Studium Generale: Urban Studies Department of Urban and Regional Planning
PWK-UNTAN STUDIUM GENERALE: Marco Kusumawijaya Presents Material on “Local Knowledge to Restore Nature”
On Thursday, April 14, 2022, Tanjungpura University's Department of Urban and Regional Planning held a public lecture. Inviting Marco Kusumawijaya, an Indonesian architect and urbanist as well as an advocate of ecological cities with justice, this public lecture discussed “Local Knowledge to Restore Nature”.
This public lecture was motivated by concerns about various issues of environmental damage and natural disasters that are increasingly frequent due to the climate crisis. As we know, at the end of February 2022, the United Nations through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has just released the 6th IPCC report on the impacts of climate change on humans, which details adaptation measures to climate change caused by global temperature warming. The second of the three reports of the 6th Assessment Report is more comprehensive than previous IPCC reports, where local knowledge (which includes indigenous knowledge, local community knowledge, and citizen science) is increasingly emphasized and considered as an important asset in climate change mitigation and adaptation. This means that the importance of local knowledge has become a global commitment.
The Department of Urban and Regional Planning felt the need to raise this discussion. Because currently more than half of the world's population of 8 billion is an urban population, and this urbanization trend continues to increase, until it is estimated that in 2050 (less than 30 years) it is estimated that more than 70% of the world's population will live in cities, and urban communities are generally the group most affected by various disasters due to the climate crisis as is often happening today. So it is very relevant for the scientific field of PWK to participate in finding solutions in the future.
Marco Kusumawijaya, an architect and urbanist graduated from Parahyangan University and KU Leuven, Belgium, is an activist in the fields of architecture, environment, urbanism, and art. He has written several books on urban issues and is currently co-authoring a book on Indonesian cities. He served as chairman of the Jakarta Arts Council (2006-2010) and co-founder of RUJAK Center for Urban Studies (2010). He also designs programs at a sustainability learning center in Yogyakarta, called Bumi Pemuda Rahayu. Some of his published books include: (1) Changing the World, Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, a translation of David Bornstein's How to Change the World, Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, 2004. (2) Jakarta Metropolis Tunggang Langgang, 2004; (3) Kota Rumah Kita, 2005; (4) Siak Sri Indrapura, published in Indonesian (2005) and English (2007). Marco is currently also a curator in one of the Mekong Cultural Hub's art fellowship programs, during March - October 2022.
