger among Hong Kong people. Some mainland visitors see Hong Kong as a place
for inexpensive recreation. Public facilities, such as public swimming pools and public camping sites
at beaches, are popular among mainland visitors (Cheng, 2014). Moreover, the influx has also put
tremendous stress on public transport and facilities.
The gap between the two sides is further exacerbated by the lack of effective interactions. There are
hardly opportunities for people to come together. As a result, prejudices can easily arise when there
aren’t sufficient interactions to form mutual understandings. In sum, this is a stark reflection of
Mainland China’s surging economy, and that the glorious prosperity Hong Kong once held is in the
past.
Potential for an Alternative: Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Hub
Shenzhen Special Economic Zone was set up in 1980 as the first special economic zone primarily
due to its adjacency to Hong Kong. Thanks to the collaboration and economic exchange with Hong
Kong, within three decades, Shenzhen has transformed itself from a small village into a megacity
standing out at the global stage. It is now the fourth largest city in China (Hinsbergh, 2018). As a
high-tech empire, Shenzhen is declared to be the best place in the world for hardware innovators to
be (The Economist, 2014).
However, in contrast, on Hong Kong side, lots of locals see the cross-border collaborations and
adaption of Hong Kong experience and model in Shenzhen as a future threat – a way for Shenzhen
to replace Hong Kong as a strategic city, and to diminish the importance of Hong Kong. In their book
of Border ecologies, Bolchover and Hasdell (2017) argue that “conceptually if Hong Kong’s special
status can simply be re-created and redeployed, it…becomes just one of many special types of zone
that facilitate the Mainland’s future transformation and global emergence… This process strategically
shifts focus away from the open question of what will happen in 2047 and the political quandary of
Hong Kong SAR, because by then it simply won’t matter.”
As opposed to the pessimistic attitude, this paper looks into the alternative of active collaborations,
through which paving the way for effective two-way interactions and healing the divided society.
There have been many cross-border collaborations between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. For
example, Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone co-opts Hong
Kong’s regulatory systems and legal frameworks, through approaches like low tax rates and
supporting the establishment of Hong Kong arbitration agencies’ affiliated ones, to attract foreign
investments (Winston & Strawn LLP, 2012; Hung, 2017). However, these collaborations are limited
to certain groups or activities, and do not prioritize on promoting effective interactions among people
from two sides; social agenda of bridging the two sides is not fully addressed.
The proposal presented in this paper is built upon a recent collaboration opportunity of Hong Kong-
Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in Lok Ma Chau Loop. It argues that by bringing this new
cross-border collaboration to the next level, an open community beyond the territorial demarcation
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can be created through developing urban commons. As shown in Figure 1, Lok Ma Chau Loop is a
borderland between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, whose ownership had been disputed due to the
straightening of Shenzhen River in 1997. Both sides came to an agreement in 2017 that the loop
officially belongs to Hong Kong, but also signed a deal to jointly develop the site into Hong Kong-
Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park (Siu, Zhao and Cheung, 2017). This 87-hectare
innovation hub is envisioned as the largest ever innovation and technology platform in Hong Kong,
providing facilities for Research and Development (R&D) and related educational, cultural and
creative activities. In other words, the hub is anticipated to serve as a key base of collaboration in
scientific research (Ko, 2017). An urban design proposal of Lok Ma Chau Loop is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 1. Location of Lok Ma Chau Loop

Source: Google Earth, 2018
Figure 2. Design proposal of Lok Ma Chau Loop

Source: ARUP, n.d
The strategic location of Lok Ma Chau Loop on the Hong Kong-Shenzhen China border makes this
collaboration a valuable opportunity and a physical linkage to reconcile tensions between the two
sides, beyond solely economic agenda. It would be a missed opportunity not to address the problem
of divided society. Collaboration in scientific research is, to a large extent, limited to interactions
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within research groups and high-tech enterprises; the general public can hardly take part in. Lok Ma
Chau Loop would then become a site for a collection of research and business buildings and
activities, not responding to the unique site context and the larger social context. A vibrant innovation
community consists of individuals and groups from various professions; it is open, inclusive and
diverse. The public should be engaged for effective interactions at multiple levels to be promoted.
Alternative to Lok Ma Chau Loop: Open Community, Smooth Boundary and New Identity
This paper proposes an alternative that sees Lok Ma Chau Loop Innovation Hub as urban commons,
through which co-operative collaborations for enterprise incubation and leisure experience can be
achieved and an open community beyond territorial demarcation developed. It also sees the
innovation hub as an opportunity to redefine border-crossing infrastructure for soft boundary and
smooth transition. The proposal firstly highlights e-waste as an opportunity and a potential shared
resource for urban commons, then discuss how the innovation hub can be organized and operated
as urban commons, and followed by how it is able to transform border-crossing experience.
Trash to Treasure: E-waste Recycling and High-tech Industry
One of the differences within the “one country, two systems” framework is in the import of e-waste.
Hong Kong permits licensed import of e-waste, while Mainland China bans e-waste imports.
However, e-waste could easily find its way through Hong Kong–Mainland China border and end up
within the mainland territory (Powell, 2013). Due to this legal loophole within the framework (Karacs
2016), Hong Kong has been a key node in the international transshipment of e-waste. According to
the Basel Action Network (BAN), it is estimated by Hong Kong authorities that 50-100 containers
(around 25 tonnes each) of e-waste enter the port of Hong Kong each day (Puckett, 2010; DSV,
n.d.). However, since 2013, Mainland China has been conducting the Operation Green Fence – a
crackdown on contaminated important wastes and recyclables. Imports that did not meet the criteria
of 1.5% allowable impurity would be rejected at the border (Bolchover & Hasdell, 2017). This results
in the accumulation of e-waste within Hong Kong’s borderland, and thus posing lots of threat to Hong
Kong.
Due to the crackdown and profitable recycling industry, e-waste processing has begun to take place
in the New Territories in Hong Kong, not far away from the border. Estimated by Hong Kong
authorities, there are around 150 open-air waste collection points, mainly in New Territories (The
Government of HKSAR, 2017). However, the processing mostly takes place illegally behind tall walls
in small isolated plots. The remaining hazardous waste is dumped in a field, to reach Hong Kong’s
landfill sites, or to be exported to another country (Fair Planet, 2018). In this way, heavily toxic metals
can leak into ground and contaminate soil and underground water, leading to health and
environmental problems. According to Green Peace (2005), the lead content in soil in Fanling, New
Territories, is five to ten times higher than the natural level.
However, far from being useless trash, e-waste is indeed a rich mine for precious metals and an
abundant source for recycled materials. It contains much higher concentration of precious metals
than an equivalent weight of ore. One tonne of iPhones would produce 300 times more gold and 6.5
times more silver than a tonne of respective ores (Nogrady, 2016). According to the report Global E-
waste Monitor 2017, US$62 billion worth of valuable metals and plastics were thrown away in 2016.
With an estimation of 617,000 tonnes of e-waste arrived in and generated within Hong Kong annually,
e-waste recycling industry would be a lucrative industry – that is a US$1.31 billion opportunity.
Taking recycled gold as an example, a hypothetical estimation of 93 tonnes of gold could be extracted
annually from the estimated 617,000 tonnes of e-waste, which is more than one fifth of mainland
China’s annual gold production (429.4 tonnes), who is the world’s largest gold production country.
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This could put Hong Kong in the 12th position in the world ranking, based on gold mine production
volumes in 2018 (World Gold Council, 2019).
The potentials of e-waste can be captured by turning the problem into an opportunity of recycled
material production and precious metal extraction. The proposal taps into the issue of foreign e-waste
in Hong Kong, and sees it as a potential for recycling and manufacturing industry, and a good
opportunity for collaboration and cooperation between the two sides for innovation and technology
development.
Innovation Hub as New Urban Commons: Open Community to Bridge Two Sides
In this proposal, the innovation hub is seen as an opportunity to soothe the tense relations, to bridge
the two sides and to heal the divided society, by building an open community beyond territorial
demarcation through urban commons and with economic forces.
1. Vision of Innovation Hub: New Urban Commons
The commons can be broadly referred to as the shared resources accessible to and managed
by all members within a community. In Kip et al.’s (2015) conceptualization of the urban
commons, there are three significant elements – the resources collectively owned, shared and
managed by a community, members of the community, and a set of rules and/or norms that
govern the usage of resources and the process of commoning. In her book Governing the
commons, Elinor Ostrom (1990) argued that the commons require a set of management rules.
The commons is, thus, a set of social relations which are constantly evolving under the
influence of multiple stakeholders. These shared resources are able to shape interactions
within the community.
In this proposed innovation hub, the resources shared by the innovation community for
research, prototyping and enterprise incubation are the recycled materials produced from e-
waste recycling, and information and services within the network. The set of rules, as shown
in Figure 3, relates to the management of these shared resources and the functioning of the
innovation hub. The proposal adopts the business model of co-operative – which, as defined
by International Co-operative Alliance (n.d.), is a “people-centered enterprise jointly owned
and democratically controlled by and for their members to realize their common socio-
economic needs and aspirations.” The proposed hub functions as a government-initiated
cooperative, with a collection of research groups, start-ups, incubated enterprises and other
supporting groups. The co-operative brand is built upon efforts of all individuals and incubated
enterprises within the innovation community. Overall profits are shared across the community
in the form of shares – community shares for members in the innovation community, staff
shares for those who are not directly involved in Research and Development (R&D), and
supporter shares for investors and feedback providers.
The trash of e-waste can be turned into a treasure collectively owned by the community,
serving as a foundation for innovation and technology development, and high-tech
manufacturing. E-waste can come from three main sources – from Mainland China and foreign
countries, and within Hong Kong – making it a good opportunity for collaboration and
cooperation between the two sides, and contributing to the development of the bigger region.
Part of the recycled materials can be kept within the site, while the rest can be exported out
and become a source of substantial funding. Unneeded prototypes will be recycled within the
loop. E-waste recycling plant is conventionally deemed heavy and pollutive, but this can be
mitigated through architectural interventions to become green facilities.
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The innovation hub serves to catalyse start-up formation and incubate high-tech enterprises.
Clustering like-minded people and building an interactive platform, research, idea generation
and product development are closely knitted. Start-ups can seek support from the community
network, have access to smart factory to prototype and to develop efficient production lines,
and test and evaluate products within the innovation hub. With the abundance of connections
and resources, the innovation hub, as a collective co-operative, could be a good media
platform and a competitive brand to introduce, advertise and diffuse innovative products.
After successful incubation, high-tech firms would relocate their production lines to other
suitable places, such as the new proposed development areas in the New Territories in Hong
Kong, and mainland cities to expand the scale and influence. Recycled materials could be
supplied at lower price for production. Part of their shares go to the co-operative. These firms
can still tap into the innovation hub’s network and resources for research, product
development, technical support and publicity.
Figure 3. Proposed innovation hub as new urban commons

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2. Organization of Innovation Hub: Four Critical Players

The organizational structure of the proposed innovation hub (Figure 3) engages four critical
players. In this proposal, quadruple helix model of innovation is adopted. This is a set of
interactions for knowledge production and innovation, suggested by Elias G. Carayannis and
David F.J. Campbell (2009) in ‘Mode 3’ and ‘Quadruple Helix’. The four components are
academia, industry, government, and media-based and culture-based public. Universities and
research centers engage in research. Research results are transferred to industry to produce
innovative products. Policies are made by the government to promote Research and
Development (R&D), and to regulate the industry and market. The civil society is engaged so
that demand and needs can be matched and met.
The proposed innovation hub in this paper is a government-initiated project collaborated by

Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The strong support from both governments is a great advantage
to promote effective cross-border interactions and collaborations at various levels, such as in
research arena, business activities and public engagement. Research achievements by
universities and research centers in Hong Kong, and Shenzhen’s high-tech expertise can be
captured and tapped into. The innovation hub can be curated as an interactive experience
space and a playful education center to attract visitors. As Lok Ma Chau Loop is located on
the Hong Kong-Shenzhen border, the large number of people who cross the border can be
engaged too.
3. Operation of Innovation hub: Five Main Needs

The proposed innovation hub is conceptualized to be an open community within the two lines
of Hong Kong-Shenzhen border, thus becoming a space beyond territorial demarcation, where
people from both sides can come together to experience nascent technologies and to interact
in collaborations. It becomes a space with comprehensive programs – a place to live, work
and play. Tapping into the trend of Industry 4.0 – which marries physical production with smart
digital technologies, such as additive manufacturing and big data – the innovation hub is a
high-tech dreamland and sci-fi world in reality. The structure revolves around five main needs
of New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs).
Nishizawa (2011) identified five needs of NTBFs in his paper From Triple-helix model to eco-
system building model – innovative technology, physical space for activities, funding to support
research and production, market evaluation for technical and business improvement, and
management resources. Due to the inherent high risks and uncertainties in research and
technological innovation, policies should be introduced to lessen these risks to facilitate the
formation of NTBFs and marketing of innovative products.
These could be responded with research groups and high-tech enterprises from both sides,
Lok Ma Chau Loop as the physical space, funds generated from e-waste recycling industry
and other sources, data and feedback collected from visitors, and management services
provided by the innovation hub.
Hong Kong’s research achievements and Shenzhen’s high-tech expertise can be tapped into
and utilized. Quality physical infrastructure and well-established policies can effectively attract
research groups and enterprises to set up their branches and offices in Lok Ma Chau Loop.
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The e-waste recycling within the site provides abundant raw materials for prototyping and
small-scale production. High-tech production facilities – such as large-scale 3D printers, real-
time testing bed for prototypes, and modular manufacturing machine – can be powerful tools
for researchers and entrepreneurs in product development. The proposed innovation hub also
aims to attract talented individuals from various professions such as engineering, design and
business. The diverse network built by the community can serve as an interactive platform for
support seeking and cross-border, cross-profession collaborations, upon which building an
inclusive community. The design and management of the innovation hub should help to
promote interactions and casual encounters.
In this conceptualization of co-operative, funding comes from three main sources – profits from
e-waste recycling, government funding, and established firms incubated by the hub. The ratio
can vary at different phases. The profits gained from e-waste recycling can be a substantial
support for innovation and management. And, more reliance on government funding in the
initial phase, while more contribution by established firms as the innovation hub develops. With
substantial funding to support, business risks and uncertainties are largely transferred to and
bear by the overarching body of Lok Ma Chau Innovation Hub, aiding the incubation and
growth of start-ups.
The entire innovation hub can be seen as a testing ground for nascent technologies and
innovative products to be tested by visitors. An average of 70,000 people pass through
Huang’gang border control point (Shenzhen) and Lok Ma Chau border control point (Hong
Kong) every day (Liang, 2017). This human flow can be captured through careful curation of
circulation system and design of interactive experience space. The experience does not have
to be limited within enclosed exhibition halls. For example, cutting-edge transport technologies
can be experienced and evaluated in the circulation system. Service-oriented products can be
tested in café and restaurants. E-waste recycling infrastructure and smart factory can also be
educational experience space, where visitors learn about recycling knowledge and production
technologies. These attractions collectively build up a high-tech theme park for visitors and
investors. Data and feedback collected contribute to product improvement and market
evaluation, ensuring the demands and needs of the public been matched and met.
In this paper, the proposed innovation hub is conceptualized as urban commons to create
opportunities for people from Hong Kong, Shenzhen and other mainland cities to come
together and interact in innovation and technology collaborations, allowing the duality to
manifest and negotiate. With shared resources and the co-operative framework to manage
the commons, an open innovation community is formed, cultivating a new identity beyond
territorial demarcation. The innovation hub is, thus, a socio-economic alternative to bridging
Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
Interactive Border Control Point: Challenging Existing Typology

In addition, this proposal also attempts to redefine and transform border-crossing infrastructure to
soften the hard border and territorial demarcation, and to pro-act to the coming 2047 when Hong
Kong-Mainland China border is likely to be removed.
Although Hong Kong is a part of China, due to the hard border with limited access through control
points, they seem to be two distinct sovereignties. As discussed previously, this is not conducive for
cross-border interaction and collaboration, and can exacerbate the gap between two sides. Since
what will happen after 2047 has never been publicly stated, the assumption that Hong Kong-
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Mainland China border would be removed after 2047 can be made. With less than three decades of
pro-act, we argue that the new innovation hub described above potentially gives rise to a new
typology of border control point that can smoothen the transition, making it a space of connection,
rather than a space of separation.
Figure 4. Site context of Lok Ma Chau Loop

Lok Ma Chau Loop is located on the border between Hong Kong and Shenzhen (Figure 4). It is
opposite Huang’gang Control Point (Shenzhen) and adjacent to Lok Ma Chau Control Point (Hong
Kong), making it an ideal site for such exploration. The new typology can be built upon existing
infrastructure and initiate redevelopment.
Through the careful curation of circulation, the cross-border human flow could be captured as
potential experiencers of innovative products. This also suggests the imagination of the new typology
of border control point as a high-tech one for smooth experience. Advanced technologies can be
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applied to soften the hard demarcation while maintaining the integrity. For example, facial recognition
system could be used as a contactless and non-invasive approach to identify and verify people
crossing the border. Instead of going through individual counters and machine, people who have
registered could pass through a passageway installed with AI-powered cameras to verify identities.
The innovation hub, thus, becomes a testing ground to bridge the two sides.
4. CONCLUSION
Economic agenda is the crucial driving force for cross-border collaborations, as economic
development is the basis of social stability. However, there are views that these collaborations benefit
Shenzhen more than Hong Kong – an unbalanced relationship. This paper looks into the alternative
of active collaboration to build up trust and win-win relationship. Promoting interactions is essential
to lowering hostility and soothing tense relations.
The proposal presented in this paper is an alternative of building an open community, as compared
to the conventional approach of two entities simply collaborating for certain purposes. It is
conceptualized upon urban commons and its close tie with community. Because commons is a set
of social relations which are constantly evolving under the influence of multiple stakeholders, the
shared resources are able to shape interactions within the community. Urban commons are different
from public resources; they are only accessible to and managed by the clearly defined community.
Thus, Lok Ma Chau Innovation Hub, as urban commons, is able to cultivate a new identity beyond
territorial demarcation. It becomes a neutral space where people from both sides can come together,
and in this process, reducing prejudice and building social bonds.
Standing on the basis and belief of effective cross-border collaborations, the proposed framework of
Lok Ma Chau Innovation Hub sees potentials in e-waste recycling, and creates an intermediate space
between the two lines of Hong Kong-Shenzhen border for innovation and technology collaborations.
It redefines border-crossing infrastructure to enable smooth transition, turning it from a space of
separation to a space of connection. This could give rise to an open community and soft boundary,
as an effort to heal the divided society, beyond solely economic agenda and functional development.
There might be many other collaborations which are able to promote interactions effectively and to
bridge the two sides, besides Lok Ma Chau Innovation Hub discussed in this paper. As cross-border
collaboration has been the main theme for Hong Kong-Shenzhen relationship, the two cities will have
an increasingly close tie with each other as partners in business, research and other arenas. Good
relations and trust are essential to the collective growth.
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank Jessica Ho and Yann Herng Yeow for sharing their pearls of widom with us during the
course of this research. We would also like to show our gratitude to peers and colleagues from
Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore for providing insights.
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THE 12th CONFERENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON URBANISM
AN INCLUSIVE HONG KONG THROUGH PUBLIC SPACES

FOR URBAN HOMELESS
Hongsheng Zhao1, Mee Kam Ng2

1Department
of Land Economy, University of Cambridge
2Department of Geography and Resources Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Old Schools, Trinity Ln, Cambridge CB2 1TN, UK
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Hong Kong, as a preliminary urbanised society, has demonstrated numerous social problems
associated with urbanisation, one of the severest is the urban homeless problem. While facing spatial
injustice including the extortionate real estate price, institutional barriers from the government as well
as the hostile designs of infrastructure in the public space, urban homeless people in Hong Kong
have managed to creatively use the space and generate insightful understandings of an inclusive
city.
The key research question is “How can public space be improved to make Hong Kong more inclusive
to urban homeless people?” Three concepts have been retrieved from the key research question
namely “public space”, “urban homeless people” and “inclusiveness”. In this study, “Public space” is
defined as “a space that is generally open and accessible to people, including but not limited to public
squares, parks, street etc.” while “urban homeless” has been defined as “A person without a home
who usually sleep in parks, shelters, vehicles or boxes”.
Inclusiveness of a city is a confounding concept. A theoretical framework of the inclusive city for
urban homeless people has been established through literature reviews, within a specific Hong Kong
context. Three criteria have been identified to create an inclusiveness city for urban homeless: the
physical building environment inclusiveness, the institutional inclusiveness, and the socio-cultural
inclusiveness.
This one-year project has adopted a multi-stream qualitative method including GIS mapping, semi-
structural interview, cognitive mapping and survey questions. GIS mapping based on piorior
empirical data on urban homeless people’s distribution in Hong Kong is used as a foundation for site
selections. Four sites were selected for conducting semi-structured interviews. Eight in-depth semi-
structured interviews have been conducted. Interviews are recorded, transcribed and analysed with
thematic coding methods. Following-up short surveys to local communities surrounding the four sites
have been carried out to understand the public’ views on exclusiveness of the urban homeless.
Triangulation from past literature, interviews and survey were performed.
Three barries for building an inclusive city for urban homeless has been identified, including physical
obstacles, governance obstacles and socio-cultural obstacles, to conclude the revering force that
prevents Hong Kong to become an inclusive city for the urban homeless, with original illustrations
from the interview transcripts. Further implications on how to build Hong Kong as a more inclusive
city for the urban homeless have been drawn from the data collected.
Keywords: Hong Kong, Inclusive City, Public Space, Urban Homeless.
1. INTRODUCTION
Cities are the engine of economic development, employment and opportunity, especially for the self-
claimed “Asia’s World City” in Friedmann’s term, or Sassan’s term “Global City” like Hong Kong
(Friedmann, 1986; Sassen, 1991; Hanson, 2004; Planning Department of HKSAR Government,
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2016). However, many contemporary cities in developed areas are marked by the process of social
exclusion in form of racial segregation, gentrification and economic disparities (Smith, 1996;Harris &
Longley, 2002; Smith, 2002; Mullins & Murie, 2006; Lees, Slater, & Wyly, 2010; Martin, Sunley, Tyler,
& Gardiner, 2016). As a riposte to the problem of exclusiveness, the concept of “inclusive city” has
been brought up (Gerometta, Haussermann, &Longo, 2007;Hambleton, 2015). The US-based NGO,
Collaborative for Inclusive Urbanism (2018) defined an “inclusive city” as “a city in which the
processes of development include a wide variety of citizens and activities.” These cities maintain
their wealth and creative power by avoiding marginalization, which compromises the richness of
interaction upon which cities depend.” In Florida’s (2003;2012) work, city’s inclusiveness of
heterodox groups is regarded as a condition for the rise of a creative class, which is a foundation to
build an innovative city.
As a prosperous city that branding itself as “Asia’s World City”, Hong Kong is recently reported as
one of the least affordable housing markets in the World (Planning Department of HKSAR
Government, 2016; Kwan, 2019). Homelessness has been identified as a visible exclusiveness, not
only because, as Gerrard and Farrugia’s depicted, homelessness is “a lamentable sight” particularly
in affluent cities and neighborhood (Gerrard & Farrugia, 2015, p.2219), but also because it reflects
the spatial injustice inside the city’s building environment (Pirie, 1983; Soja, 2009).
The research studies exclusiveness/inclusiveness of Hong Kong’s homeless people in public space
owning public space’s characteristics of openness, complexity in interactions, universal accessibility:
the phenomena of exclusiveness/inclusiveness would be highly visible (Whyte, 1980; Lofland, 1998;
Mehta, 2014).
Aiming to bridge the gap of the abstract inclusive city planning theories and case studies in global
cities (Espino, 2015), especially in a non-Anglo-American context, the research project brought up
the key research question of “how can public space be improved to make Hong Kong more inclusive
to urban homeless people?”
The research aims to generate grass-root knowledge with a focus on urban homeless to facilitate
the understanding of the concepts of inclusive city, to facilitate discussion on urban design and place-
making of a street or park level solutions to address the basic requirements of an inclusive city and
to enrich and modify the current framework of inclusiveness city.
2. METHODOLOGY
The research has mainly adopted qualitative approaches with necessary triangulation (Bryman,
2016).
The first step was to select suitable publics spaces in Hong Kong. According to the base line data
collect by City University of Hong Kong and collaborators, three districts among the eighteens have
been identified as the most densely populated with homeless people, namely, Sham Shui Po District,
Yau Tsing Mong District and Central and Western District (City University of Hong Kong, 2014) 1.
The rationales of selecting public spaces from the most densely populated district are as following:
firstly, as Hong Kong homeless people are relatively invisible compared to western cities (Blundell,
1993), choosing districts with higher population density would increase the possibility of recruiting
participators in the following interview; secondly, it is easier to apply a snow-ball sampling as more
homeless density indicate abundant networking among the participators (Bryman, 2016, p.29);
thirdly, the total urban homeless population in those three districts has exceeded half of the total
1With a percentage of homeless people counted, 27.45% (Yau Tsim Mong District), 25.19% (Sham Shui Po
District), 6.49% (Central and Western District).
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urban homeless number of Hong Kong, providing a reliable base for generalisation (Bryman, 2016,
p.300).
Figure 1. GIS mapping of public spaces inside the three districts with highest number of urban homeless in
Hong Kong
Source: Department of Geography and Resources Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2017
Four sites have been selected according to five criteria namely location, type, size and shape,
management bodies and urban homeless people’s presents.
Table 1. Selected sites

Site A B C D
Name of the Ladder Street Tung Chau St Park Lee Cheng Uk Nam Cheong MTR
Public Space Playground Station Exit D1
Type Street Park Playground Pedestrian Tunnel
Size 300 m2 1550 m2 9000 m2 Around 1200 m2
Management TD2 LCSD3 LCSD MTR Ltd.
Homeless People Usually 2 More than 20 Around 10 Maximum 50
Number
District Central & Western Sham Shui Po Sham Shui Po Sham Shui Po
Source: Hong Kong Public Space Initiatives
Based on the selected sites, participants were recruited by snowball-sampling and semi-structured
interviews were conducted as a major way of data collection. Interview questions were asked based
on a proactively prepared interview guide, consisting of the five sections: “personal information”,
“homeless experience”, “using public spaces”, “inclusiveness of public space”4, and other follow-up
questions. The questions are designed in open-ended style to illicit further narrations and
elaborations. The interviews were all conducted in Cantonese Chinese considering the participator’s
2 TD: Transportation Department of Hong Kong Goverment

3 LCSD: Leisure and Culture Services Department of Hong Kong Government
4 Including two subsections: “location and facilities” and “activities and feelings”
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limited ability in using English.
Immediately after the semi-structured interviews, participators were encouraged to draw a cognitive
map of the “ideally inclusive public space” in their mind. Due to misunderstanding and limited
techniques in drawing, most of the collected sketches were no more than crude scribbles. But
interesting can be observed by cross-referring the cognitive maps and interviews contents.

Transcripts of the eight interviews were analyzed with a thematic coding method by categorizing the
reasons for current exclusiveness of the public space. Nine factors have been marked as factors for
exclusiveness, including: “over-management” (F1), “lack of money and high rental price” (F2),
“government’s indifference” (F3), “lack of accessible and affordable transportations” (F4), “lack of
communication between local residents and homeless people” (F5), “homeless people’s own
problems” like addictions to drugs or mental illness(F6), “design of facilities” (F7), “nature of public
space” (F8), “discrimination from other people” (F9). By counting the frequencies, F1, F2, F3 can be
categorized as main factors.
Figure 2. Frequencies of exclusiveness factors mentioned in transcriptions

Source: Authors, 2018
When coming to the factors of exclusiveness, three main aspects can be further backed up by the
interview transcriptions.
Firstly, over-management can be defined as “the governance methods that aims to drive homeless
people from public space” As an interviewee, Mr. Lam depicted:
“Every park will be shut down by the managers, therefore, we’ll have no way to sleep in the
parks during the night time.” Other over-management includes spraying water on the ground
in excuse of public hygienic to drive the homeless away.” (Interview with Mr. Lam at Ladder
Street, Hong Kong Island)
Secondly, the unaffordable rental price of even the humblest sub-divided flats have been mentioned
by several interviewees:
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“A lot of us being homeless because we do not have money, well, if you have money, why not
renting a house? You can take a shower whenever you want, right? At least you have a shelter
over your head, then you will not worry about rains and winds· · · A lot of poor people like us
do not have money, we really cannot afford the rental price! Well, we have no way to go for
public housing neither — you need to wait for such a long time (to register for the public-house
estate).” (Interview with Mr Wong at Tung Chau Street Park, Sham Shui Po).
Thirdly, the government’s indifference is usually associated with the myth of “Hong Kong as a
compact city”. Mr. So, a 50-year old homeless man repeated that “Because Hong Kong is a tiny
place, that’s why the recreational spaces are so precious, it’s just not easy to get space for us.” But
in fact, Hong Kong has a built-up area of 24.4% of the total land area. Critic emerged on that land
resource was not well utilized and the land scarcity problem needs to be problematized (Ng, 2018).
Moreover, when coming to the imagination of an inclusive urban public space, we need to figure out
what spaces do homeless people prefer currently. Several common factors can be summarized as
following.
1. First and foremost, homeless people chose to live near public facilities, especially public toilets
and water fountains. A good illustration is the Lee Cheng Uk Playground. Since most of the
homeless lives on the open auditorium stand, they have easy access to the public toilets just
at the back side of the auditorium with the water fountain within 100 meters distance.
2. Second, urban homeless people have tendency to live in areas that are enclosed, to have a
least some extent of privacy, such as under the flyover. A good example is the infamous
“Zombie Tunnel” at Nam Cheong station.
Figure 3. “Zombie Tunnel”, as reported by local media, at Nam Cheong station

3. Third, homeless people tend to occupy the public space that is adjacent to residential areas
or frequently used by local resident. This seems to be hard to understand, as living next to
residents will increase the possibility of having conflicts with them. While some interviewees
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reveal that it was not out their own willingness to live in those areas, rather, it was the
government that drove them away from the original areas where they had been living. Those
areas were rather distant from residents. One interviewee, Mr. Lee pointed out:
“The government thought if we live near the residents and have more conflict with them,
we will have more incentive to ‘go-upstairs’5. No, we will not, some (estates) have a
worse environment than in the parks.” (Interview with Mr Kwok at Nam Cheong Station
Exit D Tunnel).
While homeless people have been occupying public spaces, they are in fact being excluded in the
physical environment, through the institutional set up and within the socio-cultural context. The
barriers can be further synthesized into three obstacles, namely physical obstacles, governance
obstacles and socio-cultural obstacles.
Most of the homeless participators have mentioned the physical obstacles of “difficult access” and
“hostile architecture”6, which can also be observed in western cities’ homeless researches (Petty,
2016). Two typical “hostile architectures” in Hong Kong mentioned by the interviewees are the bench
with armrests and the spikes under the flyover bridge: both to prevent homeless people from lying
down.
Figure 4. The hostile architecture on bench with armrests

5 Hong Kong slang, meaning “cease to be homeless”.

6 Also referred to as “defensive architecture” in other academic source.
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Figure 5. The hostile architecture of spikes under flyover bridge

Even facing obstacles by the hostile architecture, many homeless people managed to get over the
exclusiveness by creatively re-design their living space with simple materials, for example, laying
down a wooden plank on the bench or the spikes and sleep on the plank. Moreover, some homeless
people propose “inclusive seat” by drawing them out. Mr. Lee described his design of his ideal
inclusive bench in park in a round shape under a tree:
“The space that I like is pretty cool. See, like this, the shape is round, not the rectangular one,
you also have some stone tables… Because if you have a round shape, every of the furniture,
will not hurt you, (for the current bench design), usually only the thin hips are okay to fit in, a
larger bottom will need to find another place. Then, why not make it wider? And also put a
table please! It would be even better if we have some lower chairs. And the government should
have planted some trees, some trees…” (Interview with Mr. Lee at Nam Cheong Station Exit
D Tunnel)
Figure 6. An inclusive seat design in park
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Source: Mr. Lee at Nam Cheong train station Exit D Tunnel
For the governance obstacles, as the exclusiveness factor “over-management (F1)” and
“government’s indifference (F3)” indicate, it reveals the government’s mindset of “solving homeless
problems” rather than positively include the homeless people as a part of city life (City University of
Hong Kong, 2014;Gerrard &Farrugia, 2015). While the government argued that homeless people
have a general tendency of vandalizing the public facilities due to “The Tragedy of the Commons”
(Hardin, 1968; Ostrom, 1990). This can be further supported by the interview with Mr. So:
“Our residents, well, that’s some homeless people, they don’t behave themselves. They
sometimes fought with those people who play football nearby, like this, or they do not follow
the guards’ instructions.”
“Well, I think Hong Kong, though I am a homeless myself, I do not think it’s suitable (for
homeless to live in public space). Because the Hong Kong urban homeless, they are really
unruly.” (Interview with Mr. So at Lee Cheng Uk playground)
For the socio-cultural obstacles, Hong Kong has been embedded deeply in the Chinese cultural
tradition where “being vagrant” were considered dangerous and homeless people were considered
negative, particularly aggressive and lazy (Wang &Fan, 2012). The interviews with passers-by and
residents have demonstrated concerns about the homeless people’s characters and behaviors.
The three obstacles have led to a result that homeless people tend to take the exclusiveness for
granted:
“Actually, the facilities alongside the street are designed for pedestrians, it’s not for sleeping.
I don’t think there are anything that can be improved. Not at all. The major point is those
facilities are not for sleeping. Well, at night, as long as you have a bed, you can sleep
anywhere. The most important thing is not to disturb people and make it easy for yourself.”
“Because we, homeless people here, are illegal. Thus, if people complain about you, you have
no choice but to accept (those complaints).” (Interview with Mr Lam at Ladder street)
4. CONCLUSION
The project has revealed the huge excludability of Hong Kong’s public space to homeless
people, making Hong Kong less inclusive as a city. A thought-provoking point is that even if
suffering so much from excludability, the urban homeless people still chose to use the public
space as their shelter and home as people may argue that there are alternatives like temporary
shelters or help from the Social Welfare Department, as the local resident recommended.
However, if we scrutinize the nice factors that contribute to excludability, seven out of the nine
factors were not out of the nature of public space itself. In other words, they have already chosen
an optimal choice among many possibilities: homeless people will even face more excludability
if they did not present, live and creatively change the public space.
The exclusiveness of Hong Kong’s public space to homeless people is “the tip of the iceberg”
of the hindrances that prevent Hong Kong from becoming an inclusive city. According to the
triple model of obstacles, integrated efforts need to be paid to increase inclusiveness, serval
policy implications have been brought up:
Firstly, public spaces should have a better design in general in accessibility and facilities, in
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order to cater to a diversified range of needs of the public, including the homeless. There should
be less defensive architecture.
Secondly, a re-institutionalization process is needed to turn the governance approach of public

space into a more flexible, more participatory and more humane one. Tokenism and NIMBY
idea should be avoided to the best extent when coming to public space governance.
Thirdly, it is necessary to construct an inclusive culture to accommodate difference and promote

anti-discrimination attitude. Education plays a huge part in this process.
Overall speaking, the case focuses on creating an inclusive city from building more inclusive
public spaces for the homeless people, more researches could be conducted in other spaces
like privately-owned public space and other groups.
4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This article is adapted from the Capstone thesis of Hong Zheng Zhao under the supervision of
Professor Mee Kam Ng, as partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree in Bachelor of
Social Science in Urban Studies from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The authors would
like to express gratitude to Dr Murat Es from the Urban Studies Program, The Chinese
University of Hong Kong, for giving edifying feedback to the original draft and project
presentation.
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EXTENDING A WELCOME ALL? THE DIFFERENCES IN HOW HOUSING &
SOCIAL STRUCTURES ARE BUILT FOR DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PEOPLE
IN KHIRKI, INDIA
1 2 2
Nasr Chamma , Prachi Metawala , Puneet Bansal
1 2
The Lab of Emergency & Sustainable Settlements (LESS), Canada, PLACE_diplaced, India
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Following the Partition of India in 1947, the Indian government converted agricultural lands abutting Khirki
village in Delhi into a rehabilitation colony for refugees from Pakistan. Consequently, Khirki Extension Colony,
was formed and grew informally. Classified as an ‘Unauthorized Colony’, it houses thousands of African and
Afghan immigrants, migrants from various regions of India as well as local inhabitants. Meanwhile in 2007, the
120,000 sq.m. Select Citywalk mall, part of the larger DLF District Centre, was opened facing the Khirki
Extension. This article analyses the housing and social conditions in Khirki Extension and compares the two
distinct entities in the urban fabric: the spaciously planned District Centre catering to the elites, and the highly
dense, unplanned and unauthorized colony housing the relatively impoverished, burgeoning migrant
population. This comparison highlights the impact and interaction of these two entities on each other,
particularly in terms of rental value, beautification and upgradation measures, quality of life of residents and
the creation of employment. Building on existing studies and first-hand materials gathered through
interviewing residents during field visits, this paper also evaluates the living conditions of the residents,
population transformation, housing typologies, social integration, labor market incorporation and the local
economy in the colony. The analysis is placed within the context of the wider processes of urbanization and
development in operation in Delhi. The article concludes by providing recommendations for equitable housing
provision for the diverse range of inhabitants and urban integration strategies to ensure inhabitants’ socio-
economic and cultural participation.
Keywords: Housing, Immigrants, Migrants, Social infrastructure, Unauthorized Colony.
1. INTRODUCTION
India has the 12th-largest international migrant population in the world, about 5.19 million, 210,000
of whom are registered refugees and asylum seekers (United Nations Population Division, 2017).
Delhi is home to around 16,500 registered refugees and asylum seekers, mostly Somalis, Syrians,
Afghans and Burmese, as well as 8,000 Tibetans (Sharma, 2017). A major pull factor to the capital
city of Delhi is the presence of the UNHCR national headquarters. As of 2011, 2.7 million internal
urban migrants reside in the city, the 2nd largest number in the country after Mumbai (Office of the
Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India, 2011).
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Figure 1. Countries of origin of refugees and asylum seekers.

Source: Maps produced by authors
Unable to afford the high cost of living in more affluent areas of Delhi, the majority of the city's local
and migrant population live in Jhuggi Jhopdi clusters (shanties), slums, resettlement colonies and
unauthorized colonies, most of which are in squalid conditions.
Figure 2. Typologies of informal settlements in Delhi.

Source: Cities of Delhi, Hindustan Times
As of 2019, around 4 million of the 29 million people in Delhi live in overpopulated unauthorized
colonies-UACs (Sheikh & Banda, 2014) . UACs are residential settlements built in contravention of
zoning regulations, developed either in violation of Delhi’s master plans or on ‘illegally’ subdivided
agricultural land. The existence and organic growth of these colonies can be traced back to the Lal
Dora practice under the Registration Act (1908): on maps and on the ground, red threads were tied
around inhabited parts of rural agricultural villages, in order to demarcate boundaries for revenue
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collection. In the 1962 Delhi Master Plan, these Lal Dora villages, Khirki village being one of them,
were classified as urban villages, where planned development was restricted. Due to ensuing
haphazard housing construction, farmlands belonging to these villages turned into UACs.
The Khirki Extension Colony is one such UAC and is currently home to around 10,000 international
and internal migrants (Residents, et al., 2018). Residents face a range of problems including
unhygienic and cramped living conditions and lack of proper civic infrastructure and green spaces.
The contrast between the colony and its environs is increasing as the surrounding areas undergo
rapid urbanization while the UAC remains neglected.
An important aspect observed during field visits to Khirki was the seeming inequity amongst
residents in terms of housing and infrastructure, based on ethnographical differences.
Any potential intervention to improve living conditions in Khirki can only be successful if it takes
account of interrelated socio-economic and cultural factors. This study therefore aims to map the
historical development of the current socio-economic and demographic situation of Khirki
Extension, comparing it with the luxurious DLF District Centre opposite the settlement, placing both
within the context of development policies in Delhi.
2. METHODOLOGY
An urban settlement is not just composed of houses and infrastructure but also a set of socio-
economic and cultural relationships; these vary from a landlord-tenant relationship to how built
entities impact each other.
Looking at human settlements in totality, Barbara Ward urges 'to examine global human
experience not in its "minute particulars" but in the close web of interdependence which holds it all
together and largely determines the impact of each separate part' (U.N., 1976).
Mapping of the urban fabric and conditions of Khirki Extension and the DLF District Centre was
undertaken according to the following factors of analysis:
Table 1. Factors of Analysis

A. Relationship between the DLF District Centre and Khirki Extension
Spatial impacts Social impacts Economic impacts
- Evolution - Public space - Real-estate value
- Urban design proposals - Safety - Housing demand
- Distribution of financial resources
B. Housing and living condition in Khirki Extension
Physical-spatial conditions Socio-economic interaction
- Apartment typology, quality and rent - Social infrastructure including education, healthcare
- Civic infrastructure, public services and availability of public and recreational space
and road network - Social interaction and inequalities between
inhabitants: international immigrants, internal migrants
and original inhabitants
- Land titles and ownership issues
- Sources of income and available job opportunities
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Primary Research Methods:

• Field visits conducted in September 2018.
• Field Interviews with immigrants and local inhabitants.
• Interviews with professionals, researchers and humanitarian workers involved in different
projects in the locality.
• Interviews with service providers (shopkeepers, vendors, rickshaw drivers)
Secondary Research Methods:

• Academic articles
• News articles
• Archival documents, land records, government notifications.
Research Limitations:
• Interactions limited to ground floor spaces in the Extension: researchers could only visit a
few houses; mistrusting migrants and landlords did not grant permission to visit their
buildings.
• Limited interactions with international migrants, through BOSCO- an implementing partner
of UNHCR in India since 2002.
• Qualitative vs quantitative nature of data: The last population census in India was carried
out in 2011; there is ambiguity regarding numbers of migrants since published figures do
not match the numbers stated by interviewees from Khirki.

