Description

Indonesian cities host specific types of neighbourhoods – kampongs – where informal economies proliferate and where often craft-based and creative-based industries are found. These kampongs are characterized by high population density, low quality housing, and informal economies. Current research recognizes the particular characteristics of the informal economy of kampongs in Bandung, that work on home-based industries, creative industries (crafts, culture and arts), and tourism industries. Despite the informality of the kampongs in Bandung, these have considerable economic potential. Recent local government initiatives to support creative industries development provide a unique opportunity to explore the relationship between informal creative industries, urban development patterns and urban policies and strategies.
The topic proposed will analyze how kampongs, and/ or government strategies targeting the Kampong, influence spatial patterns of urban development, and better understand the mutual relationship between the informal economies or the creative industries and land use patterns.

Objectives and Methodology

The topic proposed will analyze how kampongs, and/ or government strategies targeting the Kampong, influence spatial patterns of urban development, and better understand the mutual relationship between the informal economies or the creative industries and land use patterns.
Broad research questions that can guide the research are: What is the spatial and socio-economic relationship of the kampong with the rest of the city and how has it changed since the development of the creative industries strategy? What processes are taking place in the kampongs (i.e commodification, gentrification, displacement).
The thesis can use both primary and secondary data. Primary data can include a survey amongst the informal (creative) industries in the kampong, or interviews with kampong leaders and NGOs active on the field. Secondary data can be used for support of the socio-economic and spatial analysis (namely census and remote sensing data and GIS).

Further reading

Aritenang, A., Benita, T. and Ramadhani, D., (2018). Informal enterprises and creative kampong: The Case of Bandung. The Proceeding of the 8th RRPG International Conference
Booyens, I. (2012). Creative industries, inequality and social development: developments, impacts and challenges in Cape Town. Urban Forum 23 (1) 43-60.
Colombijn, F., and Coté, J. (2014). Cars, Conduits, and kampongs: The modernization of the Indonesian city, 1920-1960. Brill.
Cunningham, S. (2009). Trojan horse or Rorschach blot? Creative industries discourse around the world. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 15, 375–386.
Fahmi, F. Z., McCann, P., and Koster, S. (2017). Creative economy policy in developing countries: The case of Indonesia. Urban Studies, 54(6), 1367-1384.
Kraemer-Mbula, Erika, and Sacha Wunsch-Vincent. (2016). The Informal Economy in Developing Nations. Cambridge University Press.
Prasetyoa, F. A., & Martin-Iverson, S. (2013). Planning In The Era Of Uncertainty Art, activism and the ‘Creative Kampung’: A case study from Dago Pojok, Bandung, Indonesia. In International Conference, March (Vol. 4, p. 5).