TEDxJakarta - Ridwan Kamil - Creativity and Design for Social Change in Cities
The speaker argues that Indonesia's future depends on activating its people's inherent creativity, citing examples like turning trash into housing and designing educational community centers. He emphasizes that citizens must become proactive trendsetters, rather than merely following established paths, and that community collaboration is essential for positive societal change. His personal journey, from architecture to creating sustainable, community-driven solutions, exemplifies this proactive approach.
## Speakers & Context
- Speaker is an architect and lecturer at ITB ("Indonesia's MIT" in Bandung).
- Has designed cities and helped in about 50 cities outside of Indonesia.
- Is active in the Bandung Creativity Forum, organizing creative communities.
- Presented after a speaker who demonstrated "Urban Play," suggesting potential collaboration.
- The goal is to motivate Indonesia to feel optimistic about its future through collective creativity.
- Notes that many creative people and achievers (e.g., Irfan, Irwan, Berry, Ade, Dr. Nurul) go unnoticed.
- Acknowledges his current lack of a "powerful voice," noting his general good health but acknowledging fatigue.
## Theses & Positions
- The future of Indonesia can only be saved by its people's creativity.
- Mismanaging cities will cause civilization to crumble, leading to unproductive lives marked by issues like floods and family time deficits.
- A stressful city will generate a stressful generation.
- Creativity must translate into tangible, positive societal change, not just remain theoretical or for personal enjoyment.
- The goal is to create a young generation that is both smart/clever *and* deeply cares about Indonesia's problems (poverty, energy crisis).
- Indonesian people must be trendsetters, not followers.
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Creativity:** The core asset required to save Indonesia; contrasted with simply following or copying past models.
- **Innovation:** Characterized by cross-creativity gathering and cross-innovation efforts, exemplified by merging fields like architecture, mathematics, and economics.
- **Ethical Development:** Preservation of tradition and values over mere appearance (e.g., respecting the *Joglo* spirit without just copying the style).
- **Waste Transformation:** The act of turning physical garbage (e.g., 30,000 Kratingdaeng bottles) into usable, aesthetically pleasing structures or goods.
- **"Earth Hour" Country:** Describing Indonesia's inconsistent public electricity supply, leading to reliance on local, self-generated power solutions.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Community Building:** Establishing forums (like Bandung Creative City Forum) to gather diverse creative communities (e.g., Nano Gank, Bandung Creative Gank).
- **Proactive Community Intervention:** Transforming neglected or problem areas, such as a former slum, into functional, colorful, and tourist-attracting centers through communal effort.
- **Local Energy Generation:** Implementing projects like "Enerbike" where physical exercise (cardio) generates enough electricity to power basic necessities (e.g., 8 light bulbs and a laptop for one hour).
- **Storytelling in Design:** Integrating narrative into architecture, such as designing a building to symbolize wealth (the bundled coins for the Jakarta Stock Exchange).
## Timeline & Sequence
- **1995:** Speaker's father passed away while the speaker was working on his undergraduate thesis at ITB.
- **2006:** Speaker won a competition, leading to an invitation to London.
- **Present:** Focus on launching initiatives like "Enerbike" and developing the "Urban Guerillas" community projects.
- **Future projection:** Anticipating the global demographic shift where **60%** of the world population will live in cities by **2025**.
## Named Entities
- **ITB:** Indonesian Institute of Technology, Bandung.
- **Bandung:** City central to the speaker's focus on creative development.
- **Pangalengan:** Location in Bandung where the speaker took landscape photos.
- **Raja Ampat / Irian Jaya:** Location cited as an example of Indonesia's rich landscape variety.
- **Banjarmasin:** City cited as an example of Indonesia's water culture.
- **Kawah Putih:** Lake in Bandung mentioned for its landscape beauty.
- **Senayan, Jakarta:** Location where a sports building concept was designed.
- **Aceh:** Location referenced for the Tsunami museum redesign concept.
- **Temanggung:** Origin of sustainable wooden building materials referenced.
- **New Delhi, India:** Location where the inspirational quote was encountered.
## Numbers & Data
- **34/Under 35:** Speaker's pants size, used in a self-deprecating moment.
- **50:** Number of cities outside Indonesia the speaker has assisted with designing.
- **>15:** Number of competitions the speaker has won.
- **90+:** Number of cities around the world the speaker has traveled to.
- **2025:** Year by which **60%** of the world population is projected to live in cities.
- **30,000:** Number of Kratingdaeng bottles used to construct the speaker's house.
