In this big world, I recognize that I am not alone in doing this project. Some people have initiated and maybe already building something that is similar to what I have recently been doing.
On the beginning of my research, there are already some thriving urban kampungs that are developed collaboratively with designers and government on the other part of Indonesia. Such as Kampung Kollektief and Karasa BDG.
And during my prototyping and analysis stage, I found a speculative platform who also built a future narrative storytelling based on utopia future: https://livingfutures.org/
Here, I would be like to analyze the differences between my practices in Berimajinaria with Cipadu residents, with Kampung Kollektief, Karasa BDG and Living Futures based on their practices and methodologies.
Berimajinaria x Kampung Kollektief
Figure 1: Kampung Kollektief’s Co-Design Workshop for Making Rujak Plaza taken from Kampung Kollektief’s archieve
| Berimajinaria | Kampung Kollektief |
| – Self-funded project. – Community-based design practice, that centres around collective imagination as a narrative output. – Geographical barrier makes the research not closely engaged with the community time to time, might need a plan to fostering a tighter connection after the MA. – Network based approach. The team are the existing partners that the researcher knows from the inner circle. – Speculative future oriented design approach. – Using Participatory Action Research to understand the emerging issues. – Research struggling to position herself as social designer or facilitator. – Using reflective drawing workshop as a method of discovery. – Outcome: Kampung 2050 as speculative narrative to cultivate imagination among residents. | – Located in Kampung Kunir, Jakarta. The evicted kampung due to urbanization. – Funded by International funding. – Community-based design practice, that centres around product design output. – Immersed and involved in the community throughout the research process. – Teamed up with people who signed up for the residency. – Solution and product oriented design approach. – Also using Participatory Action Research to understand the emerging issues. But has been progressing since 2022. – Positioned themselves as facilitators. – Using interactive ethnography workshop as a method of discovery. – Outcome: Rujak Plaza as an innovative public installation. |
Berimajinaria x Karasa BDG
| Berimajinaria | Karasa BDG |
| – Creativity as community empowerment is a novice practice. – The local authorities or government officers still using top-down approach, and seeing the creative workers as their vendors/partners. – Still in discovery part, has not yet found the real creative practice. – It was self-funded and planning to find funding to escalate the project. – Started from the research passion in design, art and strategy. And it influenced the children in the community to want to discovery storytelling using visual art. – Using future study as the foundation of the work | – Gempolsari has been building creative village since 2017. – Creative workers as part of government practitioners; proven by Kang Qodir appeared as Community Chairman with his background as Creative Director. – Has built their own community’s project plan for the future. – Initially, it was self-funded and not intended for commercialization. However, since numerous national and international researchers discovered Karasa BDG, the project evolved into a more progressive endeavor. – Started from the chief’s passion in graphic design and overall design context. It turned to be an influential skill that makes the community want to learn graphic design. – Using social innovation as the foundation of the work |
Berimajinaria x Jatiwangi Art Festival
| Berimajinaria | Jatiwangi Art Festival |
| – Centres on the socioecology issues. – Using litany of the environment as the foundation of the idea. – Need a solution towards flooding and need a sustainable plan afterwards. – Designer and researcher-led community. | – Centres on the socioecology issues, especially about the ownership of the land. – Using litany of the culture as the foundation of the idea. – Treated Jatiwangi as Living Lab. – Artist-led community |
Berimajinaria in Kampung 2050: Universe of Possibilities x Living Futures
Living Futures: Scenario Kit is a combined listening experience and practical toolkit designed to help people navigate complexity, uncertainty, and feelings of low agency by offering a safe and engaging space to explore and shape possible futures together. The kit presents four alternative futures set in 2050, each brought to life through narrated stories told by fictional characters, allowing users to understand what everyday life might feel like in different societal conditions. These scenarios are not predictions but imaginative, extreme-yet-plausible “what-if” worlds that show how flexible the future can be. Developed and maintained by the Danish Design Centre with support from the Danish Industry Foundation and the Danish Agency for Development and Simplification, the project draws on insights from more than 130 global experts and is freely accessible. As a living, evolving resource, Living Futures invites ongoing contributions from those interested in its future development.
| Kampung 2050 | Living Futures |
| – Imaginations and social data are actually from the residents. – Interpretation is more varied, and experts can build more conversation with the community. – The project still continues and open for collaboration. – Real emotion and thoughts are visible. | – The alternative futures are too speculative with less of human-centred data. – Interpretation is more solid and has been narrated in significant way. – The project has been discontinued. – Emotions and thoughts are ambiguous. |
My Two Cents
Figure: Project Positioning
You can probably tell by now how much I enjoy using four-quadrant analysis. Building on the comparative review above, this diagram maps the positioning of Berimajinaria and the Kampung 2050 project in relation to other similar initiatives.
Through several cycles of inductive research, the Kampung 2050 project has begun to move beyond product-driven problem-solving and into the spectrum of behavioural and cognitive engagement with the future through speculative narratives. This speculative orientation becomes a guiding light for designing future creative interventions, events that simulate preferred futures to understand what residents hope to experience. Press et al. describe this as experiential futures: immersing people in possible futures to expand their comprehension, agency, and readiness.
In this sense, Berimajinaria shares a conceptual kinship with Living Futures, which also builds future literacy through simulation. However, unlike Living Futures, Berimajinaria grounds its speculative work in real social data, the emotions, drawings, and lived narratives contributed directly by residents, allowing emerging trends and drivers to be analysed more contextually.
Because my engagement with the community has been conducted remotely, it has been challenging to maintain continuous, on-the-ground immersion in the way Karasa BDG and Kampung Kollektief have achieved. For this MA phase, my priority is to establish a strong methodological and conceptual foundation. Once I return and reconnect with the community directly, I will iterate the next stages of action-based work with deeper immersion.
Bibliography:
Press, J. and Celi, M. (2024) Designing Sustainable Futures: How to Imagine, Create, and Lead the Transition to a Better World. 1st ed. New York: Routledge. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003451693.