Khirki Extension – Historical Development and Current Context
Figure 3. Historical development and current context of the Khirki Extension. Timeline produced by authors
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Khirki Extension was built on farmlands belonging to the residents of Khirki village. Between 1947
and late 1960s, the Government acquired 897 acres from Khirki Village, parts of which became
Resettlement Colonies for refugees from Pakistan. A major chunk of these 897 acres are now
areas where the DLF Mall Complex and planned residential neighbourhoods beyond it stand today
(DDA, n.d.). Prior to acquisition, these farmlands employed seasonal migrant laborers, who moved
into the rented houses provided by local landlords in colonies across the street (Dattatreyan, 2015).
In 1961, the government introduced a policy exempting developed farmlands with approved
building plans from acquisition. At the time, building plans were approved for a minimum plot size
of 10,000 sq.m., a sizable chunk of land in India where most landholdings are much smaller.
Smaller farm dwellings either had to be sold, acquired or demolished (Village Headmen, 2011).
This illustrates how inequities in physical infrastructure often stem from inherent inequities in policy-
making.
The land on which Khirki Extension was located, was notified for acquisition, but the process was
never completed. Following initial contestation of the acquisition process by the residents, the
courts issued a stay order preventing the government from acquiring the land in 1988. To escape
future land acquisition and to make a quick buck, some of the original landowners sold their land to
private developers. Many landowners subdivided their land, selling cheap residential plots. Such
practices led to a depression in the real estate value of the area and attracted groups of migrants.
These influxes led to a further increase in the demand for housing and ensuing illegal construction.
Given the haphazard nature of housing construction in the colony, in violation of by-laws, Khirki
Extension was classified as a UAC.
On account of the landowners having bought their plots, residents today are generally secure from
eviction. Owing to this de facto security of tenure, many tenants and newly arriving migrants
invested in properties in the UAC.
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Figure 4. The original land extents of Khirki overlaid on the 2018 Satellite imagery (red ouline). Khirki is
comprised of the urban village and Khirki Mosque (in pink); the UAC (in yellow); and Jamun Park (in green).
Across the Press Enclave Road running along these colonies, is the DLF District Centre (in blue).
Source: Digital Globe, 2018, DDA Land Management Information System, 2018 Google Earth
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Khirki Extension currently occupies an area of 194,963 sq.m. with about 70% being built-up
(Unauthorized Colonies Cell (UC)). 17,427 people live here, amounting to a population density of
89,386 per sq. km (Delhi State Election Commission, 2016). This is 595 times the ideal population
density of 150/sq.km. prescribed by UN-Habitat, for sustainable neighborhood planning.
The government's proposed solution to the problems associated with UACs is regularization.
Regularization is “a process by which such UACs are made legal and the property titles in them are
recognized by law and can be registered with the state” (Sheikh & Banda, 2014). Regularization is
expected to yield two benefits: the right to undertake civic infrastructure projects in the colony and
the allocation of clear land titles to plot owners. In 2007, the government started inviting
applications for regularization. Khirki Extension was one of the 1,639 UACs that applied; it was
disqualified in 2014 due to its proximity to Khirki Mosque, a protected monument under the
Archaeological Survey India (GNCTD, 26th of May, 2014).
Impacts of The DLF District Centre on Khirki Extension:
Figure 5. The Select City Walk Mall in the DLF District Centre (left)-
One of the alleys in Khirki Extension (right)-
Source: selectcitywalk.com; Photo by Satish Singh
The 22-hectare DLF District Centre consists of five shopping malls, office buildings, food courts,
hotels, and movie theaters. In the early 2000s, DLF started developing this plot under a hundred-
year lease agreement.
Spatial Impacts:
Opening of the District Centre in 2007 resulted in consecutive urban design proposals abutting the
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Extension, which are yet to be implemented. The Delhi Urban Arts Commission’s (DUAC) Proposal
of 2015 envisages converting the Jamun Park, a reserved green space between Khirki Extension
and the Press Enclave Road, into ‘public/semi-public’ use, with 2-storey structures having ‘green
roofs’, food courts and basement parking for cars (DUAC, 2015). Post mall construction, the Jamun
Park was fenced off from Khirki, cutting off access to residents. The park was supposed to be
linked to Khirki Extension through two back entrances which to date have not been implemented.
No specific function or target users were specified for the proposed structures and the basement
parking, which is proposed right opposite the mall, to be connected to it by pedestrian bridges and
underpasses. The ‘public/semi-public’ use of the space may result in a vital green lung of the
locality getting converted into commercial retail spaces.
Another initiative, Aapki Sadak, described as a ‘community engagement led project’ for “the
improvement of neighborhood level pedestrian and Non-Motorized Transport accessibility”,
proposes modification of entry points to the area, resurfacing of roads to reduce their susceptibility
to floods, introduction of new bus stops and widening of streets at selected spots (Ashok B. Lall
Architects, n.d.). Both the proposals merge parking with gardens - two spaces with opposite
requirements and functions and focus more on beautification instead of core socio-economic
issues.
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Figure 6. Evolution of the Jamun Park from a vacant pasture land in 2008 (Top), to a Green park in 2018
(Middle) and the proposed Public/Semi-public building and park by the Delhi Urban Arts Commission in 2015.
Source: 2019 Digital Globe, Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) City level projects report of 2015.
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Social Impacts:
The development of the District Centre attracted a new wave of migrants - entrepreneurs, patients
on medical visas, refugees with/without the UNHCR card on valid/expired long-term visas - from
Afghanistan, West Africa (Nigeria, Congo, Cameroon, Ivory Coast), East Africa (Somalia, Sudan
and Uganda) and Nepal; and internal migrants from North-Eastern India, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and
local migrants from other parts of Delhi. This influx, attributed to the proximity of the UAC to the
District Centre, which was associated with a better lifestyle at a cheaper rent, has led to a further
diversification of the social and cultural fabric.
The malls in the District Centre receive daily average footfall of 95,000 (Srivastava, 2017); mostly
from the nearby residential areas such as Khirki, G.K, Hauz Rani and Malviya Nagar. The food
courts in the malls provide diverse cuisine options at affordable rates, especially attracting
international migrants.
The mall is deemed to be a positive space by the African nationals residing in Khirki, since they feel
safe there from the racial harassment they experience on the streets. The main courtyards abutting
the malls are used for social gatherings and public events, particularly street performances by hip-
hop and b-boy artists from different ethnic groups from Khirki Extension (Dattatreyan, 2015). Other
than the DLF District Centre courtyard, there is a dearth of recreational spaces in Khirki.
Apart from the international migrants, the mall is frequented by relatively fewer inhabitants from the
Extension. The reasons vary - the economic limitations of the migrant laborers, the ‘rural’ behavior
of certain residents and the ‘9 to 9’ shop-keeping routine of shop-owners.
Economic impacts:
The agricultural laborers, who previously worked on the Khirki farmland, were rehired to provide
labor for the mall construction. The District Centre created many job opportunities, further attracting
migrants who rented housing in Khirki, thus catalyzing illegal building activities. The rise in the
number of residents, coupled with an absence of affordable supermarkets in the District Centre,
has benefitted the shopkeepers.
A major impact was a spike in residential and commercial rents in the UAC, which is favorable for
landlords. Apart from the annual 10% increment, rents increased further post opening of the mall,
with the minimum rent now at 5,000 Indian Rupees (INR), up from just 1,000 INR 10 years ago
(Residents, et al., 2018).This increase is not reflected in any improvements in the living standards
in the UAC.
The approximate cost/unit area of developing malls in India in 2007 was 7,380 INR/sq.m (Kuruvilla,
Shelja, & Ganguli, 2008). The construction cost of one of the malls in the DLF District Centre
amounted to 4.8 billion INR (ICRA, 2018). By contrast, the regularization cost of Khirki Extension
would amount to approximately 40 million INR at 200/sq.m (Ministry of Urban Development, 2007).
The regularization costs of UACs are minute in comparison to malls.
This comparison exposes the inequitable distribution of financial resources on opposite sides of the
Press Enclave Road, which acts as a metaphorical dividing line. One project splurges money to
develop a high-end shopping experience, while on the other side, a community struggles to get
their properties legally recognized.
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Housing and Living conditions in Khirki Extension
Physical-spatial Conditions
Figure 7. A recently demolished building faces the well maintained and plastered KHOJ studio, containing
office space, studios and residence space for artists and a gallery centered round a shaded courtyard.
Photo by: Satish Singh
The narrow Khirki Extension Road, shaded by four-five storeyed buildings, is filled with street
vendors, shop fronts spilling onto the road, migrant laborers queuing up for work, and two-wheeled
vehicles parked without order. Vehicles cannot navigate easily through the narrow dirt and gravel
paths.
The residential buildings on both sides are in varying stages of occupation. The by-laws relating to
building heights and distances were not followed, resulting in buildings being very closely spaced,
leading to poor daylighting, ventilation problems and heat island effect, breeding insects and flies.
A few buildings remain vacant due to the non-provision of water supply and drainage.
Apartment Typology, Quality and Rent: All the apartments, four-five stories high, are subdivided
into flats with combinations of 1 and 2 BHK (Bedroom, Hall & Kitchen), ranging from 1-4 on each
floor. 3 BHK flats are not profitable as they do not sell easily. Sometimes multiple migrant families
pool resources and move in together. All the flats have attached bathroom(s). Some apartments,
demolished and rebuilt after 2007, have elevators and stilt parking. Many building owners added
more floors or enclosed their terraces.
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Table 2. Housing Unit Typology

Unit Type Avg. Area (in sq.m.) Avg. Rent (in INR)
1H 9-12 5000-7000
1BHK 15-20 9000-12000
2BHK 25-30 15000
3BHK 40-45 20000
Figure 8. Three buildings flushed together (left); A rebuilt apartment with stilt floor and parking (right).
Photos by Satish Singh
Migrant Labor Housing: The labor facility used to be shanties, and today consists of 5 brick
buildings constructed in 2007. All ground floor units facing the street are rented shops. The upper
levels have around 32 tenements in total, each admeasuring about 2.4 meters by 3 meters and
housing at least 6 tenants. A minimum of 200 people reside in this facility at any given time.
The rent of each room is about 6,000 INR, which tenants split. The population in the facility rises to
around 500 during the day, as more workers arrive from outside. Most of them are single men and
boys.
Figure 9. The Labor facility (Left); Inside one of the buildings (Right).
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Figure 10. The shared toilets + bath units

Waste accumulates in the labor facility since they cannot afford private waste collectors daily.
There are only 2 bathrooms and 2 toilets in a shared block for all 5 buildings - 250 people/toilet.
Many of the laborers resort to open defecation. The upkeep of the public toilets is difficult as the
soak pits fill up fast and have to be cleaned by hired manual scavengers.
Civic Infrastructure, Public Services and Road Network:

Water Supply: The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) water pipeline runs through the UAC and illegal
connections have been laid by residents. Around 2,834 households consume water from a tube-
well; this water has 1,000 mg/liter of total dissolved solids, a measure of low quality (Birkinshaw,
2017) . Many residents have switched to tankers or bottled water, costing 20 INR/liter. Some store
water in overhead plastic tanks inside their houses, or outside on the street.
Electricity: Many residents claim to have metered electricity connections. There have been cases of
electricity theft filed against residents in the past for tapping into the main grid line illegally
(Residents, et al., 2018).
Waste Disposal and Sewage System: Drainage is a major issue in the UAC, especially during
monsoons, due to the absence of drains and low plinth heights from the raising of the street level.
There is no formal waste disposal system in place. A lot of construction and demolition waste is
piling up in the alley between Jamun Park and the UAC, and in the Nandan Park on the Khirki Main
Road. Residents have to collectively hire private contractors for solid waste management.
There is a shortage of street lighting and waste-bins on the roads. Haphazard street parking is an
issue that the residents want banned, to have clear thoroughfares, necessary in event of disasters
and medical emergencies.
In 2017 the government commenced civic works in the Khirki Extension and by July 2018, water
supply lines were completely functional and laying of sewer lines was in process. Laying of storm
water drains and road construction is expected to be finished in 5 years (UAC, 2018). During field
visits, in September 2018, residents corroborated that the water and sewer lines were functional
but complained about the low-quality plumbing job that has resulted in brackish tasting water.
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Socio-Economic Conditions and Social Infrastructure:

Education: Apart from migrant child-laborers, children in Khirki Extension attend schools located in
the area. International migrant children are successfully placed in the municipal Urdu school in
Khirki village. Many of the Afghan and African migrants have enrolled in language and vocational
courses offered at the BOSCO centre in the neighboring Malviya Nagar colony.
Figure 11. Immigrant students in the Urdu school in Khirki (left); Afghan woman working in the BOSCO centre
in Malviya Nagar (right).
Healthcare: Many Afghan migrants on medical visas have arrived in the UAC due to its proximity to
the Madan Mohan Government Hospital and the private Max Hospital nearby. The Government
Hospital is accessed by all - laborers, international migrants and locals from the UAC.
Recreational spaces: With Jamun Park and Nandan Park rendered inaccessible and defunct, there
are no play areas left for children. The youth in Khirki spend their time at the Khirki Mosque and the
nearby ruins of the Satpula dam.
Social interaction between the inhabitants of Khirki Extension
Figure 12. Khirki is home to Afghan, African and Nepali migrants as well as internal migrants from U.P., Bihar
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and Northeast India.
Photo by: Satish Singh
Despite the long-standing presence of Afghan and African migrants since early 1990s, the older
generation of inhabitants frowns upon them, on account of lesser tolerance towards cultural
differences and xenophobic inclinations. The residents complained about African migrants being
involved in illegal activities like drug peddling and prostitution in the UAC. Past police raids have
fueled racial stereotyping against the immigrants (Bhandari, 2017). The younger generation,
especially the shopkeepers and service providers like auto-rickshaw drivers and street vendors, are
more sympathetic towards them.
International migrants are not usually the preferred tenants, due to perceived risks associated with
them, such as police raids, or early termination of contracts due to expiry of visas and/or
repatriation. Some landlords charge immigrants higher rent to cover the risks. For instance, an
Afghan asylum seeker in Khirki says that Indian tenants are charged around 3,000 INR lesser. A
general trend is that Africans are charged the highest rent, followed by Afghans, with Indians
charged least (Residents, et al., 2018).
Figure 13. Afghan refugee Mr. Valy outside his apartment in Khirki (left); In his 1BHK unit (right).
Another pattern observed was that of a higher count of Indian tenants closer to the main street
entrances. The buildings at the back had a relatively higher ratio of international tenants, making
them less visible. However, these tenants enjoy a relatively better quality of life than the laborers
staying in the labor facility.
Figure 14. Two Somali refugee families share a 1BHK apartment in the Khirki Extension.
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Land titles and Ownership issues

In UACs, neither the original nor the present landlords hold clear titles because land transfers have
not been conducted through registered deeds of conveyance but through General Power of
Attorney (GPA). In 2011, the government judged GPA to be an illegitimate instrument for
transferring properties but made no other provisions for UAC residents to transfer land and
property (Sheikh & Banda, 2014).
Property owners and developers face instances of ‘rent-seeking’ by municipal officials in exchange
for turning a blind eye to illegal constructions. Many buildings have been demolished by the
authorities allegedly for non-payment of the ‘rent’.
Income Sources and Job Opportunities

Migrant laborers, in demand during construction of the mall, now queue up outside the labor facility
in Khirki, in the hope of being hired by contractors on a daily-wage basis. Multiple garment factories
operate in the basement and ground floors of the labor facility. Another garment factory operates in
a partially demolished building because of the lower rent cost-1/3rd of the rent in a functional
building (Residents, et al., 2018). Many residents are entrepreneurs with shops in the commercial
spaces on the ground floors.
Figure 15. A bakery in Khirki with a few Afghan workers (left); A factory inside a partially demolished building
(right). Photos by Prachi Metawala
A certain discrimination is prevalent in employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. Immigrants

face difficulties applying for jobs because of rules requiring them to possess bank accounts and a
Unique Identity Number, called Aadhaar, which only Indian citizens possess. Many Afghan
residents have jobs in the nearby Lajpat Nagar and Malviya Nagar colonies, owing to previously
established networks.
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4. CONCLUSION
During interviews, residents expressed their opinions on measures to improve the living conditions
in Khirki Extension. A temple priest said, "Just wait for an earthquake of magnitude 7 or above. It
will take care of everything - the urban villages, the unauthorized colonies and the mall across the
street." This sarcastic reply paints a grave picture of the perils of staying in such a tightly built up
and densely populated colony, lacking vital services and proper infrastructure.
With the vision of becoming a world class city, Delhi is undergoing rapid urbanization. This study
highlights the wider pattern of selective development in operation in the city. The stark contrast
between the Khirki Extension and the District Centre highlights the existing inequities and the
relative failure to address problems, in favor of a process of gentrification.
As of 2018, Delhi is the 2nd largest urban agglomeration in the world after Tokyo (United Nations,
2018). Delhi has been witnessing a heavy flow of migrants into its urban areas; in the Extension,
immigrants are moving in at the rate of at least 2 new tenants every day (Residents, et al., 2018).
In Khirki, there is an urgent need for better living conditions and support from the concerned
authorities for better social integration strategies within the neighborhood of South Delhi.
Based on the current physical-spatial conditions of the settlement, immediate interventions should
be undertaken such as the structural audit of the buildings, relocation of residents residing in
unsafe housing and building upgradation and retrofitting. These interventions should be
supplemented by additions such as street lighting, street waste-bins, biogas plants for solid waste
management and the pedestrianization of streets using permeable paving materials. Nandan Park
should be revived by a removal of the waste dumped on it and Jamun Park should be made
accessible to residents.
The labor facility should be redesigned in the form of dormitories with bunk beds, having a
dedicated public toilet block with more units, to cater to the high number of workers in the facility.
Introduction of a biodigester unit for these toilet blocks would eliminate the need for manual
scavenging and facilitate easy upkeep.
However, such proposals cannot be executed without policy level changes on the part of the
Government; these should include a fair model of land acquisition to prevent marginalization of
migrants and other economically weaker groups within such UACs. A standardized rent structure
should be developed, preventing exploitation of vulnerable tenants due to micro-politics of rent,
tenure and personal prejudices on behalf of landlords.
It is argued that unauthorized colonies have mushroomed outside of the various Master Plan
boundaries, not due to an absence of planning but rather as a result of planned exclusion by the
authorities (Bhan, 2013). It is high time the government recognizes Khirki as a legitimate
settlement, so that instead of short-term, quick fix interventions, an equitable and sustainable
development process can be implemented.
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5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank Selin Mathews from BOSCO, Ipshita Sengupta from UNHCR Delhi, Radha Mahendru
from KHOJ, Ar. Swati Janu; and Satish Singh for photographs.
6. REFERENCES
[1] United Nations Population Division. (2017). International migrant stock: The 2017 revision.
Retrieved March 31, 2019, from United Nations:
https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/data/estimates2/estimates17.
asp
[2] Sharma, M. (2017, June 19). Delhi’s refugees: In quest for a home out of home. Retrieved from
Hindustan Times: https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/delhi-s-refugees-in-quest-for-
a-home-out-of-home/story-tI5z5w2KdQ9TWCfJsv0qSJ.html
[3] Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. (2011). Provisional -D-5
Migrants By Place Of Last Residence, Age, Sex, Reason For Migration And Duration Of
Residence-2011(India , States/UTs). Retrieved from Census India:
http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/2011-D05-00-Prov.xls
[4] United Nations. (2018, May 16). World Urbanization Prospects : The 2018 Revision. Retrieved
from https://population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-KeyFacts.pdf
[5] Sheikh, S., & Banda, S. (2014, April). The Thin Line between Legitimate and Illegal:
Regularising Unauthorised Colonies in Delhi. Retrieved from Cities of Delhi project, Centre
for Policy Research: http://citiesofdelhi.cprindia.org/reports/regularising-unauthorised-
colonies-in-delhi/
[6] Residents, Service Providers, Researchers, Architects, Urban Designers, NGO workers, &
Community Representatives. (2018, September 13-16). Field Interviews. (P. Metawala,
Interviewer)
[7] United Nations. (1976). United Nations Conference on Human Settlements. Vancouver.
[8] Delhi Development Authority (DDA). (n.d.). Village details - Khirki. Retrieved from DDA Land
Management Information System:
http://www.dda.org.in/ddausers/LMIS_SITE/Village_details.asp
[9] Dattatreyan, E. G. (2015). Aesthetic Citizenship: Popular Culture, Migrant Youth, and the
Making of 'World Class' Delhi. Retrieved from Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations:
http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1037
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[10] Village Headmen. (2011). Letters to the then Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi, Chief
Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit and Lt. Governor of Delhi. South Delhi. Retrieved from
https://dda.org.in/planning/suggestions/Dy.%20No.%202761%20DDA%20MPR.pdf
[11] Unauthorized Colonies Cell (UC). (n.d.). Existing Layout Plan of Khirki Extension, Malviya
Nagar, New Delhi -110017. Retrieved from Govt. of NCT of Delhi website:
http://delhi.gov.in/DoIT/DOIT/DOIT_UDD/Images/897.JPG
[12] Delhi State Election Commission. (2016). 088-S Chirag Delhi, EB Extent SDMC (Final)
Delimitation. Retrieved from Delhi Government Portal:
http://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/doit_dsec/Delhi%20State%20Election%20Commission/
Home/Delimitation%202016/EB%20Extent%20SDMC%20(Final)/088
[13] Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD). (26th of May, 2014). Office
Memorandum No, F.1-33/UCIUD/04/Pt.IV/. Retrieved from
https://credai.org/assets/upload/state/resources/plan-ucs-regulisation-904-may-2014.pdf
[14] Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC). (2015). City Level Projects - Malviya Nagar, Hauz Rani
And Khirki Extension. Site Specific Design for Ward No. 161, 162, 189 and 191. Retrieved
from http://e.duac.org/images/pdf/17.%20Malviya%20Nagar.pdf
[15] Ashok B. Lall Architects. (n.d.). Aapki Sadak Project. Retrieved from Ashok B. Lall Architects:
http://www.ashokblallarchitects.com/AAPKI-SADAK
[16] Srivastava, S. (2017, June 3). Shopping Center Facts and Stats. Retrieved from
IndianRetailer.com: https://www.indianretailer.com/article/whats-hot/property/Shopping-
Center-Facts-and-Stats.a5708/
[17] Kuruvilla, Shelja, & Ganguli, J. (2008, August). Mall Development and Operations: An Indian
Perspective. Journal of Retain & Leisure Property, 7(3), 204-215. Retrieved from Springer
Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/rlp.2008.14
[18] ICRA. (2018, July 18). Select Infrastructure Private Limited. Retrieved from icra.in/Rating:
https://www.icra.in/Rationale/GetRationaleFile/71699~Select%20Infrastructure-R-
18072018.pdf
[19] Ministry of Urban Development. (2007). Revised Guidelines for Regularization of Unauthorized
Colonies in Delhi. Government of Delhi.
[20] Birkinshaw, M. (2017). Murky waters: infrastructure, informality and reform in Delhi. PhD
Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom. Retrieved from
http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/3770
[21] Unauthorised Colonies Cell. (2018, July 11). Statement of Development Works in
Unauthorised Colonies. Retrieved from Department of Urban Development, Government of
Delhi:
http://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/2fb394004634b50fbed5bec8da9eb17e/Development+in
+UCs+in+42+clmns+with+dsiidc+late.xlsx?MOD=AJPERES&lmod=-
2006457788&CACHEID=2fb394004634b50fbed5bec8da9eb17e
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[22] Bhandari, H. (2017, March 29). Once a hub, few Africans left in Khirki Extension. The Hindu.
Retrieved from https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/once-a-hub-few-africans-left-in-
khirki-extension/article17713361.ece
[23] Bhan, G. (2013, June). Planned Illegalities - Housing and the “Failure” of Planning in Delhi:
1947-2010. Economic and Political Weekly, 48(24), 54-70a.
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SOCIO-ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION OF COMMUNITIES IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF BRAWIJAYA NEIGHBORHOOD
(STUDY IN KELURAHAN KETAWANGGEDE LOWOKWARU MALANG)
1 2
Asfi Manzilati , Yenny Kornitasari
1 2
Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Brawijaya, Faculty of Economics and Business,
University of Brawijaya
Jl. Veteran Malang, Ketawanggede, Kec. Lowokwaru, Kota Malang, Jawa Timur 65145
[email protected]/[email protected]
ABSTRACT
In the 1960’s, the majority of Ketawanggede community were rice farmers. However in 1969, the
University of Brawijaya campus was built in their rice fields, shifting the functions and ownership of
rice fields. Consequently, their livelihoods and jobs were shifting. This study aims to understand:
(1) How people behave and act to fulfill their needs, and (2) how the socio-economic conditions
changes because of the shifting in livelihoods and employment. Through qualitative methods, the
results of the study show: (1) Shifting of land’s functions and ownership were finally accepted due
to the development of the Brawijaya campus. For this, the community is willing to change the
source of their livelihoods and jobs by providing room rental services (boarding), selling food, or to
become employees of University of Brawijaya. (2). Socio-economic conditions indicate that the
source of livelihood and new jobs are considered sufficient to meet daily needs until the late 80s.
Since the Soekarno-Hatta Bridge and the development of the Sigura-gura neighbourhood become
more modern with comfortable residential areas and more complete facilities, the Ketawanggede
community boarding rooms becomes abandoned by students. On the other hand, the existence of
the Ketawanggede community around the campus area does not necessarily increase public
awareness and efforts towards education. These two things make the Ketawanggede community
threatened by the sustainability of the source of life as well as social problems, especially in young
people such as unemployment, dropping out of school and social jealousy towards students/
immigrants.
Keywords: Campus Neighborhood Area, Socio-economic Indicators, Structural

Transformation.
1. INTRODUCTION
The rapid development of the era requires the perpetrators to adjust to any changes that occur.
Changes that continue to occur at any time indicate that human life changes statistics. In the
opinion of Zanden (in Rahardjo, 2007: 26), changes that occur in social societies are referred to as
social changes in which the community through the process becomes different from before. Every
change that occurs in the community will have an impact on the community itself, whether it has a
positive or negative impact and will affect the multiplier effect on each sector.
Malang City is one of the cities that can not be separated from changes and developments due to
the paradigm shift that occurs on yearly basis, wherein a change occured in one region will also
spread and affect other regions. Malang is the second largest autonomous region in East Java
2
Province after the city of Surabaya. The area of Malang City is 110,06 km , divided into five sub-
districts, namely Kecamatan Kedungkandang, Sukun, Klojen, Blimbing and Lowokwaru. Moreover,
based on the Population Census conducted by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2010, the
population of Malang City was 820,243 inhabitants. Among the 5 sub-districts, Lowokwaru has the
most population of 186,013, followed by Sukun (181,513 people), Kedungkandang (174,477
inhabitants), Blimbing (172,333 inhabitants), and Klojen (105,907 inhabitants). Whereas the region
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with the highest population density occurred in the Klojen area which reached 11,994 people per
2
km , while the lowest in the Kedungkand District area was 4,374 people per Km2.
Table 1. Distribution and Population Density by District 2014

Population Percentage of Population
Sub-district An area (km)
(person) Population Density/km
Kedungkandang 39,89 183,927 21,74 4,611
Sukun 20,97 188,545 22,29 8,991
Klojen 8,83 104,590 12,36 11,845
Blimbing 17,77 176,845 20,90 9,952
Lowokwaru 22,60 192,066 22,70 8,498
Total 110,06 845,973 100,00 7,686
Source: BPS Malang City
The density that occurs in several sub-districts in Malang City is not matched by the area in each
sub-district. This causes a buildup or high population density in one area.
2
Table 2. Area of District (km ) and Percentage of City Area in 2014
2
Sub-district Broad Sub-district (km ) Percentage of City Area
Kedungkandang 39,89 36,24
Sukun 20,97 19,05
Klojen 8,83 8,02
Blimbing 17,77 16,15
Lowokwaru 22,60 20,53
Total 110,06 100,00
Source: BPS Malang City
Ketawanggede Village is one of the region in Lowokwaru with both high population and density.
Such high density is due to the close distance with various educational institutions in the Malang.
Known as the education city, Malang is one of the primadonna and distinguished destinations for
students who want to continue to higher education. This is due to high variety of both public and
private universities and polytechnic, which considered among the best in Indonesia, one of which is
University of Brawijaya. It cannot be denied that the major changes that have taken place in
Malang City are caused by the increasing and proliferation of existing educational institutions, both
public and private. With the recognition of Malang City as a city of education that makes it an area
with a high level of urbanization.
Table 3. Number of Residents Coming to Malang City in 2013-2014

Sub-district 2013 2014
Kedungkandang 3894 6853
Sukun 3427 7277
Klojen 1654 3865
Blimbing 3775 7528
Lowokwaru 3514 6080
Total 16264 31603
Source: Kantor Kependudukan dan Catatan Sipil
The high level of urbanization in Malang City is caused by the large number of students from
outside Malang who come to study. The number of students who come to Malang City every year
reaches tens of thousands of people.
If one University in Malang has students with a number that reaches tens of thousands and
suppose that 75% of the students come from outside Malang City, it can be projected how many
people come to Malang City each year and multiply by the number of good institutions both public
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and private, both formal and informal in Malang. Moreover, the number of residents who urbanize
to Malang City for other purposes such as seeking employment. This makes the population density
in Malang City quite high. The large number of students of University of Brawijaya has indirect
impact on the surrounding area which makes the circle areas of University of Brawijaya, one of
them is the Ketawanggede Urban Village which is quite a dense area. Therefore, a study is needed
related to the mapping of economic potential that can be maximized by the community with the
situation with changing economic structure conditions which at the beginning was a land of
agricultural economic structure that tended to shift to the structure of the urban economy with an
education center.
2. METHODOLOGY
The type of research used in this research is qualitative descriptive. by describing the data
obtained which are further elaborated in the form of explanations, then the data obtained are
analyzed qualitatively, in this case the research must be active and self-use as an instrument,
following the assumptions of culture as well as following data in an effort to achieve imaginative
insights into the social world of informants. The researcher is expected to be flexible and relevant
but still able to adjust the distance. According to Nawawi (2005: 63) Descriptive methods can be
interpreted as problem solving procedures that are investigated by describing the state of the
subject / object of research (a person, institution, society and others) at the moment based on facts
that appear or as they are. According to Moleong (2006: 6), qualitative research is research that
intends to understand the phenomenon of what is experienced by the subject of research such as
behavior, perception, motivation, action, etc. holistically, and in a descriptive way in the form of
words and languages, in a special natural context and by utilizing various natural methods.
The mapping method that is carried out as follows:
1. Mapping stakeholders and network relationships between stakeholders consisting of

individuals, groups, and organizations
2. Descripting the social position and the role of social actors in people's lives.
3. Analyzing the power and interests of stakeholders
4. Identificating the mechanisms / forums that become means used by the community in
discussing public / public interests.
5. Descripting the potential sustainable livelihoods that includes potential human resources,
potential, the natural resources, social capital
6. Analyzing the community needs to support sustainable livelihoods.
7. Descripting the types of vulnerabilities and vulnerable groups.
8. Descripting the social problems
Through qualitative methods, the results of the study show:
1. Shifting of Land’s Functions and Ownership
University of Brawijaya located at the strategic point of Malang City, indirectly makes it the
center of the changes that occur in other regions around the University of Brawijaya campus.
Areas around University of Brawijaya which a few decades ago may still rely on the
agriculture sector and small micro-enterprises such as the ceramics manufacture as a
livelihood for the population, over time and the increasing number of students of University of
Brawijaya each year that influence the increasing demand for various student needs both
accommodation and consumption.
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Some areas around University of Brawijaya is quite dense because the residents who used
to work on agriculture sector shift their land functions by building boarding houses for
students. Some residents assume that the conversion of land functions that they do will
actually bring greater profits and can be used as an alternative investment for them, given
the demand for student occupancy are always rising every year. This is what caused a shift
in the livelihoods of the residents around the campus, which used to depend on their
livelihoods in the agricultural sector to become a provider of student housing.
In addition, centralization that occurs in an area causes uneven distribution of population in

other regions. The large number of people who occupy an area will also have an impact on
the high number of congestion that occurs. However, the existence of a campus in a city is
not always considered the main cause of negative changes in the area or surrounding area.
In the context of regional spatial planning, the existence of the campus can be used as the
infrastructure of the city itself. Furthermore Jayadinata also formulated several factors that
determine the pattern of land use, one of which is the factor of community behavior (social
behavior) which is influenced by social values and social processes, namely: Centralization,
(population accumulation caused by economic infrastructure) and decentralization (
Jayadinata, 1999). The opinion expressed by Jayadinata shows that the existence of a
campus can lead to centralization or concentration of population concentration in one region.
In this case we can see that the agglomeration process in the Ketawanggede sub-district
from the agricultural area is transformed into an Education area so that it encourages other
industrial activities. This is not because the austerity activities resulting from the location of
adjacent industries will be formed from changes in economic structure resulting from the
shifting of changes in agricultural land into educational centers, thus creating a concentration
of population.
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Figure 1. Condition of Ketawangge Village
Source: Photo by Author, 2019
2. Socio-Economic Conditions and The Source of Livelihood and New Jobs
Ketawanggede Village is one urban village that has a social impact that is quite significant
related to the existence of University of Brawijaya, where the establishment of Brawijaya
University was in Ketawanggede Village. So that structurally the economy, the community of
the Ketawanggede urban village experienced a significant change, namely from agricultural
agrarian societies turned into a modern society with various types of jobs such as
entrepreneurship, trade, and others. Ketawanggede Urban Village, according to most
people, has a high tolerance, this is driven by the many temporary residents who come to
the Ketawanggede Village area from various regions, various religions, and also various
cultures. So that the community tolerance of the Ketawanggede village is quite good and
runs smoothly.
With the University of Brawijaya campus, the economy of the Ketawanggede urban village
community is mostly sourced from trading businesses (food, basic necessities, services,
etc.) and rented boarding houses. So that the results of mapping the economic potential, the
Ketawanggede urban village can be maximized in the culinary business development and
also the development of supporting facilities for boarding-house rentals that are tailored to
the needs of today's students. So that technology development is needed to support the
economic potential of the Ketawangede village community such as the use of technology,
the design of environmentally friendly environmental development, and local-based
community empowerment, so that it will increase the economic potential that already exists
to be maximized.
Furthermore, the population of the Ketawanggede urban village has become increasingly
crowded. This is motivated by the number of arrivals from the temporary population
(students). However, the density was not matched by public facilities that could be used by
the community such as narrow and damaged road asphalt, especially Kerto Sentono and
Kerto Rejo due to the heavy use of roads, the majority of which were students. So that it
becomes a burden for the Ketawanggede village in terms of road repairs that must be done
as a result of this phenomenon (as noted that some of UB's exit gates are directed through
roads or areas in Ketawanggede).
In addition to the problem of reforestation, water culverts and also public facilities that have
not been maximally available due to limited land in the Ketawanggede village. Culturally and
socially, the Ketawanggede village conducts routine activities such as commemorating the
independence of the Republic of Indonesia, clean the village and so on. Historically, this
Ketawanggede village has no influential people, so the interaction between citizens is quite
smooth and quite good. Like the other villages in Ketawanggede, there are community
dissection groups such as informal religious groups such as the women's recitation group,
PKK mothers, LPMK (Kelurahan Community Empowerment Institution), BKM (Community
Self-Sufficiency Agency), Youth Organization, Suket Puppet Arts and the Village Badminton
Team.
The limited land that the boarding house owner added, and the environment that was so
crowded, and the roads that were too narrow caused the absence of a large enough parking
area for students carrying motorbikes. In addition, the cost of boarding which is considered
quite expensive is not in accordance with the facilities obtained by boarding house residents
who finally choose a boarding house that is far more feasible even though it has a long
distance from the campus. So, from the results of the questionnaire it can be concluded that
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the boarding house in Ketawanggede cannot meet the needs of students which has an
impact on reduced income of citizens. It is also encouraged as the preference of students in
choosing boarding houses is one of the factors why students do not feel comfortable living in
the Kerto region, Ketawanggede Sub-District, because the interior and exterior layout of the
building is considered not good enough parking space for students who have vehicles,
especially motorbikes.
The needs of students always develop from each year, while the boarding houses offered by
the surrounding community tend to remain unchanged from the beginning they are built to
the present. Based on the results of interviews with the community, it is known that the short
distance from Universitas Brawijaya is enough to be used as an attraction for students. While
based on the survey results on students as respondents, the short distance to campus is no
longer a priority requirement, but there are other reasons for them to choose boarding
houses.
The first thing that is now needed by students is the availability of parking spaces, which
most boarding houses in Ketawanggede do not provide. Another thing that makes students
choose boarding houses outside Ketawanggede is the availability of WiFi facilities that are
mostly not owned by boarding houses in Ketawanggede. In other boarding houses, residents
even install and subscribe to their own wifi to support their learning activities. There are still
many boarding houses in the Ketawanggede sub-district which are old buildings, narrow
spaces, and lacking air ventilation. These things made the students feel uncomfortable
renting a boarding house in Ketawanggede village for longer. The level of security is also an
important consideration for students to choose a boarding house, considering that the
Ketawanggede urban area is an area prone to motor theft.
From some of these things, it has consequences for the community that the Ketawanggede
residential house is less attractive to the community because this limitation has resulted in
the transfer of student choice to other regions such as Sigura-gura and Soekarno Hatta
which provide more adequate facilities. This gives its own problems for the people of
Ketawanggede village.
3. CONCLUSION
The results of the study with the Community Based Research approach can be seen that there are
several problems with each indicator and the potential to suppress or resolve problems. The main
problem at least researchers see is that there are major problems, namely social problems from
the changing economic structure of the Ketawanggede village community from agriculture to
modern society. (1) Shifting of land’s functions and ownership were finally accepted due to the
development of the Brawijaya campus. For this, the community is willing to change the source of
their livelihoods and jobs by providing room rental services (boarding), selling food, or to become
employees of University of Brawijaya. (2). Socio-economic conditions indicate that the source of
livelihood and new jobs are considered sufficient to meet daily needs until the late 80s. Since the
Soekarno-Hatta Bridge and the development of the Sigura-gura neighbourhood become more
modern with comfortable residential areas and more complete facilities, the Ketawanggede
community boarding rooms becomes abandoned by students. On the other hand, the existence of
the Ketawanggede community around the campus area does not necessarily increase public
awareness and efforts towards education. These two things make the Ketawanggede community
threatened by the sustainability of the source of life as well as social problems, especially in young
people such as unemployment, dropping out of school and social jealousy towards students/
immigrants.
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4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to LPPM for making the Doktor Mengabdi program, Head of the Ketawanggede Village
Head, RT Chairperson, Ketawanggede Community and also students who assist in the Doktor
Mengabdi program.
5. REFERENCES
[1] Badan Pusat Statistik Kota Malang. (2015). Jumlah Mahasiswa Strata 1 ( S-1) pada
University of Brawijaya Menurut Fakultas dan Jenis Kelamin, 2013/2014.(online)
malangkota.bps.go.id. Tersedia di :<
https://malangkota.bps.go.id/statictable/2015/03/13/289/jumlah-mahasiswa-strata-1-
s-1-pada-universitas-brawijaya-menurut-fakultas-dan-jenis-kelamin-2013-
2014.html>.(Diakses 18 September 2018)
[2] LAKIP KELURAHAN KETAWANGGEDE. (2014). kelketawanggede.malangkota.go.id.
Tersedia di :< https://kelketawanggede.malangkota.go.id/wp-
content/uploads/sites/47/2015/05/LAKIP.pdf>.(Diakses 18 September)
[3] Primanda, P.A., Santoso, E., & Afirianto, T. (2018). Pemilihan Kost di Sekitar
University of Brawijaya menggunakan Metode Analitycal Hierarchy Process (AHP)
dan Simple Additive Weighting (SAW). Jurnal Pengembangan Teknologi Informasi
dan Ilmu Komputer, 2(6), (pp. 2094-2103).
[4] Profil Kelurahan Ketawanggede, Kecamatan Lowokwaru, Kota Malang. (2016).(online)
ngalam.co. Tersedia di :< https://ngalam.co/2016/05/30/profil-kelurahan-
ketawanggede-kecamatan-lowokwaru-kota-malang/>.(Diakses 17 September 2018)
[5] Rachmawati, Satya. (2013). ANALISIS PREFERENSI MAHASISWA DALAM
PEMILIHAN TEMPAT KOS (Studi : Kawasan Kos di Kelurahan Ketawanggede dan
Kelurahan Sumbersari, Kota Malang). Jurnal Ilmiah Mahasiswa Fakultas Ekonomi
dan Bisnis, 1(1),1-15.
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CONTESTED RIVERSCAPES IN INDONESIAN CITIES: URBAN KAMPUNGS IN

