kampung education (2025)

Education has continuously evolved alongside sociopolitical and technological shifts, progressing from medieval elitism to guild-based apprenticeships, industrial institutions, and now, into the rapidly changing landscape of the information age. A Dell Research Report states that “An estimated 85% of the jobs in 2030 haven’t been invented yet. The pace of change will be so rapid that people will learn “in-the-moment” … thus the ability to gain new knowledge will be more valuable than the knowledge itself,” emphasizing the need for meta-learning(active) over passive knowledge acquisition. Yet, contemporary educational spaces and pedagogies remain rooted in passive engagement and rigid boundaries, limiting learners' ability to adapt to the uncertainty and complexity of modern society.

This thesis extrapolates the uncertainty of societal and technological shifts to assert the relevance of meta-learning(active learning) by implementing a vernacular spatial framework from Jakarta’s Kampung community. The Kampung—known for its diverse, resilient, and informal urban spaces—offers a living testbed for understanding how spatial configurations encourage multiple modes of learning, interaction, and collaboration. By examining the spatial dynamics of the Kampung and its intersection with Jakarta’s formal urban environment, the research seeks to reimagine educational spaces as adaptable, interactive, and integrated with the city.