8 - From data collection to citizenship: insurgent planning in a citizen science flood-monitoring project in Makassar, Indonesia

Summary

INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses how insurgent citizenship can emerge in traditionally technical realms such as infrastructure planning and risk management. First, we define the relationships between the concepts of infrastructure, planning and citizenship through a brief literature review on citizen participation in infrastructure provision. Then, through a case study of a flood-monitoring project conducted under the RISE programme (Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments), we discuss the value of (a) the participation of local insurgent planners in the development of programs that aim to improve health and well-being in the context of informal urbanization and (b) the use of planning approaches that challenge centralized planning by incorporating local volunteers from communities living in informal settlements in Makassar, Indonesia, in data collection and community-based perspectives. RISE is a public-health-oriented programme that addresses water and sanitation challenges in settlements in Fiji and Indonesia.

Through this case study we present citizen science as a tool for insurgent planning. We critically review and examine findings from a series of interviews with RISE fieldworkers – here seen as insurgent planners – and questionnaires administered with community members. These indicate that the relationship between fieldworkers and communities supported the development of a community-based data collection framework and contributed to community agency and infrastructure design practices. Furthermore, the expanded role of the fieldworkers as insurgent planners, identified through the discussion, suggests that their work in participatory data collection led to the emergence of insurgent practices within the community. The findings reveal that participatory practices such as the citizen science approach represent new ways for communities to fight for their right to the city and shape their own futures.

INFRASTRUCTURE, PLANNING AND CITIZENSHIP

The concepts of infrastructure and service provision are intrinsically connected with those of modern city planning and access to basic citizen rights. For those in the Global North, services such as piped water supply and telecommunication infrastructure have become so directly connected to the idea of modern urbanization that it may be impossible to imagine our cities existing outside a state-centred planning model (Allon 2016). In this model, infrastructure is often regarded as a purely technical field and, therefore, does not welcome citizen participation (Borraz 2011). Although modern cities were built upon these principles, the promise of universal access to shelter and services has not been fulfilled.