THE AGE OF DESIGN ACTIVISM AND THE IMAGE ECONOMY
Amanda Achmadi1, James Connor2, Tahj Rosmarin3, Sidh Sintusingha4
1InfUR-
Informal Urbanism Research Hub, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of
Melbourne, 2Independent, 3Independent, 4InfUR- Informal Urbanism Research Hub, Faculty of Architecture,
Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne, Masson Rd, Parkville VIC 3010, Australia
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Indonesian major cities are typically laced with rivers that are lined in part with urban kampungs and
often subject to flooding. These kampungs play crucial roles in providing affordable housing as well
as facilitating social mobility among the urban lower income groups whose labors and services
remain essential in the operation of these cities and the everyday life of the upper-middle class
populations. In recent years, urban environmental crises and the rise of image economy have
subjected these largely hidden urban riverscapes to intersecting desires to erase the kampungs,
control flooding, and construct a new green riverscape in a quest to become a modern and ‘green’
global city. Analyzing recent developments along Bandung’s Cikapundung River and Jakarta’s
Ciliwung River, this paper considers the emerging image economy in these contexts as different
types of design activism and engagements from professional design communities (architects and
planners) are exercised, ranging from experimental housing projects, the visual reimagining of the
kampung, creation of new public open spaces, and incremental architectural upgrading. The paper
calls for a critical consideration of the silent but powerful transformative capacity of design and the
embodied image economy. It will do so by highlighting how design activisms are effective in branding
as much as in erasing, in revitalising as much as in disfiguring the socio spatial conditions and
subjectivities whose existences are at stake.
Keywords: design activism, image economy, Indonesia, informal urbanism, kampung.
1. INTRODUCTION
Analysing recent developments along Bandung’s Cikapundung River and Jakarta’s Ciliwung River,
this paper considers how the emerging image economy, manifesting as different types of design
activism and engagements from professional design communities (architects and planners), are
exercised. These range from experimental housing projects, the visual reimagining of the kampung,
creation of new public open spaces, and incremental architectural upgrading.
There is a large spectrum in how the designers and activists are responding to the need to revitalise
these urban river-scapes. Some realize the importance of river-scapes and their role in supplying
infrastructure to existing residents, while others see them as opportunities to carve new public spaces
along dense urban edges, often referencing the Western models of river-edge-as-spectacle design.
Most attempts to develop river edges, regardless of their differing mechanisms and outcomes fall
under the guise of ‘design activism’- that presumes to contribute and improve urban conditions for
Indonesian citizens. This paper highlights these differing dynamics of urban image economy in the
riverscape developments in Bandung and Jakarta and their effects that range from forced to
voluntary demolitions, from full to selective displacement, and in some cases, survival and affirmation
of the urban poor’s right to the city.
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2. METHODOLOGY: THE KAMPUNG QUESTION

The paper applies the case-study research method, focusing on kampungs in Bandung and Jakarta.
An initial survey was completed as part of an interdisciplinary studio collaboration between the
Melbourne School of Design (MSD) and the School of Architecture, Planning and Policy
Development (SAPPK), at the Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB) in November 2015. Subsequent
site visit, spatial mapping, interviews, visual observation and qualitative analysis were undertaken
between 2016-2018 focusing on forms of kampung adaptations, upgrading, demolition and
transformation of the built infrastructures. Historical research and content analysis of secondary
sources were undertaken to trace how the kampung was represented during late colonial and
postcolonial nation building eras by the actors and agencies involved.
The time period of site observations coincided with the decade of transformation when political
contestation, urban governance, and development intervolved in the two cities. The vision for
kampungs upgrading or demolition, formerly ignored and marginalized in the postcolonial imagining
of Indonesian cities, turned into a major political campaign issue for the Bandung mayorship and
Jakarta governorship. Alongside, urban renewal projects involving upgrading of public infrastructure
and creations of public space, park and urban landmarks were foregrounded, seen as important
visual branding and built legacies of progressive governments, countering the image of corrupted
and unproductive bureaucracies associated with the New Order regime.
Integral to the rise of Joko Widodo as Jakarta’s Governor in 2012 was his ‘pro-poor and pro-people’
vision of Jakarta to make it a city for all. His track record in enabling the informal economy sector
and upgrading of civic infrastructure in the Central Javanese city of Solo (Mas’udi, 2014) was key to
the branding of his candidacy. Jokowi’s Kampung Susun (Vertical Urban Village) as a model of in-
situ upgrading for Jakarta’s numerous slum areas is a powerful image branding for his down-to-earth
and hands-on approach, a contrast to past governorships and urban political elite. In 2014, he
ascended the political summit and successfully ran for the presidency of Indonesia. Jokowi’s vice-
governor and successor, Basuki “Ahok” Tjahya Purnama, cultivated and was buoyed by the strong
middle-class support by swiftly executing urban renewal projects such as the RPTRA (Ruang Publik
Terbuka Ramah Anak or children friendly open public space) and partial restoration of the old town
district of Kota Tua, engaging the help of leading Indonesian architects, landscape architects and
planners. Yet Ahok quickly distanced himself from Jokowi’s pro-poor and in-situ upgrading
approaches and most of his urban renewal projects involved reclaiming the ‘state’ land along
Jakarta’s riverscape and bay areas ‘illegally’ occupied by informal neighbourhoods. His government
demolished multiple riverside kampungs and partially resettled the affected households in public
housing complexes elsewhere in the city while implementing the Ciliwung River Normalisation
Programme, the flagship program to mitigate the capital city’s flooding crisis. His hard stance against
the informal sectors and neighbourhoods combined with the growing sentiment against his religious
and ethnic background among the conservative segment of the urban middle classes led to his
downfall. Ahok’s competitor for Jakartan governorship, Anies Baswedan went as far as signing a
political contract with several informal riverside settlements and informal trader associations, whose
existences were threatened by the incumbent governor’s policies. The urban poor’s votes were
secured in return of Baswedan’s commitment to recognize the kampung’s de-facto existence (The
Jakarta Post, 2018).
The shifting perception towards riverside kampungs in Jakarta became important benchmarks for
the neighbouring city of Bandung. Bandung too underwent significant urban renewal projects in the
last 5 years, during the Mayorship of Ridwan Kamil (2013-2018), formerly an academic and award-
winning architect and urban designer. Kamil has since been elected the Governor of West Java
Province (2018-2023). Embodying his urban upper-middleclass aspiration and professional
background, his signature development projects – ranging from the revitalization of the city’s
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riverscape, urban parks, underutilised open spaces and upgrading of the footpaths along historical
colonial neighbourhoods – have immediate impacts on the urban landscape image of Bandung,
imposing visual order and contemporary architectural expressions. His approaches varied in dealing
with the city’s Cikapundung riverside settlements, lining the river for the most part of the city’s modern
history. These range from the demolition of Kampung Kolase to make way for the Teras Cikapundung
river park, resettlement of affected riverside communities in public housing complexes remotely to
the outskirt of the city, and small scale upgrading of communal facilities within and adjacent to the
informal neighbourhood.
Against this background of intertwined political contestations and transformations of the two cities’
riverside urban kampungs, different strategies of design activism have emerged. Reading beyond
their immediate visual impacts, the paper examines the dynamic of the image economy and the
underlying agencies embodied and displaced in the processes.
JAKARTA CASE STUDIES: KAMPUNG AND THE IMAGINING OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
Abidin Kusno’s depiction of historical amnesia in postcolonial Indonesia resonates in Jakarta’s urban
authority’s general hostility towards the existence of kampungs and the diverse origins and conditions
of informal urban neighbourhoods (Kusno, 2000; Kusno, 2013). Kusno’s reflection builds upon
Benedict Anderson’s seminal reading of nation as an imagined community, a social construct
founded on selective historical claims and embellished by visual and materialized rhetoric, presented
through the formation of urban and architectural spectacle such as monuments and capitols
(Anderson, 1990; Anderson, 1991). The rise of successive political regimes in postcolonial Indonesia
were accompanied with constructions of new architectural projects and urban landmarks and the
constant marginalization of informal neighbourhoods in Jakarta (Colombijn and Coté, 2015). Each of
these ‘silent’ architectural and urban landmarks are powerful political tools, a series of visual
rendering of each regime’s nationhood narrative and underlying power structure. The built spectacles
are embodiments of both the aspiration and the future of the nation, while the kampung is seen as
the undesired past. Sukarno’s embrace of international modernism and Suharto’s discourse of
development (pembangunan) and repressive regionalism sealed the fate of the kampung, seen as
the antithesis of kota, the cities and their modern urban images.
CASE STUDY ONE: KALI JODO RTH AND RPTRA

One of Governor Ahok’s most recognized built legacies are the RPTRA projects, the family friendly
open public spaces, and RTH (open green space) constructed across the capital. Celebrated by the
urban middle classes and embraced by immediate local district populations, the projects’ initiators,
proponents and designers conceived them as remedies for a city so lacking in public open green
space. This deficit was the outcome of decades of encroachment of private commercial
developments into areas designated as open green spaces with little resistance from, if not through
informal collusion with, the city’s successive authorities for the most parts of Jakarta’s postcolonial
growth (Kusno, 2013). With participation from high-profile Jakarta-based architects, the targeted
three hundred RPTRA projects were seen as opportunities for the design profession to play a role in
reshaping Jakarta’s harsh urban environment and envisioning the city’s new urban civic spaces.
Some of the RPTRA projects were funded by Jakarta’s Special Capital City Region budget and also
by the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds collected from the city’s established league of
private developers which then executed the constructions. The RPTRA’s designs often embodied
the designers’ aesthetic and formal languages and their familiarity with precedents found in the more
developed Asian cities, in particular Singapore, the main travel destination for work and leisure of
the professional middle classes.
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Arguably the most contested RPTRA projects is the Kali Jodo RTPRA and RTH. Situated along the
Kali Jodo riverscape, on the border of the North Jakarta and West Jakarta Municipalities, it was built
on a site formerly occupied by an informal neighbourhood called Kali Jodo, infamous for its
prostitution and nightlife entertainment businesses which catered to the low-income group. Seen by
authorities as illegally occupying ‘state’ land zoned as open green space, the neighbourhood was
demolished to make way for the new RPTRA and RTH. The community of Kali Jodo received no
compensation for the demolition of their houses and livelihood. They were left to deal with their new
harsh realities by themselves, inevitably leading to informal encroachment and squatting elsewhere
in the neighbouring urban areas.
Figure 1. Kali Jodo RTH and RPTRA

Source: Wahyu Putro of Antaranews.com, 2016
A youth skate park, a community facility and family friendly public open space now occupies the site
(Fig.1). Designed by a highly respected architectural design consultant, Han Awal and Partners,
funded and built by the prolific Sinar Mas Development group, the complex features a confident and
vibrant design composition of communal shelters and dynamic open space, incorporating a large
graffiti mural and remnants of the Berlin wall as part of the landscape design. The energetic design
was lauded by the media and professional design community as a declaration of a more design-
minded production of open public space in the city. The opening of the complex, towards the end of
the Ahok governorship, was greeted by public euphoria, seen as a much-needed addition to Jakarta’s
harsh jungle of hardscape, poorly executed civic infrastructures, and congested streets. The
euphoria, however, was short-lived.
With the demise of Ahok, many of the RPTRA projects, including Kali Jodo, were left unmaintained
and rapidly dilapidating. Seen as the built legacy of the controversial Ahok governorship, the current
Baswedan government has intentionally distanced themselves from the responsibility to maintain the
complex as part of the city’s public civic infrastructure (Carina, 2018). While the complex was highly
popular at the beginning, it was built on a site created by a large-scale displacement of an existing
urban community and, hence, a civic place largely devoid of and isolated from its immediate social
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environment. The projects were designed according to the urban middle class’ aesthetic sensibility,
yet they were not the targeted users nor would they form an attachment to the park and facilities.
Jakarta’s middle classes instead remain content with their sanitized and luxurious realms of the city’s
numerous shopping mall complexes. Fueled by the aspiration of the urban middle class, built on the
displacement of the urban poor, it is a civic space without a real sense of social agency, a sad
monument of a city that continues to reject its social reality.
CASE STUDY TWO: KAMPUNG TONGKOL COMMUNITY BASED UPGRADING

Kampung Tongkol is part of a network of self-organised riverside settlements of Kencur, Kunir,
Tongkol, Kerapu, occupying the riverbank of Anak Kali Ciliwung, one of the distributaries of the
Ciliwung river on the border of the old town district of the North Jakarta, formally known as Batavia.
Situated just south of the historical Sunda Kelapa and the Weistzijdsche Pakhuizen (today Museum
Bahari), the communities occupied a narrow stretch of land and the western riverbank, no more than
5m wide in some areas. This narrow site is sandwiched between a complex of four dilapidating old
Dutch colonial warehouses, dated from mid-17th century to the west, and the river to the east and is
largely hidden from the public gaze. As Jakarta rapidly expands to the south, leaving the old town
district largely unused and prescribing North Jakarta as primarily industrial zone, the communities
enjoy a considerably peaceful existence away from the fast-paced ‘formal’ development of new
administrative and central business district to the south.
In 2015, the communities of Kampung Tongkol, Kerapu, and Kunir set up the Ciliwung River
Community, with a membership of around 1000 family units who reside along the river, to facilitate
the discussion of the future of their settlement and strategies to deal with the looming prospect of
eviction following the implementation of river normalization project under the leadership of Ahok. The
community proactively campaigned for the reduction of the newly enforced 15m setback (which will
demolish the whole neighbourhood) to the 5m setback previously implemented in 1992 by the city
government under Governor Wiyogo Atmodarminto. They proposed to proactively demolish parts of
the settlements within the 5m setback and to convert the built-up riverbank edge back to its riverbank
ecosystem and undertake community-based river cleaning projects.
The demolition of Kunir, the recipient of the 2010 “Jakarta Green and Clear” award, was the catalyst
for the Kampung Tongkol and Kerapu communities to further mobilize the community and strengthen
their role in upgrading their own riverside neighbourhood to claim and prove their role as the steward
of the Anak Kali Ciliwung, a mission the locals described as their own pencitraan or image war. The
community proceeded with their own community-based restoration (penataan) of the riverbank area
to prove that the 5m setback as set by the previous government is sufficient. Engaging members of
Jakarta’s professional communities – architect, planner, urban designer and urban NGO - they
developed and executed a pilot project of a three-storey communal house prototype (rumah contoh
bersama), the greening of the river edge, and the establishment and running of river cleaning
program.
The communal house prototype (Fig.2) was designed as an alternative to the typical low-rise
patchwork of shelters built along the river, and to the extreme alternative of the Ahok government’s
one size fit all high-rise public housing typology adopted as ‘replacement’ housings for selected
portion of the evicted residents. The proposed prototype tackles the challenge of managing the ever-
growing population density while occupying a narrow piece of land, a condition further constrained
by the creation of the 5m setback. This is a demonstration that the communities themselves are
aware of the need to build smartly, more environmentally friendly to improve their living conditions
and the neighbourhood’s physical environments. It is a mission to make legible their own role in
envisioning and implementing the city’s slogan of a sustainable green development through utilizing
bamboo materials and recycled building materials.
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Figure 2. Kampung Tongkol: New River Frontage and Prototype for Communal House
Source: Amanda Achmadi, 2017
Through the partial self-demolition and community-based upgrading of the riverbank and the
promenade, Kampung Tongkol community and the neighbouring Kampung Kerapu successfully
converted their previously hidden existence into a powerful prototype for Jakarta’s bottom up river
upgrading. They constructed their visibility, not by resisting the formal legal apparatus and process
of ruling governments, but informally through a combination of sacrifice – partially demolishing their
settlements, and silent resistance – through the in-situ upgrading of their settlements. Through this
process they secured powerful support from international media and academic communities (The
Guardian, 2016; Renzi, 2018). Recognising the importance of media presence, they have continued
to articulate and visualise their positioning within the broader urban environments of the city,
historically, socially and economically. They campaigned for an establishment of tourist walking
track, connecting the riverside community and the relict of the colonial warehouses with the old town
tourist activities. This is a call for a further recognition of their kampung culture as part of the urban
heritage of Jakarta and of the urban spectacle the city so desperately and obsessively seeks to
conjure up in order to become like another ‘global’ city.
BANDUNG CASE STUDIES: KAMPUNG CONTEXT

Consistent with narratives of informal urbanism in developing economies worldwide, many urban
kampungs in Bandung emerged because of rapid rural-urban migration. The industrialization and
economic growth that often centred around the ‘city’, led to the further development of urban
infrastructure, and in turn, attracted large rural populations to the city. Planned to become the new
Dutch colonial capital in the early 20 Century, Bandung’s riverside areas were conceived to be large
th
expanses of open spaces and parks to provide a picturesque setting for the European inhabitants
(Fig.3). This laid the cultural foundation of what would become a polarizing image of urban
development- whereby anything planned and built by the colonizers was to be considered ‘formal’,
while those produced by the indigenous populations, were to be viewed as ‘informal’ (Reerink, 2015;
Jones, 2017).
Post-independence Indonesian administrators merely usurped the colonizer’s roles and practices
and this powerful dichotomy still influences the city’s politicians, policy-makers and planners to this
day. With economic growth, the emergence of the urban middle classes as a distinct demography
(Triningsih, 2018) created a new demand for attractive places of consumption and recreation in the
forms of department stores and parks. As one consequence, with Jakarta setting the precedence,
the city’s former mayor Ridwan Kamil has exploited the idea of the ‘image city’ through initiating and
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increasing high profile public urban renewal projects across the city. The aesthetic and marketable
images of these public spaces have allowed the former mayor to use them as collateral for his
political ambition and the success of these public spaces have come to represent the success of
Ridwan Kamil - yet fail to recognise the process by which they were carried out. Like in Jakarta, each
of these projects have come at the expense of existing kampung residents and traders, often the
most vulnerable residents of the city.
Figure 3. The Dutch 1933 Bandung Masterplan by Thomas Karsten showcasing Tamansari as a large open
green space (centre upper section of the masterplan in green).
Source: Jones, 2017
It is in these contexts that the responses to the kampungs at multi-scales can be understood. These
range from the city government’s grand visions of the eco-city, the Technopolis that is fundamentally
a planned withdrawal from the messiness of the kampung dominated inner city (a ‘white flight’ version
of post-WWII US cities) to the incremental evictions to ‘reclaim’ public spaces but also a more
responsive approach of in situ ‘renewal’ by replacement with multi-level housing typology (that poses
their own problems). They each reflect differing worldviews and hence employ a range of top-down
and bottom-up approaches that varyingly engages with the kampung inhabitants and social, design
activists. These activities will only intensify as with economic growth, urban land value has increased
enormously, catalysing land-use changes and gentrification – as demonstrated by the case studies
below. As at Jakarta, they open the space for designers, professional image-makers, to exploit
politically.
CASE STUDY ONE: TERAS CIKAPUNDUNG

Despite its long-standing existence, in the last two decades Bandung’s river-edge kampungs have
been under constant threat from policies of eviction and marginalisation, often disguised as urban
renewal, environmental protection or the public’s need for open green space. In Bandung, a most
recent example of this phenomenon can be seen in the popularity and execution of a government-
initiated scheme, the Bandung Eco-City launched in 2010. The vision for the city uses
environmentalism and sustainability as driving forces in its branding and marketable ‘image’.
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Revitalisation of riverside settlement and development ‘without displacement’ are described as the
key features of the scheme, also touching upon the ecological restoration of the Cikapundung
riverstream and the development of a network of public parks and skywalk. Ridwan Kamil, marketed
the Bandung Eco-City idea further by entering, and winning the 2014 national competition for eco-
district scheme hosted by the Ministry of Public Works in collaboration with the French government.
As the winner, the Bandung government received development grants from the French government
to implement the scheme. The Teras Cikapundung project is often used as an illustration of this
scheme’s overarching idea, comprising of a series of landscaped gardens, water fountains and
amphitheater style seating areas.
Figure 4. Teras Cikapundung

Source: Amanda Achmadi, 2017
Figure 5. Kampung Kolase during demolition process

Source: https://dirumahlangit.wordpress.com/tag/kampung-kolase/, 2016
Teras Cikapundung represents an example of the extreme practice of reverting back to and imposing
the colonial vision of the river for recreational purposes. The rationale for the government is that the
‘illegal’ kampung settlements are one cause of the dearth of open space and nature inside the city.
The design is an example of a Western model of public space – whereby the idea of spectacle and
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visibility is central (Fig.4). Its prominent location and provision of large open spaces suggest that this
space is designed to be very well seen, representative of the ‘pro-active’ policies of government
policies. Sponsored signage is oversized and omnipresent, used to market the BBWS Citarum
Ministry of Public Works & Human Settlements who initiated the design.
The site was previously part of a dense urban network which made up the Kampung Siliwangi (also
known as Kampung Kolase, Fig.5) situated behind Pasar Gandok market and vibrant shophouses.
This kampung was a key connection between the Cihampelas and Dago areas, linking the two major
Universities of UNPAR and ITB. The design required the re-settlement of existing kampung
residents, at odds with the Eco-City scheme, and residents initially declined offers from the
government. Yet eviction was undertaken after very short notice, not allowing residents time to
consolidate their demand for compensation. No monetary compensation of the loss property was
offered and most residents were resettled in Rusunawa Sadang Serang, a government owned multi-
storey housing block about 45 minutes’ walk away. Around 5 residents refused to accept the
replacement housing as their demolished houses were considerably larger and of better quality.
Despite this, the government’s viewpoint seems to be affirmed by the popularity of the park for people
who reside in the area, including neighboring kampungs. On the other hand, this can be attributed
to the dearth of assessable public parks for recreation and is a popular, vote winning initiative. Yet,
it is one that presumes that there is a choice is between the kampungs and modern, attractive open
spaces – representing and reinforcing the negative image of the kampungs. While the design
engages with the river-scape, its wide and open paved surfaces contrast with the fine-grained, dense
urban character of the neighbouring kampung settlement. This contrast frames and promotes the
prejudiced viewpoint that modern and enviable public spaces are incompatible with the existing
networks of the kampung, and – in its delivery – advocate for their complete erasure.
The marketing of the site and its consequential popularity provide a dangerous precedent for the
ways in which existing kampungs are dealt with. The outcome of the design proposal is not
problematic (providing open public space in a highly urban environment is necessary), but it is the
way in which this design process was conducted which fails to recognize and value the importance
of existing kampung residents and that public amenity can be provided while still respecting and
engaging with existing urban fabric.
CASE STUDY TWO: RUDET (RUMAH DERET) TAMANSARI RW 11

Among Ridwan Kamil’s last urban legacies is the highly contested project Rudet (Rumah Deret/Row
House) Tamansari RW 11 (Jones, 2017) which combined in-situ resettlement and a new high-rise
residential development, strategically located at the crossing of Cikapundung riverscape and
Pasupati Bridge. Although the proposed project promises resettlement of the community in the same
site, the replacement multi-storey high-density residential housing complex was designed to
accommodate a much larger number of households (Fig. 6).
Despite the involvement of the architect Yusing of Studio Akanoma, a respected figure with long-
standing engagements with the urban poor, environmentally sustainable design approaches, and
affordable housing sector, the project cannot gloss over the reality of forced demolition, displacement
and disfiguring of the existing Tamansari kampung neighbourhood. Similar to his previous
exploration for a new housing typology for the urban poor and in-situ upgrading, such as his previous
engagement with the Kampung Pulo and Bukit Duri communities of Jakarta, the architect continues
to develop the notion of a vertical village or kampung susun while using architectural formal language
as a medium to brand and distinguish the proposed housing scheme from the rest of typical urban
middle-class residential developments (Prasetyo, 2016). Inspired by the vernacular architectural
language of Kampung Naga, a village settlement situated in rural West Java region with no
immediate connection with the local Tamansari community, the proposed design for Tamansari RW
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11 shows little engagement with the urban morphology ingrained within the existing neighbourhood
and disregards the preexisting social environment.
Figure 6. Rudet Tamansari RW 11 Design Scheme by Studio Akanoma

Source: Studio Akanoma
The adoption of the architectural language and the custodial farming system of Kampung Naga is
also a form of arbitrary imposition of the architect’s design agenda with little if no input from local
residents whose living spaces and livelihood are at stake. As an attempt to create a new image for
the urban riverscape of Bandung, the scheme effortlessly glosses over the erasure of the existing
kampung morphology and the underlying social injustice while pursuing spatial and formal
experimentations of sustainable design principles. Unsurprisingly, the scheme is widely depicted by
critics as a form of disguised gentrification, a new mode of forced eviction, and land grab as part of
the larger plan to turn the densely populated Cikapundung riverside into an eco-park (Richard, 2017;
Istiqomah, 2019).
4. CONCLUSION
The contemporary challenges when dealing with kampungs are immense – there is a fundamental
conflict in the image that Indonesian cities project nationally and internationally and the reality of
what the cities are and have been – places where the majority of the inhabitants reside in the
kampungs (Coté, 2010). This is difficult and problematic to resolve at a time when cities are linked
and compete via images in real-time through social media. The desire for modernity is deeply rooted
and entrenched since the colonial period – yet it is not possible to rid Bandung and Jakarta of the
kampungs (at least not without a viable alternative housing and economic opportunities for millions
of people) without resulting in future informal encroachment elsewhere in the cities. The question is
how do we move forward from here? Is there an optimal common ground between modern city
visions and self-built communities? What actions are optimal, suitable, appropriate at what scale?
A key starting point is to recognize the kampung and informal urbanism as integral parts of the city
and its image. As exemplified in the Kampung Tongkol case study, it is a bottom-up and collective
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production of the city by its inhabitants, rather than often unrealized and/or incremental planning
visions by politicians and professionals (see also Roy and AlSayyad, 2004; Chang, 2012; Simone,
2014; Santoso, 2015). It has many strengths and admirable attributes that should be sustained and
built upon while mitigating for its acute problems. It does not need ‘fly-in, fly-out’ designers and
cosmetic ideas, but rather long term sustained commitment, support and recognition of how informal
formations of urban space, housing and urban communities are crucial in the operation of these
cities.
Recognition and articulation of the agency of the kampung and its population within the broader
urban dynamics of the city and the improvement of their social and physical infrastructures are more
important tasks than the production of architectural branding of the ‘kampung’ as something that is
essentially different and should be distinguished from the rest of the modern and transforming urban
environments. It requires local champions within the community and its locality. At the individual
level, it requires kampung inhabitants to transform their ‘self-image’ from being ‘the problem’ to
become active urban citizens, stakeholders, in partnership with other formal sectors in the making of
the city (Dhabhalabutr, 2017). The practice of insitu-upgrading should capitalize on the self-built and
adaptability of many informal neighbourhoods in Indonesian cities as they already exemplify the
process of community engagement. There are significant social and cultural capital within the
kampungs and the potency/capacity, when given the opportunity, to improve on upon their own lives.
This also points to the potency and agency of design in service of and to support the communities’
needs and requirements.
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KAMPUNG AND HINTERHOF: FOSTERING COMMUNITIES THROUGH
STRATEGIES OF ACCESS
1
Lasse Rau
1
TU Berlin
Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
This paper discusses alternative public space in the context of migration and globalisation by looking
at Foucault’s heterotopia, Soja’s Thirdspace and Fraser’s subaltern counterpublics. As access is the
notion by which space can be defined as public, it proposes a manifold view of access through the
framework of Krauss’ Klein diagram. By expanding the understanding of access, potentials of spaces
otherwise seen as exclusionary can be elaborated. Two traditional urban typologies that strategically
use access to promote public communal space, namely the Berlin Hinterhof and the Indonesian
Kampung, are analysed. Through their unique access situations, urban strategies are manifested
which, added to the idea of inclusiveness, perpetually contribute to the forming of platforms for
discussion and alternative citizenry.
Keywords: Access, Alternative Public Space, Community, Hinterhof, Kampung.
1. INTRODUCTION
In the midst of climate, conflict-related, economic and political migration movements cities like
Jakarta and Indonesia play a major role in the inclusion of the displaced groups. Both capitals
experience strong population growth rates, which can be at least to some degree attributed to internal
1
and international migration . Globalisation, parallel to migration is the reason for constant
reorganisation of the urban landscape. New user groups migrate to cities, new cultures emerge.
While one pressing concern resulting of this urban growth is the question of dwelling, the lack of
adapted spaces for the new user-groups seems to be another (Menezes, Allen, & Vasconcelos,
2009; Akkar, 2004). Migrants are excluded from the power of citizenship and its spatial counterpart
the city. In the face of the complexity of the city, spaces that adapt to the changes of migration and
globalisation and that furthermore mobilise and create active communities have to be conceptualised
(UNESCO, 2017). These resilient spaces affect the way the inhabitants are included (van Lieshout
& Aarts, 2008). Social inclusiveness is one of the principal factors for resilience outlined by the New
Urban Agenda (UN-Habitat, 2018), which makes the case of fostering communities crucial to the
future of cities.
Efforts to turn public spaces into inclusive, accessible spaces are ever-present. Public architectures
such as museums, libraries or plazas are more and more seen as active spaces inviting the user to
take part in the shaping of cities. Parallel to these developments, it is debatable if the spaces
produced allow the inclusion and the support of the diverse groups of people living in cities and
especially the ones that will move there. The following question arises: how can planners design

1
Berlin’s population is set to grow by 0.5 M by the year 2035, with migrants coming from EU-member states
and beyond (Zawatka-Gerlach, 2017).
The greater Jakarta area is expected to reach a population of 35 million in the next years, while migration to
Indonesia’s capital is mostly seasonal (Abraham, 2018).
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habitats that are not only socially, economically and politically inclusive but also foster and protect
new communities?
The paper will attempt to define a manifold notion of access as key to the production of alternative
public space. The methodology will lay forth necessary definitions of space and frameworks of
access. It will also present two case studies which were analysed. Results and discussion section
should in turn critically debate two typologies of public space and examine their strategies of access.
2. METHODOLOGY
The term “public space” is broad and has been discussed in various studies (Mitchell, 1995; Neal,
2009; UNESCO, 2017). From a legal standpoint, each space that is not privately owned can be
defined as public. In an architectural and urban planning context, public spaces are “open and
accessible to all members of the public in a society” (Neal, 2009). In “Urbanization without Cities”,
Bookchin (1992) asserts the importance of public space for a functioning urban landscape. He states
that: “A city would almost certainly become a shapeless blob, a mere chaos of structures, streets,
and squares if it lacked the institutions and forms appropriate to the development of an active
citizenry”. Inclusion of the new user-groups migrating to cities is important for the building of
resilience. Their underrepresentation in the urban public space makes it difficult for such groups to
use it as space for dialogue and communication. Ultimately, they might not gain the same agency
from these spaces.
The Agora epitomises the origin of urban public space. In ancient Greece it represented the “space
of citizenry”, of dialogue, politics and display (Mitchell, 1995). Public space was nevertheless
exclusionary through political segregation: “citizenship was a right that was awarded to free, non-
foreign men and denied to slaves, women, and foreigners” (Mitchell, 1995). The ability to participate
in public debate is thus key to the inclusion into the power of citizenship and the city.
The paper proposes to conceptualise spaces for the underrepresented users, alternative communal
spaces for the user-groups migrating to cities, as a means to create places of inclusion for the
excluded. By understanding social and spatial structures through a broader sense of public space,
potentials of spaces can be elaborated. A number of different frameworks theorising alternative
spaces of exchange exist in the sociological and architecture theoretical field. Out of those,
Foucault’s heterotopia, Soja’s Thirdspace and Fraser’s subaltern counterpublics seem fit to be
discussed.
In his lecture notes titled “Of Other Spaces”, Foucault (1986) examines the existence of “counter-
sites”, real spaces that contradict and invert the spaces surrounding them. He describes them as
cultural and discursive spaces that are somehow distinct. He proceeds to call them heterotopias in
allusion to utopias. The heterotopic space is not “freely accessible like a public space” (Foucault,
1986). It requires some kind of permission, a social interaction with the space or its users. As
Foucault is in part interested in institutional, religious spaces, he calls these interactions “rites and
purifications”, alluding to the proceedings of entering a church or a hammam. More broadly, this
notion of access allows for a multi-layered understanding of the heterotopic space as a socio-cultural
space.
By drawing upon Foucault, Soja (1996) introduces the term Thirdspace, merging the physical and
perceived space. Thirdspace is in fact “space constructed through social practices” (Saju, 2014).
Soja (1996) considers the notion as “a place of critical exchange where the geographical imagination
can be expanded to encompass a multiplicity of perspectives”. This multiplicity requires an innovative
approach to spatial subjectivity. One of these subjectivities is the way users access space.
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Through her attempt at critically rethinking the public sphere, Fraser (1990) states the existence of
“parallel discursive arenas”, alternatives to the mainstream public participations by non-conforming
user groups. The advantage of those “subaltern counterpublics” as Fraser puts it, is their duality:
while being “spaces of withdrawal and regroupment”, they can serve as “training grounds” for those
excluded from civic discursive space. It is precisely through these spaces that public discourse is
expanded and becomes truly inclusive.
These three frameworks, namely heterotopia, Thirdspace and subaltern counterpublics, create a
spectrum of spatial and social situations adapted to alternative user-groups.
Depending on the theoretical field, different definitions of access can be proposed: economical
access, mobility or access to resources and amenities are categories by which spatial inclusion can
be defined. Accessibility in a socio-spatial context, is the notion by which space can be qualified as
public (Capron, 2002). Access is in fact the defining notion of public space. By redefining access, an
alternative notion of public space might be gained.
site-construction access
landscape architecture accessible inaccessible
axiomatic social visual

marked sites
structures access access
not-landscape not-architecture not-accessible not-inaccessible
sculpture physical access
Figure 1. Left: Sculpture in the expanded field, right: Adaptation of the diagram to create an expanded
definition of access
Source: Rosalind Krauss, 1979
In the late 90s, art theorist Rosalind Krauss introduced to the world of art criticism the mathematical
concept of group theory, which put in simple terms is “the study of symmetries” (Milne, 2017).
2
Through her adaptation of the logical Klein Group as a diagram (see fig. 1), she succeeded into
broadening the understanding of the artistic field of sculpture (Krauss, 1979). Krauss explains: “The
dimensions of this structure may be analysed as follows: 1) there are two relationships of pure
contradiction […] designated by the solid arrows (see diagram); 2) there are two relationships of
contradiction, expressed as involution, […] designated by the double arrows; and 3) there are two
relationships of implication […] designated by the broken arrows.” By relating two exclusions, namely
landscape and architecture, as well as their inverses, a field of four nodes was created. The binary
logical opposition by which sculpture was traditionally seen (all that is not landscape nor architecture)

2
A group with four elements. For further information refer to Milne (2017, p. 14).
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was in fact expanded to include upcoming works in the artistic field. Next to widening the perception
3
of one discipline, Krauss created a theoretical model adaptable to other cultural or scientific areas .
It seems reasonable to draw upon this framework to attempt to establish a manifold notion of access.
By mirroring the logical opposition of ‘accessible’ and ‘inaccessible’, an expanded field of access is
created (see Fig. 1). Slight nuances between ‘inaccessible’ and its implication ‘not-accessible’ (as
well as between accessible and not-inaccessible) have to be taken into consideration. While
inaccessibility expresses a total inability to enter a space, the latter suggest that access as we define
it, is not possible. It thus is linked to the understanding of access of the user.
This paper puts forth three distinct categories of access, namely physical, visual and social access.
The most common distinction of access is physical access. It refers to the ability of a user to
physically enter a space, by considering all tangible barriers one encounters. This definition of access
does not refer in any way to accessibility in regard to the people with disabilities as this topic is not
discussed in the paper. Physical access resolves into the nodes ‘not-accessible’ and ‘not-
inaccessible’. This combination of negation underlines that the lack of physical barriers does not
promote access by itself: it is the visual effect of an entryway that advertises entering a space.
Although physical barriers hinder users from entering a space, trespassing can be an alternative.
Through this action a new definition of access is created.
Visual tools or symbols can be used architecturally to promote inclusive or exclusive space, to alter
accessibility. Venturi et al.’s (1977) concepts of the “decorated shed” and the “duck” illustrate these
potentials. Elements such as symbols or visual barriers advertise space or strategically hide it.
Hidden spaces can intrinsically be defined as inaccessible spaces: a visual presence enables users
to discover certain spaces, taking them out of the realm of the inaccessible.
Social access involves persons and their social practices, objects and spaces of cultural relevance
and other elements that highlight social guidelines (Akkar, 2004). These are sometimes overlooked
by users of a space as they are intangible. When social barriers are breached, infiltrated or infiltrator
will most likely be subject to pressure, resulting in a feeling of intrusiveness or obtrusiveness
respectively. A space that is socially accessible, next to being physically and visually accessible, has
no barriers: it is unconditionally accessible. On the contrary, a space that is socially not-accessible,
can only be accessed by altering one’s definition of access, for example by intrusion.
Access, separable into physical, visual and social dimensions, is a potential framework for both
inclusion and exclusion. The paper suggests ways of learning from traditional typologies and their
contexts that strategically use access to promote public communal space and participation for the
marginalised, ultimately resulting in the construction and reconstruction of identity. For this, the case
studies of the Berlin Hinterhof and the Indonesian kampung will be analysed.

