ABSTRACT
Trajectories of urban change in cities such as Jakarta exert a substantial unsettling force that not only resituates residents across a wider swathe of territory but also induces a more provisional, temporary orientation to practices of inhabitation. Beyond accelerated circulation of bodies, goods, experience, and information, increasing numbers of residents both hedge their bets, avoiding firm commitments to place and occupation, but also systematically attempt to expand and modulate their exposure to the wider urban context, turning themselves into logistical instruments. Engaging some of the practices of outward movement employed by youth in Jakarta’s working-class urban core, the chapter considers the configuration of collective life on the run.
