Investigation “Tiny House” in urban kampung: sustainable living or responding to scarcity?

Abstract

Abstract Competition on land use for settlements and offices or business areas in big cities in Indonesia, an especially metropolitan city such as Jakarta, have resulted in high land prices. This competition is a result of shifting settlements away from the city centre and people having to commute to the city centre every day to go to their workplaces. This problem occurs not only in developing countries but also in many developed countries. Tiny House Movement later emerged in developed countries and has been considered as one solution to deal with this problem. Living in a tiny house does not only mean living in a small-sized house, but also adapting to a simpler life, becoming less consumptive, being more connected to nature and caring for the environment. Living in a tiny house is not something new to Indonesian society. For people who live in the urban kampung, their place of living can also be considered as tiny houses, albeit having a different appearance to the ones in developed countries. This is what distinguishes between the understanding of tiny house between developed countries and Indonesia. This paper will discuss whether a tiny house is suitable to be applied in the lives of urban communities in Indonesia and whether tiny houses can be said as sustainable living. This research will use both qualitative methods (through interviews with urban kampung communities) and quantitative methods (measurements of tiny houses in urban kampung) to retrieve information. Through this research, it was found that urban kampung residents have applied the tiny living principle in their lives.