Community and change in Jakarta's public housing : the story of Klender

Abstract

Indonesia, like many other developing countries, has undertaken a major program of providing new housing for lower income people in crowded urban areas, particularly in its capital, Jakarta. The government's experience has included capital intensive projects, with a completed design, as well as site and service projects, which leaves the final home to be completed by the resident. The site and service project of Klender has undergone a major physical transformation, from a grouping of bare concrete block shell s to a flourishing and colorful community. These changes present a fascinating case of how people create their own environment. This thesis describes, observes and analyzes the changes that have taken place at Klender to determine how people with very little means have built and are building their environment and to see what lessons lay within that environment that can help generate future design ideas and hopefully help designers and policy makers better understand how people create and use their communities.