Youth and violence seems as an ‘embedded’ phenomena in urban context, particularly at slum areas. Macionist stated that 39% of arrests for violent crime are youth (15-24 years old) and mostly are the poor. This stigmatisation is conditioning a violence culture among youth. Thus, it is necessary to transform their violence culture into productive culture by recognising their potential competencies. Based on the case of Johar Baru, Jakarta, where the youth empowerment program has been established since 2012 through Sekolah Komunitas Johar Baru (SKJB), it has been shown that social recognition encourages youths to be more confident, even eager to be involved in the community sphere. It is not fundamentally easy to influence those youths with positive values and pro-social behaviour. The SKJB program on creative economy has stimulated marginal youth groups to be enthusiastic and interested in transforming themselves, individually as well as collectively.
Keywords: social transformation, violence culture, creative economy, youth empowerment