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Abstract

How do young people make sense of themselves through the stories they tell about their lives in cities? In this article, we examine youth media-making in Malang and Batu, Indonesia, as a meaningful practice of commoning that engages with the construction of youth and the city under the neoliberal logic of urban development in Southeast Asia. Our Participatory Action Research (PAR) with young people in local neighbourhoods has produced a series of documentary films and an anthology, co-authored to narrate their lived urban experiences and interactions with tourism. By telling their own stories from kampung wisata (tourism neighbourhoods), they articulate their roles as active citizens, moving beyond technocratic, top-down framings of youth as entrepreneurial agents and creative resources for tourism endorsed by local governments. As the youth navigate complex forms of participation in the rewang culture, declining community tourism, and environmental issues, commoning has provided spaces to imagine a more inclusive urban future – one that moves beyond neoliberal commodification.

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