Emmaleah Jones

Where the Sidewalk Ends: Reimagining Slums & Governance of the Human City in Jakarta 

Humanity is experiencing, without a doubt, the most frenzied and concentrated phase of urbanization in our history. As a result, most cities of the future will develop outside of formal governance due to lack of proper planning. The goal of this proposed project is to investigate the dissonance between formal and informal urban space – where governance ends and squatter-driven development begins – in Jakarta, Indonesia. I aim to generate a dynamic image of Jakarta, Indonesia to show how spaces are used and connected, framing the study of people within a city in terms of how they interact with the built environment. This interstitial space is important because it is where the role of urban planning and imposed governance is least understood and least effective. The map I build will inform analysis of this quasi-legal space between the individuals in informal urban spaces and the formal institutions that grant representation and services. Thus, opening communication between these spaces will inform sustainable development, community-oriented policy, and human-driven progress. This project will develop methods for generating a human-centered map for three neighborhoods in the city of Jakarta, reflecting the experiences, realities and perspectives of the people living there.

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