3
See Sam Durant’s Quaternary field or Anthony Vidler’s Architecture's expanded field
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Figure 2. Situation in a Berlin Hinterhof, picture taken in 1904, Berlin

Source: Asmus, 1982, p. 54
The Berlin Hinterhof

th
By the end of the 19 Century, Berlin, like other European cities, was confronted by the rural exodus
of the Industrialisation. At the time, the Prussian capital decided for a reorganisation of the existing
urban space and a plan to expand the city (Ahlfeldt & Wendland, 2011). This resulted in the
implementation of the urban development plan of James Hobrecht in 1862, commonly known as the
Hobrecht Plan. The proposal was in fact a binding land-use plan, that planned axial roads through
the city and large housing blocks in between them. Although no guidelines for the actual requirements
of the individual buildings were set forth, the plan popularised the six-storey tenement typology of
multi-occupancy (Mietskaserne) in Berlin (Bernet, 2004). A multitude of buildings were stacked one
after another in the same urban block, creating courtyards in between them. To ensure access by
the fire department and the extinguishing of a ravaging fire, the so-called Hinterhöfe were required
to be large enough for a fire carriage to enter and be able to turn around (Bodenschatz, 2010).
Historically the buildings facing the street were designed as dwellings for middle and upper-middle
class tenants, while the less-ostentatious rear buildings housed working class families (Bernet,
2004). The Hinterhof became a space of encounter for the diverse residents. The mixed use of the
new urban blocks was not unusual, the Hinterhof, the prominent free space thus was repurposed as
an incubator for small industrial production and craftship (see Fig. 2). During the German
Hausbesetzerbewegung of the 1970s and 80s, the Berlin Mietskaserne gained a privileged role as
architecture of protest against gentrification and the staggering rent growth in Berlin-Kreuzberg
(Vasudevan, 2011). This ultimately impacted the way architecture’s effect on community and
grassroot activism was perceived in Berlin.
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Figure 3. Courtyard of a German-Arabic Centre, picture taken August 2, 2018, Berlin

Source:Photo by Author, 2018
While walking through the streets the Hinterhof is not perceivable. Except for the entrance, there are
no evident signs of activity beyond the street. Without knowing the existence of the space, most
inhabitants pass the entrance of the courtyard without much attraction. The Hinterhof through its
recessed situation, conceals itself. There are no physical barriers that hinder the entrance to the
Hinterhof. As the courtyards were designed with the purpose of firefighting and fast access of the
rear buildings in mind, one can walk through the entryway without hindrance. Due to the necessity
of entering it via a single entrance in the front building, the Hinterhof acts like a constrained space:
accessing it may trigger a feeling of being intrusive. The proximity to the neighbouring apartment
buildings provokes a feeling of nearness with the inhabitants. This social barrier can seem even
stronger when the function of the space targets specific user-groups. In modern Berlin, Hinterhöfe
can contain a multitude of functions, ranging from café, movie theatre, church, gallery, resident
reunions or workshops. Different cultural institutions, like a German-Arabic Centre, use the specificity
of the Hinterhof access situation in their favour (see Fig. 3). It enables them to create a communal
space in the courtyard open to everybody that shows interest, while simultaneously fostering
closeness.
The Indonesian kampung

The kampung is a vernacular village settlement, traditionally found in the rural parts of the country.
While typically being defined as a physical site, the term kampung also refers to the community living
in this space (Crosby, 2015). This duality is what prevents a precise translation of the word. It also
shows the strong bond between space and dwellers. Nowadays, kampungs can be found in every
large Indonesian city, including Jakarta. Urban kampungs are either residues of former village
structures integrated into the city through its growth, or have originated from rural migration (Hutama,
2016). The latter cause can be led back to economical-motivated migrants, seeking the opportunities
of cities.
Due to their building and dweller density, urban kampungs are sometimes compared to slums. Their
communal aspects, the heritage they prevail, and the efforts inhabitants make to create decent living
conditions however are overlooked (Shirleyana, Hawken, & Sunindijo, 2018).
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Figure 4. Alleyway of a Kampung, picture taken December 1, 2018, Surabaya
The plot on which kampungs are built are collectively owned, which effects that public space is held
as small as possible. Funo et al. (2002) explain that most kampung houses lie along one access
road, meandering through the settlement (see Fig. 4). This path takes the form of a narrow alley at
the entrance of the block, sometimes widening itself on the way to the centre, forming small squares.
Kampungs withdraw themselves in regard to their surroundings: entrances are sparse, sometimes a
settlement can only be accessed from one side. There are nonetheless no physical barriers that
render the physical access impossible. Shirleyana et al. (2018) argue that the particular spatial
composition of the kampung creates a “defensible space” for the community. From the streets of an
urbanised city like Jakarta, the small-scale, highly densified kampungs are easily recognisable
amidst high-rises and apartment buildings. Their informal construction methods contrast with their
neighbours. Kampungs as a whole do not seem to visually hide themselves. In fact, some settlements
feature archs at their entrances/exits holding signs with the name of the kampung.
Kampung dwellers work, go to school and cook in the same surrounding in which they gather for
prayer or meet with friends. Necessary and social/cultural activities are undertaken in one enclosure,
the kampung (Hutama, 2016). The density of this space requires most communal activities to happen
in the open space, the street. The living space of the typical kampung house, comprised of the interior
space Ruang tamu and a terrace, is oriented to the path (Funo et al., 2002). The path becomes a
space of exchange, of representation within the community. The inhabitants grow their vegetables in
front of their terraces and interact with the context of their dwelling. Through this close sharing of
experiences with the other users, a feeling of community is created. While this social bond is inclusive
for the inhabitants, it also creates a barrier between kampung and surrounding.
To quote Sihombing (2004), “Kampungs are inclusive from their own perspective, but at the same
time exclusive from the perspective of kota [the city], and vice versa.” Similar can be said for the
Hinterhof typology, as it acts like a safe space for exchange between users excluded from typical
public space. Access, and thus inclusion, are subjective to the user. The complexity that resolves
out of these typologies make them attractive for alternative users. Although often caricaturised, these
spaces are neither open nor enclosed. They are not exclusionary, as physical access is not hindered.
Through their strategies of visual and social access, they provide the necessary protection to include
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users into the cities we live in and to empower them. At the same time, they create platforms of
exchange between the excluded users and the city’s inhabitants.
Foucault (1986) explains that “everyone can enter into the heterotopic sites, but in fact that is only
an illusion—we think we enter where we are, by the very fact that we enter, excluded”. Communal
spaces, like the Hinterhof and the kampung, can in fact be heterotopias: although physical access is
possible, communal exchange is sheltered and fostered by these spaces. They also fall into the
category of Thirdspaces, as they allow for multiple perspectives. This can for example mean offering
space for representation for those under-represented in the typical public space. They create
platforms for interaction between different publics: the specific sheltering of public space fosters
“regroupment” (Fraser, 1990) and communities, ultimately emancipating the users. Hinterhof and
kampung thus function as subaltern counterpublics by including users into the public space of the
city.
4. CONCLUSION
By applying the multi-binary notion of access to normative urban situations leads to consider the
potential of spaces otherwise seen as exclusionary. Hinterhof and kampung strategically use access
as a way to promote collectivity and foster communities. These alternative public spaces can be
defined through the theoretical frameworks of heterotopia, Thirdspace and subaltern counterpublics.
Their complex strategies of inclusion and exclusion create platforms for discussion and alternative
citizenry. They thus succeed in allowing alternative public spaces to form. As both spatial typologies
have already supported new user-groups, it seems reasonable that they will be apt to withhold the
transformations by migration and globalisation that affect cities. Ultimately, they could support the
development of resilient cities.
Finally, the paper aspires to contribute to innovative theoretical approaches at understanding urban
public space through the multi-binary notion of access through three practices:
- To study existing communal spaces, outline their potential and conserve places that enable
alternative user-groups to be included into the urban public space.
- To adapt spaces by taking into consideration the perspective and access of alternative
communities, including potential future users.
- To ultimately contribute into conceptualising, designing and managing more diverse and
adapting cities as a whole.
5. REFERENCES
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[22] van Lieshout, M., & Aarts, N. (2008). Youth and Immigrants’ Perspectives on Public Spaces.
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CONFIGURATIONS OF SPATIAL RESILIENCE: IMPACT OF

CONNECTIVITY ON SPATIAL RESILIENCE
1 1 2 3
Darren Nel , Gerhard Bruyns , Christopher D. Higgins , Akkelies van Nes
1 2
School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Dept. of Land Surveying and Geo-
3
Informatics & Dept. of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, TU Delft &
Western Norway University of Applied Sciences
Mailing address
ABSTRACT
Urban resilience is more than just about a city’s ability to resist and ‘bounce-back’ after a disruption.
Rather, resilience is also about a city’s ability to respond to and adapt to changing circumstances.
Recent developments in urban resilience theory requires that a space be considered at multiple scales
when assessing urban resilience. Yet, most assessments of urban resilience have either neglected
spatial elements of cities or have only considered a single scale. In response to this oversite, there is a
small but growing body of literature which has begun to explore the spatial elements of resilience. Within
this context, connectivity is often identified as an important determinant of both resilience and urban
design. Connectivity facilitates adaption by creating more opportunities for potential interaction and,
though a diverse array of connections, can enable the city to reorganise itself into different configurations
should the need arise. While the overall connectivity of the network is important, the configuration of the
network is perhaps even more important for spatial questions of resilience. Drawing on the ideas of
configurational analysis, we explore the properties of connectivity in terms of access, flow and efficiency
as well as how they are measured spatially. Through the case study of Hong Kong, SAR, we then
present a method which combines the properties of connectivity with each other and at multiple scales
and through multiple modes of transport. Through our approach, we are able to identify areas with
varying strengths of connectivity at various scales, and which there for have varying adaptive capacity.
Keywords: Spatial resilience, urban design, urban form resilience, urban morphology, urban resilience.
1. INTRODUCTION
The contemporary understanding of urban resilience regards resilience as being more than
just about a city’s ability to resist a specific threat and ‘bounce-back’ after a disruption, i.e.
sometimes called specific resilience (Folke et al., 2010). Rather, within the social-ecological or
evolutionary resilience perspective, urban resilience also considers a city’s ability to respond
to and adapt to changing circumstances (Coaffee & Lee, 2016). This ability to respond, adapt
and transform to unknown and unplanned threats is often referred to as general resilience
(Elmqvist, Barnett, & Wilkinson, 2014; Walker & Salt, 2012). Carpenter et al. (2012, p. 3250)
define general resilience as a systems “capacity to absorb shocks of all kinds, including novel
and unforeseen ones”. General urban resilience shifts the emphasis of resilience away from
planning only for specific, predefined threats or risks (i.e. typhoon, earthquake, etc.), but to
rather also focus on the ability of a city to persist through periods of rapid and gradual change
by enhancing the capacity to adapt. Additionally, within the general resilience view, change
can be regarded as a precondition for the persistence of a city as without change a city would
stagnate and die (Elmqvist et al., 2014, p. 21). However, current assessments of the resilience
of cities (such as those by the 100 Resilient cities initiative (100 Resilient Cities, 2016)) have
largely been focused on studying aspects of specific resilience, while failing to take into
account aspects of general resilience (Peres, Landman, & du Plessis, 2016; Walker & Salt,
2012).
In addition to the addition of general resilience, spatial considerations have begun to make
their way into urban resilience discourse, i.e. through the New Urban Agenda from the UN
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Habitat (2016), which have begun to emphasis spatial resilience. Despite the emphasis and
importance of spatial aspects of cities on resilience (Marcus & Colding, 2014), the existing
urban resilience assessments of resilience have largely neglected any spatial assessments of
resilience (Garcia & Vale, 2017). When any spatial elements have been included the
assessments have either only considered a single scale, typically using highly aggregated
data, or have focused on aspects of specific resilience, i.e. disaster risk reduction. Examples
of such assessments can be seen Gebremichael et al (2014); DiGregorio et al. (2018); Sim
and Dongming (2017) and The City of Hague and AECOM (2018). This lack of a spatial
understanding of urban resilience is significant because “For designers wanting to measure
resilience in the built environment the available frameworks are not useful for achieving
concrete results” (Garcia & Vale, 2017, p. 164). This makes intervening within any city in any
in terms of its spatial design a difficult prospect. This lack of clear analytic guidance means
that new approaches to spatial resilience must be developed.
Recent research into urban spatial resilience (see Feliciotti, Romice, & Porta, 2017; Garcia &
Vale, 2017; Marcus & Colding, 2014; Nel, Bruyns, & Higgins, 2018; Nel & Landman, 2015;
Sharifi, 2018) has identified connectivity, alongside diversity and redundancy among others,
as an important determinant of both resilience and urban design. Within this paper we present,
through a case study of Hong Kong, a multi-scale spatial analysis method for studying
connectivity in relation to urban resilience. We focus specifically on three properties of
connectively (access, flow, route directness). The aim of the method for the identification of
areas which are most and least connected at specific or all spatial scales. This allows for the
identification of areas which are most and least vulnerable and disconnected at all scales. The
paper will first discuss to role of connectivity in building spatial resilience. This will be followed
by a discussion of how connectivity can be measured in terms of access, flow and efficiency.
We then present the case study and method which is followed by a discussion of the results
as well some suggestions for future studies.
CONNECTIVITY AND SPATIAL RESILIENCE

Cities are often described as a set of complex interrelated networks which allow new locations
to emerge (Batty, 2013; Serge Salat, 2017). Thus, the importance of connectivity to the city
cannot be overstated, as without good connectivity urban areas could not function (Marshall,
2005; Reggiani, Nijkamp, & Lanzi, 2015). This is because connectivity, or rather the networks
of the city, supplies access across the city to urban function and determines how goods flow
and people interact (Hillier, 2007). As a result, connectivity might be considered to be the
binding element of the city.
A well-connected urban area is able to improve the overall general resilience of a city by
facilitating the adaptive capacity of the city. Good connectivity dose this by providing more
opportunities for potential interaction and, though a diverse array of connections, wich can
enable the city to reorganise itself into different configurations should the need arise (Salat &
Bourdic, 2012; Sharifi, 2018). Reorganisation, through redundant connections, allows the
system to reconfigure, by re-routing resources through alternative paths, while continuing to
function should a link or section of the network fail. Conversely, the lack of connectivity is often
the cause of failure of functions after a perturbation (Ahern, 2011), as areas with low levels of
connectivity are likely to have several points of failure and are thus more the area which are
most vulnerable to disruption (Boeing, 2017a). It should also be cautioned that too much
connectivity is also not desirable as it results in inefficient networks (Feliciotti, Romice, &
Porta, 2016).
While connectivity in general is considered vital for urban resilience, often it is the structure of
the network itself, as well as the distribution of elements and strength of the connections
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between locations which are more important for the continued functioning of the city (Feliciotti
et al., 2017; Salat & Bourdic, 2012). The argument for this is that by changing the overall
structure of the network it is possible to change the ease at which areas are reached, the flow
of goods and interaction the interaction between elements. Much in the way that a highway
bypass can have a dramatic impact on how a city or small town functions (Collins & Weisbrod,
2000; Funderburg, Nixon, Boarnet, & Ferguson, 2010).
Of interest to this paper is the connectivity of the urban movement network, specifically streets
and public transport. We focus on these two elements, specifically streets, because “Streets
and road networks are the backbones of cities. They are fundamental for emergence of cities
and guide their growth and evolution” (Sharifi, 2018, p. 171). And as streets are the longest
lived elements of the urban fabric, remining largely unchanged for decades and even
centuries, they can be considered to be a relatively permanent part of the urban fabric
(Carmona, Heath, Oc, & Tiesdell, 2003). Meaning that any intervention within the street or
mobility network is likely to have an impact for years to come.
Research which involves studying urban form and movement patterns is conducted through a
configurational analysis of the urban fabric (Hillier, 2007; Sevtsuk, 2010; van Nes, 2002). The
configurational approach to urban morphology is concerned with how the arrangement of
spatial elements are linked together to form a global patterns and how these patterns impact
movement in in the city (Hillier, Penn, Hanson, Grajewski, & Xu, 1993, p. 29). Within
configurational studies, there are several ways to study connectivity. This paper focuses
specifically on three properties of connectively, namely: access, flow and efficiency. Each of
these properties is strongly linked to aspects of urban design (Porta et al., 2010) and, more
recently, being used to study urban resilience (Nel et al., 2018; Sharifi, 2018). The selected
properties are often measured through centrality measures of networks. Centrality measures,
derived from graph theory (Kropf, 2017, p. 17; Marshall, 2005, p. 108), allow for the
assessment the relative importance of a location within a network. However, not all locations
are important at all scales (Sharifi, 2018). Therefore, when centrality assessments are
performed at various scales, i.e. using varied radii, it allows locations which are important at
one or multiple scales to be identified (Sevtsuk, 2010). Through this process, we hypothesis
that it is possible to identify areas which are vulnerable and disconnected at all scales and are
therefore less able to easily respond and adapt - i.e. less resilient.
ACCESS, FLOW AND EFFICIENCY

In the previous section access, flow and efficiency were identified as three properties of
connectivity which can be used to question spatial aspects of urban resilience. Each of these
properties will be discussed briefly as well as how they can be used to study resilience.
Access is a common concept found within urban planning and design and can be defined as
the ease with which one can travel between origins and destinations of value, is as result of
joint effect of the transportation network as well as the spatial distribution of activates (Páez,
Scott, & Morency, 2012, p. 141). Access is greatly influenced by the urban form of an area and
the quality of its public transport, with any changes to the configuration of the network
(removing a road) potentially having a large impact on the overall access of an area (Verma,
Verma, Rahul, Khurana, & Rai, 2019). Accessibility analysis allows for the identification of
areas which are relatively disconnected from the network and are therefore able to reach less
opportunities or require higher costs (time or money) to reach the same number of
opportunities. Less accessible areas are also less likely to be able to adapt easily simply
because there are less opportunities available to them. Furthermore, areas with lower access
are more likely to be disconnected should there be a disruption to the network, making them
more vulnerable overall.
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Access can be studied in several ways, the most common of which are the cumulative
opportunities and gravity-based measures (Páez et al., 2012). Cumulative opportunities
measurements simply sum the total number of opportunities (can be weighted) reachable
within a defined cost (i.e. time or distance). Gravity-based measure (Table 1, Equation 1) on
the other hand also include a spatial impedance factor, through a distance decay function,
which takes into account the effort required to reach that opportunity. Additionally, gravity
measures also consider the attractiveness of a location based on its weight (Sevtsuk, 2014).
Overall, gravity type measures are able to indicate the attractiveness of a location as well as
the effort required to reach other locations into a single value (Sevtsuk, 2010).
Table 1: List of connectivity metrics
Metric Formula Equation #

𝑊 𝑗
𝐶" # 𝑖 =
Gravity 𝜀 *., -,/ 1
∀/∈"2 - ;
, -,/ 4#
𝑛/7 𝑗
𝐶5 # 𝑖 = ∙𝑊 𝑗
Betweenness Centrality 𝑛/7 2
∀/∈"2 - ;
, -,/ 4#
𝛿 -,/
𝐶9 # 𝑖 = ∙𝑊 𝑗
Straightness centrality 𝑑 -,/ 3
∀/∈"2 - ;
, -,/ 4#
i: location as the origin; j: destination location; G: network; r: network radius; d[i, j]: shortest network
distance between locations i and j; δ[i, j]: Euclidian distance between locations i and j; njk[i]: number of
routes that pass through location i between j and k in radius r; from location i; njk: number of paths
between locations j and k; Beta(β): decay parameter for units; W[j]: weight of location j.
Source: modified from Sevtsuk and Mekonnen (2012)
Flow type metrics estimate the potential through movement along a path or at an intersection
(Rodrigue, Comtois, & Slack, 2013). A common means to measure potential flow is through
betweenness centrality, which indicates the number of shortest paths which pass along a
location. Betweenness centrality (Table 1, Equation 2) can be used to indicates the ease at
which a location can be accessed while on route to another location (Rodrigue et al., 2013).
Locations with high betweenness centrality values tend to have high numbers of traffic, both
vehicle and pedestrian (B Hillier et al., 1993; Rodrigue et al., 2013). As areas with high
betweenness have the most through traffic they also tend to be the areas with high number of
business and retail (Porta et al., 2009). As shown by van Nes (2002), changes in the
betweenness centrality, i.e. by altering the network by building new roads, can have an impact
on where retail and business tend to locate. This might indicate that area with higher
betweenness values are more likely to persist, through adaption, as there is more energy (in
the form of movement) in these areas. While streets with high betweenness create areas of
high value, these streets are also vital for the continued functioning of the city, as they tend to
carry large volumes of traffic (Rodrigue et al., 2013), and any disruptions along these streets
might have serious ramifications to the functioning of the city (Boeing, 2017a; Sharifi, 2018).
Network Efficiency considers how much extra cost is needed to reach a location (Crucitti,
Latora, & Porta, 2006). Areas which have efficient networks are able to provide more cost
effective interactions between locations, thereby improving the adaptive capacity of the area
as people and information are able to move easier within the area (Sharifi, 2018, p. 175).
Porta et al. (2010, p. 116) argue that “the efficiency of networks at the global level increases
with the increase of their efficiency at the local level”. Therefor, to improve the overall
efficiency of the entire city it is vital that the local area be well designed.
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While there are many ways to study network efficiency (see Barthélemy, 2011; Porta, Crucitti,
& Latora, 2006a; Rodrigue et al., 2013), our concern is predominantly with the street
configuration, as such we use the straightness centrality metric (Table 1, Equation 3).
Straightness centrality (Porta, Crucitti, & Latora, 2006b) works on the assumption that paths
between locations which are more direct (i.e. have fewer deviations and more closely reflect a
straight line) require less energy and are thus more efficient (Barthélemy, 2011). Straightness
centrality indicates how closely a path between origins and destinations resembles a straight
line, with values closer to one indicating locations which have more efficient urban
configurations (Sevtsuk & Mekonnen, 2012).
2. METHODOLOGY
To test how these metrics can be used we conducted a case study of the city of Hong Kong
S.A.R (Figure 1). Hong Kong was selected as a case study as the city has a mixture of
different urban forms across the territory as well as having a well-developed public
transportation system. While Hong Kong is used as the case study, the method presented
below is transferable into other areas and, while useful, it is not reliant on a public transport
network. The sections to follow will describe the method, results and the conclusions of the
study as well as the potential implications for urban design to facilitate the creation of more
spatially resilient cities.
Configurational morphological studies typically only focus on the street network (i.e. space
syntax), were they tend to limit their analysis to links and nodes of the network, while also
ignoring information provided by buildings (Kang, 2019). In contrast, our approach makes use
of a multi-modal transportation network (currently limited to walking and rail network) as well
as incorporating buildings as our unit of analysis. We do this as the building is typically the
smallest unit of analysis within urban morphology studies (Kropf, 2017). Furthermore, by using
buildings as the unit of analysis we are able to incorporate additional information into the
analysis, i.e. building volume or land use (Sevtsuk & Mekonnen, 2012) as using weights in the
analysis has a strong impact on the results of accessibility analysis (Kang, 2019).
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We have weighted our analysis by building volume which was derived from building data
created by the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, The Hong Kong
Polytechnic University. Our spatial network is based on an OpenStreetMaps pedestrian
network which was obtained and prepared using OSMnx (Boeing, 2017b). An assumed walk
speed of 5 Km/h was selected for travel times along the pedestrian network (Tobler, 1993). In
terms of the public transport, this study was limited to only using the train network (MTR).
Mean travel times between stations were estimated based off information obtained from the
MTR corporation website (MTR, 2019). The pedestrian and train network were combined and
prepared in in ArcGIS using the Network Analyst extension.
The calculations of betweenness centrality, straightness centrality and gravity where done
using the Urban Network Analyst tool developed by Sevtsuk & Mekonnen (2012). Using
several metrics network together is not something new. For example, Porta et al (2010) use
several different metrics, in their multi-centrality approach. However, where Porta et al. (2010)
use closeness centrality as a measure of access, our approach uses gravity metrics, which
include both a weight and a distance decay function, the latter of which is controlled by the
Beta (β) function.
For the Gravity metric, Handy & Niemeier (1997), suggest that a β value of 0.1813 should be
used for gravity measures which use travel time for walking trips. However, we selected a β of
0.22 as our analysis includes travel by train and as shown by Higgins (forthcoming), this β
value, while more constrained compared to the value suggested by Handy & Niemeier (1997),
is not overly strong or lenient. Additionally, as the aim of the study is to conduct a multi-scale
assessment, several scales are needed. The flowing scales of analysis were selected using
1
travel time or the equivalent distance in metres of 10, 20 and 30 minutes or the equivalent
distance in metres of 800, 1600, 2400 respectively.
The multi-scale connectivity assessment was done using the workflow shown in Figure 2.
First, each of the metrics; access (gravity metric), flow (betweenness centrality) and efficiency
(straightness metric); were calculated for a single scale (i.e. 10 min). The results of each
metric were then normalised from 0-1, where 1 is represents areas with the highest scores for
each metric. The three normalised scores where then combined into a single Mixed
Connectivity Index (MCI) with, the following weights Gravity = 40%, Betweenness = 20% and
Straightness = 40%, with the highest possible score being 1. These weights were selected as
betweenness centrality tends to favour some areas over others. Through several tests the
selected weights were deemed as the best compromise between metrics and how they
1
Meters are needed for the calculation of straightness centrality as it compares the difference
between route length and the Euclidian distance between two locations
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contribute to spatial resilience.
This process was then repeated for each scale, resulting in three separate MCI. The MCI’s
where then combined with and equal weight per scale, into a single Multi-scale Mixed
Connectivity Index (Ms-MCI) to give an overall connectivity score for the entire study area. The
results of the analysis are discussed in detail in the next section.

The descriptive statistics of results of the analysis have been presented in Table 2. The
analysis was done using 213,326 buildings for the territory of Hong Kong. The table shows the
descriptive statistics of the metrics used and it includes a description of the raw analysis as
well as the normalised values. The table also shows the statistics of the Mixed Connectivity
Index (MCI) for each scale as well as the statistics for the Multi-scale Mixed Connectivity Index
(Ms-MCI).
Table 2: Descriptive Statistics of Connectivity Analysis
Variable Mean Std. Dev. Min Max

Gravity 10 937,705.53 1,850,531.79 0 20,353,549.43
Betweenness 10 103,621,614.07 564,551,359.86 0 22,511,428,340.60
Straightness 10 1,886,584.07 3,341,162.12 0 22,853,345.77
Gravity 20 1,622,695.86 3,230,043.07 0 28,833,154.33
Betweenness 20 1,222,350,600.89 11,890,094,956.23 0 447,311,099,346.00
Straightness 20 6,284,701.25 10,070,629.27 0 51,042,733.00
Gravity 30 1,816,679.61 3,563,811.81 0 29,967,183.55
Betweenness 30 5,282,977,451.89 56,261,173,861.03 0 2,019,046,216,630.00
Straightness 30 11,867,060.51 18,328,681.53 0 75,985,499.68
Gravity Norm 10 0.0461 0.0909 0 1.0000
Betweenness Norm10 0.0046 0.0251 0 1.0000
Straightness Norm10 0.0826 0.1462 0 1.0000
Gravity Norm20 0.0563 0.1120 0 1.0000
Gravity Norm30 0.0606 0.1189 0 1.0000
MCI 10 0.0524 0.0929 0 0.7258
MCI 20 0.0723 0.1192 0 0.7759
MCI 30 0.0872 0.1380 0 0.7896
Ms-MCI 0.0706 0.1150 0 0.7317
Nbr. of observations 213,326
In addition to the descriptive statistics, the results of the analysis have also been mapped and
are shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4. From Figure 3 we can see how as the scale of analysis
becomes larger (i.e. going from 10 to 30 min travel time) that some area become more
prominent. This fact emphasises the importance of the MTR lines on the connectivity score as
the areas which have the highest scores on all scales also tend to be close to an MTR
stations. However, as can be seen in the Kowloon and Hung Hom stations (two large building
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stations on the South West and South East of Kowloon), this is not true for all stations. As both
Kowloon and specifically Hung Hom station only begin to show any significant importance on
the higher scales. This would indicate that they likely play a role as metropolitan level
connectors and are not as well used for local trips. Building on this idea, the results indicate
that the areas which dominate on all scales are also areas which correspond to areas which
have finer urban blocks and are thus more walkable. This is supported by the straightness
centrality maps which are a good indicator of walkability (Sevtsuk & Mekonnen, 2012), and
which emphasis areas which are more able to provide more direct routes between places.
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The results of the MCI and the Ms-MCI, shown in Figure 4, show several areas which are the
most connected on all scales. The most prominent of these areas are Mong Kok, Central and
Wan Chai. When looking at the urban form of these areas we can see that these areas are
characterised by finer scale urban blocks and building which are generally higher density. This
emphasises the relationship between urban form and built density, where more built volume is
accessible with smaller blocks. For example, in the New Towns (i.e. Tuen Mun and Yunlong)
of Hong Kong, the buildings are generally much larger than those in in Central and Mon Kok.
Yet despite this, The New Towns mentioned still score lower on the connectivity index, even
on the local 10 min scale (See Figure 5). It can be argued that this is a result of the larger
buildings and blocks requiring that pedestrians have to travel further to reach the same built
volume when compared to areas like Mong Kok. Interesting to note is that the areas which
have the highest connectivity scores also tend to be the oldest areas of Hong Kong and were
originally built on the shop house type built form which is dependent on pedestrian movement
(see Shelton, Karakiewicz, & Kvan (2010)
4. CONCLUSION
Urban movement networks are vital for the resilience and continuation of our cities. As such it
is vial that we understand how they function and change. The characteristics of urban network,
how it is configured and the strength of the connections, are significant determinants of the
ability of a city to adapt and transform (Sharifi, 2018). Once built, streets in particular have a
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very long lifespan and are difficult and costly to change, therefore the argument can be made
that the design of streets have a large long term impact on the resilience of cities (ibid).
Despite the importance of streets on the resilience of cities, there is currently little research
which has explored their importance through practical analysis and specifically within the
general resilience debate. This paper has begun to explore some of the methods which can
be used to understand a single aspect of spatial resilience, connectivity. While still in the early
stages of development, the method aims to combine multiple metrics with multiple scales to
form a single connectivity indicator. To test the method a case study of Hong Kong was
presented. The initial results show that our approach is able to identify areas which have high
and low access to built volume. With higher access to built volume citizens are able to access
more amenities (Higgins, Nel, & Bruyns, 2018), provided that there is sufficient diversity.
Better access to urban amenities would mean that citizens are able to potentially access a
higher diversity of resources, therefore allowing them to respond faster and with less effort,
should the need arise. Furthermore, areas which are better connected are likely to be less
vulnerable to disruptions, provided that they have a multitude of transport modes and routes.
The results of the study also tend to suggest that while access to the MTR network greatly
facilitates connectivity on the larger scales, the form of the street network is just as important
as streets with larger buildings and bigger blocks tended to have lower connectivity scores and
seen easily through the analysis of the straightness metric. Some of the limitations of this
study is that only the MTR network was used, future studies should include all forms of
transport such as bus and ferries to provide a clearer picture of cities actual movement
network. Furthermore, deeper statistical and longitudinal studies are needed to confirm the
validity of the method.
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AN INDEPENDENT KAMPONG: A CASE STUDY OF KAMAL-MUARA
KAMPONG AT PENJARINGAN, JAKARTA
1
Tri Putra Bhakti
1
Tarumanagara University
E-mail: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Urbanization brings a large number of residents which happens to generate the growth of informal residential
area. The residential area then fills the "vacuous" development space and situated in a grey zone towards the
city regulation. As a result, it is followed by informal commercial activities growth. These dwelling which are
often called ‘Urban Kampong’, embody the multi-layer state of activities therein. However, several Kampongs
are able to stand independently and leave positive impact to larger entities and even get supported by the
government.
In this paper, we attempt to do a research of an Urban Kampong that is followed by the growth of informal
industry, which give positive impacts for the Kampong itself, its surroundings and the cities. We focused on
Kamal-Muara Kampong at North Jakarta which is situated between the centre of Jakarta and a famous tourist
destination, Kepulauan Seribu. At the beginning of its formation, the livelihoods of the residence is dominated
by fishermen, then currently developing as an area with multi-industry and commercial activities. This
development affects the economy and generates the growth of commercial activities in surrounding area,
especially at the main line which connect the Kampong with the city centre. Thus, the Kampong is able to be
resilient and triggers resilience development of bigger entities.
This research was carry out through field surveys and in-depth interview as a method to collect data: 1) The
background history of the Kampong and its development. 2) The condition of economic activities and its
growth. 3) The Kampong morphology.
As results, it could be concluded in two main ideas. First, the Kampong should be integrated to the city
especially in economic matters. Second, the Kampong must have supportive morphology which consisted by
manifolds parts and growth progressively.
Keywords: Economy, morphology, resilience, Urban Kampong.
1. INTRODUCTION
Phenomenon of urban Kampongs in developing countries has received much scholarly attention in
recent years. Urban experts and researchers have found some positive contributions from the
existence of urban Kampongs toward the city resilience issue and refute the stigma of Kampong
that only produces insecurity, unhealthy places, waste, and other negative impacts. Jakarta as the
Capital City of Indonesia, has scattered urban Kampongs that do not encumber, instead give
positive impacts to larger entities up to Jakarta City scope and its surroundings. Each of those has
different way to give positive impacts to the city and to enhance their own and the city resiliency.
This paper focuses on Fishermen at Kamal-Muara Kampong Sub-district, North Jakarta. The aim of
this paper is to give more insight about urban Kampong especially Kamal-Muara Kampong
attempts to be resilient by itself and supports larger entities resiliencies. As hypothesis, the
Kampong complied two requirements to be resilient. The first one is non-physical, it has
integrated to the city economy activities. The second one is physical, the Kampong has supportive
morphology, which grow progressively and keep adapting to its inhabitants activities
transformation.
In order to evaluate the hypothesis, we used field survey and in-depth interview method to collect
data. For the first requirement, we try to find out the industrial and commercial activities
contributions to the Kampong itself, Kamal-Muara Sub-district, and Jakarta City and surroundings.
The results would show the economic integration between the Kampong and the larger entities. For
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the second requirements, we try to observe the morphology and decompose it into parts (Kampong
fabrics aggregate composition), then find out its interrelations to the Kampong inhabitants activities.
2. METHODOLOGY/ RESEARCH METHOD

Materials and Method
Kamal-Muara Kampong, which is situated in North Jakarta Administrative City as the material used
in this paper. The data and information of the Kampong is collected through field survey and in-
depth interview method as follows:
1. The Industrial and commercial activities, and those development at the Kampong
2. The roles of the Kampong in economical context toward larger entities, which are the
District of Kamal-Muara, North Jakarta and the region of “Jabodetabek” (Jakarta-Bogor-
Depok-Tangerang-Bekasi).
3. Kampong morphology and kampong fabric aggregate composition
Research Framework
In order to examine the hypothesis, this research has two main steps. The first step after all of the
data and information collected, is analysing the impacts and contributions of the industrial and
commercial activities of the Kampong toward larger area in every stages, which are Kamal-Muara
Sub-district, and Jakarta City and surroundings. By figuring it out, we could evaluate the ideas of
the urban-Kampong existence in Jakarta City. Second, by focusing on Morphology of the
Kampong, we try to evaluate the correlation between the morphology and Kampong inhabitant
activities especially on industrial and commercial activities.

