ABSTRACT
In our revisioning of future Indonesian urbanism, we find the concept of civic space to be useful and appropriate. This notion of “inclusive social spaces with a high degree of autonomy from the state and the corporate economy” (Douglass, 2007a) aptly characterizes one of the most positive aspects of kampung public spaces. Civic space is an attribute that can be promoted as a socially beneficial aspect of Indonesian urbanism currently and into the future. Yet to speak of kampung space, one is necessarily driven to engage with a dualistic framework, as sociospatial dualism has long been a defining characteristic of the study of Indonesian urbanism. The broad set of attributes and assumptions associated with “the kampung” as the spatial manifestation of one-half of this dualism (though in urban population terms, the much larger “half ”) are essential to the interpretation of the popular basis by which Indonesian cities form and develop.
