Contesting Invented Spaces of Citizenship: The Bayam Urban Poor's Struggle for Housing

Ahmad Ryan Faza Siddiq, Arie Ruhyanto, S.I.P., M.Sc., Ph.D.

2025 | Skripsi | ILMU PEMERINTAHAN

Government efforts to provide housing for the urban poor have often been inefficient and led to precarious living conditions. In Jakarta, the urban poor have recently started practicing “insurgent citizenship” to challenge this dominance. By advocating a housing model called “kampung susun”, the movement aims to ensure secure tenure and retain the urban poor’s agency in their living spaces. While several kampung susun have been successfully constructed and occupied by formerly displaced kampung residents, the kampung susun in Bayam was not able to immediately accommodate its intended residents. This article explores how the initial process of inventing spaces for advocating a contra-hegemonic housing solution was overtaken by the same hegemonic forces. This research identified several contributing factors: A mixture of heavy intervention by a province-owned company in the planning processes and fragmentation of the urban poor into different groups which led to the dependence of the urban poor on the sanctioned spaces of participation.

Government efforts to provide housing for the urban poor have often been inefficient and led to precarious living conditions. In Jakarta, the urban poor have recently started practicing “insurgent citizenship” to challenge this dominance. By advocating a housing model called “kampung susun”, the movement aims to ensure secure tenure and retain the urban poor’s agency in their living spaces. While several kampung susun have been successfully constructed and occupied by formerly displaced kampung residents, the kampung susun in Bayam was not able to immediately accommodate its intended residents. This article explores how the initial process of inventing spaces for advocating a contra-hegemonic housing solution was overtaken by the same hegemonic forces. This research identified several contributing factors: A mixture of heavy intervention by a province-owned company in the planning processes and fragmentation of the urban poor into different groups which led to the dependence of the urban poor on the sanctioned spaces of participation.

Kata Kunci : insurgent citizenship, urban poor politics, invented spaces