Origin of the Kampong
Buginese is an ethnic group known with high skill at sailing in Indonesia, which have explored the
entire archipelago. As the result, we could find Buginese people settlements almost at every region
in Indonesia, especially at coastal area. Fishermen Kampong Kamal-Muara is one of those, which
th
existed since 1970 (Primi Artiningrum, 2017). It infills the niet-bebouwde kom (area without
development) inside city administrative area (Santoso, 2006), Situated at Kelurahan (sub-district)
Kamal-Muara, North Jakarta. Previously, the first group of dwellers stayed at south part of Sulawesi
Island around Makassar City. Time by time, the inhabitants of the Kampong grow by itself. The
inhabitants become the agent of the growth itself by inviting their own family and friends to come to
Jakarta City. At this time, approximately 90 percent of the dwellers is Buginese descent and the
rest is mixed.
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Figure 1. Kamal-Muara Kampong and Surroundings

Source: Private Document, 2019
Livelihood of the Inhabitants
Since the first arrival, working as fishermen has already become dominant livelihood for the
inhabitants. In 2015, there are 1060 active fishermen dwell at the Kampong (Rahmani, 2016). The
migration is encouraged by their siri’na pacce culture, which encouraged them to gain their
earnings and wealth (Yuliaty, Triyanti, & Kurniasari, 2016). We found that by working as a
fishermen as they have done in previous place, they could get higher income because of higher
market-demand of fishery product and efficiency at distribution costs. During a peak season, a
group of fishermen in a boat could get a day turnover up to 16 million rupiah (1100 USD), although
sometimes they could get nothing for a day. Furthermore, they could get more facilitated than the
previous place. For instance, they have an institution named Kelompok Usaha Bersama (collective
business group), which operates as medium of them and the government. It allows the fishermen
to propose their needs and ideas in order to develop their business.
In terms of sales procedure, usually each fishermen has a partner (seller or auctioneer) to take
over the sales and auction. Using profit sharing system, averagely the seller takes 10 per cent of
the total turnover. A seller could cooperates with more than one fishermen group, and infrequently,
they also get fishery products supplies from fishermen groups from other Kampongs or places. It
happens when some kinds of fishery products were in high-amount and low-price conditions at
their own Kampong. They choose to sell it to the sellers and auctioneers of Kamal-Muara Fish
Market because the sellers tend to buy with higher price than the sellers from other fish market.
The fish market of the kampong is famous as the fish-market with the freshest vendible among the
other fish markets in Jakarta and surrounding and it raises the number of buyers. The buyers are
various from the purchased amount and the purpose. Generally, we could divide those into three
categories: 1) the distributors, they bought and sell the vendible again to fish sellers at various
traditional markets that situated far away from Kamal-Muara Sub-district like Bekasi City, Depok
City, and other Jakarta satellite cities. Usually each of them uses a box car for the conveyance. 2)
The sellers from other markets that situated closer than the first buyer category, which dominantly
from West Jakarta and North Tangerang City. Usually they use motorbike for the conveyance. 3)
Local buyer from Kamal-Muara District itself and the flow starts from 05:30 a.m. They buy the
vendible for their own consumption or for a small culinary business.
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Figure 2. Three dominant transportation used by the buyers for conveyance

The Kampong has another way to earn income from the fishery-products, which is salted-fishery
products industry. Salted products have higher-price. For instance, a kilo-gram of organic-squid’s is
worth for Rp50.000,00 (3.52 USD) and a kilogram of salted-squid is worth for Rp150.000,00 (10.57
USD). Furthermore, the industry allows them to stabilize their income because of the salted-
products ability to being keep for longer time. They could control the amount of sales to the
distributor to maintain the price at the right number and to face the fish-famine season. Aside from
the advantages from the industry, the intenseness occurred because the production has been run
since the beginning of the Kampong. It was a familial tradition to face the fish-famine season. In
terms of administration, the open spaces used for the production are owned by different persons or
groups. The producers have to pay rent to the person whose has the usage right certificate of the
land.
Figure 3. Overall Scheme of the Kampong Fishery Industry

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Furthermore, the Kampong also has clam business. The market is different with the fish market.
The market is situated at the node of Kamal-Muara Street and Raya Dadap Street and actives from
11:00 a.m. to 05:00 p.m. everyday. The procedure of the production is simple and could be divided
into two segment by the actors. The first phase is for the male and the tasks are capturing from the
sea and boiling the clams. The second phase is for the female and the tasks are cleaning the dirt of
the clams and stripping the shell. Full scheme of fishery-products business could be seen at figure-
3.
Apart from fishery-products business category. We found that the Kampong has a travel business,
since the Kampong is situated nearby famous tourism destination known as Kepulauan-Seribu
area. The development of the industry also encouraged by Jakarta bay reclamation project, which
the total area planned was 2,700 hectares (Anugrahini, 2018) and potentially inflicts financial lost to
the fishermen with estimation around 6.7 million US Dollar (Ramadhan, FIrdaus, Wijaya, &
Muliawan, 2016). The scope of the service is to serves tourists as water taxi to various islands at
Kepulauan-Seribu area. There is various destination islands and the most frequent are: Cipir
Island, Bidadari Island, Ayer Island, and N’dus Island. The price is affordable for low-class tourism
activity especially if the water taxi service is serving more than 4 tourist at once, its only charges
Rp35.000,00 (2.47 USD) for each tourist. At the peak-season the Kampong could serves up to
2000 tourists, and a travel group could serve up to 100 persons. Aside from peak-season, the
tourist traffic tends to be stable because of the tourists that travel to do fishing as their hobby. As a
result, travel industry does have more stable income compare to the fishing industry and makes the
young generation inhabitants of the Kampong tend to have more interest to work in travel industry.
Discussion on Socio-Economy Activities
The Kampong as an entity or one community, has several strategies to respond the urban context,
which reflects the Kampong resiliency capacities (Friedman & Lee, 2017). Since the main
economic activity of the Kampong held in Fish market, the strategies is divided into two categories:
1) Fish market strategies: In 2018, money spent by the residents of Jakarta for fishery
product per capita reach 6.64 per cent from the whole expenditure for food (Badan Pusat
Statistik, 2018). Around 547 billion rupiah spent for fishery product in Jakarta and it is not
including the expenditure for fishery products from companies and industries. There are six
fish auctions in Jakarta, from the biggest to the lowest consecutively: Muara Baru, Muara
Angke, Kamal-Muara, Kali Baru, Cilincing and Pramuka island (located at Kepulauan-
Seribu area). With fewer fishermen and sellers compared to the others, there are two main
strategies from the Kampong to keep survives among the other fish markets in Jakarta.
First, the price follows the time. As the time gets closer to 08:00 a.m., they reduces the
price. They use this strategy to get highest revenue for every kilogram of the sales. The
buyers from different time is different, starts from the distributors and followed by market
sellers from nearby markets, then the local consumer. Second, The sellers and
auctioneers would buy the fishery products from the outsider fishermen of different
Kampong or place with higher price (around Rp1,000,- to Rp2,000,- per kilogram)
compared to the sellers and auctioneers from the sellers from the fishermen’s place
market. Furthermore, they sold the vendible below the average price at other market that
bigger, and therefore they could get more vendible and revenues.
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2) Other economic strategies: in purpose of stabilizing their income, the Kampong sells
their fishery products not only as fresh products but also as processed food, which is
salted-products. The buyer also different. Each group of the production have their own
loyal customer that take all of the stocks to be distributed and kept at his own storage. This
industry allows them to stabilize their income and keeps the market sales fresh product
because the unsold vendible could be processed. Furthermore, not only for stabilizing
income but also as an adaptations or responds to facing the threat on fishery industries,
the kampong operates travel business.
As results, the Kampong could survive and adapts. Moreover, the Kampong gives much positive
impacts to larger entities which are Kamal-Muara Sub-district and Jakarta City. At sub-district
scope, The Kampong provides job vacancies especially at the market, since each auctioneer could
employs up to a dozen of persons. The Kampong also generates and encourages the development
of commercial activities especially along the Kamal-Muara Street and Kapuk-Kamal Street. The
figure-4 shows the actives commercial activities at two different times. 1) Survey at 0:500 a.m. to
06:00 a.m. on Thursday while the fish-market was operating (excluding the clam-market), within
first 200 meters of Kamal-Muara Street including the market itself. 2) Survey at 03:00 p.m. to 04:00
p.m. on Saturday as the usual time for highest flow of tourists.
Table 1. Survey Data on Commercial Activities
Survey at 05:00 a.m. – 06:00 a.m. on Survey at 03:00 p.m. – 04:00 p.m. on
Thursday, 2 May 2019 Saturday, 4 May 2019
Survey Area
Types Shop Street-vendor Shop Street-vendor
Fishery 4 60 0 0
products
Fishing 6 3 9 0
equipment
Food 10 12 27 16
General goods 14 3 40 4
Automotive 0 3 3 5
At city scope, the Kampong distributes their fishery products all over Jakarta City and surroundings
and the buyer is ranging from traditional/ modern markets to restaurants and street vendors. The
absence of this Kampong could change the market equilibrium of particular products that needed
by the city residents. In terms of the Kampong travel business, it generates Jakarta tourism
attraction to increase and provides low-price tourism activities for the city residents. With the low-
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price taxi conveyance as the medium “infrastructure” between city center and Kepulauan-Seribu
area, the flow of tourist is increased and it encourages the economic equality. At this point, the
Kampong acts as infrastructure of Jakarta City (Simone, 2004).
Table 2. Overall Contributions by the Kampong economic activities
Scope
Kamal-muara kampong Kamal-Muara DIstrict Jakarta and the satelite cities
Income Job vacancies Distributing the products to various

markets and restaurant
Business opportunities (salted- Intensify the traffic and gives
fishery products, fishing industries business opportunities especially at Maintain the equilibrium of demand
equipment products, et cetera) Kamal-Muara Street and Kapuk to supply ratio, to keep the price
Kamal Street stable on the market
Fishery
Food
Income Intensify the traffic and gives generates Jakarta tourism

business opportunities especially at attraction to increase
Business opportunities (travel Kamal-Muara Street and Kapuk
marketing services, fishing Kamal Street Low-price tourism activities for the
equipment products, culinary, et citizen
cetera)
Encourages the economic equity
Industry
especially for Jakarta residents in

Travel
Kepulauan-Seribu area
Discussion on Kampong Morphology
The Kampong as an entity, in morphological terms, composed of different parts or building

aggregates (Oliveira, 2016). As the concept of “part to whole”, we could identified different ideas
behind each part. The activities and those environmental need to generate specific Kampong
morphology and Kampong fabric composition to emerge. We could find three bold morphological
strategies of “the Kampong” (among other untold strategies):
1. As an idea of collage cities (Rowe & Koetter, 1978), the Kampong morphology was
generally composed by four parts. The overall morphology is developed over the time,
which every parts as a layers were growing continuously overlapping, without erasing the
previous ones (Oliveira, 2016). Each layers also supports different activities, start from the
market and auction activities to the processed food production.
2. The scattered collective courtyards. Those are derived from environmental needs (Maki,
1964) and alter the overall morphology significantly as their big role at industrial
productions, since the Kampong utilizes low-technology supports and have high-
dependency to natural environment. The collective courtyards allow sunlight to get through
the Kampong, which utilized by the inhabitants for drying the salted-fishery products.
Those also allow better air circulation and take smokes from clam cleaning process
straightly to the air and prevents the smoke to get inside their houses.
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3. The highest hierarchy road or the widest span is located along the river. Different with
modern-economic city, which the highest hierarchy roadway have to be a double loaded
corridor because it has high-economy value. The placement eases the distribution of the
fresh fishery products. As an auctioneer, they need a market with large and well
accessibility.
Those cases are conformable with the theory of vernacular landscape, a landscape as a result of a
slow compliance of various natural environment aspect (topography, climate, and etcetera) and the
people itself (Jackson, 1984). As an everyday landscape of the dwellers daily life, which reflects
and devoted to their specific daily routine.
Figure 4. Kampong Morphology Study

4. CONCLUSION
Urban Kampongs do not encumber the city, even those could give positive economic contributions
to the city. By the conducted investigation and discussion on resilient Urban Kampong, Kamal-
Muara Kampong at North Jakarta, this research could be concluded in two main ideas as follows:
Firstly, to be resilient and support the city resiliency, Kamal-Muara Kampong has to be integrated
to the city system especially in economic matters. The Kampong generates the low-class economy
commercial activities that absorb labors and reduce unemployment in the Kamal-Muara sub-
districts and Jakarta City. Urban Kampong could produces stuff and other industrial product with
low-price, supplying the city inhabitant needs and maintain the equilibrium of demand to supply
ratio of particular products. Furthermore, the Kampong also acts as infrastructure which
encourages the economic equity especially for Jakarta residents in Kepulauan-Seribu area.
Second, because of productions activities inside the Kampong have minimal supports of
technology and have a lot of dependency toward natural environment, the Kampong should has
supportive morphology to supports the Kampong’s resilience and sustainability. The morphology
should be consisted by manifolds parts and growth progressively, following the diversity and
transformations of the inhabitant activities.
Acknowledgement
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I would like to thank Syarif and friends from Kamal-Muara Kampong for providing information about
the Kampong. I also thank my teacher Denny Husin, S.T., M.A.H&U and other urban researcher,
whom I had discussion with for the insights.
5. REFERENCES
[1] Primi Artiningrum, D. S. (2017). Adaptasi Arsitektur Vernakular Kampung Nelayan Bugis.
NALARs Volume 16, 69-84.
[2] Santoso, J. (2006). Kota Tanpa Warga. Jakarta: Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia.
[3] Rahmani, U. (2016). Studi Aktifitas Nelayan Kamal Muara. Satya Minabahari, 56-66.
[4] Yuliaty, C., Triyanti, R., & Kurniasari, N. (2016). Dominasi Pemanfaatan Sumber Daya Perikanan
Di Kota Kendari, Studi Kasus: Nelayan Bugis Makassar. Jurnal Sosial Ekonomi Kelautan dan
Perikanan, 89-98.
[5] Anugrahini, T. (2018). Resiliensi Sosial Nelayan Kamal Muara dalam Menghadapi Dampak
Reklamasi Teluk Jakarta. Penelitian Kesejahterahan Sosial, 37-46.
[6] Ramadhan, A., FIrdaus, M., Wijaya, R. A., & Muliawan, I. (2016). Estimasi Kerugian Nelayan dan
Pembudidaya Ikan Akibat Reklamasi di Teluk jakarta. Sosial Ekonomi Kelautan dan
Perikanan, 1-11.
[7] Friedman, Y., & Lee, T. (2017). Cities Taking Action. 100 resilient cities. Switzerland: Springer
International Publishing.
[8] Badan Pusat Statistik. (2018). Provinsi DKI Jakarta Dalam Angka 2018. Jakarta: Badan Pusat
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[9] Simone, A. (2004). People as Infrastructure: Intersecting Fragments in Johannesburg. Durham:

Duke University Press.
[10] Oliveira, V. (2016). Urban Morphology - An Introduction to the Study of the Physical Form of
Cities. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
[11] Rowe, C., & Koetter, F. (1978). Collage City. MIT Press.
[12] Maki, F. (1964). Investigation in Collective Form. Washington University School of

Architecture.
[13] Jackson, J. B. (1984). Discovering the Vernacular Landscape. Yale University Press.
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BEING RESILIENT THROUGH CLUSTERING
A CASE OF INFORMAL SMALL-SCALE CLUSTERS IN GREATER
SURAKARTA AREA, INDONESIA
1 2
Ahmad Rifai , Melinda Martinus
12
Kota Kuta Foundation
Mailing address
Abstract
This paper presents the characteristics of informal enterprise clustering in the context of economic
development amid the urban liberal capitalist market. Through a preliminary survey in Greater
Surakarta Area (GSA): The City of Solo, Klaten, Boyolali, Wonogiri, Sukoharjo, Karanganyar, and
Sragen, specifically in 6 small-scale industry clusters, the study has conducted a survey to 487
small-scale entrepreneurs whose nature of inventiveness has been thriving and contributing to the
economic growth in GSA. Through this survey, this study finds that the small-scale industry has
adopted several mechanisms to survive in the market-based economic system, primary in facing
the competition from the other types of goods providers. One of the ways is through clustering. By
borrowing the resilient concept which is defined as the ability to ‘bounce higher’ or ‘leverage better’,
this research seeks to magnify the inquiry to what extend clustering of informal and small-scale
industries could reduce the economic vulnerability as well as leverage the business entities.
Keywords: clustering, informal, industry, resilient, small,scale,
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Resilience in Urban Economies
Over the past years, resilience has been widely used in academic discourse. Various
definitions have emerged in defining the resilience in urbanism context. Meerow, Newell, &
Stults (2016) refer to the adaptive capacity that allows a city to return to the desired function
after temporary disturbance expeditiously. Godschalk (2003) highlights the sustainability of
both physical network and community in the city that can survive and operate under extreme
stress. While there are adaptability dimensions to resist the shocks and crisis, the most crucial
factor that supports the resiliency of a city is the existence of an operational framework for
planning and practitioners, to develop practical strategies for local action (Tyler & Moench,
2012).
Such definitions consistently highlight that resilience is an enduring capacity, both from the
community and formal organization as well as infrastructure that persists amid a ‘shock,’
‘crisis,’ or ‘stress.’ While disturbances can appear in various forms and temporalities, the
‘shock’ perceived in the urban discourse usually refers to natural and human-made hazard,
especially in the respect to climate change (Leichenko, 2011; Pierce, Budd, & Jr, 2011),
disaster (Alexander, 2013), and terrorism (Coaffee, 2016). This discourse has been applied
widely in the development sector. The urban resilience practices by development agencies, for
example, the World Bank through, Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery
(GFDRR), as it is named, focuses on bringing strategies to help cities adapt to a greater
variety of changing condition as a result of disaster while maintaining essential functions (The
World Bank, 2019). UN-Habitat through the City Resilience Profiling Programme (CRPP)
targets to assist cities that are prone to climate hazards, natural disaster rapid urbanization, as
well as political instability, to develop comprehensive and integrated management approach
for profiling and monitoring the city (UN-Habitat, 2012).
However, urbanization is somewhat complex and variegated. Resilience concept now has
been commonly used not only to engage scholars and practitioners working in the field of
ecology and climate-related science but also in urban economies. As cities are becoming more

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prone to uncertain and volatile circumstances facing various shock across urban sectors, it is
becoming relevant to widen the resilience discourse, for instance, intersecting the alternative
economic practices along with the process of adaptation (Thieme, 2016). As Vale (2014) also
argues that resilience should not remain contextualized in the engineering and ecological
perspectives because it has a potentiality to be associated with advancing the socio-economic
dimension. Rather than referring the resilience concept to define the adaptability solely after
facing disturbance, it should also be perceived as a collective system of communities that
potentially advance the city to ‘bounce higher’ or ‘leverage better’ after the shock occurs.
1.2. The Clustering of Informal Economy in Surakarta Urban Context

After the economic crisis in 1998, Surakarta City experienced a financial crisis. There was a
substantial decline in economic growth. The formal job sector was also paralyzed. Thousands
of workers from factories and industries were losing their jobs. The factories closed their
business as an impact of national currency devaluation. As a response to the crisis, the
informal sector economy grew as a mechanism to cope with the crisis. City Development
Strategies (2002) confirms there were around 1,115 informal traders in Surakarta in 2001 and
the number had increased to 5.320 informal traders in 2005 (Rifai, 2007). There were many
forms of informal business growing in the city center. They occupied the neighborhoods, side
of railways, and street walks. Scholars, activist, and development practitioners had seen this
phenomenon happened haphazardly as a response to the economic crisis while the
government was not capable of providing an alternative solution for unemployment.
Meanwhile, in Solo urban settlements (kampongs), the formation of informal and economic
activities has happened organically for a long time ago. Those informal economic activities
created certain boundaries, clusters, or groups of informal businesses in particular areas.
Tambunan (2005) mentions that the phenomenon has been appearing in Indonesia
development context since the 1970s. Many historical resources highlight that the spatial
clustering based on the same economic activities or livelihoods had emerged hundreds of
years ago, specifically during the establishment of the first urban settlement in the era of
Mataram Islamic Kingdom (the 1500s). As an example, Batik Centers in Surakarta,
Yogyakarta, and Pekalongan in Central Java started as a group of batik makers living together
to supply the clothes in the kingdom. As a result of this arrangement, in Central Java, it is
common to identify urban settlements based on the homogeneous economic activity (Prayitno
& Qomarun, 2007; Qomarun & Ikaputra, 2007).
The 'cluster' is widely used by a breadth of disciplines such as economic geography, urban
planning, economic development, and business management to refer to a particular area
whose economic activity is uniformized. While it also operates in many terms such as
'agglomeration economy' (Tallman et.al.2004, Krugman 1996), 'spatially concentrated
economy' (Fujita, Krugman, & Venables, 2001), and 'industrial village' or 'economy district'
(Lorenz, 1992). Academic literature suggests that the economic clustering that occupies a
particular territory would benefit the business enterprises. As Perez-Aleman (2005), Malmberg
& Maskell (2002) and Tallman et al. (2004) underline that there are mutual benefits as the
result of clustering, for example maintaining proximity can encourage peer learning, serve
each other, and curtail the production cost. Furthermore, concentrated economic activity will
attract a pool of labor to come and work in the area.
In Surakarta, Central Java, the term 'cluster' refers to an operational characteristic that further
marks the boundary of the groping territorially. In the Indonesian urban planning context, the
words such as 'industrial zone' refers to a concentration of industrial activities although
frequently the area consists more than one kelurahan (the neighborhood formal administrative
boundary) or more. In a smaller scale, the clustering activity can appear in the form of 'Sentra'
(local business agglomeration) in particular Kampung (village) or Kelurahan. However, at the
same time, the locals use the term of 'kampung' to represent the agglomeration of businesses
that produce a uniformized product, such as Kampung Batik (batik neighborhood), Kampung
Blangkon (Javanese cap neighborhood), and Kampung Gitar (guitar neighborhood). This
arrangement is informal or community-driven rather than formally formed and governed by
local authorities.
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2. METHODOLOGY
This research comes as part of the support from British Academy, in collaboration between
University of College London, Kota Kita Foundation, P5 University of Diponegoro, and
Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in 2017 to 2018. The main objective of this research
is to deepen the understanding of the small-scale industries’ adaptive capacities, its
inventiveness in the context of “resilience” in Urban Economies.
The approach used in this study is both qualitative and quantitative by conducting a series
of in-depth interviews, community mapping, and app-based survey. In defining the context
and survey scoping, this research utilized various theoretical frameworks from the field of
urban economy, urban resilience, geography, and development of informal enterprises.
The survey, particularly, was taken in 6 selected informal enterprise clusters spread in the
Greater Surakarta Area (GSA): birdcage makers in Solo and Klaten, blangkon (Javanese
cap) makers in Solo, patchwork-cloth sewers in Solo, guitar crafters in Sukoharjo, and
wayang (Javanese puppet) artisans in Sukoharjo. In selecting the clusters, this research
considers the scale of business and impact to the community such as the number of
business owner in each cluster, the business innovation, the role of women, and the
existence of community group. In sum, there were 487 small-scale industries participated
in the app-based survey.
Table 1 Survey Participants
Municipality Village / Kampongs Type of business Number of

Respondent
Solo Tipes Patchwork-cloth 60

Solo Mojosongo Birdcage 102
Solo Serengan Blangkon 28
Klaten Bolo Pleret Birdcage 44
Sukoharjo Ngrombo Guitar 203
Wonogiri Kepuhsari Wayang/ Puppets 50
Total 487
Source: Data Collection
For this writing, only some parts of the whole data collection will be analyzed and
presented, mainly to contextualize the perspective of economic resilience in the urban
context. This paper aims to elaborate on the following research questions:
2.1. What is the nature of clustering f informal economy in an urban setting?
2.2. Are there forms of coping mechanism to sustain the business? How do they
contribute to the discourse of urban resilience?
3. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The survey conducted in 6 informal enterprise clusters aims to understand the profile,
business subject, business characteristics (such as the source of capital, production,
supply, distribution, sales, and profit), perceptions survey about their competitiveness,
coping strategy, and the business plan.
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3.1. Business Profile
Most of the entrepreneurs are men and having low levels of education
The survey has identified that most of the business owners are men with 84 percent and only
16 percent of them are women. Many of those who own the business in the kampong make
use of their business as the primary source of income. Thus, there is a strong sense of
patriarchy in this sense. There is the responsibility of men as head of the family to generate
income. Most of the business owners possess a senior high school diploma. The survey has
also identified that most of the small-scale industry operates individually and locally.
In most cases, for more than half of the business owners hail from and live in the business
cluster. However, despite the rest of the business owners hail from other areas or cities, many
of them have been living in the neighborhood for more than 30 years. They also utilize their
home to operate the business on a small scale. They work by themselves or hire less than five
employees.
Table 2 Profile of the business owners
Gender male (84%), female (16%)

Age 25-54 years old (76%), 55-64 years old (13%),
others (11%)
Education attainment senior high school (31%), junior high school

(30%),
primary school (30%), others (9%)
Origin from the cluster area (77%), from other cities

(14%),
from another neighborhoods (7%)
Duration of living in the kampongs 30-39 years (32%), less than 10 years (3 %)
Source: data collection
Lack of marketing strategy and local market orientation

The survey has identified that the scale of the production in the informal small-scale
industry is following the request by the market. The study has found out that there is
no desire for expansion and finding other ways to market the products. Sixty-nine
percent of respondents stated that they are only using a single marketing channel,
highly depend on the middle man. For example, birdcage craftsmen only sell their
product to “the big boss” who determine the price and control the overall market of
their product. For the distribution, the business owners realize that their products are
circulated in the local market. However, further interviews indicated that they do not
know their end-buyers. In Ngampon, the birdcage makers believe that their product
has reached the international market, but they do not know how it happens because
most of them sell their products without branding.
Table 3 Production, supply and distribution
Material Supply within the city (62%), another city (38%)
Distribution within the city (81%)
Marketing Strategy single marketing channel (69%),

two marketing channels (21%),

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three marketing channels (10%)
In the business sale and profit aspect, it seems that the business owners are facing
both economic hardships and growth. Fifty-six percent of the business owners claimed
that they have an increasing number of sales, while 29 percent of them remain
stagnant and 15 percent of them feel there is a decreased number of sales. This
contradictory phenomenon applies to the profit, even though most of the business
owners claim that they have applied innovation to produce their crafts.
Table 4 Sales, Profit, and Innovation
Sales have increasing number of sales (56%),

decreased (15%), stagnant (29%)
Profit have increasing profits (60%), decreased
(13%),
stagnant (27%)
Innovation have applied innovation to the product (62%),
No action taken (38%)
3.2. Informality and Formation of the cluster
Most Clusters started from individual and informal form of business

The process of clustering in GSA has shown how each cluster operates uniquely. As
many scholarly works have also identified that informality operates on a small scale,
competitive, irregular, casual, market-led, and without legal status (Castells and
Portes, 1989; Todaro, 2000; Wield and Chataway, 2000; Amis, 2004). The survey has
pointed out that the informal businesses in GSA operate with a small capital and
equipment, without legal entity, as well as less labor intensive.
Table 5 Business characteristics
Method to Start Business self-initiative (81%), family business (17%),

former employer (2%)
Motivation as primary income (75%), as additional income

(15%),
others (10%)
Source of Business Capital single source of capital, mostly personal
savings (69%)
two sources of capital, personal savings and
bank loan (25%)
Business Location owned-house (96%)
Employee zero employee (58%), 1-5 employees (42%)
Business License unregistered (96%)
Product License unregistered (99%)
Product Brand do not have brand (95%)
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A total of 403 enterprises admit that they started individually. Only 84 businesses
mentioned that they inherited their family businesses. The rest admitted that they
were following and imitating what their peers doing. The further interview revealed
that there are no motivations to compete among business owners. As an example, the
birdcage craftsman started the business by relying on their skills to immediately
respond to the songbird’s market in the city. They acquire the skills through the self-
learning process: trials and errors.
Knowledge is transmitted within community through copycat process

Although the survey has highlighted that the business owners started their business
individually, the further interview found out that there is a transfer knowledge among
business peers through the copycat process.
They imitate their neighbors' products. This case is found in the birdcage, guitars,
patchworks, and blangkon clusters. However, the wayang craftsman claimed that they
obtained the skills and knowledge of production through their ancestors.
The patchwork artists claimed that they obtained skills and knowledge through both
imitating their neighbors as well as the training provided by the government. Over the
past years, the government has been supporting the patchwork artists, especially the
wives of the pedicab drivers in the cluster. In this case, knowledge transfer works in
two ways, internally between the member of the group and externally from the
experts.
Three process of cluster formation

The survey to 6 clusters has identified that there are three types of cluster formation.
The locals initiate the first type of cluster. This cluster exists through a very local and
authentic process of economic agglomeration undertaken by the local pioneers which
are then followed by other residents living in the neighborhood. The birdcage
cluster in Mojosongo, for example, has been known as a neighborhood with an active
community and culture. There is a tendency that if there is a successful initiative
started by one of the residents, the others are willing to imitate the model. This
process also happens in Blangkon cluster in Potrojayan and the Patchwork cluster in
Tipes.
The second is clusters formed by external influences. This example can be found in
two clusters namely Birdcage Cluster in Bolo Peret and Guitar Cluster in Baki. The
Birdcage Cluster in Bolo Pleret began with someone who learned how to make a
birdcage in Solo. He invited and influenced the youths in Bolo Pleret to do the same.
The same process happened in the Guitar Cluster too. Three people came to Solo to
study how to make a guitar. Then, they spread the knowledge to their community.
They initiated a workshop in Baki, which grew much larger after that. Through this
process, it seems that the CIty of Solo is a city with a strong craftsmanship influence.
It becomes a hub for knowledge exchange, supply chain, and training.
The third type of cluster is formed by the external actors or actors such as
government, NGOs, private sectors (through corporate social responsibility program),
and universities. The survey found that the government and the other entities entered
into the existing clusters, providing capital assistance, training, resources for
marketing and branding. Those agencies helped the business entities to gain their
formal status. In Guitar Cluster in Sukoharjo, for instance, the government came and
divided the cluster into some subclusters to maintain the quality of the product.
However, this approach is rather divisive. Some of the business owners claimed that
sometimes there is one group that receive more assistance than the rest. The bird
cluster in Mojosongo also experienced the same phenomenon. While there is an
effort by the government to formalize the business entities, sometimes only a few of
the business owners are eligible to access the benefits.
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3.3. How the clustering strategy contributes to the urban resilience?
The shaping of the cluster itself is recognized as innovative way to increase the
productivity and develop the competitive value in the market (Karaev et al, 2007). The
survey shows an interesting result: despite they operate in a cluster with many
competitors, 77.41 percent of the business owners feel that there are no competitors.
Ninety-seven percent of the business owners claim that their product is competitive in
the market. This has revealed that the clustering is one of strategies to advance the
business. Through clustering, the business owners can consistently look for business
advancement through information exchange among peers.
Table 6 Competitiveness
Competition feel competitive (97%)

Competitor feel there are no competitors (77.41%)
This clustering of informal businesses also appeared during the post-economic crisis in
1998. Rifai (2007) mentioned that the factory workers who lost their jobs occupied
Banjarsari park in the center of City of Surakarta to sell second-hand knick knacks.
During the crisis this cluster of knick knacks was able to provide employment to the
city of Surakarta. Its existence had prevented the collapse of the city
economies after the economic crisis.
4. CONCLUSION

This research has shown that there are various advantages that come as results of small-
scale and informal industry clustering. Although as an individual entity, the informal
business sector might not appear as a strong entity due to the scale and operation, this
research has shown that the clustering of individual business entities would contribute to
the overall urban economies. The experience from six informal clusters in GSA points out
that clustering is a way to survive collectively in facing a competition amid the global
capitalist market. This research has highlighted the impact, opportunity, and challenges of
clustering. There has to be a further analysis to answer whether clustering is one of
potentially various mechanisms to cope with the economic crisis that further would
constitute the overall urban resilience.

5. REFERENCES

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Hazards Review, 4(3), 136–143. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1527-
6988(2003)4:3(136)
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Landscape and Urban Planning, 147, 38–49.
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Clusters and Development in Chile (SSRN Scholarly Paper No. ID 914661). Retrieved
from Social Science Research Network website:
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URBANIZATION AND SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS
A CASE STUDY OF DAGON MYOTHIT (SOUTH) TOWNSHIP IN YANGON CITY
1 2 3
Mu Mu Than , Khin Mar Yee , Kyi Lint
1,2,3
Department of Higher Education, Department of Geography, Dagon University
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Urbanization is an increasing proportion of a population residing in urban areas. Urbanization occurs

because people move from rural areas (countryside) to urban areas (towns and cities). This usually occurs
1
when a country is still developing. East Yangon District that has 14 townships in which Dagon Myothit
(South) is a new township. Proportion of Dagon (South) population in East Yangon District is
0.157. Dagon (South) is the largest number of settlements with a population of 371,646 people. It has no
rural population. Aim of the paper is to examine factors responsible for growth of squatter settlement in
urban area. Objectives of the study are to recognize the location of squatters in the area and to study the
demographic characteristics of squatters. Structured interview method is used. There has been caused by
rural to urban migration and urban to urban migration. This is caused by a variety of push and pull in host and
destination.
Keywords: Dagon Myothit (South), migration, push and pull factors, squatter, urbanization
1. INTRODUCTION
This paper studies the role of informal settlement in urbanization in a new township. (we need
to know the population data and squatter’s data to make proportion of the latter) it is important
because it may highlight the situation of squatters in urban area and may point out the importance
of systematic plan to establish a new town. As a result, we can take care of the necessities of a
new town such as strong policy and strategic plan to consider all aspects such as economically as
well as socially. It is important to know what the reasons for the growth of squatters in urban
area are. This paper includes five parts; (1) introduction, (2) data and methodology (3) results
and findings, (4) conclusion, and (5) suggestions.
Definitions
Urbanization is the term used to describe an increasing proportion of a population residing in urban
2
areas Living in squatter settlements is unplanned so the houses do not have basic infrastructure
such as sanitation, piped water, electricity and road access. Houses are made of any material
available nearby - corrugated iron, pieces of board - haphazardly assembled to provide a basic
3
shelter.
The Importance of Policy Making to a New Township / Historical Background of Dagon

Myothit (South) Township

1
Geographical Association, UK
2
Launchpad - Weebly, Defining urbanization - Geography
3
Ace Geography, Squatter Settlements

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New Dagon Townships were established in 1989. In 1990 two new townships, Dagon Myothit
(North) Township and Dagon Myothit (South) Township were constituted. In 1994, Dagon
Myothit (South) Township was subdivided into Dagon Myothit (South) Township and Dagon
Myothit (Seikkan) Township, and Dagon Myothit (South) Township was comprised of 26 wards
and 6 village tracts in 1994 according to the order of Ministry of Domestic Affair.
th
On 29 January 2009 the township was recomposed of 44 wards in which former villages such
as Shantekyi, Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Village No. (1), Layhtaungkan, Thonekwa, Kyisu
(West), Ywatharkyi, are included as wards. 12 wards such as Ward No. 62, 66, 141, 142, 143,
144, 145, 146, 147, 152, 152 and 154, have not been settled and so, Dagon Myothit (South)
th
Township has 32 wards. Administrative Office of Township was opened on 4 January 1999.
These uninhabited wards were governed by the neighbourhood wards.
According to this historical background, it is found that policy instability for establishment of new
townships and unsystematic land use policy are major factors to support to exaggerate the
informal settlement in urbanization.
Geographical Background of Dagon Myothit (South) Township
Dagon Myothit (South) Township is included in East Yangon District. It lies between north
latitudes 16° 48′ 12′′ and 16° 54′ 31′′, east longitudes 96° 12′ 35′′ and 96° 16′ 47′′. It has an
area of 79.11 square kilometres (30.545 square miles). It has a population of 323,271 in 2018.
Population density is 4086.35 per sq.km. It is bounded on the north by Hlegu Township, on the
east by Dagon Myothit (Seikkan) Township, on the south by Thingankyun and Thaketa townships,
and on the west by Dagon Myothit (East) and Dagon Myothit (North) townships. Ngamoeyeik
Creek flows on the west. Ma-U Chaung and Layhtaungkan Chaung pass through.
Dagon Myothit
(South) Township
Figure 1. Location of Dagon Myothit (South) Township in Yangon City

Source: 94 D1, 1:63360

Aim
Aim of the paper is to examine factors responsible for growth of squatter settlement in urban area.
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Objectives
Objectives of the research are to recognize the location of squatters in the area and to study the
demographic characteristics of squatters.
2. METHODOLOGY
Sources and methods of data collection
To achieve aim and objectives of the research paper, secondary and primary data have been used.
Secondary data such as the number of population and squatters, regional facts, and maps were
recorded from General Administrative Office of Dagon Myothit (South) Township and MIMU.
Primary data concerning housing characteristics, the time of the started living year and the
reasons were collected by semi-structured questionnaire and interview methods. Photos were
taken for housing amenities.
Sample design method
Squatter settlements were mainly located in the peripheral areas of the city. Dagon Myothit
(South) Township located in the eastern part of the City, is selected as the study area
because it is a new township of Yangon City and has new industrial zones and many open land.
Moreover, it is surrounded by other new townships and industrial zones and new land projects
such as construction of apartments for public servants and low cost housing for informal
settlers. To get reliable information, random sampling method is used. Ward No. 17 and Ward No.
22 are selected to collect the primary data due to having the highest number of squatters. The
former has many open lands and the latter is located near industrial zones and railway line. Total
squatter population sample size is 60. 30 sample houses are collected in each ward.
Conceptual framework of the research
In an urban area, epically in a new township, there are many controlling factors to the
emergence of squatter settlement. These factors are strongly, fairly and weakly correlated within
each variable. For instance, the correlation coefficient between number of family and number of
labour is +0.359. The correlation coefficient between number of labour and number of male labour
is +0.515. The correlation coefficient between number of labour and number of female labour is
+0.809.
Partial correlation is applied, when male labour is controlling factor, the correlation between
number of family and number of labour is +0.2, and when female labour is controlling factor, the
correlation coefficient is 0.397.
The correlation coefficient between education of the head of the family and income of the head
is 0.071. It is found that in low income level, the level of difference between basic educations
is rarely important.
The correlation significant between total income of the family and income of the head is 0.419.
It reveals that income of the other family member is important (Table 1 and Figure 2). The worse
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the socio-economic conditions are, the more migration to new town will be. Poor urban
governance makes these worse.
Socio-economic factors
(education, no of family, income etc.)
Locational choice Migration
Poor urban governance
Figure 2. Research Framework

Source: Field Survey in 2018
Table 1. Socio-economic Factors of Squatters in Dagon Myothit (South) Township
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Source: Field Data in 2018
Location of squatter settlements in urban areas

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Squatter populations are occupied along the long street which is enclosed the town, beside
railway line, beside the main roads, behind the primary and secondary roads, open spaces
between two streets, corner of the street, spaces on the boundary of a lake and in front of
factories, and beside the construction side. They are also found on the wet land area, where
nobody settled, but not far from formal housing and located in working distance. Summing up,
squatters usually stay near and/or beside housing areas of formal settlement.
Figure 3. Squatter settlements in Open Spaces in Dagon Myothit (South) Township
Figure 4. Housing Type of Squatter settlements in Dagon Myothit (South) Township

Demographic characteristics of squatters
In Dagon Myothit South (DGMS), the highest population density is found in Ward 65, 21, 24 and
25 that are located on the either side of Pyihtaungsu road, and Ward 64 and 23 that are located
near industrial zones.
Low population density is found the wards near the villages and the boundary of the township. The
moderate density is the ward near railway line although it is far from factories (Figure 5). The

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opposite is true in slum settlement.
Squatter settlement is mainly in the Ward 17 and Ward 22 that are moderate population
density and located near industrial zones, railway line, main roads such as Pyihtaungsu and No.
(2) main roads. They are also found along Maungmakan and Hlawka streets.
On the other hand, there is no squatter settlement in Ward 62, 66, 142, 145 and 147. The
reasons are these wards are low population density and located in the boundary of the
township. Therefore, squatters developed in the wards that are settled to get the basic
infrastructure need and safety (Figure 6).
In Dagon Myothit (South) Township squatters are along the main road between two new
townships and around industrial zone. They usually stay in locations furthest from the wards of the
townships and along the creek.
DGMS has total 18,696 squatters in which 18,426 squatters (98.56 %) are in the YCDC area. The
rest stays on cultivated lands. Some of these are situated around the industrial zones. It should be
noted that out of 18,696 squatters only a few (7 %) are located in densely populated area
and 11 % are in thinly populated (Fig 5). According to the demographic characteristic there
are two wards which have the highest number of squatters, namely ward 17 and ward 22. Ward 17
is located beside No. 2 main road and the latter is located around industrial zones. Two wards
are taken as sample to cover all the components for in-depth interview. During the process of
selection of these slums, the following factors are taken into consideration (a) large squatter
population with diversified characteristics and (b) they should have been covered with socio-
economic process. So, samples are taken from the highest populated squatters to have
greater opportunity to represent the squatter population of DGMS as a whole. In terms of
squatter population, they have 4,420 (24% of the squatter) and 3,840 9 (21% of the squatter)
respectively. The number of families stay in ward 17 is higher than that of ward 22 (Fig 6).
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Figure 5. Population Density of DGMS in 2018

