Indonesia is one of the most rapidly urbanising nations on Earth. Its pace of development had been impressive. The development of urban centres has played a central role in providing jobs, housing and transport infrastructure, as well as providing the venues for the key events that transformed this nation of 274 million people from a period of military dictatorship and considerable poverty to the most vibrant and emergent democracy in South-East Asia. The description of a nation with a ‘growing middle class’ has become commonplace.
But just as the achievements of Indonesia, with urbanisation at its heart, have provided these obvious signifiers of success, so too it must be said that the problems of urbanisation continue to be very real. Poverty has been reduced, but hardly abolished; pollution and congestion are apparent in many of the major cities; the battle against corruption and nepotism has seen significant achievements but is far from over. And then there is the matter of Jakarta, the nation’s heaving, sweltering primate city, where issues of land subsidence, flooding and traffic grid lock are of such note that the Jokowi government has now staked out an entirely new venue for a new capital.
Transport, governance and planning, economic development, infrastructure, urban design, housing, disaster management, food security, health and liveability are key areas of concern requiring urgent investigation and policy development. This special edition of Urban Policy and Research will produce a collection of papers that explore these themes, seeking a balance of geographical representation, from the dominant population centres of Java, Sumatra and Bali to the less researched, but soon to become rapidly urbanising far flung settlements of this sprawling archipelago.
