Life on the Fast Track (Jakarta, Indonesia)

A woman sits cross-legged on the ground, washing dishes in a bucket that rests on her lap. A rumble is heard, but the woman pays no attention. The sound grows louder and louder, yet this woman does not budge. Behind her a fast moving commuter train thunders along the tracks in excess of sixty miles an hour! The train blasts by only inches from her back. Another will pass in a matter of minutes.

This is her reality, along with hundreds of other track dwellers in the fast growing metropolis of Jakarta, home to more than 10 million people and constantly growing. As the population of displaced rural villagers swell, shantytowns bleed over onto the only public land available — the few feet of space next to the railroad tracks that crisscross the city.

Throughout Jakarta, whole villages of track dwellers now exist in the shadows of onrushing trains. The conditions are loud, polluted, and dangerous. There are injuries or fatalities on the tracks nearly every day. “You wouldn’t believe it with your own eyes” says Mustafa Bangalong, “old women and children work and play as trains speed by, inches from their heads, we must stop this, this is no way for people to live”.

A spokesperson for the Jakarta police department explains, “These are not criminals, nor regular street people, these are people who arrive in the city looking for work, for better life. They do not find it”. They will find it now.

Imagine This! A team of inventors, engineers, environmentalists and artists gather together in Jakarta to change lives. In just one week they will transform an abandoned plot of land into a safe, clean housing community for those most in need. The best part about it? Not only is it for the track dwellers that need it most, but also the housing will be built with the very things that speed by these people everyday.

Train shipping containers are some of the most effective and cheap housing options on the planet. They are solid and durable, and can be converted to accommodate a multitude of housing needs. Imagine This! will team with local citizens to create an urban community that each and every member will be overcome with joy and relief to call home.