Figure 6. The Number of Squatter population and the Number of Household

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Factors responsible for growth of squatter settlement in urban area
Factors responsible for growth of squatters are education background, being young couples,
migration and policy changing.
1) Education background
It is very encouraging that 45% people know primary education level and monastery education.
1.45% of Dagon South's slum population has no education. Present study also shows that 94 %
respondents are engaging in jobs which require minimal education such as carpenter, bricklayer,
plumber, trishaw driver, greengrocer, buying waste bottles, motor cycle carrier etc.
2) Being couples having school age children
In the present study it has been observed that all of the respondents have children, teenagers and
working ages. Such patterns of working age populations are also visible in squatters in other
new townships. For instance, a recent survey in Dagon Myothit townships shows that 23.27% of
squatter populations are within the ages of 20 to 34 years. This finding is not the same with African
Population and Health Research Center, 2014.
3) Migration
53% of the squatter populations migrated from townships from Yangon City such as
Thingankyun, South Okkalapa, Thanlyin, Dagon Myothit (East), Dagon Myothit (North), Dagon
Myothit (South), Ward 93 in Dagon Myothit (South). These are urban to urban migration. 47%
migrated from Kyauktan, kyaiklatt, and from Ayeyarwady Region etc. One remarkable phenomenon
nd rd
is noted that people are residing in these slums from 2 or 3 generations.
Dagon Myothit (South) is one of the new townships in Yangon City. The population of Dagon
Myothit (South) has grown for a number of reasons. Natural Increase is one reason for its
growth (this is when the birth rate is higher than the death rate). The population has also
grown as the result of urbanization. The number of population is 184,458 in 2010 and 371,646 in
2014. This has been caused by rural to urban migration and urban to urban migration.
Important reason is policy changing in new urban area.
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(a) Ward 22 located near industrial zones
(b) Ward 17 having many open lands
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(c) New Wards not settled in the started time and then growing residential areas
Figure 7. Increase of Population and Economic Activities in Dagon Myothit (South) Township
Source: Google Maps
Figure 8. Squatter population started Dwelling year before 1990, between 1991 and 2000, after 2001
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4) Policy changing
Dagon Myothit (South) Township was established in 1989-1990 by State Law and Order
Registration Council. 36799.93 acres of farms were taken out and defined as the land for
Dagon Myothit Housing Project and reclaimed the wards. Owners, however, are not settled in
these new wards and some wards are open space as it has no basic infrastructure. At that
situation, squatters settle here because it is near the city, have job opportunities and not
reinforce to move. These are pull factors in destination area.
Squatters who started staying before 1990 settle in the western, southern and northern parts of the
township. They stay in YCDC area and Le land. Squatters between 1991 and 2000 settle in
middle and the southwestern part where Ngamoeyeik Creek flows. They stay in YCDC area.
After 2001, squatter settlements are found in the wards located in the eastern part and adjacent
to Dagon Myothit (Seikkan) Township (Fig 8).
There are many other factors to the growth of squatters in urban area. Some important
reasons are that they cannot afford the housing rent in the city, bad economy in the countryside
and then move to city, just to be convenient for having and staying. One interviewee said that “No
work in rainy season in rural area and changed the job as worker in a factory in urban area and
then married here. However, we have no capital and have to support school age children.”
These are push factors
4. CONCLUSION
The rapid growth of urban population poses serious challenges in terms of provision of basic
minimum services. Squatter settlements are an outcome of an imbalance in urban growth
resulting from overconcentration of economic resources in Yangon City.
Squatter formation in Yangon as capital has brought quantitative changes among squatter
dwellers. If the officials cannot control the amount, they need to support to improve qualitative
changes.
It is found that establishment of new township without systematic plan and strong law imposes
squatter settlements in urban area. Dagon Myothit (South) Township is located between new
townships having job opportunities. It also has many open spaces, which are new unsettlement
wards. These situations have become major factors to the increase of population.
Low incomes (average of about MMK 200,000 per month in 2189) and higher property rates have
forced most poor migrants to find informal housing resulting in the growth of squatters in urban
area. Access to water, electricity and toilet facilities continue to be limited. These facts accord
with the study of Mundu & Bhagat, 2012.
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I especially thank to Dr. Kyi Lint, Professor (Head), Department of Geography, Dagon University
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who gave me a chance to do the research work. I would like to express my special gratitude to
interviewees and heads of each ward in Dagon Myothit (South) Township.
6. REFERENCES
[1] Ace Geography, Squatter Settlements. Retrieved from www.acegeography.com/cue--- squatter-

settlements.html.
[2] Begna TS, 2017, Rapid Urbanization, Squatter Settlements and Housing Policy Interface in
Ethiopia, the Case of Nekemte Town, J Geogr Nat Disast 2017, Vol 7(3): 211
[3] Launchpad - Weebly, Defining urbanization – Geography. Retrieved from
http://geographylaunchpad.weebly.com/defining-urbanization.html
[4] Roy D. and Palavalli B., 2018, Survey-based socio-economic data from slums in Bangalore,
India, Research Gate.
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THE EFFICIENCY OF INEFFICIENCY: LOCAL URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND
MOBILITY OFFER
1 2
Guilherme Lassance , Patricia Figueira
1 2
Post-graduate Program in Urbanism (PROURB) and Department of Urbanism and Environment (DPUR),
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Av. Pedro Calmon 550, Cidade Universitaria, 21.941-901 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
ABSTRACT
In many countries mobility is one of the pillars of public policies for urban development. The 'right to mobility'
has been assimilated to the very concept of the 'right to the city' put forward by Henri Lefebvre a half century
ago. However, based on recent surveys, the present paper intends to show that a greater offer of mobility can
have the opposite effect of increasing the economic dependence of poor peripheries, thus contributing to the
phenomenon of socio-spatial segregation. To show this perverse effect of mobility, we use the results drawn
out from case studies located in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In this context, the areas
with the greatest mobility offer correspond to those that are now more dependent and emptied of employment
and daily urban life, since their residents have a means of transportation to move to the pole of better service
offer and employment. This greater accessibility has the effect of transforming these well-served areas into
dormitory peripheries. In contrast, other areas, with much less mobility offer, are able to avoid this direct
competition with the city center. A local economy can thus develop, creating an increased sense of community
that, in turn, preserves them from the perimeter-dormitory condition. In these areas, it is possible to identify a
greater job offer and productive activity (even if it is mainly informal) that provides an effective 'right to the city',
and not just a ‘right to mobility’. In conclusion, the paper proposes a necessary revision of the concept of
mobility as a foundation for urban development and suggests the idea of recognizing a new concept of local
and community efficiency that could arise from the inefficiency of traditional centralized services and
infrastructures that is typical of many contexts in the developing world.
Keywords: metropolitan periphery, social segregation, urban development, urban mobility.
1. INTRODUCTION
We tend to naturalize today the idea that the offer of mobility is an integral element of the quality of
urban life. In many countries mobility is one of the pillars of public policies for urban development.
The 'right to mobility' has been assimilated to the very concept of the 'right to the city' put forward
by Henri Lefebvre fifty years ago (Lefebvre, 1968). Based on recent surveys, the present paper
intends to show that a greater offer of mobility has the effect of increasing the economic
dependence of poor peripheries, thus contributing to the phenomenon of socio-spatial segregation
(Castells, 1977; Maricatto, 1997). To show this perverse effect of mobility, we use the results drawn
out from case studies located in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This context is
relevant to such analysis because it corresponds to a territory characterized by strong social and
spatial inequality in which transportation infrastructure has historically been the main driving force
of the urbanization process. The Integrated Metropolitan Development Plan approved in 2018
proposes the creation of new peripheral centralities as the main strategy to fight against this
unequal condition and the polarization of the job offer now concentrated in the city-center of Rio. To
achieve this goal, the plan follows T.O.D (Transit Oriented Development) principles and focuses on
increasing the mobility infrastructure.
However, recent studies show that the peripheries with the greatest mobility offer correspond to
those that are now more dependent and emptied of employment and daily urban life, since their
residents have a means of transportation to move to the pole of better service offer and
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employment (Sebrae, 2013). This greater accessibility has therefore the effect of transforming
these well-served areas into dormitory peripheries.
In contrast, other areas, with much less mobility offer, are able to avoid this direct competition with
the city center. A local economy can thus develop, creating less economic dependence and an
increased sense of community triggered by a local economy that, in turn, preserves these less
accessible areas from the perimeter-dormitory condition (Slade and Lassance, 2017). In these
areas, it is possible to identify a greater job offer and productive activity (even if it is mainly
informal) that not only keeps the resident population in the place, but also provides an effective
'right to the city', and not just a ‘right to mobility’ (Reiss, 2017).
According to the last demographic census (IBGE, 2010), the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro
(RMRJ) is characterized by a strong concentration of job offer in the center of the metropolis,
generating a situation of extreme socio-spatial inequality within the boundaries of the metropolitan
region. Almost 75% of formal employment is concentrated in the state capital city of Rio de
Janeiro. The second municipality in terms of jobs represents only 5% of the total offer and two
other relatively populous neighboring municipalities offer less than 3% each to their local
inhabitants who are then forced to daily move to the center of the metropolis. About 4 million
people move daily to a metropolitan center that concentrates 40% of the city's job offer, that is,
about 1/3 of all formal employment of the RMRJ.
These are therefore numbers that portray a situation of extreme concentration and economic
polarization exerted by the central core of the metropolis. A situation that ends up capturing most
of the economic dynamics and investments of the region and subjecting the other municipalities of
the RMRJ to a condition of economic dependence in relation to the center of the metropolis. These
neighboring municipalities have then been transformed into bedroom communities for a population
of lower income, which is precisely more dependent on public transportation to move from home to
work.
2. MOBILITY OFFER AS A DRIVER OF URBANIZATION

In the RMRJ, transportation was, historically, the main driver of the urbanization process. Used to
add real estate value to lands of large rural properties that, becoming more accessible, were
dismembered and parceled. The idea of a strictly residential suburb was born at that moment, for
the wealthy classes who wanted to live outside the city to avoid living with social and environmental
problems of the old city core (Abreu, 1987). Then, first came the tramway lines, with low capacity,
and the intention to carry the wealthiest population. Animal traction was initially used to travel short
distances and connect the first suburbs to the center of the city. The electrification of the lines
would allow reaching more distant areas and the ocean shores thanks to the opening of tunnels, all
made possible by the private initiative that used public transport as a device to increase land value
of what were then inaccessible rural territories. Once the land was urbanized and the plots were
sold, the companies responsible for creating the tram lines gave them to the municipality. With low
capacity and suffering from the growing competition of the private car, these lines became quickly
unviable for public administration to maintain, being then replaced by bus lines, of greater capacity
and much less expensive maintenance costs. The improved profitability of the bus lines would
eventually attract interest from private sector companies that now control the whole RMRJ bus
network – a highly profitable business with a strong lobbying influence over urban and regional
planning decisions.
The bus lines were thus replacing the tram and giving greater capacity of transportation and also a
better level of penetration in the diffuse fabric of the expanding suburbs.
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The urbanized land grew, and as new areas, increasingly distant from the center, were occupied,
their real estate value was, conversely, decreasing. The suburb was thus gradually becoming a
residential periphery for the lower-income working classes who found there a cheaper housing
option (Fernandes, 2011). To serve an ever-growing suburban population and give better access to
increasingly distant lands from the city center, train lines were later created (see Figure 1
hereafter).
Figure 1. Public transport map of Rio de Janeiro, showing train lines in green.
Source: Creative Commons, 2018
The late industrial development of Brazil, driven by the Second World War, would attract the rural
population in search of better living and working conditions. This phenomenon of the rural exodus
radically accelerated the process of suburbanization in all major cities of the country, even
reversing the proportion between rural and urban population (Villaça, 1998; Santos and Silveira,
2001).
3. LOCAL SPECIFICITIES
To this situation that is characteristic of many other large metropolises around the world (Lyons,
2003; Thibert and Osorio, 2014), it is worth remembering, in the specific case in RMRJ, some
historical aspects related to the existence of the former Federal District, later transformed into the
Guanabara State – an administrative entity independent from the surrounding peripheries of the
RMRJ. This is the effect of an administrative division that prevented, for more than two centuries,
the RMRJ to be planned in an integrated way, but also the political and economic centrality
attached to the very condition of being the capital city of the country (Silva, 2005).
Another feature that makes the RMRJ a propitious example in terms of legibility of the issues put
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forward here is the combined effect of an iconic and valued ocean shore and the topography that
segregates this shoreline from its hinterland – a territory with hotter and dryer microclimate known
as the 'sertão carioca', named after the mythic and wild Brazilian northeastern backwoods (see
Figure 1 showing the narrow ocean front in the South separated by the urban voids of mountain
ridges from the wide flat plains crossed by the train lines in the North). This geographic
configuration acts just like a walled city holding its most valued areas near the ocean front, in a
narrow strip of land, in which the amenities provided by an extraordinary natural landscape of high
iconic content abound (a landscape heritage now recognized and protected as world heritage by
UNESCO). Separated by the monumental topographic barrier that rises along the entire oceanic
coast, vast hinterland plains have been transformed over time into bedroom communities for lower
income population. In this area, residential neighborhoods coexist with many locally unwanted land
uses (LULUs) such as industrial activities and refineries linked to the gas-oil sector and also freight
logistics facilities and their intense flow of trucks.
4. RECENT PLANNING INITIATIVES

In order to face the challenges arising from such conditions, but also to support the transformations
imposed by the agenda of major world events that Rio de Janeiro has welcomed in the last
decade, planning actions have been and are being promoted. They contributed to the collection of
data and generated successive documents whose purpose was to guide investments in sectors
considered strategic among which is urban mobility. At a metropolitan level, we can mention the
Metropolitan Region Urban Transport Master Plan (PDTU-2015) and, more recently, the Strategic
Plan for Integrated Urban Development (PEDUI-2018).
Determined by sector-specific limits, the PDTU of 2015 points out the need to develop the capacity
of public transportation and better geographical distribution of the lines, with special emphasis on
serving distant peripheries marked by high rates of population growth that are immediately
translated into a scenario of increased demand and, consequently, lack of supply. This has been
the focus of the plans and also of the projects already implemented: to bring the infrastructure to
the recently urbanized areas, thus consolidating the process of urban sprawl through the
transformation of old rural areas and still preserved natural territories into large developments of
small salable urban plots. It is, therefore, a perverse logic that ends up stimulating this process of
predatory occupation of the territory, a money-spinning process for real estate market, be it formal
or informal, but generating a growing and never satisfactorily served demand of public
infrastructure given the increasing distances and times of travel between these new places of
residence and the job offer still polarized, as already said, in the traditional core of the metropolis.
The PEDUI seeks to distinguish itself from this logic of the transport sector plans, in the sense that
it advances the idea of a desirable geographical decentralization of the job offer thanks to the
strengthening of already existing centers that it strives to identify. The principle is the creation of a
network of alternative centralities whose aim is to bring the jobs and services offer closer to the
dwelling place of the most part the population. The challenge that such a strategy imposes is the
capacity of these centers to attract economic activity capable of transforming them into poles of
enough relevance on the scale of the metropolis. The PEDUI uses the concept of T.O.D. (Transit
Oriented Development) that establishes the principles of land use in the immediate surroundings of
transport stations. It thus assumes the largely naturalized premise that associates the offer of jobs
and services with the transportation offer. The question that we intend to raise here is whether this
relationship would not be compromised in contexts marked by strong valorization and economic
polarization of the main center of the metropolis combined with a condition of strong socio-spatial
segregation between valued central areas and poor peripheries.
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As we have said before, the RMRJ is a case in which these differences between center and
periphery are exacerbated by historical and geographical specificities. Beyond these specificities,
the RMRJ shares with other large metropolises of the so-called Global South, many aspects of an
urban context marked by strong inequalities. And it is precisely in these new metropolises, which
are affected by rapid population growth and economic development, that the applicability of
planning principles designed for much less unequal urban realities arises as a central and
important issue.
5. URBAN MOBILITY AND LOCAL SENSE OF COMMUNITY

A recent study on urban mobility and job offer in the RMRJ (Sebrae, 2013) allows us to question
the validity of the logic of associating transportation provision, or 'right to mobility', with the so-
called 'right to the city' (Lefebvre, 1968). Using data extracted from the 2010 Demographic Census
(IBGE, 2010), the study put forward conclusions that seem to contradict the idea that a greater
supply of transportation helps to create better city conditions. In fact, the study shows that the
peripheric regions that are best served by transportation means correspond precisely to those
where the population works less locally and moves to more central areas with a better job offer.
This means that the better transportation supply has contributed to making these regions even
more dependent on the center of the metropolis. This greater accessibility to the main job pole with
which it became difficult to compete ended up capturing the vital energy and local labor force
attracted by better conditions of employment. The local economy of these better-served suburbs
has thus been limited to the provision of proximity services that are characteristic of a bedroom
community.
Table 1. Mobility offer and local job offer in some peripheral localities of the RMRJ
Locality Average time to % of population available
reach Rio central working in same transportation
hub (min) home district infrastructure
Japeri 71 41 train and bus lines
São Gonçalo 52 60 bus lines only
Santa Cruz 58 5 express train
Source: Authors own elaboration from IBGE 2010, PEDUI 2018 and Sebrae 2013 data, 2019.
In the less well-served localities, the lower accessibility to the central hub of jobs in the metropolis
can be a motivation for their residents to avoid travelling to the city center and seek, instead, for
jobs near their home and even start their own businesses. By being less prone to the usual daily
commuter’s routine, the residents of these less well-served areas can then spend their life within
areas located in close vicinity of their homes – in fact, a common trait they share with the
inhabitants of privileged areas where urban quality has been more and more linked to the very
possibility of living within walking distances from home. However, differently from these fancy
neighborhoods with full provision of services, in the more miserable reality of peripheral areas, the
opportunities of social gathering created by that same possibility of navigating within a walkable
territory from home allows to collectively fight for a better offer of services and living conditions,
which in turn, helps to create a virtuous cycle of local urban development.
Indeed, in another research, we verified that phenomenon. In streets that are less well served by
means of transportation and therefore less accessible and more peripheral to central activities, we
could notice the creation of commercial and professional activities within structures that were
originally designed to be strictly residential (Slade and Lassance, 2017). This study also revealed
that the creation of such activities has contributed not only to the generation of income for the
families that undertake them but also to the creation of communal spaces, thus transforming strictly
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residential streets from bedroom neighborhoods to more convivial areas among residents which
tend to offer a greater potential for building a local sense of identity and place. One of the most
positive consequences of this transformation is the increased feeling of safeness observed in these
more active and livable streets when compared to those that remained strictly residential and are
emptied of people and life during work hours, i.e. most time of the week.
However, one could argue that a lower level of accessibility could also be seen as a way to
produce a ghetto or an enclave condition. It is true that in Rio, this is the case of the favelas
(slums) where strong local sense of community and even a bustling local economy aroused from
spatial segregation and poor connectivity with the rest of the city as many of them are built on
hardly accessible slopes. So, instead of sustaining inefficiency as something unequivocally
positive, our discussion here could rather lead us to the idea of ‘levels of inefficiency’ as a planning
concept to face the challenge of fighting the enduring inequality of urban conditions in many cities
of the developing world. We therefore argue that a certain level of inefficiency in terms of
connectivity within the metropolis could help trigger the urban development of peripheral and less
privileged territories by reducing the effects of a direct and unfair competition with the more central
and developed areas.
6. CONCLUSION
These studies thus raise a question about the quality principles of our cities that we usually
understand as resulting from a greater supply of mobility infrastructure. They alert us to the
perverse side of this relationship between 'transportation offer' and 'city offer’ and urge us to rethink
these models many decision-makers and urban planners in developing countries of the Global
South tend to import from different social and economic realities.
However, the arguments put forward here should not be confused with an apology to the misery
and precariousness of public services, but as a call for a necessary change of gaze at the urban
reality of the developing metropolises. It is therefore a plea for the planners of the Global South
cities, habituated to the 'rhetoric of lack', to reconsider certain principles which tend to be simply
adopted in reference to other realities qualified as more developed but which do not always apply
or fit the condition of the cities in which they operate.
The discussion we have brought here is intended not only to alert planners to the applicability of
certain principles, but also to remind them of the possibility that lessons from the South may also
serve as a reference to the North. And this is already happening as shown, for instance, by the
recent initiatives of re-naturalization of many European cities which have been replacing cement
and asphalt grounds of their sidewalks by more permeable coverings and even by no covering at
all. This is an initiative in line with the elimination of cars from the streets – and the correlate
necessity of sidewalks – to favor slower and somehow ‘less efficient’ pedestrian walking. Also, and
even more astonishing, the fast spreading trend among municipalities of turning off the night
lighting of squares and public gardens so as not to disturb fauna and flora, or even claiming for the
possibility – not to say the urgent necessity – of living with recurrent flooding conditions in a more
‘porous’ and amphibious urban environment (Secchi and Viganó, 2011). These are just a few
examples of a whole set of new planning values that seem to go back, in some way, to conditions
that are still qualified as ‘inefficient’ in many cities of the developing world.
7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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The discussion brought by the present paper is part of a research project financially supported by
the Brazilian National Council for Research (CNPq). Authors are also thankful to CNPq for
supporting air travel costs to attend the conference in Jakarta.
8. REFERENCES
[1] Lefebvre, H. (1968). Le droit à la ville. Paris: Editions Anthropos.
[2] Castells, M. (1977). The Urban Question. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
[3] Maricatto, E. (1997). Habitação e cidade. Espaço e Debate. São Paulo: Atual.
[4] Abreu, M. de (1987). A evolução urbana do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro: IplanRio, Zahar.
[5] Sebrae. (2013). Mobilidade urbana e mercado de trabalho na Região Metropolitana do Rio de
Janeiro. Estudo estratégico, nº 6. Rio de Janeiro: Obervatório Sebrae/RJ.
[6] Slade, A. and Lassance, G. (2017). Hybrid Live-Work Architecture in Brazil: A Research on the
Peripheral Neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro. 10th Conference of the International Forum on
Urbanism (IFoU), Hong Kong. The Entrepreneurial City. Rotterdam: IFoU, 2017. p. 321-331.
[7] Reiss, C. M. (2017). Acessibilidade e efetividade social das infraestruturas de transporte nos
bairros informais do Rio de Janeiro. Chão Urbano, Rio de Janeiro, p. 1-19, 02 jan.
[8] IBGE. (2010). Censo Demográfico. Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e
Estatística.
[9] Fernandes, N. da N. (2011). O rapto ideológico da categoria subúrbio: Rio de Janeiro 1858-
1945. Rio de Janeiro: Apicuri.
[10] Villaça, F. (1998). O Espaço Intra-Urbano no Brasil. São Paulo: Studio Nobel/FAPESP.
[11] Santos, M. and Silveira, M. L. (2001). O Brasil; Território e Sociedade no início do século XXI.
Rio de Janeiro/São Paulo: Record.
[12] Lyons, M. (2003). Spatial Segregation in Seven Cities: A Longitudinal Study of Home
Ownership, 1971-91. Housing Studies, vol. 18, pp. 305-326.
[13] Thibert, J. and Osorio, G. A. (2014). Urban Segregation and Metropolitics in Latin America:
The Case of Bogotá, Colombia. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research,
vol.38, Issue 4, July 2014, pp. 1319-1343.
[14] Silva, M. O. (2005). Rio Nacional, Rio Local: Mitos e Visões Sobre a Crise Carioca e
Fluminense. Rio de Janeiro: SENAC.
[15] Secchi, B. and Viganó, P. (2011). La ville poreuse. Un projet pour le Grand Paris et la
Métropole de l’après-Kyoto. Paris: Metis Presses.
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THE CHANGING ROLE OF ARCHITECTURE IN INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS:

CASE OF ROUWEISSAT, BEIRUT, LEBANON.
1
Hassan Zaiter
1
PhD Candidate in Engineering-based Architecture and Urban Planning, Department of Civil, Construction,
and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Industrial Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome.
Via Eudossiana 18, Rome, Italy
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
During the last century, the city of Beirut has witnessed extreme expansion and growth in population. The
history of the capital was marked by the arrival of rural migrants, displaced people, and refugees. Arrivals
started by Armenian and Assyrian refugees, Palestinian refugees, rural migrants, internally displaced people
during the civil war period, Iraqi refugees, and recently more than 250,000 Syrian refugees. Almost all of them
settled in low-income neighbourhoods. The first arrivals have always chosen the peripheries of the city, that
became nowadays the city and informally settled and expanded on the territory. The construction started with
refugees in 1920s, who built their tents, and the first waves of rural migrants who built similar tents and shacks
on the banks of Beirut River. Later on, informal concrete buildings invaded the peripheries, overlapping the
building code and urban regulations. Without the intervention of engineers and architects, the construction
evolved while using primary design and construction methods. Still today, 70 years after their creation,
informal settlements in Beirut are not recognised by the State, thus there is no attempt by the governmental
institutions to move forward upgrading the living conditions of the low-income population that live in them. This
paper investigates the role of architects in upgrading the living conditions of people living in precarious
residential units. The situation of the buildings and apartments poses significant questions in terms of
architectural quality, safety, health, and privacy, among others. The paper insists on the role of architecture in
serving the poor urban dwellers, through analysing and discussing the neighbourhood of Rouweissat in Beirut
and finding out the critical issues. A “Toolbox” is prepared to respond to these problems; action tools are
defined and classified according to the needs of the residents. All this calls for a changing in the traditional role
of architects to better respond to the needs of poor people living in the city through using architectural
technologies and tools, and creativity in designing for informal dwellers while allowing them to participate in
the process.
Keywords: Beirut, informal settlements, technological regeneration, upgrade process.
1. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays more than half of the world population is living in urban areas where the challenges are
growing in parallel with the needs of the residents (UNFPA, 2007). In 2015, out of the 3.5 billion
people living in cities, more than one billion people were living in poverty (Karlsson, 2012; United
Nations, 2015a, 2017). The response to urbanisation in the cities of developing countries has been
informal in most cases and contributed to the growth of informal areas, thus the creation of
underserviced neighbourhoods in and around cities. The millennium development goals of the year
2000, the sustainable development goals of the year, and many other international reports and
meetings focused on the development and the improvement of the living conditions of the urban
population living under the poverty line and people living in informal settlements (United Nations,
2000, 2015b). this includes end hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, ensuring
healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages, ensuring equitable quality education,
ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, and making cities
and human settlements more inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable among others.
Lately, the New Urban Agenda that was adopted during the United Nations Conference on Housing
and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in Quito, Ecuador, 2016, highlights the fact that
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the world’s urban population is expected to nearly double by 2050, making urbanisation one of the
twenty-first century’s most transformative trends and posing massive sustainability challenges in
terms of housing, infrastructure, basic services, food security, health, education, decent jobs,
safety, and natural resources, among others (United Nations, 2017).
In Lebanon, the management of the suburbs of big cities came as a response to urbanisation and
the migration of rural residents which started in the late 1940s. suburbs were developed arbitrarily
since no master plan was set to manage the growth of the city and since construction permits were
not obligatory. As for Beirut, the first Master Plan was designed by the French architect and
urbanist Ecochard in 1962 (Verdeil, 2012). The plan was important for the development of the
suburbs which were growing informally and densely along with the rural-to-urban migration (Nasr &
Volait, 2003; Soliman, 2008) but it was not adopted because of the change of political balance. The
resulting zoning codes neglected the infrastructural needs of the eastern and southern suburbs of
Beirut (Khuri, 1975; Nasr & Verdeil, 2008; Tabet, 1993).
The spread of informal housing over the metropolitan area of Beirut started by the 1920s (Figure
1). The first informal settlements that appeared in Beirut were the camps of Armenian and Assyrian
refugees that were built between 1920 and 1930; these camps were built in the east of Beirut,
specifically in Quarantina and Bourj Hammoud (Fawaz & Peillen, 2003). After that, the rural-to-
urban migration started, the houses for migrants were built from scratch material especially nearby
the Beirut River.
Figure 1. History of informal settlements in Lebanon.

Source: Author.
During the years (1940-1975) informal settlements spread out in the eastern suburbs of Beirut,
especially in Rouweissat, Az-Zaaytriyyeh, Nabaa, Baouchrieh, among others, and then some
informal neighbourhoods were created in the southern suburbs, in Hay Sellom, Raml, and Ouzaï,
and in Wata el Moussaytbeh (Beirut). During the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) most of the
residents of informal settlements of the eastern suburbs of Beirut were evicted from their houses;
some of them settled also informally in the southern suburbs of the city where they created new
and enlarged existing informal neighbourhoods. In 1990-1992, at the end of the civil war, migrants
came back to their houses in the eastern suburbs and enlarged the area of the settlements
informally and illegally. In addition, today, Beirut hosts around 250,000 Syrian refugees (UNHCR,
2018) who are mostly living in poor areas where rent prices are affordable; they found refuge in
informal settlements and already existing Palestinian refugee camps.
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The first report that addressed and analysed the spread of informality in Beirut was prepared by
Fawaz and Peillen in 2003 as part of the Global Report on Human Settlements. The report stated
that 300’000 people are living in 24 slums, in addition to a significant number of people who are
living in four Palestinian refugee camps that were created between 1949 and 1952 and are still
present today (Fawaz & Peillen, 2003). Further studies on informal settlements focused on the
south-western suburbs of Beirut, especially the areas of Bir Hassan, Ouzai, and Jnah, as well as
the intervention plan (Elyssar) that was designed by the government to upgrade the area (Bou
Akar, 2018; Clerc-Huybrechts, 2006; Khayat, 2007). Until today, the Lebanese State has not
recognized those areas as informal settlements, but officially these areas do not benefit from
access to the most basic urban services (water, electricity, sewage networks, etc.). Recently, at the
level of State administrations, approach toward informal settlement is changing, and a report
produced by the Ministry of Social Affairs encourages upgrade projects that look to the provision of
basic urban services, improvement of the physical environment and enhancing livelihood
conditions (Council for Development and Reconstruction, 2016).
Nowadays architects around the world are involved with only 2% of the built environment (King,
2014), residents of informal settlements are the architects of their own houses. The ‘enigmatic’
architecture of these houses that was born from a critical economic situation during construction
poses many problems as a result of the weakness in design and space use, the traditional
structural systems, the incremental unstudied additions, and the used materials. More than 60
years after their construction, informal settlements in Beirut present important challenges for
architects and other professionals.
2. METHODOLOGY
The paper begins with an overview on informality in Lebanon and specifically in the capital Beirut,
defining the causes that led to the creation of informal housing in the peripheries of the city and the
problems that are facing them. Subsequently, a representative case from Beirut is selected; the
neighbourhood of Rouweissat. For the analysis and discussion, between 2017 and 2018,
unstructured interviews were conducted, and the neighbourhood was surveyed based on criteria
and indicators that are divided to two levels; urban level and building level. The survey clarifies the
physical conditions of the buildings, the streets, and the infrastructure, in addition to the provision
of services and facilities. It Identifies the buildings’ typology, the apartments’ typology, and the
construction techniques with regards to the materials used in the construction, the type of
reinforcement, the number of floors, the functions, the openings types, the affordability of
construction, the set-back respect, the urban policies consideration, and the constraints of the plot
shape. It also evaluates the quality of the buildings regarding the comfort of living, privacy, interior
design, individual and private space, open space, safety, access to electricity and water, and
protection from atmospheric factors.

The neighbourhood of Rouweissat is situated in the eastern suburbs of Beirut that were influenced
the most by industrialisation. It is situated on a large rocky hill in a stone extracting area where,
until today, some quarries are present. Rouweissat was developed after the congestion of the
nearby informal neighbourhood Az-Zaaytriyyeh and the need for housing for new arrivals (Fawaz &
Peillen, 2003). The construction initiated in the late 1950s with small houses for migrant workers
and their families, and then, due to the high demand for housing, they were enlarged and
developed as buildings reaching up to four floors.
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Figure 2. Location of Rouweissat.

Source: Developed by the author.
A- Urban level
1- Evolution
People were able to access and create the neighbourhood for many reasons. First, the value of the
land was lower than the average since it is located on a hill with a high slope and the parcels were
large. Second, migrants were buying parcels in groups, making it more affordable with the help of
financing credits from people that arrived first and who came from the same village or tribe. Third,
the process of construction was smoothed by new-born contractors that were also migrants mostly
coming from the same village and were able to give financial facilitations after the accomplishment
of the work. Finally, the demand for housing encouraged people to invest their money in the
neighbourhood by buying terrains, constructing, and then offering apartments for rent (Attar, 1997;
Fawaz & Peillen, 2003).
Figure 3. The neighbourhood of Rouweissat.

Source: Author.
The surface area of the neighbourhood is around 110,000 m2 organised in parcels with areas
between 500 and 1,000 m2 (Figure 4), where 350 buildings are standing, and around 10’000
people live. The concentration of buildings is in the lower (north western) part for the reason that it
is located at the access point to Rouweissat where the slope is lighter than other parts and close to
factories which are situated west of the neighbourhood. Furthermore, Rouweissat was affected by
the increase of density like other poor areas in Beirut after the influx of Syrian refugees to Lebanon
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starting in 2011, who accessed informal settlements and Palestinian refugee camps finding them
the most affordable place for renting (Chamma & Zaiter, 2017).
Figure 4. Lots division in Rouweissat.

Source: Developed by the author based on official cadastral maps.
The neighbourhood, which is located on a huge rock, is naturally marginalised by the cliff on the
northern edge and the valley on the southern one. Its illegal status changed the way the other
residents and the municipality of Jdeideh consider it. They consider the residents of Rouweissat
intruders that came to live in their cities and should not be integrated. In addition, the confession
played an additional role in increasing the segregation the inhabitants of Rouweissat are majorly
Shi’a Muslims that are living in a dominantly Christian area. This created a virtual and cultural
border between the neighbourhood and the close surrounding area. Residents have always had
trouble integrating into the social life, taking part in cultural events in the municipal area, and even
finding a job in the nearby areas.
2- Urban fabric and architectural design.

Since the price of the land was very high with respect to the prices in their villages and according to
their economic situations, migrants preferred to build small houses with areas ranging between 100
and 200 m2. They bought and informally subdivided parcels into three or four and sometimes five
parts to make them more affordable. Buildings were adjacent with minor set-backs of a maximum
of two meters just in case they want to provide room for a passageway to access another street or
for another building, noting that the building code that was set in 1961 specifies the set-back
between buildings of the same lot and with respect to buildings in bordering lots as for 4.5 meters
when there is an opening (window, door, etc.). Buildings in the north western part of the
neighbourhood are adjacent, most of them have only one open to the street elevation (Figure 5).
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Figure 5. Rouweissat urban fabric.

Source: Developed by the author based on on-site survey and satellite imagery.
Furthermore, the urban regulations of this area do not allow the full exploitation of the parcel, but
most of the buildings are expanded on all the surface of the lots. The circulation in the
neighbourhood is provided by narrow streets with an absence of sidewalks, and by stairs that were
initially small alleyways to connect parallel streets (Figure 7). The eastern side of the
neighbourhoods is characterised by the presence of shacks, most of them are built illegally after
1994 (Figure 6). Those shacks are occupied by low-income families and single man workers.
Figure 6. Units with reinforced concrete structures and metal roofs.

Source: Al-Akhbar newspaper, 2007.
3- Infrastructure
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The provision of services was organised by people through social and political networks (family and
village of origin). Sometimes this was obtained in exchange for votes with the politicians from their
areas of origin. Basic urban services (electricity, water, etc.) provision in the neighbourhood is
already weak, for example, during summer residents, especially those who live in the higher
(eastern) part, suffer from very limited availability of municipal water. The influx of Syrian refugees
has been creating a large pressure on services and increased the cut off duration of electricity and
municipal water. Stormwater usually passes through the streets and stairs because no storm water
network is implemented in the neighbourhood; it brings and accumulates trash and deteriorates the
roads’ asphalt. The only healthcare facility nearby Rouweissat is the St. Anthony’s Dispensary, run
by the Good Shepherd Sisters. People receive free medication and consultations with specialised
physicians, and the medical centre offers counselling and trauma therapy. Furthermore, there is a
total absence of any educational, cultural, or sports facilities.
Figure 7. Stairs in Rouweissat.

Source: Alahednews.com.lb, 2011.
4- Open public space

There is no open public space that residents can use during their daily life. The series of lots in the
centre of the neighbourhood are on the edge of the cliff (Figure 8) and cannot be transformed to be
open and used by residents. Some other empty lots are available in different parts, even on the
higher part and on the lower part. The municipality of Jdeideh never attempted to organise one of
the empty terrains and transform it to a garden. Furthermore, the municipality is not favourable of
the presence of the settlement.
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Figure 8. Open space in Rouweissat (in green).

B- Building level
1. Buildings and apartments typologies

The design of apartments that was popular between 1945-1975 was inspired by the rural concept
of the house of middle-class and poor people; most settlements have a consistent typology of
room-room increments, opening for addition in case of growth of the family or the marriage of any
of the children. The apartments have two sections; one private which includes the bedroom (and
living area), the kitchen, and a bathroom. The second section is the public one that was used to
receive visitors.
Most of the buildings have one or two apartments per floor, with a surface ranging between 30 and
2
70 m , that were constructed for lower and middle classes families. The majority of these
apartments are comprised of one bedroom, a kitchen and a bathroom. The other types of
apartments are the two-bedroom apartment and the three-bedroom apartment, with the presence
of some small private houses. Households are composed of families of four to eight people sharing
the same apartment. Natural daylight and ventilation remain a problem since buildings are
connected or very close to each other, and they usually have one façade opened to the street,
while the other facades are closed or are opened to a very tiny patio or alleyway. Furthermore, the
narrowness of streets decreases the arrival of daylight to residential units and to streets. The
ground floor on main streets is kept for commercial activities that consist of shops (food and
grocery, boutiques, hairdressing, phones and electronics, small snacks, etc.) and some small
industries.
2. Household’s composition and use of space

Households in Rouweissat are majorly composed of Lebanese families that live there from a long
time and Syrian families started arriving in 2011. Families live in different typologies of apartments
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depending on the number of members. Some other apartments -especially one-room apartments
and shacks - are occupied by single workers, mostly man. In some cases, two families occupy the
same apartment, they share the kitchen and the bathroom, and each of them has their private
room. This is mostly the case of the family of a married son who stays at his parents’ house.
The design of space is weak; thus, all family members share all the space together, reducing by
that the privacy of each individual. Since apartments surface areas are big enough, interventions
can be easily done to provide more privacy for family members.
3. Health conditions
People in Rouweissat are living in an unhealthy environment due to the high humidity and
weakness of walls and roofs. Metal and Eternit roofing in some buildings present major problems
related to water penetration and coldness and heat transmission. The neighbourhood, situated on a
hill, is subject to strong wind and to water penetration from rain during the winter season, since no
isolation techniques were used during the construction and after that. The worst conditions are
shown in the shacks that have no protection against atmospheric factors.
Water leakage on streets from wastewater and potable water networks or from domestic water
coming from balconies present an unhealthy environment for the residents and increase the spread
of illnesses and infections. The presence of the industrial areas east and north of the
neighbourhood present a dangerous environment for the residents.
4. Structural condition and safety of buildings

The neighbourhood was built between 1955 and 1970s, the average age of buildings is 55 years.
Most of them were built with primary construction methods with no interventions of architects and
civil engineers. In addition, lots of buildings present water penetration that is decreasing the
strength of the structural system. The north western part where buildings are in deteriorated
conditions and show signs of visible cracking. People living in shacks, that are built with no
structural systems, are in real danger since they are not protected against external factors that
could happen.
C- Findings
The critical issues and problems of the neighbourhood are grouped in the below table according to
the urban and building levels.
Table 1. Findings in Rouweissat.
Urban level Building level

§ The neighbourhood started in the late § The construction dates to the late 1950s
1950s. § Buildings are high up to four floors.
2
§ Surface area: 110,000 m . § Construction type: two types are present:
§ Population around 10,000 inhabitants. - Traditional structural system with
§ Violation of building code and urban concrete blocks.
regulations - Reinforced concrete shell and metal
2
§ 500 to 1000 m lots, irregular land roof.
subdivision. § Construction material: Reinforced concrete,
§ No setback between buildings. concrete blocks, steel, metal corrugated
§ Location on a hill created stairs, that were sheets, Eternit.
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firstly small alleyways, to connect parallel § Small Family Houses, Small Buildings,
streets. Multi-Storey Buildings, and shacks.
§ Wastewater network is basic and in critical § Light and ventilation: natural lighting and
condition. ventilation are not sufficiently available.
§ Weak provision of electricity. § narrowness of streets decreases the arrival
§ Very weak provision of potable water. of light to residential units and to the
§ One health-care centre just outside the streets, weak situation in the crowded north
neighbourhood. western part of the neighbourhood
§ No open public spaces. § Ground floor use: Ground floors are
§ Narrow streets. inhabited. On main roads, ground floor is
§ Stairs for circulation but in harsh conditions also used for commercial activities.
§ Absence of sidewalks. § Overcrowding and lack of privacy.
§ Absence of streetlights in the majority of § Apartments surface area are fair, weak
streets. space organisation.
§ Structural systems of buildings are in
critical conditions.
After 65 years the situation of Rouweissat is critical since from the beginning the government never
recognised it as informal and never tried to improve the built environment of informal settlements of
Beirut. The neighbourhood suffers from overpopulation, weak infrastructure and services provision,
unavailability of open public spaces and green areas, along with complete negligence from the part
of the related municipality. Buildings vicinity, absence of green spaces, limitation of walkability,
weak circulation of air, the unreachability of sun to alleyways and narrow streets, deterioration of
infrastructure networks, and unavailability of social services contributed to the deterioration of the
living conditions
In addition, the neighbourhood presents significant issues related to the living conditions in
apartments. Buildings were poorly constructed with precarious housing and environmental
conditions, and apartments access to daylight and natural ventilation is very limited, especially in
the western side, where the terrain is flat, and the buildings are higher. Along with the narrowness
of streets, the non-resistance of construction materials, the age of the buildings, the water
penetration from walls, floors, and/or light roof, the leakage of waste water tubing and potable
water pipes even inside apartments, and the humidity, the dwellers of Rouweissat are exposed to
weak sanitation and major health problems. The poor housing quality has also an impact on the
social behaviour of the dwellers, considering that they are living in together in households and
sharing the same space most of the time.
In order to define a strategy for the improvement of the living conditions of the dwellers of
Rouweissat, a Toolbox was created. User needs are defined, and with respect to that, critical
issues are classified together with the respective action tools, responding to the problems. The
Toolbox focuses on the upgrade of buildings and the provision of housing in informal areas since
the situation of buildings in the studied neighbourhood is deteriorating day after day. It also
emphasis on the involvement of architects and the use of innovative technologies.
Table 2. Toolbox
User needs Critical issues Action Tool
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Provide decent shelter for
people living in unsafe houses
People are living in substandard
or shacks. Houses should
houses with high density.
respond to all household
members’ needs.
Assessment of buildings with
Weakness of the foundations unsafe structural system
and instability of the structural conditions, and reinforcement of
system in some buildings. foundation, columns, and slabs
Access to housing
in case of instability.
constitute a basic human
Exchange non-resistant and
right. All people have the
dangerous materials (walls,
right to adequate, safe, Some houses are built with light
roofs, etc.) with other materials
and sustainable shelter. walls (metal sheet, very thin
that have higher resistance
non-plastered wall, etc.), and
against atmospheric factors
with roofing made of corrugated
(sun, rain, wind, etc.) and that
metal sheets and Eternit.
no harmful effect on the
dwellers.
Reinforce the tenure through the
Some settlements have no legalisation and regulation of the
secure tenure. status of informal dwellers
through.
Increase the natural lighting
Windows and window-doors are
through increasing the area of
small relatively to the areas of
windows to reach a better ratio
rooms, and some rooms have
of the surface of the belonging
no window or opening.
space.
Ventilation is very bad in Remove some buildings in very
apartments since most buildings crowded areas to improve the
The use of natural
are connected: the building has ventilation of apartments on
daylight and ventilation
one elevation on the street while lower floors and ensure that the
inside apartments is
the others are on very small light reaches lower floors of
crucial to provide
space left between buildings, or surrounding buildings.
heathier environment.
totally closed.
Ensure the access of sun to the
apartments and increase green
Most of apartments in the
areas surface in the informal
crowded area of Rouweissat
neighbourhoods of Beirut to
present high humidity.
provide more open space for air
circulation.
Involve architects in any
Apartments’ surface areas are
apartment or building renovation
big in parallel with the number of
Improving the design of project and even for new
rooms.
apartments to benefit constructions in the settlement.
from the available Work on the design of the floor
space for a maximum Common spaces in buildings to better take advantage from
use (Involvement of are large. lost space in and outside the
architects). apartments.
Spatial organigram of Use light partitions to organise
apartments follows old rural apartments that have weak
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houses management, where the design, especially the one-room
design leaks of the minimum apartments that have insufficient
privacy for the household privacy.
members.
Incremental improvement of
buildings can be done through
Improvements are only done for
Use of cheap material providing some spare houses to
apartments in deteriorating
and efficient technological be used by residents.
conditions since residents
solutions (prefabrication, Increase awareness about
cannot afford the costs.
light walls, etc.) to better cheap materials and new
serve the residents of technics that can be used.
informal settlements and Incremental small improvements Use prefabrication for new units
accelerate the are done without moving out the to accelerate the provision of
improvement process. residents, in both cases if the housing. It can be economical
apartment is occupied by while working on bigger
renters or the owner. projects.
The strategy for the improvement of the neighbourhood is then extracted from the Toolbox. It
includes the provision of decent and safe houses, resistant to atmospheric factors, where all
household’s members are satisfied, ensure the access of sun and natural ventilation into
apartments, increase the efficiency of the design of apartments, use of cheap materials and new
technics, use of prefabrication to accelerate the renovation of buildings, increase porosity through
providing more open space for air circulation and accessibility, and reinforce the tenure through
legalisation of the status of informal dwellers in the city.
4. CONCLUSION: ACTION ON INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS

