ABSTRACT
Jakarta today is a very different place from the city I fi rst encountered 18 years
ago. This period has been one of constant change and one of the most formative in
the city’s history. In terms of the city’s physical form and outward appearance, the
transformation can only be described as catastrophic. What took place between
1990 and 2007 was a near doubling of Jakarta’s urban area. Through a relentless
process of removal and reconstruction, the loosely knit network of urban villages
has become a more formalized, multi-centred urban conglomeration.
