A Preliminary Study: The Change of Urban Kampungs to a Thematic Kampungs as a Tourist Destination by the Tangerang City Government

Abstract

This research is a preliminary study to see the changes in urban kampungs which were originally slums, turned into cleaner and more colorful kampungs. Kampung is a term used to explain densely populated urban area, where some of the characteristics of rural live can be seen in the people's everyday life. The city chosen for this study is Tangerang, a city in the west of Jakarta the capital city of Indonesia. In 2017, thematic kampung began to be planned by the Tangerang City Government as a form of supporting the Mayor's flagship program, namely Tangerang LIVE (Liveable, Investable, Visitable, E-city). The purpose of this thematic kampung is to re-creating the kampung into a ‘visitable’ area or as a tourist destination. Several previous studies examined thematic kampungs from the sustainability of implementation, community participation in development, environmental aspects, the role of stakeholders in the development process, and kampungs tourism potential. This study focuses on the change of urban kampungs before and after being formed into thematic kampungs. In contrast to previous academic studies, as a preliminary study, researcher wants to examine the concept of abstract space and social space by looking at the meeting space between the two. The author observes one of the most well-known tourist destinations namely Kampung Bekelir. This kampung underwent a re-painting project, and become a colorful kampung. The method in this study uses a qualitative approach with primary data collection through in-depth interviews, field observations, literature studies, and official government documents.