The common interventions on these settlements, that are mostly done by local and international
non-governmental organisations, are, on one hand, the provision and upgrade of infrastructure, the
provision of basic educational, social, and medical services and facilities, and the rehabilitation of
open space to be used by the community. On the other hand, the interventions on buildings, if they
are done, are limited to the upgrade of the sanitary system and the connection to infrastructural
networks.
The improvement of living conditions in the informal settlements of Beirut should be accomplished
through an overall strategy that covers all fields with a special focus on buildings and apartments
that are in bad conditions. Actions should be done on apartments, buildings, streets, and
neighbourhood level, where architects have a lot to do especially when working on upgrading the
physical form of the built environment.
5. REFERENCES
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[3] United Nations. (2015a). Habitat III Issue Papers 22 - Informal Settlements. New York.
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[5] United Nations. (2000). United Nations Millennium Declaration.
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darmstadt.de/id/eprint/6986
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URBANIZATION IN THE PERIPHERAL AREA OF YANGON CITY
1 2 3 4 5
Lint, Kyi , Than, Mu Mu , Mar Yee, Khin , Cho Lwin Lwin , Aung Ye Lin
Department of Higher Education, Department of Geography, Dagon University

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Urbanization -the increasing percentage of a population living in urban areas due to rural-urban migration and
higher levels of natural increase in the urban areas.* In urban studies, peripheries were presented as an area
that is subject to certain structural changes according to an urban pattern (demographic, economic, cultural,
spatial).
Dala Township is located on the southern bank of Yangon River. The township includes 23 wards and 23
2
village tracks. It has an area of 224.1 km (86.51 sq mi). The total number of population in 2014 census is
172,857. It is strategically located near Yangon. A bridge project was announced for 2017 to across the
Yangon River. The aim of the paper is to study the patterns of urbanization in Dala Town. Semi-structured
interview method is used for the primary data. The most important feature of urbanization in the periphery has
been its recent remarkable growth. The growth has been caused by high birth rates and very high levels of
rural to urban migration. Over one-thirds of the growth in Dala Township between 2010 and 2018 came from
immigration. People moved from the countryside in search of the better life which many believe is found in the
city. There are two sectors of settlement in the periphery: the formal sector and informal sector. The weight of
numbers and the inability of the market to provide decent cheap housing has meant appalling housing
problems in the peripheral town. The response has been the growth of self-help schemes, planned squatter
settlements. The squatter settlements are both a sign of failure and a source of hope. They represent the
failure of the society to provide jobs and homes.
Keywords: Dala Township, Formal Sector, Informal Sector, Periphery, Patterns, Urbanization.
* www.itseducation.asia/geography/u.htm Geography Dictionary
1. INTRODUCTION
In 2006 Yangon City has a population of over 4.34 million which was estimated. In 2014, the
metropolitan population is over 7.3 million (7360703). The city has expanded to its surrounding
area, leading to a significant increase in population. The most significant urban expansion is found
in peripheral areas especially in the eastern, western and southern parts, where urban population
has increased more than double. Among these towns, Dala Township located in the southern part
of Yangon City is selected as the case study. The reasons are that Dala town is located on the
other side of Yangon River. Downtown area of Yangon City and Dala town is divided by Yangon
River. The town has an area of 224.1 square km. It has many open lands and underdeveloped, but
the residents can easily reach to the city just through the River. They can join the jobs in the new
industrial zones, companies, private hospitals, clinics training schools and private schools etc. On
the other hand, the living cost is lower than the city many times especially the land rent. Therefore,
Dala may be the shelter of the poor who wants to get the job opportunities in the city. The
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significant population growth has been found in the urban area of the town. The researchers are
interested in the patterns of urbanization in Dala Town. The topic is important because to
implement the urban planning effectively, it is important to know urbanization pattern of the town
and the scoio-economic conditions of the residents. To study these facts, the paper focuses on the
three parts such as physical factor of the town, socio-economic factors of the residents and
institutional factor for planning.
2. METHODOLOGY
Sources of Data
The study was based on both secondary and primary data. Secondary data such as population by
ward, squatter population and town map were recorded from General Administrative Office of Dala
Town. Primary data were recorded by field survey. Semi-structured questionnaire was used to
interview the formal and informal settlements.
Procedures of the Research
Firstly, to study urbanization in the peripheral areas of Yangon City, Dala Town is the case study
area among peripheral areas due to its strategic location and extent. Then, it intends to compare
the present situation of the town and future condition after the implementation of Yangon-Dala
Bridge Project and Dala Industrial Development Project. Third, questionnaire was tested in March,
2019 and data was collected in April and May 2019. The controlling factors physical factor, socio-
economic factor and institutional factor. Specific variables are population number, number of
households, squatter population, birth and death, migration, occupations and education level.
Interviewees are formal and informal settlers. Finally, the collected data was analyzed by the
qualitative method. Strategic location is pointed by Multiring buffer analysis. The study framework is
shown in figure 1.
Patterns of urbanization in periphery area, Dala Town
Physical Factor Socio-economic Factor Institutional Factor

* Strategically located * Population * Dala-Yangon bridge
near downtown area - Natural increase project
of Yangon City - Rural-urban migration
* Formal sector
* Periphery - number of houses and households
(Structural changes) * Informal sector
- Spatial - number squatter populations
- Demographic - decent cheap housing
- Economic - housing problems in
the peripheral town
- self-help schemes
- places of occupation
Figure 1: Framework of Urbanization in Peripheral Area

Source: Field survey in 2019

Physical Factor
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The location of Dala Town is economically important although it is located in the peripheral areas
from Yangon City. It is located within 5 km distance from population-weighted mean center of
downtown area of the City. The town is strategically located near Yangon City on the other side of
Yangon River (Figure 2). About 30,000 people take the ferry from Dala to Yangon City by the use
of state-owned inland water transport ferries and public-owned small boats (Figure 3). People who
live in Twante Township located on the southwestern part of Dala Town and Kawhmu Township on
the south also depend on the ferries and boats and take the buses in Dala Town before crossing
the river to Yangon.
Figure 2. Location of Dala Town, highlighted green color

Source: Map Frame is from Yangon City Development Committee
Note: Concentric circles of 5 km distance focus on Population-weighted mean centre of Downtown area of
Yangon City. Dala Town is located in the first ring. It can be clearly seen its strategic location.
Figure 3. Yangon-Dala Ferry Terminal

Source: www.alamy.com
Dala Town is located on the southern bank of Yangon River and southern part of Yangon City. It is
bounded by Yangon River in the north and east, Twante Canal in the west and kawhmu Township
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in the south. Dala Town has 23 wards before 2016 and increased to 24 wards in 2016. The new
ward, Tarkyi, is located on the western part near Twante Canel and along Dala-Twante Road.
When the structural changes of the town are studied in the years of 2003, 2010 and 2019, the
number of houses has increased significantly between 2003 and 2010 (Figure 4 and 5). New Dala
Ferry Terminal was established in 2014. After 2014 new buildings have grown up in the open land
near ferry terminals and along Dala-Twante Road (Figure 6).
Figure 4. The Northeastern Part of Dala Town in Jan, 2003

Source: Google Earth, Eye Alt 2139 ft


When the comparative study of the population of Dala was made in 1993 (census year), 2003
(projected year) and 2014 (census year), the total number of population in peripheral areas of
Yangon City was over two times in these years. The population number of peripheral towns was
significantly high in Hlaingtharyar, Shwepyithar, Mingaladon, 4 new Dagon towns and Dala Town
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(Figure 7). The increase number of urban population in Dala was shown in Table 1. In 2014 census
population number is 119366. This number little decreases in 2015 and increased again in 2016
and 2018. This may be census number and recorded data of Dala Township.
Dala
Figure 7. Urbanization in Yangon City

Source: Population Census in 1993 and 2014
Table 1. Population Number of Dala Town

Years 2014 2015 2016 2018
Urbanization in Dala Town 119366 102477 107966 112033
Source: Census 2014 and General Administrative Office of Dala Township
Economic Characteristic
Labor force participation rates and unemployment rates of males and females were shown in Table
2 and Figure 8.
Labour force participation rate for the population aged 20-64 in Dalal Township is about 65 per
cent. The labour force participation rate of female is 36.1 per cent and is obviously lower than that
of male which is 82.4 per cent. Labour force participation rate for the population aged 10-14 is 8.1
percent. They are school-age children and work in elementary jobs. The unemployment rate of
aged 15-64 in Dala Township is 7.8 per cent. The unemployment rate of young females aged 15-24
is 19.7 per cent.
In Dala Township, 30.1 per cent of the employed persons aged between 15 and 64 are services
and sales workers and is the highest proportion, followed by 19.1 percent in craft and related
trades workers.
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Table 2. Population aged 10 and over by labour force participation rate and unemployment rate by age group
Figure 6. Urbanization in Yangon City

Source: Population Census in 2014
Figure 8. Labour Force Participation Rated and Unemployment Rate in Dala

Source: Table 2
Socio-economic Factor
Proportion of Urban population in Dala is 69.1% and rural is 30.9% in 2014 census (Figure 9).
The growth of population in urban area is natural increase as well as in-migration. 51% is natural
increase and 49% is in-migration. Increase is not too much different. It is found that urbanization in
the town is comparable increase of natural and in-migration (Table 3).
Figure 9. Urbanization in Dala Township in 2019
Source: Population census in 2014

Table 3. The Increase Number of Population in Urban Area of Dala in 2018
Dala Township Birth Death Immigration Outmigration
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Urban 161 6 154 0
Rural 26 18 0 8
Source: General Administrative Office of Dala Township
Formal sector
Number of population houses and households

There were 119366 persons living in Wards (urban areas). This represented 69.1% of the total
population in Dala which is like Yangon Region having the highest urban proportion (70.1%).
Population density is 754.1 per square kilometre in Dala. The results showed a nationwide
population density of 76 per square kilometre (200/sq mi). Yangon Region was the most densely
populated Region, (723 per square kilometre). Population density by wards was shown in Figure
10. The western part of the town is more densely populated than the east which is nearer ferry
terminals, located on Dala-Twante Road and has more crowded commercial activities. Therefore,
the land rent and the cost of real estate is higher than the east.
The provisional census results indicated that there were 25212 households and 22729 houses in
Dala. On average 4.44 people lived in each household in the town.
Figure 10. Population Density in Dala Town, 2018

Source: General Administrative Office of Dala
Integrated household living conditions were found in every ward of the town. The highest sharing
houses are Ahantkyi East and Kamakasit wards. They are situated beside Yangon River, near Dala
ferry terminals and bus ferry, and pass through Dala-Danote Road and Dala-Twante Road (Table
4). A household may contain one or more families.
Informal sector
Distribution Pattern of Squatters

Although Dala Township has 24 wards and 23 villages, squatter population live in 22 wards and 7
villages. There are 25212 formal households and 673 squatter households in the study area. Its
total urban population is 112033 persons in 2018. The number of squatters in urban area is 30407
in 2017. They also live in 7 villages out of 23 villages (Table 5). This situation is different from other
towns.
Kyansittar ward has the largest number of squatters (10969 persons). It is located along Dala-
Danote Major Road and has open lands in the northern part. The second largest number is in
Hmawset ward (4330 persons). It has 6 lakes, located near the junction of Twante Canal and
Yangon River. Moreover, on the either side of Yangon River, Yangon-Dala Car Ferry Gate and
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Container compound are located. Third largest squatter population is in Yazathinkyan ward (2993
persons). It has 4 lakes and is located beside Matharchaung Chaung.
Therefore, it is found that the largest distribution is in the wards located along the main roads near
lakes, and car and boat ferry terminals.
Table 4. Demographic Characteristics in Dala Town between 2014 and 2018
AREA Number of Number of Number of Population Households Houses

(Sq. Population Population Population Density (Formal) (Formal)
km) 2014Total 2016 2018 2018 2018 2018
Id WARD
1 Thamatakanchay 1.38 4149 4286 4655 3383.62 1014 795
0.90 0 4090 4081 4512.92 975 920

2 Tarkyi
Sarparchaung- 0.77 4121 3583 3583 4635.02 824 756

3 kyaungsu
4 Kyansitthar 1.50 15802 12812 14032 9374.14 3185 2880
5 Tapinshwehti 0.45 7663 7314 7314 16138.60 2755 2213
6 Yazathinkyan 0.53 7375 7157 8634 16347.20 1635 1568
7 Nyaungkone 0.80 5847 5409 6102 7631.25 1300 1205
8 No 11-14 0.93 5610 4497 5994 6451.14 1498 1466
0.19 2139 2246 2599 13993.00 583 530

9 No 6
Ahantkyi_West 1.30 5623 4978 4989 3845.31 1091 1005
10 Pyinmakone
11 Ahantkyi_East 1.08 5324 5275 5349 4935.96 1320 1166
12 Myoma-Part1 0.14 1067 1105 1116 8186.24 265 223
13 Myoma-Part2 0.12 1423 1572 1545 12518.50 391 326
14 Myoma-Part3 0.19 571 557 434 2340.28 124 129
15 Myoma-Part4 0.60 4901 3702 2368 3950.57 870 735
16 Aungmingala 0.38 3025 2427 2068 5419.48 502 446
17 Kamarthwe 0.32 5143 4387 4510 14145.90 652 640
18 Setmyay 0.32 3699 3224 3163 9818.78 584 541
0.79 12578 9710 9710 12335.50 1915 1633

19 Kamakasit
Health-Public- 0.57 3892 3556 3928 6843.93 760 736

20 Servant-Housing
21 Hmawset 0.79 7453 5605 5921 7511.20 1137 1102
22 Boyanpyay 0.80 4192 3343 2842 3564.74 550 525
23 Banyadala 0.64 4206 3549 4041 6273.90 647 563
24 Bayintnaung 0.26 3563 3582 3055 11917.90 635 626
Total 15.74 119366 107966 112033 7117.22 25212 22729
Source: General Adminstrative Office of Dala Township and 2014 Myanmar Population Census
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No. 11-14 Ward crossing Dala River and located at the southeastern end of the town have 15
squatters although it is the sixth largest formal population ward in the town (7 lakes on the west of
Dala River and 7 lakes on the east). It is found that the small distribution is in the wards situated at
the peripheral area and far from the main roads.
Basic infrastructures like transportation roads, rivers, streams and lakes support the distribution
pattern of squatter dwelling. For example, Hmawset ward and No. 11-14 ward.
Economic factor is also important in assessing the informal settlement. To meet the job
opportunities, they usually stay in the second and third places of commercially crowded area for
instance, Myoma No (4) ward and Yazarthinkyan ward located south of Aungmingalar ward which
is the nearest place to Dala ferry terminals. Another important controlling factor is transportation
routes to access with the low cost (Figure 11 and 12).
The exceptional case is that some wards located at the peripheral area have a wide range of
distribution pattern, e.g., Thamatkanchay ward has 1785 squatters, the 5th largest squatter
settlement area and Tarkyi ward 4 has 1778, the 6th largest (Figure 13). It is sure that the reasons
of squatter settlements are the multi-dimensional case. To get clear and acceptable explanations it
needs to interview squatter population in every ward.
Table 5. The Number of Squatter Population in Dala Town

Number of Squatter Number of Squatter
Id WARD
2015 2017
1 Thamatakanchay 762 1778
2 Tarkyi 2443 1785

3 Sarparchaung- kyaungsu 872 1206
4 Kyansitthar 9578 10969
5 Tapinshwehti 396 350
6 Yazathinkyan 4093 2993
7 Nyaungkone 294 362
8 No 11-14 68 15
9 No 6 0 0
Ahantkyi_West
0 0
10 Pyinmakone
11 Ahantkyi_East 272 234
12 Myoma-Part1 188 158
15 Myoma-Part4 1173 1064
16 Aungmingala 316 209
17 Kamarthwe 521 546
18 Setmyay 211 160
19 Kamakasit 3906 2967
Health-Public-Servant-
224 320
20 Housing
21 Hmawset 5580 4330
22 Boyanpyay 392 347
23 Banyadala 392 334
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24 Bayintnaung 152 173
Total 31963 30407

Source: General Adminstrative Office of Dala Township
Figure 11. Number of Population and Squatters in Dala Town

Source: Based on Table 4 and 5
Figure 12. Yangon-Dala Ferry Terminal from the Yangon City Side
Source: Photo taken in 2019
Figure 13. Proportional Number of Squatters in Dala Town

Source: Based on Table 4 and 5
Decent cheap housing and Housing problems in the peripheral town
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This section focuses to identify housing problem areas of Dala Town and other related problems.
The bridge project, which will be implemented in 2022, will have an impact on the real estate
market in Dala Township.
Although it is located nearest place of Yangon City, it has many difficulties to stay such as
electricity and water shortage especially in summer. Fresh drinking water has to be bought and
water for home use is brought from the lakes nearby. Due to these basic infrastructure facilities, the
land rent and the cost of real estate is lower than that of the city.
A respondent said that “as far as where all the water that we use in our homes comes from either a
groundwater source such as a well, or from a surface water source such as a river and lake.”
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Figure 14. (a) The Use of Water from Lake; (b) Water-use from a Well; (c) Open Lands in the Southern Part
of the Town; (d) Interviewing to Some Squatter Populations
Source: Photos taken in field survey in May 2019; Planned Informal Settlement
Institutional Factor
Institutional factor plays an important role to develop a town. To develop Dala Town government
has implemented two projects. The first one is to build the Yangon-Dala Bridge which will link
Yangon's downtown area to the underdeveloped satellite town. Specifically it will link Phonegyi
Street in Lanmadaw Township with Bo Min Yaung Street in Dala. To alleviate summer water
shortages of the town, water pipes will also run along the bridge, bringing water from Yangon to
Dala. The bridge can make transportation easier for the neighbouring townships of Dala such as
Twante, Kawmhu, and Kungyunkone. The length of the bridge will be over 6,000 ft. This project will
be started in January 2019. The project will be finished by mid-year of 2022.
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Figure 14. Model of Yangon-Dala Bridge

Photo credit: Focuscore Group
The second project is to establish a new Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Dala Township after
completion of the Yangon- Dala Bridge. The SEZ project can make to draw more foreign direct
investment (FDI), create more job opportunities for local residents and the young people of Yangon
Region. This project is the fourth SEZ in Myanmar (Thilawa SEZ, Kyaukphyu SEZ in Rakhine and
Dawei SEZ). Currently, only Thilawa SEZ is completed and fully operated.
4. CONCLUSION
The most striking feature regarding the location of Dala Town is its physical landscape. Among 24
wards, 12 wards are facing Yangon River. It has 13 Jetties and 2 government-owned ferry
terminals to cross to Yangon City. Moreover, 5 townships of central Yangon, namely Latha,
Lanmadaw, Pabedan, Kyauktada and Botahtaung Townships, are located on the other side of Dala
Town.
Another noticeable thing is its urbanization. It is included in one of the most urbanization in
peripheral areas of the city due to its strategic location. However, the town is underdeveloped and
40 % join in the works Yangon City. Education of the head is mostly primary and middle levels,
40% respectively. Their jobs are sellers, motor cycle carriers and services in their town.
Having many open lands and not having appropriate urban planning make the increase of informal
settlement in the town, for example, squatter population has increased to double in
Thamathakanchay Ward.
On the other hand, insufficient infrastructure is a major obstacle to the development of the town.
infrastructure services are generally provided by self-help.
Although it is strategically located near Yangon City, residents in Dala Town have to use ferry to
come and work in the city. Dala Township is still largely rural and underdeveloped because it still
lacks a bridge across Yangon River.
If the construction on the Yangon-Dala cross-river bridge, which will link Yangon's downtown area
to the underdeveloped satellite town, is completed, Dala Town may become accessible to the city
and create many job opportunities and then the town will be developed. As a consequence, it is
necessary to solve in advance the informal settlements which are set up illegally either on the
public or private land.
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5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I specially thank to Ko Aye Win, local resident in Dala Town, who provided me to do pilot field survey
and collect the primary data. I would like to express my special gratitude to respondents and heads of
the wards in Dala Town.
6. REFERENCES
[1] Ministry of Construction plans to sign agreement for Yangon-Dala Bridge, March,
2019.Retrieved from https://elevenmyanmar.com/.../ministry-of-construction-plans-to-sign-
agreement
[2] Myanmar Country, Cities and Places ArcGIS Shapefile Map Layers, Retrieved from
mapcruzin.com/free-myanmar-country-city place
[3] Urbanization Theory, Research chomatic, Retrieved from
www.researchomatic.com/Urbanization-Theory-72090.html
[4] Department of Immigration, (2014), The Report of Dala Town, The 2014 Myanmar Population
and Housing Census, East Yangon District
[5] The Union Report, May 2015, The 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census, Dagon
Seikkan Myothit (Township,Myanmar) – Population Statistics. Retrieved from
https://www.citypopulation.de/php/myanmar-admin.php?adm2id=120213
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EXPLORING RECOMBINANT URBAN PROCESS.

EMERGING RESILIENCE IN INDONESIAN MALLED-KAMPUNG
COMMUNITIES
1 2
Raja Jusmartinah , Manfredo Manfredini
1, 2
School of Architecture and Planning, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
Mailing address: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
The construction of shopping malls in metropolitan areas has profoundly transformed the social space of the
affected urban neighbourhoods. In Indonesian rapidly growing cities, the malling phenomenon has created
new challenges to the sustainable development of communities in traditional kampungs. This paper explores
how contexts, where local economy, society and environment were disrupted by extra-large enclosures of
consumption, developed countering community-led, collaborative, and incremental processes that reassemble
their socio-spatial relationality. Hypothesising that these resilient local communities have produced a novel
urban element, the malled kampung, which reconciliates its two antagonist components. This paper discusses
the findings of an empirical study on Surabaya, the second largest Indonesian city. It presents the analysis on
a representative central city case of integration between a mall and its urban district – respectively Tunjungan
Plaza and kampungs in Kedungdoro district. Focusing on a crucial transition zone – a stretch of the primary
street adjacent to the mall – the paper analyses the production of its highly contested public space and its
distinctive territorialisation patterns. Describing different distinctive spatialization types of relational practices,
the paper unveils the spatialization processes of different groups of users based on evidence on their spatial
practices gained through both site observations and semi-structured interviews. Findings confirmed the
research hypothesis, showing how a resilient local community ‘bounced forward’ from the crisis generated by
the sudden appearance within its context of a substantive exogenous and disjoint commercial element.
Consistently, the malled kampung is defined as a new urban assemblage type that is instituted by multiple
intertwined collaborative processes transforming conflicts between actants of different networks into
productive alliances. As an open, incremental and multi-stakeholder spatial production, resulting from informal,
yet stable and well-organised practices, this assemblage is seen as important model for the stabilisation,
cohesivity, empowerment and capacity development not only in local communities, rather in the much wider
translocal ones that include temporary residents, workers and visitors, whose networks are hinged on this
locale.
Keywords: Malled-Kampung, Shopping Mall, Urban Kampung, Resilient Community, Surabaya.
1. INTRODUCTION
Playing an important role in the displacement of the centre of many public activities, the
construction of shopping malls in urban areas has profoundly affected the social space of their
surrounding urban neighbourhoods. This is not only a consequence of the transformations of urban
form, but also of new relational forms in public life and social interaction (Korff, 1996; Mutebi,
2007). The malls emerge as the centre of people daily activities as they provide a wide range of
integrated facilities and amenities for comprehensive public daily practices. Shopping has been
complemented by entertainment and socialisation, as well as elements of living and working
(Crawford, 1992; Manfredini, 2017). Their environmental characteristics are also support the social
life since they are comfortable and safe due to outstanding systems of control of customer’s
behaviour, hydrothermal parameters, health, and safety. Moreover, the memorable and eventful
spatialities of these malls position them among the most interesting places to visit in the city (Aziz,
2011; Nasution, 2011).
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A peculiar aspect of the transformation occurred in Surabaya, is the association between the malls
and the traditional urban neighbourhoods – the so-called urban kampung – that persist in the rapid
development of the city. The socio-spatial relationship between these two realms has created a
new urban element, where the alliance between the public-private space of the urban kampung
and the quasi-public space of the mall have produced a seamlessly integrated realm, which re-
embeds the mall into its locale, accommodating the needs their stakeholders – local and transient
inhabitants, workers and visitors.
In Surabaya, the rapid growth of shopping malls has profoundly transformed the public life in public
space. This has occurred particularly in central urban areas where shopping malls were built within
the boundaries of historic urban kampungs, as in the case of the largest malls in the city centre -
Tunjungan Plaza. This ‘malled’ urban kampungs has experienced quite rapid development trends,
showing the establishment of important synergies between the two components. The development
particularly intense in the areas surrounding the mall, involving relevant changes in land use
patterns, urban form, and building typology. The land use changes concern the increase in
commercial and productive activities in both buildings and open spaces. The new uses of buildings
are multifarious, with home industry, warehouse, shops, catering places, offices, boarding houses,
schools, playgroup, as well as clinic and medical practices as prevailing ones. Open spaces both
private and public have been mainly transformed into parking lots – usually on private yards and
sidewalk space – and street vending premises – on front yards and sidewalk space. This
transformation has shown the resilience of local inhabitants to adapted and synergised with new
activities from the mall.
The socio-spatial transformation have been affected on surrounding neighbourhood particularly on
the form and type of the houses. The transformation include the extension of existing buildings and
the construction of new ones, with the deployment of both permanent and temporary formation.
Through incremental processes, people have autonomously redesigned their houses and with
long-term implementations. The pressure to meet financial needs led to kampung’s people
increasingly seeing space as a commodity that can be commercialized on the integrated translocal
market (Setiawan, 2010b; Sunaryo, Soewarno, Ikaputra, & Setiawan, 2010). The buildings have
changed and adapted to accommodate the new uses. Many houses have new layouts that
recombine the interiors with extensions beyond the plots or even occupies the public streets. For
example, local people who run small business in their houses usually using pedestrian and
alleyway for customer seats or parking, as can be found in urban kampungs outside Tunjungan
Plaza.
Concerning the impact of shopping mall development in urban context, known scholars in urban
studies have drawn attention to the role of shopping mall in the transition of public life in public
space. Some studies discussed the use of shopping mall as a place for public activities based on
particular culture and geography [see for example (Erkip, 2003), (Abaza, 2001), (Voyce, 2006) and
(Oppewal & Timmermans, 1999)]. While some research have studied the role of shopping mall in
the development of surrounding built environment [see for example (Khan, 2014), (Stillerman &
Salcedo, 2012), (Southworth, 2005) and (Tyndall, 2010)] and the impact of shopping on
surrounding neighbourhood [see for example (Carley, Kirk, & Mcintosh, 2001; Longstreth, 1992;
McCormack, Giles-Corti, & Bulsara, 2008)], studies exploring the emerging new spaces and public
life affected by the combination of shopping mall and traditional district are still rare.
Considering the socio-spatial development in urban kampung, various academic researchers in
kampung studies have asserted the key role of kampung in modern city. For some, kampungs are
historical social asset and important repositories for local identity that should be given more
attention in the governance of urban development processes [see for example (Silas, 1989),
(Santosa, 2006) and (Setiawan, 2010a)]. Since urban kampungs are known for their poor
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infrastructure and low-income residents, scholars are now more focused on proposing concepts
that can sustain urban kampungs addressing service provision, infrastructural improvements and
economic development [see for example (Ernawati, Santosa, & Setijanti, 2014), (Roychansyah,
2010) and (Darjosanjoto & Nugroho, 2015)].
Although extensive research has been carried out on the transition of public life and public space in
shopping mall and Indonesian kampung, previous studies were more focused on investigating
shopping malls or kampungs as single object. Study on the socio-spatial relationship on the
combination of shopping mall and its adjacent kampung are still overlooked. To evaluate how this
combination has played a significant role in recent urban development, this study proposes a
method to evaluate the integration of mixed public-private realms in the formation of mall and
kampung as urban assemblage. It also explores how the public life in public space has constructed
and profoundly transformed the transitional space, the street between mall and its adjacent urban
kampung, as the quintessential space in malled-kampung assemblage. Thus, by exploring the
synergies of mall and kampung, it proposes an innovative interpretation of one of the most relevant
phenomena in the profound urban transition.
2. METHODOLOGY
The investigation were conducted using observation and semi-structure interview. Direct
observation was carried out through site survey to investigate the actual condition of malled-
kampung in Kelurahan Kedungdoro, focusing on the socio-spatial relationship between shopping
mall and its adjacent urban neighbourhood. As Gehl and Svaree (2013) suggested, direct
observation is the primary tool of public life studies. It can help to understand how and why some
spaces are used and others are not. At this point the local inhabitants and mall’s users are not
actively involved in the sense of being questioned, rather they are observed, their relational
activities are recorded to obtain a better understanding on how the spaces are used in
accommodating their needs.
Collecting data concerning people’s everyday practices that cannot be obtained through
observation were collected using semi-structured interviews. This type of interview is useful to
delve deeply into the effect of the mall’s activities on local communities surroundings it, because it
allows to elaborate data on people’s everyday practices (Harrell & Bradley, 2009). Considering the
particular characteristic of users, twelve respondents from four groups were interviewed including:
kampung (local) inhabitants (4 respondents), kampung’s visitor (2 respondents), mall’s visitors (2
respondents), mall’s workers (2 respondents), and owners and operators of commercial provider (2
respondents). A set of questions was designed to asked participants about their familiarity with the
study area, frequency of visitation, identification of frequently used, purpose and reasons for using
the spaces. Indeed, semi-structured interviews include open-ended questions that allow
interviewees to describe their practices, understanding and interpretation on spatial changes
related to the reorganisation of public life and social infrastructure networks as an urban
assemblage. It also instigates them to express opinions on the particular and general impacts
caused by the socio-spatial relationship between these two settings, focused on the emerging
spaces for social interaction.
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Evaluating the combination between Tunjungan Plaza mall and kampungs in Kedungdoro as an
urban assemblage, the investigation is focused on the transitional street of Kaliasin Pompa where
mall’s activities are directly affected and relational practices are concentrated. The space between
mall and its adjacent kampung, which is the street that connecting them, has been identified as
crucial parts in this relation. Socially, the activities along the streets show how the social interaction
between kampung residents and mall users are created. It is not only because of some mall’s
workers are living in the kampung or in some cases mall’s visitor are kampung residents, but more
than that the social interaction between different backgrounds has been created in this particular
space.
Figure 1. Maps of malled-kampung in Kedungdoro, Surabaya City. (A) Aerial view of the city with identification
of Tegalsari District, (B) Land use map of Tegalsari District with identification of Kelurahan Kedungodoro, and
(C) Land use map of Kelurahan Kedungdoro.
Source: Adopting data from Rencana Detail Tata Ruang Kota Surabaya (Detailed Plan of Surabaya)
http://petaperuntukan.cktr.web.id accessed on 22 March 2019.
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The daily practices on this street has shown the concentration of commercial activities that
accommodate the needs and activities of users from mall and urban kampung. The study area of
350 meters of Kaliasin Pompa Street is located between Tunjungan Plaza mall and Kampung
Kaliasin. Kaliasin Pompa Street is a part of the joining Plemahan Street through Kedungdoro’s
kampungs which connects two main city streets of Basuki Rahmat and Kedungdoro street (Figure
2).
Figure 2. The location of Kaliasin Pompa Street in malled-kampung in Kedungdoro

Source: Adopting from Rencana Detail Tata Ruang Kota Surabaya (Detailed Plan of Surabaya)
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Figure 3. The access to Tunjungan Plaza mall from kampungs in Kedungdoro.

Source: Adopting from Rencana Detail Tata Ruang Kota Surabaya (Detailed Plan of Surabaya)
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Kaliasin Pompa Gg. III Kaliasin Pompa Street
Figure 4. The transitional space between Tunjungan Plaza mall and kampungs in Kedungdoro.
The investigation began with the observation on people activities and their spaces. Observation
and photographic record on kampungs outside the mall were conducted to capture street level
activities including trading, street vending, parking and incidental activities. Researcher took
pictures of different types of people activities along Kaliasin Pompa street, focusing on the
relational activities that have created social interaction between different group of users. Sceneric
photographs and the pictures of targeted area on both side of street frontage were taken and
documented to identify users’ daily relational practices. Categorising the pictures based on people
practices, there are five most relational activities were found including: (1) having food (dine-in and
take away), (2) conversing (socializing with friends, neighbours and new persons), (3) parking
(mostly motorcycle), (4) selling goods (e.g. food and beverage, daily necessities, mobile phone
things and gasoline) and services (e.g. laundry, saloon and internet/game) and (5) waiting family
(husband picking up wife from working) or clients (pedicab and motorcycle taxi driver waiting for
passenger).
Each activity indicates the particular characteristic of user everyday practices and how they
integrate with others. The exploration of the practices found in the initial observations have
concentrated on the institution and stabilisation of distinctive spatialities that constitute the medium
for the reconciliation of the fragmented realms. To unveil how the five activities have produced
patterns that support the integration of the different spheres, observations have been
complemented with interviews focused on spatial conceptions, implementations, perception and
usage of the spaces. Semi-structure interviews with twelve respondents belonging to different
groups of local stakeholders of Kaliasin Pompa Street were conducted. Interviewees were invited
to comment on the five prevailing relational activities abstracted as convivial nourishment,
enjoyable socialisation, convenience vehicle parking, running an associational business, and
relational awaiting.
Convivial nourishment: “sharing the cheap food”.
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Respondents consider looking for relatively cheaper food as their reason. That is why the most
vendor found on Kaliasin Pompa street are the food provider, both permanent and temporary
vendors. As data collected, 39 of 58 commercial units (67%) on Kaliasin Pompa Street are food
provider, selling different types of meal for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack.
Food providers are the commercial units that evidently have most various customers including local
inhabitants, mall’s workers, mall’s visitors and people who just visit for food on these areas. Food
vendors become the routine place for having food for dine in or take away. As one of the
respondents who work in Tunjungan Plaza Mall said:
Almost every day I buy some cooked food from the food provider nearby this mall. I buy only
side dishes because I cook rice by myself. It really helps me as I do not have to cook, and at
the most important of it, the food is cheap. (Female, 28yo, mall’s worker)
Similar response also given by other respondents from different group. A group of students who
visited Tunjungan Plaza mentioned:
We prefer to eat nasi soto (traditional chicken soup with rice) at this street vending (street
vending nearby Tunjungan Plaza, edited) before visiting the mall. Here, we only have to pay
eight thousands rupiahs for a bowl, while for the same nasi soto in the mall we have to pay
double in price, so expensive. So we can save our money to buy another things or use the
money to play game in the mall. (Male, 17yo, mall’s visitor).
A vendor who sell nasi campur (Indonesian rice with sides) on Kaliasin Pompa street provides
information in relation to his customers. He said that his customers come from different groups, and
most of them are the employees who work at the mall and other business offices nearby the mall
(Male, 54yo, Interviewed on 19 August 2017). This answer were confirmed by a consumer who
work as a janitor at Tunjungan Plaza. As he said:
Yes, every day I have my lunch here. Uncle (he mentioned the vendor, edited) know me so
well as I have my daily visited here since my first day working at the mall, it was about two
and half years ago. I eat here because the food is delicious and cheap. Uncle so kind to me,
I do not have to pay every time I have finished my meal, I just give uncle some money when
I have got my salary. Yes, he trust me. (Male, 26yo, mall’s worker)
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Figure 5. Food vending operated by local inhabitant in Kampung Kedungdoro that provides cheap food for
mall’s worker.
Source: Author 2018
Data collected from different group of respondent show that the presence of food providers is the
most needed to accommodate their daily meal. In this case, users need the food with reasonably
price for their low budget. Accordingly, the affordable food providers become the most visited
place, make them as the social space where various group of users meet and mingle.
Enjoyable socialization: “chatting and discussing with friends, neighbours and new people
in friendly and spontaneous interaction”.
The most popular places for socialization found at Kaliasin Pompa street were the vending who sell
foods and beverages. People from different groups come for having food or just a cup of coffee.
For kampung inhabitants, meeting with neighbours and share the news at one of food vendors
become their routine activity. Since most of the vendors are the community members, they can use
the vacant bench that provided for customers and leaving soon when the guests come. For them,
just sitting, having chat, and watching people passing by is the leisure activity to pass their time. As
one of the respondent who live in kampung Kaliasin in Kedungdoro said,
I live on the next alley, but I like to have my coffee here. The vendor is my neighbour, so I
always sit and have a chat with him. No, I do not work anymore, I retired after the accident.
So, I enjoy to spend my time here. I can meet and mingle with different groups of people.
Yes, they are mostly mall’s workers. (Male, 54 yo, local inhabitant)
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a b
Figure 6. The representation of food provider as the favourite relational space: (a) warung (local shop) as the
place for women gathering with neighbour and (b) street vending as the place for mall’s workers spending
their break time.
Source: Author 2018
Convenience vehicle parking: “placing the vehicle on the parking space that near to
entrance, sheltered, and protected”.
In Indonesia, parking is a paid service that contribute to regional revenue. While parking located in
private property is organized by building owner or management, parking in public areas such as
roadside or on-street parking is usually managed by local people who officially deposit certain profit
of their income to the local government. Parking provider should deposit funds to the local
government based in accordance with official parking tickets issued.
Concerning the parking facility in shopping malls, local government authority states that the
privately owned shopping malls are obligatory to provide parking facilities in their properties both
inside and outside the building (“Pedoman Teknis Penyelenggaraan Fasilitas Parkir,” 1996). This
regulation, however, only mentioned the capacity of the parking area without any concern on
design and access of parking area to the mall’s entrance, specifically for motorcycles. It might be
the reason why parking areas for motorcycle on Tunjungan Plaza was located far behind the mall
building, they are not appropriately designed and connected with mall building. Accordingly,
although malls already provide parking facilities, some mall users (visitors and workers) prefer to
use parking facilities outside mall property at the mall’s neighbourhood to park their vehicle,
specifically for motorcycle, which is closer to mall entrance. As explained by some parking users:
I prefer to leave my motorcycle in this parking service so I can walk closer to the mall
entrance. You know, the parking service provided by the mall is located so far behind the
mall building, it is so tiring to reach the entrance. (Female, 22yo, mall’s visitor).
I choose the parking service on the outside mall because I can easily access to mall
entrance. Moreover, mall’s parking area (at Tunjungan Plaza) have no roof, so my
motorcycle will be so hot when it is sunny. It is more complicated when it is rain, as there is
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no roof on the pedestrian to enter the mall. But here, I can choose the parking with roof and
very close to the entrance. (Male, 24yo, mall’s worker).
This condition has encouraged parking provider outside the mall to use their house, vacant spaces,
pavements, garages and yards as the parking areas that organized by both private and local
community.
a b c
Figure 7. Different Type of Motorcycle Parking Area for Mall’s Users That Operated by (a) Tunjungan Plaza
management (b) local people (privately own) and (c) Karang Taruna (young group of local community).
Source: Author (2018)
Running an associational business: “trading with familiarity and friendliness”.

