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New Kampung Akuarium brings hope for better living
Kampung Akuarium residents have decided to rebuild their settlement with a kampung susun (vertical village) concept.
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An artist's rendition of the future Kampung Akuarium by the Rujak Center for Urban Studies (RCUS). (Courtesy of/Kampung Akuarium cooperative)
F
or years, residents of Kampung Akuarium in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, have had countless meetings discussing the fate of their settlement since a forced eviction in 2016.
Indonesia's 75th Independence Day on Monday seemed to mark a turning point for the residents because on the occasion, the Jakarta administration held a groundbreaking ceremony to reconstruct Kampung Akuarium despite controversies surrounding the project's legality.
Kampung Akuarium is among 21 kampung prioritized for revitalization in Jakarta under Governor Anies Baswedan.
Unlike their previous settlement – predominantly landed houses in informal urban settings – the residents’ future home in Kampung Akuarium will be much different. They have decided to rebuild the area with a kampung susun (vertical village) concept.
A resident and coordinator of local community forum Dharma Diani, Yani, said they were determined to shake off their kampung’s slum label in order to live better lives moving forward.
“What is a healthy kampung? What are the terms? What does spatial planning mean? We dug into these topics so we could gain certainty over our future and live decent lives," she told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. "Whether we wanted it or not, now we have all agreed to develop a vertical kampung.”
She said the design they made offered a concept that was different from typical Jakarta's rumah susun (low-cost subsidized apartments), which were often “bland and cold”.
