Sabtu, 18 November 2023 – 22:30 WIB
Yogyakarta – Some academics and more than 500 students have dissected the success of Jakarta as a global collaborative city. According to the speakers, the success of Jakarta as a Collaborative City under the leadership of Anies Baswedan has made the National Capital City (IKN) increasingly irrelevant.
Urban Sociology Expert from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, Prof. Sulfikar Amir, said that the government’s goal of building IKN for the purpose of development equalization is a mistaken way of thinking. “Equal growth is not determined at all by the location of the capital city. You can see the capital city of the United States in Washington DC on the east coast, but in fact, California, which is far from the capital, is the richest state. While the poorest state is West Virginia, which is close to the capital, only 2 hours from Washington DC,” said Sulfikar at the IDN Future Studium Generale at the Master of Management, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), as quoted on Saturday, November 18, 2023.
Sulfikar emphasized that the relocation of the Capital City in the name of development equalization is a project that has no technocratic basis and flawed calculations. Furthermore, the reason for the relocation of the Capital City due to the alleged inability to contain Jakarta’s socio-economic burden is irrelevant because Jakarta can still be improved through a collaborative approach and governance.
“Jakarta has undergone significant changes in the past 10-15 years, especially under the leadership of Anies Baswedan. This means that Jakarta’s problems can be solved. Jakarta is a process that gives us optimism that Indonesian cities can be improved. Therefore, development equalization should not be built in one city but in 18 major cities throughout Indonesia,” said Sulfikar.
Meanwhile, Urban Planning Expert from UGM, Tri Mulyani Sunarharum, said that Collaborative Cities need to be realized on a national scale, even though there are many challenges to achieve it.
“In governance, the challenge is that work is still done based on sectoral ego, between government at the city/district level with the provincial and national governments. There must be a collaborative climate that allows for two-way dialogue, not dominated by top-down decisions but also bottom-up and cross-sectoral,” said Mulyani.
She added that the collaboration process can work well when the government gains public trust, and the government is willing to give trust to the public.
“Not Bringing Equalization, IKN is at Risk of Becoming a Failed City” Sulfikar Amir likened cities to growing organisms, absorbing resources, carrying out production processes, and then dying.
“There are cities that live and die, there are cities that have not yet had a chance to live but are already dead,” said Sulfikar.
In line with Sulfikar, Director of the RUJAK Centre for Urban Studies, Elisa Sutanudjaja, said that IKN does not reflect the needs of future cities.
“IKN does not reflect the future city, it is just a collection of buildings without people, it will repeat the long-standing mistakes of urban development in Indonesia for decades. IKN cannot be a city that other cities in Indonesia can emulate,” said Elisa.