Participants who are vendors and operators said that the need of financial fulfilment are the main
reason for them to do small business. Some vendors are local inhabitants who modify their house
for living and commercial use. As information from Rukun Tetangga IV leader of Kelurahan
Kedungdoro (interviewed on 21 August 2017):
Local people who live nearby Tunjungan Plaza take an advantage of their house location as
they can run business to increase their income. Yes, most of them are our kampung
members and they are still living there while running their business. (Male, 58yo, RT leader)
This explanation confirmed by a local inhabitant who use her house for business. She transformed
her garage into local store and her living room into storage room. As she asserts, she benefits from
the lively street affected by the mall activities, so that she can sell different type of goods and
services such as daily necessities, gasoline and laundry service (interviewed and observed on 24
August 2017).
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Figure 8. The transformation of House Into The Combination of Living and Commercial Uses.
Source: Authors 2017
Further interview with local inhabitant has found that earning profit is not only for vendors or
operators personally, but also for local community. In this case, Rukun Warga (RW) as the local
community organisation get a share of income from on-street and vacant space parking services
operated by local community. Income is also get from vendors’ donation so called iuran
pembangunan or development donation that collected monthly. The amount of contribution is
based on the business scale as agreed at communal meeting. This local regulation is applied for all
community member who own or operate the activities for profit. The rule is also applied for
shopping mall as it located in urban kampung district, and considered as part of community.
Relational awaiting: “waiting for family member or prospective passenger”

Some spaces were emerged as places for waiting. For example, the warung kopi (coffee shops) at
the kampung street become the waiting place for husband or brother who pick up his wife or sister
who work at the mall. Since this activity is on regular basis, there is a closer interaction between
picker-mans as they can share the information about jobs or just chatting while waiting. As the
information from a man who is waiting for his wife who works as a Sales Promotion Girl (SPG) at
Tunjungan Plaza:
I pick up my wife every day from her work as SPG in one of the shops in Tunjungan Plaza.
Every day I wait here, at this coffee shop, meeting with others who also pick up their wife or
sister. I like to wait here because I can make new friends and have a chat with them until my
wife come. (Male, 31yo, Visitor).
This warung kopi (coffee houses) are the most favorite place for people socially interact.
Particularly in Surabaya, they are become the venue for social gathering so called cangkrukan,
jagongan or kongkow, the local term to express spontaneous meeting and discussion with friends
and neighbours.
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4. CONCLUSION
In order to explore how the combination of shopping mall and its adjacent urban neighbourhood as
the urban assemblage, the study were focused on the street as the transitional space between
shopping mall and its adjacent urban kampung. The emerging spaces on those streets presented
on how people activities have created particular forms of people relational spatialities. The new
spaces have emerged in accommodating the need of diverse user groups: kampung inhabitants,
visitors, workers, vendors and people who just passing by.
The observation gave the initial findings on people daily practices and the spaces have been
created. It revealed that there are five activities that most people do at the study areas including:
having food, conversing, parking, trading, and waiting. Further investigation using semi-structure
interview explored that the developing of commercial spaces on the street between shopping mall
and its adjacent urban kampung as presented on Kaliasin Pompa show how the spaces have been
created and developed in emerging resilience in local community to adapt with the new forms and
activities from Tunjungan Plaza mall. The resilient form was presented on five relational activities
on three particular forms of interactional space including street vending, warung stores and parking
services. These distinctive spaces have not only emerged in accommodating the particular needs
of users, but also facilitating the integration of different group of users to socially interact.
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was supported by the University of Auckland, New Zealand, the Directorate General of
Higher Education, Indonesia and Universitas Adi Buana Surabaya, Indonesia.
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THE 12th CONFERENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON URBANISM: BEYOND RESILIENCE
EMERGING SPATIALISATIONS OF RESILIENT URBAN COMMONS

RE-THINKING ASSOCIATIVE NETWORKS IN THE AGE OF ADVANCED
TRANSLOCALISM, TRANSDUCTION AND META-PUBLICNESS
Manfredo Manfredini1
1School of Architecture and Planning, The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
ABSTRACT
Engaging with the discourse on the challenge to resilience building posed by the crisis of inclusionary urban
commons, this paper submits that the translocalisation and digitally augmented networking of contemporary
urban communities have created a novel form of associative engagement that eventuates in transformative and
metastable spatialisation patterns. These patterns institute a novel type of commons with a highly redundant,
persistent, robust and supple socio-spatial relationality. This type is analysed to understand strengths of and
challenges to its agency in reassembling the fabric of urban communities by contrasting the commons’
colonisation, financialisation and displacement processes enacted by opposing dominant hegemonic forces.
Elaborating upon the critical urbanism tradition, this paper analyses the spatial implications of the “right to the
city” question, consistently concentrating on the dynamics of the relationship between power relations and
spatial production that have enabled the new commons to produce counterspaces within the most segmented
and commodified public realms. The proposed interpretation highlights the spatial conflicts emerging from
changing relationships between two antagonist forces: the abstractive spectacle of exclusionary domination and
the differential commoning of inclusionary reappropriation. Concluding notes claim that, given the detected
structural vulnerability of the new inclusionary commons, there is urgent need to reframe the question of the
commons through a better understanding of their recent transformation. Specifically, more research on the
radical changes in their spatial production is necessary to enable projective spatial disciplines, such as
architecture and urbanism, to efficaciously contribute to the affirmation of a universal “right to difference” towards
a democratic, resilient, and autonomous development of cohesive urban communities.
Keywords: Public Space, Resilience, Translocalism, Urban Commons, Urban Mobility.
1. INTRODUCTION
In the increasing cosmopolitan condition of our cities, inclusionary urban commons grow their civic
status of stabilized institutions for encounter, dialogue and collaboration. Their non-commodifiable
and universally accessible asset facilitates processes of differentiation that engage citizens in and
contingently articulated collaborative practices. Their commoning of heterogeneous values and
paradigms, personalities and spheres of thought, and material and intangible elements transforms
antagonist in agonist relations, where conflicts became productive of and support the creation of
critically engaged associations (Connolly, 1995; Mouffe, 1999, 2008). By reclaiming, defending,
maintaining, and taking care of the “coming together of strangers who work collaboratively […]
despite their differences” (Williams, 2018: 17), they constitute free, open and participatory networks
for social, cultural and material production, recreation and creativity. The networks favour a political
mobilization towards the reappropriation of urban space that is progressively alienated starting from
the dispossession of its conception into closed circles of expert managers (Butler, 2012: 141–143).
They are free and independent associations that combine spheres concerning multiple dimensions:
a) the civic – regardinjg justice, law, and morality of the political sphere b) the economic – including
trade and exchange of goods and services c) the cultural –concerning intercultural intellectual
engagement and discourse. In short, they contribute to the construction of a safe, healthy, resilient,
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pluralistic, and democratic society founded on principles of freedom, equality and solidarity (Borch &
Kornberger, 2015; Flusty, 1997: 11; Garnett, 2012: 2012–2018). Creating context-specific
organisational formats, these networks generate “possibilities for self-forming publics to appear, to
represent themselves, to be represented” (Mitchell, 2017: 513), instituting an integral socio-spatial
relationality that promotes citizens’ participation, responsibilisation and conscious decision making
(Villa, 1992). These processes are effective in sustaining collectivities in the everyday query for
political identity and affirmation of citizenship, liberating their relationality from externally imposed
constraints. They empower local communities in their own relevant contexts, balance power
structures, and strengthen the exercises of the fundamental ontogenetic right of citizens to participate
in the creation of their own material, cultural, and social spaces.
The discussion of problems affecting these commons has progressively grown in the last three
decades and concentrated on the critique on the decay of their public agency (Hardt & Negri, 2009;
Harvey 2011, 2012; Lefebvre, 1996; McQuire, 2008; Purcell, 2002; Stanek, 2011; Susser & Tonnelat,
2013; Sennett, 1977, 2008, 2018; United Nations, 2017). Fundamental references in this discussion
are theories on the modern crisis of political sphere and citizenship rights that have addressed how
the market economy has transformed public space into a pseudo-space of interaction (Arendt, 1958)
and how the passive culture of consumption has led the state and private sectors to colonise the
public sphere and alienate citizens from their political dimension (Calhoun, 1992; Habermas 1958).
Key elaborations have addressed the specificity of the contemporary urban condition of increased
segmented publics and counterpublics (Benhabib, 2000; Fraser, 1990; Harvey, 2007) with critical
stances individually articulating crucial questions concerning spatial control (Dehaene & De Cauter,
2008a, 2008b; Foucault 1995; Harvey, 2003), privatisation (Dawson, 2010; Kohn, 2004; Lee and
Webster, 2006; Low, 2006; Minton, 2012; Soja, 2010;), spatial justice (Low & Smith 2006; Mitchell,
2003), socio-spatial segmentation (Dawson, 2010; Harvey, 2003; Hodkinson, 2012), consumption
and alienation (Debord, 1983; Firat & Venkatesh, 1995; Miles & Miles, 2004), and selective
deprivation of public space (Davis, 1990; Harvey, 2003; Mitchell, 1995, 2003; Sorkin, 1992).
Furthering this discussion, this paper provides innovative insights into one of the major socio-spatial
challenges to urban-resilience building related to recent the transformation of the socio-spatial and
technological frameworks of the commons: the development of both physical and functional
redundancy in emerging mobile and digitally augmented spatialisation patterns of associative
collaboration, vis-à-vis the augmented vulnerability of their infrastructure consequent to its expanded
control, displacements and financialisation. Arguing that their novel spatialisation patterns have the
potential to make the commons bounce forward from the crisis caused by the withdrawal of direct
state involvement and their subsequent private colonisation, this paper explores the contribution of
three processes concerning their modified frameworks: pervasive translocalisation, recombinant
transduction and publicness hybridisation. The focus on these processes enables to disentangle the
complex changes in power relations, which affect the exercise of the Right to the City and the
capacity of urban communities to reverse the decay of their political agency.
Hypothesising that the emerging commons distinctively transform the roles of their infrastructure and
activation decoupling presence (eventuation of the digitally augmented institution) and present (fixed
material infrastructure and activation), the paper claims that their traditional understanding as
geographically bound institutions requires a profound revision. A review of their description as
establishments instituted by performative enactments is proposed, recognising their metastable,
more-than-spatial status. Their production of more efficacious, robust, supple and redundant chains
of associations is discussed elaborating on a relational paradox found in one preeminent urban
laboratory type: the emancipatory ambivalence of augmented relationality in the semi-public space
of shopping-based urban enclosures: the most active and technologically enhanced nodes of the
city’s public life.
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The speculation on the emerging topology of territorialisation patterns revolves around two main
ideas: Henry Lefebvre’s Right to the City, as recognition of citizens’ entitlement to “centrality” and
“difference” (1991, 1996, 2003, 2004; Harvey, 2008, 2012; Goonewardena, Kipfer, Milgrom &
Schmid, 2008; Mitchell, 2018; Purcell 2002, 2014; Soja 1998, 2000; United Nations, 2017) and ANT
and territoriology’s urban assemblage theory, as understanding of associative processes of
productive territorialisations on the basis of the logics of becoming, emergence, multiplicity and
indeterminacy (Anderson & McFarlane 2011; Brighenti, 2014; Deleuze & Guattari 1987, 2000; Farías
and Bender, 2010; Kärrholm, 2007; 2012; Latour 1999, 2005; Law, 2009; McFarlane 2011; Merriman,
2012; Murdoch 1998). The analytical methodology developed from this framework (Manfredini, 2017,
2018; Manfredini, Xin, Jenner & Besgen, 2017) was tested in the discussed studies by the author on
Asian and Australasian cities. It enabled the detection of relevant spatial instances pertaining to
associative processes for the exercise of the Right to the City, and the critical evaluation of the
agencies that support or suppress their evolution. Its focus on material, social and cultural practices
of spatial control supported the evaluation of exemplary strategies, tactics and acts of appropriation
and association of established commons appreciated against sustainability and resilience goals.
2. URBAN COMMONS AS PERFORMATIVE INSTANCES
The inclusionary urban commons are constituted by two necessary components: infrastructure and
activation. The infrastructure is a coordinated and regulated assemblage of resources, which form
reiterable and non-specific concatenations. It includes wide-ranging systems of spaces, objects,
technologies, media systems, interfaces, and social relations that provide the concrete basis for the
institution of integrated civic nodes and urban amenities, such as central squares and community
centres. Its shared asset also includes less stable elements that combine material and intangible
components of social (e.g. practices, routines and networks), regulatory (laws, codes and rituals),
and cultural (codes, knowledge, techniques and creative expression) kinds in unstable discrete
“transductive” “sociotechnical assemblages” (Bollier, 2002; Corsín Jiménez, 2014; MacKenzie,
2006). Activation, the other essential constitutive component, is the institutive process that
transforms the latent or potential status of the infrastructure into actual and factual commons. Various
forms of commoning practices of appropriation, co-production, and sharing sustain this performative
process that combines concrete and intangible resources into stabilised institutions, associating them
to socio-spatial contexts in dynamics of clustering with different degrees of operational persistence:
permanent, recurrent or iterative.
Permanently operational institutions have uninterrupted activities and continuous support of

substantive resources. They include primary elements of the urban structure, mostly localised in
central areas, which deliver public services for cultural, psychological, physical and social wellbeing
in the form of libraries, multifunctional gathering spaces, activity centres and the like). Their
infrastructure includes the dedicated availability of physical (e.g. buildings and related facilities and
equipment), digital (information technology and services to support usage, operations, management,
and decision making), human (dedicated staff combining physical and digital resources), and
financial (e.g. long-term public funding) means. They are steadily kept in operation by a mix of actors
and routines that integrate actual and virtual presence and performance. Their usage combines a
wide range of activities of necessary (non-discretionary commitments, such as home–work
commuting), optional (discretionary behaviours, such as participating in public events) and resultant
(socialising activities, such as communicatively engaging with strangers) kinds (Gehl, 1996: 11–16).
Recurrently operational institutions have discontinuous activities that do require infrastructural

assemblages, similar to the permanent ones, but do not require (or do not comprehend) their
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permanent availability. They are the sort with the highest diversity and occurrence. They are less
centralised and are often hosted by permanent institutions. They constitute regular collective
practices whose performance is massively enhanced by the use of locative digital media. Examples
of these instituted practices are the rituals of spontaneous spatial appropriation that make certain
urban spaces cyclically become mass-gathering places, rather than, mere movement spaces. A
renowned case is the Italian passeggiata: the daily collective evening stroll that takes place in core
urban places, such as Milan’s Galleria and Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, and is performed as a scripted
choral action that turns a nodal movement space into a vibrant temporary stage for interaction and
self-representation (Cova, Cova & El Jurdi, 2017).
Iterative operational institutions are also relatively frequent as they eventuate from repetitions of
stabilised assemblage sorts in form of recursive associations of actants (people, material and digital
elements and practices) in more topologic than geographic kinds, which change spatial contexts but
maintain their distinctive patterns. These manifestations are characterised by the shift of venue
caused by independent variables. Instances of the passeggiata also belong to this group when they
present recurrent migration for social or environmental circumstances. Weather conditions (e.g. rainy
days or cold seasons) may shift them from outdoor to sheltered spaces; collective social practices
(e.g. summer holidays in seaside towns) shift them, from cities to towns. An important manifestation
of this kind is the growing phenomenon of aggregations in irregular and unpredictable locations of
translocal communities (e.g. gatherings of migrants in celebratory rituals facilitated by social media
networks).
3. MORE-THAN-SPATIAL COMMONS: TRANSLOCALISM AND DIGITAL

AUGMENTATIONS FOR BOTH PHYSICAL AND FUNCTIONAL REDUNDANCY
Whilst functions, perceptions, and ownership of both tangible and intangible urban commons are
progressively multiple and interconnected (Carmona, 2010), their disruptive transformation into
agency-oriented institutions with complex spatialisation processes directs their “more-than-property”
questions (Williams, 2018) towards complex more-than-spatial issues. A major agent of the
transformation of the commons is translocalism. It affects urban society with a profound
transformational process involving patterns of socio‐spatial association and identity formation of
communities. New territorialisation patterns dissipate the traditional bounds of social networks to
continuous, discrete and fixed geographical territories. Networked actors with fragile affiliations and
distributed across multiple geographical levels establish alliances for creative collaboration, open
confrontation as well as struggles over a combination of intra-urban, inter-urban, inter-regional, and
even transnational scales (Brickell & Datta, 2011: 4–6; Greiner & Sakdapolrak, 2013; Parr, 2015:
87). The mobilisation of communities and their atmospheres (Kazig, Masson & Thomas, 2017) has
a significant impact on their commons, transferring its complex dynamism and dissolution of
permanent localization constraints to them. The new degrees of freedom make them translocal
institutions with a topological process of actualization that is spatialised through itinerant movements
from the virtual to the actual. When the instability of their situated embodiments becomes constitutive,
it creates contrasting effects: on the one hand, frequent re-emplacements require adaptation,
appropriation and reassociation of their infrastructural constitution and activation process,
strengthening the factors of vulnerability regarding their management and planning, as well as their
cognitive (identity, perception, representation) and bodily (sensory and rhythmic visitation) integrity.
On the other hand, the redundancy generated by the multiplication of potential availability and
reconfigurability of infrastructural and activation resources, and the amplification of self-organization
capacity and inclination towards change, enhance the resilience of communities, providing a form of
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dynamic rootedness that prevents their diasporic decay and emancipating their associative
processes from crises generated by local power unbalances.
The dynamic spatialisation of the material, social, cognitive and chronological elements of the
mobilised commons has introduced new forms of production of situated manifestations based on
contingent local–local events and on an efficient and efficacious networkability guaranteed by
information technology. Opportunistic logics of appropriateness (March & Olsen, 1995: 197–198) are
used by translocal networks to grasp context-specific circumstances, actualise their commons and
catalyse the recombination of their infrastructure and activation. The power of the commons to be
actualised in embodiments situated where and when possible and relevant, choosing, selecting and
recombining local and remote infrastructural and activating actants, sustains their vital capacity to
fully associate meanings in evolutionary and dramatic becomings. Digital media and virtual,
augmented and mixed (VAM) reality applications provide situated collaborative instances with
enhanced transductions that grant access to the necessary social capital and the opening of the
public sphere. Transduction, intended as the original notion proposed by Simondon’s (2013: 32), is
a transmutative operation. It refers to operations implying the coming together of heterogeneous
forces in either progressive iterative or irregular processes that restructure a given domain into a
provisional unity through the diffusion of an exogenous activity (MacKenzie, 2006: 16). Through
digital devices and services, transduction enables an actualisation of a “metastable state” (Deleuze,
1994: 246), combining the heterogeneous potentials of local and tele-presences. By introducing
scalability in everyday practices, VAM not only makes it possible to retrieve and diffuse information
on the global scale, rather, most importantly, embodying, in particular situated instances, forms of
active presence of various actors and things, independently forms both their spatio-temporal location
and their belonging to pre-existing networks. The embodiments move to act dialogues, encounters
and collaborations that exponentially increase the intensity and complexity of each productive,
reproductive and recreational activity. The connections established by each digitally enhanced
transduction have high community-building potential, since they can strengthen and expand the
inclusivity and openness of the networks, supporting actor-centred, multi-stakeholder, interactive and
dialogue-based processes (Kitchin, & Dodge, 2015; Manfredini, 2017).
The VAM’s augmented transductions strengthen the decoupling of presence (the immediate) from
present (the simulated) (Lefebvre, 2004: 23, 47), making it possible for commons’ embodiments to
elicit only the former – i.e. actively engaged actants – whilst repressing the latter – i.e. the insensitive
displacing simulations. In other words, whilst the digital advances enable the activation and diffusion
of commoning practices that engage actants through presence and intensify their incremental
productivity and differentiation through both conflicts and alliances (Dekker & Engbersen, 2014;
Greiner & Sakdapolrak, 2013; Jost et al., 2018), they also favour the exclusion of pseudo-
engagement of fallacious mirroring repetition, hindering the homologation of social meaning and the
demise of identity (Lefebvre, 2004: 6; Manfredini, 2018). Most importantly, the inversion of the
relationship between immediate and mediated presence of the actants – the active engagement of
which in a collaborative occurrence is no longer dependant on their material presence – expands the
involvement potential of the networks and the continuity of their interaction of over space and time,
enhancing and maintaining cohesion in otherwise loosening scattered communities.
Geographically, the manifestations of composite presences situated at the intersections of the

multiple analogue and digital components convey to the commons the translocal character of their
communities. The material infrastructure of each context in which they eventuate merges with the
immaterial one and enables swift transmutations and “tuning” (Coyne, 2010) of contexts and related
embeddedness. Adjustments depend on individual actors and involve iterative processes that can
be either fully recursive – as in scripted routines of theme park attractions – or articulated by individual
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creative, occasional or chance engagements – as in alternate reality games that employ transmedia
storytelling. These transformational routines enact multiple transductions of time/rhythm,
things/actants, and places/ecologies that, ranging from augmented continuity to kaleidoscopic
antagonism, open the actual setting to potentially limitless spatial metamorphosis. They have the
capability to extend, re-frame or even entirely substitute the references of a given event. Extensions
provide subsidiary supports that enable real-time integration and coordination between multiple
events, such as merging remote public forums with videoconference systems. Reframing can
reposition and reprogram entire environments, such as transforming a public park into a political
forum, with digital media as the core exchange platform. Supplantation can subvert consolidated
spatial conditions and practices, such as by gamifying a shopping environment with augmented
reality games (Manfredini & Jenner, 2015; Manfredini, Xin & Jenner, 2017).
The increased degrees of freedom of translocal commons also relate to their temporal dimension.
The presence–present decoupling also liberates the commons from the cyclical rhythms externally
imposed by the organisations that control the permanently situated infrastructures and activations,
enhancing their dynamism and independence from homogenising collaborative frameworks. The
reappropriation of chronological articulation of spatialities also defeats the external dominance of
rhythms – one of the main causes of the atrophy of the public sphere – overcoming hindrances to
the integral immediate of presence, the core lever of any collaborative creative act.
Progressively becoming translocal, urban communities have instituted multiple spatialisations that in
the reshuffle of their collaborative associational social, material and chronological geographies have
generated new issues. The transformation has profoundly re-established their basic characters of
“eventalisation” (Pløger, 2010), permanent becoming, and multi-stakeholdership through a disruptive
process. The rootednessless threat of the new erratic canon requires major absorptions and
adaptations to relational mobility have paradoxically made situatedness even more relevant. The
actualisation of their commons is a passage from virtual to actual that entails a local integration.
Composite spatialities connect its actualised form with others at the global scale, reframing the core
characteristic of the space of place – nearness, the sense of belonging and authenticity – in the
socio-spatial synchronisation of the space of flow. The VAM’s decisive contribution to
translocalisation of the commons has introduced a place–time redundancy that has further expanded
their self-determination and overall resilience. However, this status has created new challenges,
since, with the establishment of permanent infrastructure (physical) and activation (functional), the
navigation through the new spatialities has had to overcome the difficulties created by their multiple
iteration, repetition, multiplication, and superimposition (Manfredini, 2018: 10–12). The place–time
self-determination of these fluctuating networks present daily challenges to their commoners in the
exercise of the power that the new degree of freedom offers to enable effective communicative
acting, mobilisation and deliberating capacity for individuals to collaborate in networked autonomy
and constitute multitudes with enhanced democratic capacity (Bresnihan & Byrne, 2015; Hardt &
Negri, 2009: 352). Foremost, personal involvement is required to overcome the new threats, as
demonstrated in the establishment of major political commons in recent protests (Jost et al., 2018),
such as in the Arab Spring, the Occupy Movement (Fuchs, 2014: 83–87), and Gezi Park Movement
(Manfredini, Zamani Gharaghooshi & Leardini, 2017).
4. UNDERSTANDING MORE-THAN-SPATIAL COMMONS’ PSEUDO-CIVIC INSTITUTIONS
The new form of spatialisation that reflects distributed, translocal, and transitional situatedness,
commoning, and incrementalism requires a profound re-thinking of the theoretical approach. A
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framework for understanding their spatial production that combines physical, social and cultural
components with socio-spatial practices and rhythms is found in the Lefebvrian scholarly tradition of
the Right to the City. It provides specific critical methods that can be adapted to disentangle the
complexity of their translocal spatialities (Lefebvre, 1991, 2004; Soja, 1989; Stanek, 2011).
Specifically, it enables the apprehension of a fundamental political criticality of the contemporary
commons: how socio-spatial contexts within advanced neoliberal frameworks and multifarious virtual
extensions redefine the power relations and collaborative processes of translocal urban communities
in a progressively hierarchical society. The dual perspective of the Lefebvrian approach – which sees
the space as both a socio-spatial product and as an ontological means of production – is specifically
efficacious in the analysis of current hyper-networked frameworks, since its triplectic articulation –
identifying lived experiences, routines and conceptions – facilitates the detection of imbalances in
power relations of conflicts that heighten the vulnerability of their associative processes. Addressing
the redefinition of power relations that impact on commons’ livelihood is central to understanding
those contexts where the agency of their embodiments is subject to neutralisation by
commodification processes set up by powerful antagonistic forces. The control enacted by
hegemonic powers on the infrastructure of colonised commons favours their deterritorialising agency
against reappropriating representational commoning forces and can compromise the struggle of the
latter in freeing alienating conditions that hinder the exercise of the Right to the City. Specifically, the
Lefebvrian approach exposes the way the organisations that externally govern these spatialities
surreptitiously displace and decentre the social, political and cultural forms of relationality,
endangering the formation of adequate territorial claims and associations of urban communities.
This approach also reveals the peculiarities of the basic conditions and equipment of the
infrastructure that supports the irregular local embodiments of advanced more-than-spatial
collaborative routines. These highly specialised environments offer both exceptional urban qualities
and state-of-the-art ambient technologies. Urban qualities include comprehensive availability of
urban amenities and services; prime accessibility, with both public and private transport; high internal
connectivity; and outstanding character, enclosure and referentiality of the streetscape. Ambient
technologies comprehend systems to guarantee optimal psychophysical and relational
environmental comfort. Digital infrastructure and services are particularly important to support VAM-
assisted local embodiments in creating suffused, spectacular, highly connective, and immersive
atmospheres with artificial intelligence implements, and the internet of things through multiple user
interfaces for fixed, personal handheld or virtual devices.
Resources deployed for the emplacement and maintenance of their infrastructure are extensive and
often come with critical trade-offs. The neoliberal devolution agenda of many city administrations has
favoured their externalisation to third parties that can afford to produce it. Large-scale commercial
organisations step in aiming at colonising the commons and commodifying them. They provide and
grant access to such a valuable infrastructure, compensating for the scarce equipment of genuine
public space under a strict condition: the isolation and economisation of specific instances of
cooperative citizenship. Since the commons’ infrastructure is introduced into semi-public space to
expand its patronage and revenues, its conception model is subverted. It no longer pursues social
wellbeing, rather – as we will discuss later – its surrogate: pleasurable and participatory consumption.
Overdetermined spaces with a marketing-engineered mix of functions and rhythms, displaced
relationality, disjunctive territoriality, enclosing introversion and filtered accessibility, take the place
of spatial indeterminacy with collectively regulated polyfunctionality and eurhythmic, situated
relationality, territorial continuity, integrative openness and universal accessibility. Capitalising on this
controlled infrastructural dominance, semi-public space has rapidly expanded, casting separated and
nested individual elements into an amorphous aggregate for conspicuous consumption.
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The most relevant of such elements are the integrated enclosures of shopping and entertainment.
They are larger bodies of displaced central places that constitute the primary structure of civic-
antagonist extensive rhizomatic networks that are a good representation of what Sloterdijk has
described as agglomeration of technospheres: a foam made of spheres “layered over and under one
another, yet without truly being accessible or effectively separable from one another” (2016: 56).
Their urban domination has dramatically expanded the role and the problems of their predecessor:
the shopping mall. As ultimate anthropotechnical bubbles for controlled social activities (Sloterdijk,
2011, 2014, 2016), these new “cathedrals of consumption” have furthered the spectacularised
(Degen & Rose 2012) internalisation of public space (Carmona 2010: 169), as widely discussed in
the last wave of literature on the “end of the public space” (Gosseye, Avermaete & De Meulder, 2018;
Kitchin & Dodge, 2015). Their multiple segmentation in adjacent and nested anthropogenic islands
(Sloterdijk, 2016: 457–465) has instituted redundant self-referential circles, simultaneously
strengthening and dissimulating the distinction between inside and outside by iteratively defining the
latter to include it via representation.
Within the foam of the novel consumerist spheres, various degrees of privateness are overlapped,
intertwined and mirrored, manifesting the multidimensional coextension of public and private in
today’s personal lives. The novel kind of space, previously described as “meta-public” (Manfredini,
2017), nurtures and merges maximal consumption and maximal socialisation, consolidating eventful
assemblages of commercial, productive and recreational “inverted space” (Dovey, 1999: 125–133)
and up-scaling, which Rem Koolhaas defined as junkspace (Koolhaas 2002: 176), into an hyper-
connective meta-civic system.
The augmentation of hybridity and ambiguity of these pseudo-civic networks steadily recombines
both the normative and performative frameworks of the opposing private and public realms. The
divide between the networks and the rest of the city in regulations and control practices of public
spaces has increased. Spaces operate as Foucauldian “disciplinary mechanisms” (Foucault, 1995:
170–194) for the perpetuation of hierarchy, dissymmetry and disequilibrium in power relations
through the establishment of enclosed, spaces that guarantee the invisible, yet uninterrupted, spatio-
temporal supervision, examination and normalisation of each visitor. The machines are segmented
in functionally coded areas that permit a full internal, articulated and detailed control through ever-
improving “techniques of subjection and methods of exploitation” (Foucault, 1995: 171). Specific to
consumerism space is the repression of any public agency that could rise from actions and
discourses of autonomous social associations. Hypervisibility of panoptical systems has
comprehensively integrated active and passive surveillance with both traditional (human
observation) and advanced (automated audience-detection devices) means. Disciplinary policies to
prevent “hazardous” events (e.g. gatherings and protests) progressively refine controls on customer
access and behaviour. Meticulous admittance regulations, micro-behavioural codes of conduct, and
restrictions are implemented with segmentational exclusionary precinct planning, which includes
deterrent regulations (e.g. playground ban on adults unaccompanied by children, and restricted or
supervised access of young people in licensed premises) and ingenious environmental technologies
(e.g. the teenager anti-loitering Mosquito alarm or the user-filtering bodily synchronization through
piped music). Their invisibility and camouflage produce reassuring realms with elitist segregation and
spatially flexible, incremental, informal and indeterminate appearance, which deceptively avoid the
over-determination that in modern commercial environments had to rely on explicit threatening
policing methods (Manfredini, 2017).
The implementation of digital control capacity has also multiplied the power of compromising
relationality. Comprehensive and coordinated public space narratives have been endowed with
advanced eventful and spectacular transductivity that manipulates relationality over space and time
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– sometimes even using explicit theming after idealised historical models of cityness, such as in the
clustered and interconnected glitzy mini-city replicas of Venice, Paris and London in Macau by Sands
Corporation. If the hyperspaces of the analogue simulations of the pre-digital age had the capacity
to produce glossy mirages that provided access to sublime realms, derealise reality and transcend
“the capacities of the individual human body to locate itself” (Jameson, 1991: 44), the transductive
power of the all-embracing digital atmosphere has transformed ambivalence into hyper-valence and
dislocated the individual through limitless cross-contextualisations between concurrent and often
contradictory layers. The experience of these layers is no longer exclusive, enabling contextual
navigation through multiple merged contexts, whilst granting simultaneous shared access to same-
place and remote othernesses.
The displacing effects of these networks exacerbate the socio-spatial fragmentation of the city
system and, given their capacity to capture and polarise large sectors of public life, profoundly
contribute to the deterritorialisation of its social spaces (Manfredini, 2018; Manfredini & Hill, 2018).
The inclusion of fundamental public services, such as libraries or employment agencies, in their
exclusionary ultra-consumerist semi-gated spatialities leaves behind a large number of communities
and individuals who either cannot access or are not welcomed, constituting a further threat to the
sustainable development of the city.
5. THE PERFORMATIVE PARADOX OF COLONISED COMMONS
Whilst economic hegemonic players have advanced the colonisation of the commons, displacing
them within their semi-gated and ultra-consumerist networks, the structural order of their
infrastructure has redistributed duties and responsibilities in unstable hybrid ownership and
governance patterns involving the state, private corporations or third sector (Savas, 2000). In social
environments, the profound rearticulation of the public realm, brought about by the scalability
introduced by the amalgamated physical and digital spatialities, has been furthered by the
exponential growth of a phenomenon: participatory consumption. This phenomenon has pervaded
the commercial sector, intermingling its productive and consumption roles, orders and practices
(Belk, 2014; Manfredini, 2018; Ritzer & Jurgenson, 2010). Its impact on collaborative life has been
specifically relevant to the actant-ecology-rhythm activation systems of the colonised commons: the
socialisation of production has extended the contributor base and made the new prosumption
patterns an intimate mix of formal and informal elements that seamlessly combine the various
associational levels – the private, the parochial, the communal and the public (Manfredini, 2017).
The weakening of the external control, isolation and imperviousness of the physical and immaterial
barriers that affected the relational life in the foam technospheres that host the more-than-spatial
commons has opened extraordinary opportunities for its reconciliation with the civic component of
the city. The opening, though, depends on a performative paradox: the more the infrastructure of
colonised commons is developed with highly performative “spatialities of code” that attract translocal
communities and subjugate them to consumerism imperatives within the enclosed environments of
enchanted segregation and enticing distraction, the more their externalities reverse the enclosing
process and foster the decoupling of presence and enhance the resilience of mobilised urban
communities and of the institutions that guarantee their associative life. This inconsistency is highly
unstable, since it is generated by the uncontrolled externalities of the colonisation process. The
fissuring of the environments of the enclosures has opened unplanned paths towards their
reconciliation with their civic environments and propped up the regeneration of the commons onto
thoroughly emancipative institutions that positively engage conspicuous consumption with
participatory production. Their dominant players, on a mission to deeply restructure the global
economy on civil models based on economisation principles have produced total simulacra that,
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whilst depriving the others through wasteful abundance rather than privation (Mitchell, 2018), picture
satisfaction to struck strong alliances with their counterparts. Leveraging on the pleasure of the
mirage and the revanchism against alienating translocalism, they have progressively exploited the
technologically enabled participatory actions of the made-accomplice prosumer to enhance their
control power (Fuchs, 2014: 98–122) and used their free labour (Fuchs, 2014: 52–88, 98–122; Miles,
2010; Ritzer, 2005) to swiftly shut any gap opened by the widening contradictions of the advanced
cognitive-cultural economy.
6. CONCLUSION
This paper analysed the contemporary commons and detected an emerging type of commons
described as an institution with mobile, metastable, and metapublic spatialisation patterns generated
by digitally augmented processes. This new type is credited with the potential to produce efficacious,
robust, supple, and redundant chains of association that countervail the colonising power of external
hegemonic forces and prompt the overall commons to “bounce forward” after their crisis driven by
the withdrawal of direct state involvement. The effectivity of these novel spatialisation patterns is
attributed to their capacity to decouple their actants, separating productive, autonomous, and non-
mediated presences from constraining, dominating, and externally controlled presents. This
decoupling is associated with three major processes: pervasive translocalisation, recombinant
transduction, and publicness hybridisation. These processes are described as game changers in
communities’ relational life and identified as the origin of the subjection of the new commons to a
crucial trade-off: the concession of relevant degrees of independence and self-determination against
the usage of necessary infrastructure for the materialisation of the ultimate embodiments of the
commons. The trade-off involves the antagonist use of semi-public realms of the advanced
consumption enclosures that offer, at no direct cost, access to prime translocal and transductive
urban technospheres with outpacing centrality, relational hyper-activation, and state-of-the-art
technological equipment.
This inquiry, built upon the critical tradition of the right to the city, shapes theoretical instruments to
disentangle the changes in power relations that underlie the struggle of the new antagonist
commoning force for the collective appropriation of historical relationality of people, cultures, and
territories in all practices of everyday life. The way the new commons grow their prime counterspaces
at the core of the places that are responsible for the fastest decay of the traditional commons’ social
agency is unpacked and described. This performative paradox delineates the multidimensional
vulnerability of the new commons. It sets a major challenge to the stabilisation and further
development of the emerging counterhegemonic and nondominative modes of relational and
associative life. However, the radical changes in the socio-spatial production of these metamorphic
institutions that the research discussed in this paper tentatively ascribes to an emerging ambivalent
complicity between irreconcilable antagonist forces require more research. Problems specific to the
new impermanent, eventual translocal, transductive, and semi-public characters of the new
commons have been poorly investigated. This would lead to a substantial reframing of the question
of the commons and their resilience concept, and enable projective spatial disciplines, such as
architecture and urbanism, to efficaciously contribute to the affirmation of a universal right to
difference towards a relationally augmented democratic, resilient, and autonomous development of
urban communities where that paradox develops into – paraphrasing– a whole new order where the
scripted spaces of the chimerical, abstractive spatialities became meaninglessness structures
(Jameson & Speaks, 1992) that organise and supportive the “demand” of productive desire
(Manfredini, 2018).
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7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is funded through the New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
of programme Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities, National Science Challenge contestable
fund - Give Us Space project.
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th

THE 12 CONFERENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON URBANISM

Figure 1. Gazdar Bandh Settlements

3. BACKGROUND AND CASE STUDY

Figure 2. Mumbai before and after reclamation

0.5 m sea level rise

Figure 3. Mumbai Sea Level Rise

Figure 4. Gazdar Bandh Demolition May 2004 (Along the 4 nallahs)

Figure 7. Gazdar Bandh

Figure 8. Gazdar Bandh

3.3 Flooding faced by Gazdar residents since 1995.

Figure 12. Gazdar Bandh Nallahs blocked with garbage

Gazdar Bandh Formal Edge

Land Reclaimed as self- Saucer Effect

Figure 14. Saucer Effect Gazdar Bandh

Figure 15. Sluice gate and nallah

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1 Transformative Urban Development Programs

3.2 Introduction to Kampung Beting and Kampung Luar

3.3 Introduction of Economic Condition of Kampung Luar and Kampung Beting

Figure 11 Penambang transport floating food stall

Gender Division in Informal Sector Development

Informal Livelihood Strategies Uncertainty and Discontinuity

Keywords: Bottom-Up, Kampung, Low Income, Surabaya, Urban Resilience.

Table 1. Interviewees profile in Lawang Seketeng

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Figure 1. Map of the case study: Lawang Seketeng

Table 2. Six neighbourhoods in RW XV Lawang Seketeng

Figure 2. Six neighbourhoods in Kampung Lawang Seketeng

“Communal work is common in the kampung, when there is a deceased kampung

Beyond Resilience: Understanding people’s perspectives and actual risks

Table 3. Risks perceived by kampung residents

Table 4. Communities’ perspectives

Keywords: Cross-border region, non-state actors, regional governance.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

SIJORI from a social constructivist perspective

The governance framework

Results from the first investigative visit to SIJORI

[11] Jäger,J., Köhler,B., (2011), Theoretical approaches to regional governance. University of

[13] Kumar, Sree. (1994), Johor-Singapore-Riau Growth Triangle: A model of subregional

E-mail of corresponding author: [email protected], [email protected]

In this context, social resilience can be conceptualised as a people-centred approach including

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

1.1 RURAL REGENERATION 1.0: A NEW SOCIALIST COUNTRYSIDE

Figure 2. An empty new village in Inner Mongolia

Figure 3. Changing of Housing Typology in modern Hani Houses in Yunnan

Figure 5. The commercialization of a traditional “tangwu” in Tongmu

1.3 RURAL REGENERATION 3.0: A CHARACTERISTIC COUNTRYSIDE

Figure 7. Abandoned Tea Factories in Tongmu village

2. DISCUSSION: A PARADIGM BEYOND URBAN- RURAL DICHOTOMY

Figure 8. The reconstruction of the geographical and socio-economic urban-rural relations

2. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Urbanization and the problem of Housing

Table 1. Urban Population of Indonesia

Year 2000 2010 2025 2050

Table 2. Population Density in Indonesian Big and Metropolitan Cities (2015)

City Area (ha) Population Density (p/ha)

[23] Ruobing, C. (2016). 沈阳 “ 鬼城 ”—— 地产泡沫的样本 . Retrieved from 腾讯新闻 :