Rumahku Tidak Menapak Bumi: Rumah Susun Penjaringan Sari

Rumah Susun (walk-up flats) Penjaringan Sari is one of the Surabaya City Government’s solutions to resolve housing issues. The rusun is intended for the people who were removed from some ilegal housing areas in Surabaya. It was developed to provide housing for a large number of people with minimal basic daily facilities. This is a phenomenological research to understand how the inhabitants interpret their experience of living in the rusun. This study is a modification of a previous study conducted by Evi Lina Sutrisno (2009). This study did not measure the participants’ satisfaction of living in the rusun. Instead, it analyzed the participants’ subjective meaning. Participants of this study are 15 families in the rusun. Data were collected using rapid ethnography; thus researcher was able to capture the expressed and implied meaning of the participants’ experience. Theories of environmental psychology and community psychology are used as a framework and as the basic of data interpretation. Objectively, living in the rusun might be a better situation than living in illegal housing. However, the participants interpret it differently. Meaning is related to the experience and culture in previous residence, the history of living in rusun, the changes in livelihoods and the social structures in and around the flats.