Rita Padawangi

Associate Professor Rita Padawangi

Associate Professor

Core Learning

Tel: +65 6248 0346

Educational Qualifications

2008
PhD (Sociology), Loyola University Chicago

2005
MA (Sociology), Loyola University Chicago

2003
MA (Urban Design), National University of Singapore

2000
ST (Bachelor of Architecture), Universitas Katolik Parahyangan, Indonesia

Academic and Professional Experience

2021 - Present
Associate Professor, College of Interdisciplinary and Experiential Learning, Singapore University of Social Sciences

2017 - 2021
Senior Lecturer, College of Interdisciplinary and Experiential Learning, Singapore University of Social Sciences

2013 - 2017
Senior Research Fellow, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

2009 - 2012
Research Fellow, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore

2015 - 2016
Lecturer (Urban Studies), Yale-NUS College

2014 - 2015
Lecturer, Tembusu College (IARU Programme)

Monograph:

Padawangi, Rita. Urban Development in Southeast Asia. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2022.

Edited Books:

Herzfeld, Michael, and Rita Padawangi. Resilience as Heritage in Asia. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2024 (forthcoming).

Padawangi, Rita, Paul Rabé and Adrian Perkasa. River Cities in Asia: Water Space in Urban Development and History. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2022.

Padawangi, Rita. Routledge Handbook of Urbanization in Southeast Asia. London and New York: Routledge, 2019.

Cabannes, Yves, Mike Douglass and Rita Padawangi. Cities in Asia by and for the People. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2019.

International Refereed Journal Papers (Selected):

Padawangi, Rita, Ho Kong Chong, Yun Hae Young, & Paul Rabé. “City-building Knowledge from Neighbourhoods in Asia Pacific.” Asia Pacific Viewpoint 63, no. 3 (2022): 314-319.

Perkasa, Adrian, Rita Padawangi, and Eka Nurul Farida. “The Kampung, the City and the Nation: Bhinneka Tunggal Ika in the everyday urban life of Kampung Peneleh, Surabaya, Indonesia.” Asia Pacific Viewpoint63, no. 3 (2022): 364-378.

Padawangi, Rita. “Forced Evictions, Spatial (Un)certainties and the Making of Exemplary Centres in Indonesia.” Asia-Pacific Viewpoint 60, no. 1 (2019): 65-79.

Buurman, Joost, and Rita Padawangi. “Bringing People Closer to Water: Integrating Water Management and Urban Infrastructure.” Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 61, no. 14 (2018): 2531-2548.

Bunnell, Tim, Rita Padawangi, and Eric C. Thompson. “The Politics of Learning from a Small City: Solo as Translocal Model and Political Launch Pad.” Regional Studies (2017): 1-11. Page 3 of 6

Padawangi, Rita. “Building Knowledge, Negotiating Expertise: Participatory Water Supply Advocacy and Service in Globalizing Jakarta.” East Asian Science, Technology and Society 11.1 (2017): 71-90.

Padawangi, Rita, Etienne Turpin, Herlily, Michaela F. Prescott, Ivana Lee, and Ariel Shepherd. “Mapping an Alternative Community River: The Case of the Ciliwung.” Sustainable Cities and Society 20 (January 2016): 147-157.

Shaad, Kashif, Yazid Ninsalam, Rita Padawangi, and Paolo Burlando. “Towards High Resolution and CostEffective Terrain Mapping for Urban Hydrodynamic Modelling in Densely Settled River-Corridors.” Sustainable Cities and Society 20 (January 2016): 168-179.

Padawangi, Rita and Mike Douglass. “Water, Water Everywhere: Toward Participatory Solutions to Chronic Urban Flooding in Jakarta.” Pacific Affairs 88, no. 3 (2015): 517-550.
* Winner of William L. Holland Award for Best Paper in Pacific Affairs Journal volume 88 (2015).

Vollmer, Derek, Michaela F. Prescott, Rita Padawangi, Christophe Girot, and Adrienne Grêt-Regammey. “Understanding the Social Value of Urban Riparian Corridors: Considerations in Planning for Green Infrastructure along the Ciliwung River, Jakarta.” Landscape and Urban Planning 138 (June 2015): 144-154.

Vollmer, Derek, Diogo Costa, Ervine Lin, Yazid Ninsalam, Kashif Shaad, Michaela F. Prescott, Senthil Gurusamy, Federica Remondi, Rita Padawangi, Paolo Burlando, Christophe Girot, Adrienne GrêtRegammey, and Joerg Rekittke. “Changing the Course of Rivers in Asian Cities: Linking Urban Landscapes to Human Benefits Through Iterative Modeling and Design.” Journal of the American Water Resources Association 51, Issue 3 (June 2015): 672-688.