- **6 months / 2 years:** Duration spent collecting the bottles and building the house.
- **11:** Number of potential locations in the slum that have been transformed.
- **$700:** Target selling price for the Enerbike system.
- **1 hour:** Time period for running the morning exercise cycle that generates power.
## Examples & Cases
- **Personal Photography:** Taking a photo of fog in Pangalengan, Bandung, before dawn, noting that the location is in Bandung, not Switzerland, despite the photo quality suggesting otherwise.
- **Architecture:** Building a house structure using **30,000 Kratingdaeng bottles** that was previously considered waste.
- **Community Revitalization:** Designing a **Tsunami museum in Aceh** to function as a Learning Center with evacuation hills, rather than just a place of remembrance.
- **Sports Architecture:** Designing a sports building in Jakarta inspired by Ade's muscles, emphasizing the concept of "movement" and "dynamic strength."
- **Finance Architecture:** Designing a building for the Jakarta Stock Exchange featuring bundled coins as a symbol for "drawing wealth."
- **Slum Transformation:** Buying land in a slum community to build a park, allowing the residents to green the area and run photo businesses, transforming the neighborhood from a place where children previously didn't want to go.
- **Enerbike:** A project generating electricity by combining morning cardiovascular exercise with the local need for reliable power.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- **Laptop / Light Bulbs:** Items powered by the "Enerbike" system, representing self-sufficiency.
- **Enerbike:** A proposed exercise/energy generation system meant to power local electrical grids in slums.
- **Camera:** Used to capture landscape photos, particularly fog scenes, to showcase Indonesia's natural beauty.
## References Cited
- **UNESCO:** The award body from which the speaker's former graduate student, who worked on "Fractal Batik," won the highest award.
- **UNPAD:** University in Yogyakarta, where the speaker's former student studied economics.
- **British Council:** Organization hosting the competition the speaker won, leading to his trip to London.
## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- **Copying vs. Creating:** The alternative to copying "Joglo" style architecture is to adopt modern interpretations that respect the underlying *values* rather than the surface appearance.
- **External Funding vs. Internal Initiative:** The difficulty of developing areas without outside governmental funding, necessitating self-help mechanisms like corporate investment in green spaces.
- **Dependency vs. Autonomy:** The need to move away from dependence on centralized infrastructure (like the main electricity provider) toward decentralized, self-sufficient models (like Enerbike).
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The speaker faced initial skepticism from an elderly lady who questioned: *"I wonder why sir, the creativity is just for people like yourself? Creativity is not of much use, if it doesn't solve our problems."*
- The need to transition from inspiration to actionable social engineering to prove creativity's worth.
## Methodology
- **Architectural Design:** Applying principles of storytelling to structure and form (e.g., the stock exchange building).
- **Community Intervention:** Identifying localized problems (slum blight, lack of power) and initiating physical, collaborative solutions (parks, energy generation).
- **Networking:** Actively building and utilizing relationships across different fields (arts, architecture, electrical) to gather collective creative power.
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- **Actionable Creativity:** The principle that *creativity must effect positive change in society*.
- **Focus on Human Resources:** The asset in Bandung is human creativity, which must be harnessed for city-level improvement.
- **Collaboration:** The need to gather diverse creative groups to achieve cross-innovation.
- **Civic Action:** Don't wait for government action; organizations and individuals must initiate change (e.g., buying land for parks).
- **Festival Culture:** Organizing festivals is a sign of a civilized and cultured nation.
## Implications & Consequences
- Failure to utilize creativity in urban planning will result in unproductive, stressed lives.
- A culture shift is needed to value proactive citizen participation over passively waiting for government mandates.
- Success in these local projects has the potential to attract broader investment and recognition, moving the region's focus toward the "creative economy."
## Verbatim Moments
- *"The future of Indonesia can only be saved by it's people."*
- *"My point is that, we're rich in culture, as well as city landscape."*
- *"So if cities don't anticipate this, can't manage itself. What will be is that, our lives becomes unproductive."*
- *"A stressful city will give birth to a stressful generation."*
- *"The most enjoyable work in the whole world is. A payed hobby."*
- *"I want to proof that, My time must give birth to something inspirative as well."*
- *"We don't have to copy it till the end of time. I'm from the present generation, but still respect values."*
- *"Be the change you want to see in the world."*
- *"Kuncinya adalah ini, saya memberikan sebuah tujuan. Bahwa.. ...our asset in Bandung mainly is, creativity."*