Kampung Pelangi Semarang: Its Success, Decline, and the Current Status of the Rainbow Village

There are many city blocks decorated with murals all over the world. Among them, those developed in the past 15 years in Indonesia have a distinctive feature: houses in slums have murals or are painted in rainbow colors. These villages are called rainbow villages, or _Kampung Pelangi_ in Indonesian. Wonosari village (_Kampung Wonosari_) in Semarang City became a rainbow village in 2017 under the slum eradication initiative called the _KOTAKU_ program. However, the success did not last long: activity began to decline around mid-2018 and stopped completely because of COVID-19. While many tourist destinations have regained their former bustle in the post-COVID-19 period, activities in _Kampung Pelangi Semarang_ have remained sluggish. This study aims to summarize as comprehensively as possible the efforts of _Kampung Pelangi Semarang_ and its progress up to the present, based on existing studies and on-site surveys in 2024. The reasons for the initial success include its good location, its proximity to other tourist destinations, and the cooperation of many organizations, including the city of Semarang. The reasons for its gradual decline include the change in the relationship between stakeholders after the shift from top-down activities by the Semarang City to bottom-up activities by the people involved; the Tourism Awareness Group that took over the role of managing _Kampung Pelangi Semarang_ suffered internal conflicts, resulting in the disruption of its activities. Finally, we overview the remaining issues when improving the slums by modifying Rainbow Village, and the requirements necessary for _Kampung Pelangi Semarang_ to regain its vitality.