Padawangi, Rita. “Reform, Resistance and Empowerment: Urban Landscapes and the Transformation of Activist Groups in Jakarta, Indonesia.” International Development Planning Review 36, no. 1 (2014): 33-50.

Padawangi, Rita, Peter Marolt, and Mike Douglass. “Introduction to the Special Issue: Insurgencies, Social Media, and the Public City in Asia.” International Development Planning Review 36, no. 1 (2014): 3-13.

Padawangi, Rita. “The Cosmopolitan Grassroots City as Megaphone: Reconstructing Public Spaces through Urban Activism in Jakarta.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 37, no. 3 (2013):849-863.

Lim, Merlyna and Rita Padawangi. “Contesting Alun-alun: Power Relations, Identities, and the Production of Urban Space in Bandung, Indonesia.” International Development Planning Review 30, no. 3 (2008): 307-326.

Padawangi, Rita. “From Colonial Past to Commercial Present and Spectacular Future: The Impact of Urban Growth in the Transformation of Alun-alun Bandung.” Journal of Southeast Asian Architecture 9 (2006): 29-41.

Book Chapters (Selected):

Padawangi, Rita. “Contested Public Spaces in Urban Indonesia.” In Governing Urban Indonesia, eds. Edward Aspinall and Amalinda Savirani. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Publishing, 2024 (forthcoming).Page 4 of 6

Herzfeld, Michael and Rita Padawangi. “Resilience as Heritage in Asia.” In Resilience as Heritage in Asia, eds. Michael Herzfeld and Rita Padawangi. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2024 (forthcoming).

Padawangi, Rita. “Spatial Perspectives: Civil Society Activism as Struggles for Space in Urbanising Southeast Asia." In Routledge Handbook of Civil and Uncivil Society in Southeast Asia, eds. Eva Hansson and Meredith Weiss, 65-80. London: Routledge, 2023.

Padawangi, Rita. “Southeast Asia Cities: The Imbalances of Urban Development.” In Routledge Handbook of Asian Cities, ed. Richard Hu, 303-317. London: Routledge, 2023.

Padawangi, Rita, Paul Rabé, and Adrian Perkasa. “River Cities in Asia: Waterways in Urban Development and History.” In River Cities in Asia: Waterways in Urban Development and History, eds. Rita Padawangi, Paul Rabé, and Adrian Perkasa, 15-36. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2022.

Padawangi, Rita. "Rethinking Urbanisation, Development, and Collective Action in Indonesia." In COVID19 in Southeast Asia: Insights for a Post-Pandemic World, eds. Hyun Bang Shin, Murray McKenzie, and Do Young Oh, 205-217. London: LSE Press, 2022.

Padawangi, Rita. “Urban Development, Vulnerabilities, and Disasters in Indonesia’s Coastal Land Reclamations: Does Social Justice Matter?” In People and Climate Change: Vulnerability, Adaptation, and Social Justice, eds. Lisa Reyes Mason and Jonathan Rigg, 122-146. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.

Cabannes, Yves, Mike Douglass, and Rita Padawangi. “Cities by and for the People.” In Cities in Asia by and for the People, eds. Yves Cabannes, Mike Douglass, and Rita Padawangi, 13-40. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2019.

Padawangi, Rita. “Progressive City Surakarta? Learning from Community-Based Initiatives in Urban Indonesia.” In The Rise of Progressive Cities East and West, eds. Mike Douglass, Romain Garbaye, and Ho Kong Chong, 233-249. Singapore: Springer, 2019.

Padawangi, Rita. “Excavating the Ruins of Aspirational Urban Futures in Bukit Duri, Jakarta.” In Urban Asias: Essays on Futurity Past and Present, eds. Tim Bunnell and Daniel P.S. Goh, 205-218. Berlin: Jovis, 2018.

Padawangi, Rita. “In Search of Alternative Development in Post-Reformasi Jakarta.” In Jakarta: Claiming Spaces and Rights in the City, eds. Jörgen Hellman, Marie Thynell, and Roanne van Voorst, 173-194. London, UK: Routledge, 2018.

Padawangi, Rita and Manuel Vallée. “Water Connections: Output-Based Projects for the Urban Poor and the Pursuit of Water Justice in Jakarta, Indonesia.” In Resilience, Environmental Justice and the City, eds. Manuel Vallée and Beth Caniglia, 118-137. London, UK: Routledge, 2017.

