Developing Country Studies www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-607X (Paper) ISSN 2225-0565 (Online) Vol 2, No.10, 2012 97 Spatial contestation and Involution: A Case of the Public Transport, with particular reference to the Kampung Melayu, Jakarta Triatno Yudo Harjoko 1 , Syono Dikun 2 , Joko Adianto 1 1 Urban Settlement and Housing Study, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia 2 Transport Study, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia * E-mail of the corresponding author: gotty@eng.ui.ac.id Abstract Various modes of urban public transport in Indonesia have caused environmental concern as a result of the competition among them in a limited urban public space, i.e., road. They give rise to usurpation of public space, blockage of the traffic and squeezing tightly into space. This study seeks to uncover such a behavior that is aggravated by the trip makers, associated activities such street vending. Findings have shown that habitus of actors and their virtual networks of illegal, informal activities sustain their existence. Keywords: dual-society, habitus, contestation of public space, meta-space 1. Introduction The practice of transport planning in Indonesia has been characterized by Euro-centric empirical model and denies the actual modes of the public transport in Indonesia. It denies the reality of the socio-economic practices and condition of the society as a whole in the urban formation and development. While urban population continues to increase at unprecedented rate and the gap between the rich and poor is widening, the resolution of transport problems has never conclusive. The critical state urban transport in Jakarta as a whole has been alarming. Some scholars have envisaged that in the coming year of 2014, Jakarta will risk a total congestion. However, parallel to the issues of congestion in a macro level, there is a critical micro issues regarding the movement problems that is a blockage or obstruction of traffic due to the various urban activities that can be subsumed under ‘informal sector’ phenomena including public transport services. Such urban informality practices have never been seriously investigated. Despite the fact that the traffic volume has reached the road capacity, it is also aggravated by the associated urban informal activities that usurp the public space next to the road; in many cases, it goes beyond side-walk. This research focuses on this particular issue – traffic behavior and its associated issues. The research seeks to unravel deep structure of so called ‘illegal activities’ associated with urban transport with a particular reference to the Transport Terminal of Kampung Melayu, Jakarta. Such a structure is conceived in terms of its spatial formation, production and reproduction. The research objectives are to uncover habitus and tactics of different actors engage in the usurpation process of public space – meta space – perceived and conceived by them; and, to establish a contextual transport analysis in Indonesia which is not empirical but explanatory. 2. Research Inquiries Understanding urban transportation issues and system simply from its mechanism or parametric approach of design in the built environment may overlook the deep structure on how a city works – especially the lived space. This is crucially the case in the country like Indonesia where it is constituted by the dual society, i.e., modern- capitalist/traditional-bazaar, or, formal/informal sectors. Their respective structuration process evolves and competes over scarce urban space. This includes urban transport problems. Urban transport in Indonesia has long been operated two modes of services – modern/capitalistic which is very limited in service and