What’s unique about the initiative?

Kampung Susun Produktif Tumbuh is one of the symbols of community victory against forced eviction in Jakarta. The rebuilt Bukit Duri settlement stands for urban kampung life; that is, a socially, culturally, and economically tight-knit community in a spatial unit. In support of human agency in housing development, the design is purposely flexible to allow each family to expand when opportunities come. It also provides conduits for rainwater, reflecting the first-hand experience of Bukit Durit residents as a flood-resilient community.

Most outstanding results

In 2016, seventy families were evicted from their homes in Bukit Duri, Jakarta, as part of efforts to mitigate the city’s persistent flooding problems. The eviction, however, was later ruled to be illegal. In 2017, the State Administrative Court found that the eviction had no legal basis and that the residents were entitled to compensation.

A group of volunteers belonging to the organization Ciliwung Merdeka worked with the residents, from children to adults, to empower the community through several programmes to foster solidarity and independence. These included an education programme for children, public health education, waste handling and management, economic empowerment, art and culture education, disaster response and mitigation, spatial planning and architecture. In addition, together they lobbied the government demanding that poor citizens deserved proper living conditions and showing them that there was indeed an alternative to eviction.

This alternative was then materialized in the Kampung Susun new residence and cooperative, where the residents themselves take responsibility for the care of the whole neighborhood. Residents do not pay rent, they are only obligated to pay a maintenance fee to the cooperative, which can also lend the residents business capital.

Kampung Susun Cakung will be one of the first public housing projects in Jakarta to have a modern design tailored to the residents’ needs: a proper place for families to live, grow businesses and build a community, where they can interact with and help each other. Each unit is about 36 squares meter and consists of both a personal and productive space. The productive space provides a place for residents to manage and grow their business. This is a significant feature and the result of the participatory process.

Quote from the evaluation committee

“Evictions remain one of the main problems faced by the urban poor. The redevelopment of Bukit Duri represents a struggle and a solution that can be replicated and be a model for the hundreds of other anti-eviction struggles in the world.”

– Meena Menon

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To know more, read this in-depth article. Also, you can scroll down to download the application form filled by this initiative to take part in the Transformative Cities award.