Perkasa, Adrian and Rita Padawangi. “Living Heritage of Ruins? Contesting the Paradox in Trowulan’s Majapahit Heritage.” In Citizens, Civil Society and Heritage-making in Asia, eds. Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, Hui Yew-Foong, Philippe Peycam, 61-85. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Publishing, 2017.

Padawangi, Rita. “Muddy Resistance: Community Empowerment in Mudflow Disaster Governance in Porong, Sidoarjo, Indonesia.” In Disaster Governance and the Urban Transition in Asia, eds. Michelle Miller and Mike Douglass, 61-84. Singapore: Springer, 2015.Page 5 of 6

Padawangi, Rita. “The Vernacular and the Spectacular: Urban Identity and Architectural Heritage in Southeast Asian Cities.” In Asian Cities: Colonial to Global, ed. Gregory Bracken, 261-277. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2015.

Padawangi, Rita. “Climate Change and the North Coast of Jakarta: Environmental Justice and the Social Construction of Space in Urban Poor Communities.” In Research in Urban Sociology vol. 12 (Urban Areas and Climate Change), ed. William G. Holt III, 321-339. Bingley, UK: Emerald, 2012.

Padawangi, Rita. “The Right to Flood-Free Homes: Urban Floods, Spatial Justice and Social Movements in Jakarta, Indonesia.” In Global Visions: Risks and Opportunities for the Urban Planet, eds. Johannes Widodo; Jürgen Rosemann; Low Boon Liang; and Adriana Gonzalez-Brun, 199-211. Singapore: National University of Singapore, 2012.
* Winner of Best Paper Award at International Forum on Urbanism 2011.

Padawangi, Rita. “The Planned Suburbanisation of a City-State: Singapore’s New Towns.” In Research in Urban Sociology vol. 10 (Suburbanisation in Global Society), eds. Mark Clapson and Ray Hutchison, 293-317. Bingley, UK: Emerald, 2010.

Film:

“Lembu Yang Hilang” (The Missing Ox: Mass Ngaben and the Pandemic in Taman Kaja, Ubud, Bali). Watchdoc Kolaborasi, 2023.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtMJBRbNnpk
(Role: Producer)

2024 - Present
Faculty-mentor, Humanities and Social Science Research Programme (HSSRP), Ministry of Education, Singapore

2023 - Present
Advisor, River Cities Network

2021 - Present
Trustee, Urban Studies Foundation

2021 - Present
Coordinator, Southeast Asia Neighbourhoods Network

2021 - Present
Member, Association for Asian Studies

2021 - Present
Editor, Area Development and Policy

2020 - Present

Editor (Southeast Asia), Asia Pacific Viewpoint

2017 -2021
Regional Facilitator, Southeast Asia Neighbourhoods Network

2017 - Present
Associate Fellow, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

2013 - Present
Editorial Board, Asian Cities Series, Amsterdam University Press

2013 - Present
Research Theme Editor, Urban Knowledge Network Asia

  • Place-making and neighbourhoods
  • Public space
  • Environmental sociology
  • Civil society

2021 - 2026
Co-Coordinator, The Southeast Asia Neighbourhoods Network (SEANNET), Henry Luce Foundation

2022
Principal Investigator, Deathscapes and their Spatial Contestations in Urbanising
Southeast Asia: Case Study of Banjar Taman Kaja, Ubud, Bali, SUSS Faculty Development Scheme

2016 - 2021
Regional Facilitator, The Southeast Asia Neighbourhoods Network (SEANNET), Henry
Luce Foundation

2017 - 2019
Co-Principal Investigator, Mapping the Southern Islands’ Heritage Landscapes: Integrating Culture and Nature in Urban Heritage Conservation, National Heritage Board, Singapore

2016 - 2018
Collaborator, Arts and Culture Nodes in the Heartlands of Singapore: Exploring Strategies, Spatial Opportunities and Impacts (Phase 2), National Arts Council, SIngapore

2015 - 2016
Principal Investigator, Vernacular City Kota Tua: Cultural Identity in Everyday Urban Heritage, UNESCO Jakarta

2014 - 2017
Collaborator, Governing Compound Disasters in Urbanizing Asia (Ministry of Education Singapore Tier 2 Grant)

2013 - 2016
Collaborator, Aspirations, Urban Governance and the Remaking of Asian Cities (Ministry of Education Singapore Tier 2 Grant)

2013 - 2015
Senior Researcher, Future Cities Laboratory, Singapore

2012
Co-Investigator, Spatial Justice in Asian Cities, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore

2012
Principal Investigator, Evaluation of the Active, Beautiful and Clean Waters Programme, Institute of Water Policy, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore

2010 - 2011
Principal Investigator, Community Activism and Waterfront Redevelopment in Southeast Asian Cities, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore

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