Abstract
This article explores photographic documentation as a complementary approach to capture liveability in informal settlements. It aims to explore the use of visual analysis, which may have the potential to capture information that may be otherwise missed in traditional survey methods. The article scans existing liveability frameworks and indicators (Momtaz and Elsemary 2015, National Research Council 2002, Fahy and Cinneide 2007, Dreifuss-Serano 2015, de Haan 2018) and delves into images of kampung living quarters to find objects that are associated with liveability in context of informal settlements. In particular, it looks at household elements that may indicate sense of belonging, a quality which may generate sense of well-being, perception of progress and identity (Cuba and Hummon 1993). With the growing number of people living in kampungs in Indonesia and the increasing complexity of the issues related to it, a more robust survey method is needed. Questionnaires and interviews are the most common methods to gather data pertinent to understanding the lifestyle in the kampung. While these methods have proven to give helpful insights on the residents’ socioeconomic status, they may not sufficiently capture the less quantitative qualities of liveability, such as sense of belonging and identity. A supplementary visual analysis of photographic documentation could provide ways to do so by capturing information that might escape the existing quantitative research language. This article will be organised in four sections. The first section will situate the visual analysis approach within the current discourse of qualitative methods in informal settlement studies (with references to the works of Pink, 2001; Oldrup and Carstensen, 2012; Rosling Rönnlund, 2015 and others). The second section will briefly review the existing methods for measuring liveability in informal settlements in relation to the potentials of photographic documentation as a complementary method. The third section will illustrate the arguments using the example of three kampungs in Bandung, Indonesia, documented by Future Cities Laboratory for their study. Finally, the fourth section will reflect on the lessons learned and provide some recommendations.
