Local Cultures – Global Spaces
Abstract
In the area of self-help, low-cost housing technology, challenges persist in improving living conditions for low-income communities and mitigating hazards. Despite contemporary approaches and innovative technologies offered through research, their real-world adoption remains lacking. Three projects that implemented bamboo technology in Java serve as sample cases of failure & success of adopting technological research products. Practitioners and researchers with interests in building technology play a pivotal role in shaping the conception of research design. However, their worldviews greatly influence how they perceive the world and formulate questions, select methods, and come up with solutions. Oriented toward delivering technological output, resorting to experiments, prototyping, model testing, and simulations are often considered the appropriate methodology. The lesson learned from the three cases, however, invites reviewing the conventional methods of choice that highlight the disconnect in formulating the challenges or the research questions aiming at serving the beneficiary communities. Defining the problems to drive the technological solution might require adequate appreciation, if not understanding, of the contextual aspects. Identifying the community, understanding differing priorities among community members, and acknowledging competing agendas among project partners are examples of situated factors that might affect the adoption process. Practitioners and researchers in building technology could better understand the social implications their innovations might have by embracing a more inclusive worldview. The crucial task at hand is to bridge the gap between technological innovations and the contextual community needs to foster innovations that suit the contexts and empower involved stakeholders.
Budianastas Prastyatama is a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan. His research interest is at the intersection of architecture design, low-cost housing technology, hazard mitigation, and participatory approach. The post-2004 North Sumatra tsunami was his first involvement in the hazard-related shelter efforts. Reducing the gap between housing technology and the culture of the communities in hazard-risk areas has since become his interest. He is keen on unpacking the interface architecture and building technology to empower itself and the community.