ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses why community participation is important for promoting a more sustainable model of urbanization, and how citywide participatory mapping can contribute to that. Community participation is seen as only serving to lengthen the urban development process, create delays, and introduce the views of unqualified people who do not understand the wider impact of issues of a more technical nature. The community mapping process in Solo is built upon the Rukun Tetangga system, a territorial organizing system pervasive across all cities in Indonesia. Citywide community mapping can be a powerful tool to engage citizens in understanding and contributing to the development of their city. The chapter provides the impact of participation as a way of reaching and documenting parts of the city that might otherwise not be made visible, and the way in which participatory processes can build an inclusive governance relationship between the government and citizens.
