Urbanism in the discipline of architecture has largely been confined to the analysis of physical appearance of cities. Such an analysis may overlook the crucial issue, which is political, on the spatial formation of a city like Jakarta This formation results from the structuration process of a society where the production and reproduction of society assumes domination from one another. In a dual society, such as in the city of Jakarta, such a process has an implication of the urban form, that is, the dual quality of urbanism. This study examines this dual image of Jakarta, with a particular concern for the transformation of the inner dynamic of its social life. It concerns the triad of knowledge-power-space in which the society is produced and reproduced in the timespace dimension. The kampung is investigated as a locale of social practices, especially in regard to the low-income urban population. The idea and term tropotopia is introduced to describe urban form or spatiality that is in a continuous process of formation and transformation. The study looks particularly the history of the reproduction of society in Indonesia, where dominant social systems control allocative and authoritative resources. Such practices primarily govern the spatial formation of Jakarta. In these systems, planners and designers acting as agents have played crucial roles in the structuration of society, and of the space. Planners and designers are seen to be part of the episteme that develops and informs the poor relation of society. The dissertation concludes with a reflection on the ways in which the dual quality of Jakarta is revealed in the interplay in social practices within a triadic knowledge-power- space.