Kristanti Dewi Paramita, S.Ars., M.A., Ph.D., lecturer and researcher at the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia (FEUI) is the only representative of Asian writers in the book Territories, Environments, Politics published by Routledge. This book is a collection of writings from experts from various fields, ranging from Architecture, Urban, Geography, to Sociology and Criminology. Kristanti’s thoughts are contained in a chapter entitled Passage Territories: Reconstructing the Domestic Spatiality of an Indonesian Urban Village.
In her writing, Kristanti conveys the idea of a village-city domestic area which has the characteristics of a dense population, low income, often prone to eviction, and has an unfavorable living environment. With these characteristics, Kristanti also conveyed the need to reconstruct the ‘traditional’ view of the domestic village area through an understanding of passage territories to create domestic space based on scattered and layered connections between spaces.
Kristanti focuses her research on Kampung Pulo, Jakarta as an example of an urban village. “I researched the lifestyle of the residents of Kampung Pulo regarding the various spatial practices that shape the domestic area which is influenced by the displacement of the residents’ housing. This study highlights the characteristics of the population of Kampung Pulo who are scattered, performative, and transgressive. Usually, we talk about territory as something we can control. Something that has boundaries and ownership. Through this book, I try to explain that the territory in the village is determined based on dynamic movements. According to the distribution, not based on ownership, but social and spatial connectivity.”
In the studied village, one family can live in three houses which can be located close or far apart. The three houses have their respective functions and uses. The family members cook using house A, they use the bathroom at house B, and so on. This shows that the territory becomes distributed because it comes out of various places and reasons.
The Dean of FEUI, Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, ST., M.Eng., IPU said, “The discussion about the village is not a new thing in architecture. Through this book, I hope that lecturers and researchers from the Department of Architecture FEUI can provide new perspectives and new contributions in the field of architecture from a different perspective.”
He continued, “Not only about locality, but also increasing knowledge about villages based on territory. Hopefully the book Territories, Environments, Politics can be a reference for researchers and readers who want to understand the village more deeply.”
Kristanti joined the writing team for Territories, Environments, Politics, starting from her research on territories published in the journal Interiority. The research caught the attention of the editorial team, which prompted her to join the book compilation team.
This book was worked on from February 2020 and was successfully launched on May 10, 2022. This book contains 11 chapters and each chapter is written by a different author with a different scientific perspective.
