Reimagining Indonesia’s New Capital City: Foresight Approaches for an Inclusive Smart Forest City
A UNDP Indonesia Accelerator Labs Project
The UNDP Indonesia Accelerator Lab supports inclusive urban development in East Kalimantan, set to be the location of Indonesia's new capital city in 2024. The inclusion of local communities on the ground is of utmost importance, as has been highlighted by the National Planning and Development Agency[1], and the new capital should strive to have the capability to anticipate the future needs of its citizens, ensuring gender equality, disability, and social cohesion and inclusion (GEDSI). Furthermore, resilience is essential as a resilient city can quickly and effectively respond to various uncertainties and complexities.
Through approaches such as strategic foresight, governments can draw insights from 'weak signals' identified by the community on the ground, build alternative scenarios, and develop policies for the new capital accordingly. Community members—particularly those from marginalized groups—would also be able to contribute their aspirations and collective imagination of the new capital. Thus, we aim to leverage a strategic foresight approach to provide recommendations for the new National Capital that is anticipatory, inclusive, and systemic.
Based on our field workshop in February 2023, we found that local communities seek to be involved with the development of the city, including through direct communication channels with the government. There is a desire for accessible green spaces that fulfill the recreational needs of residents and, despite limited resources, community initiatives including workshops for children with disabilities have been coordinated through digital communications platforms.
Based on these insights and other findings so far, we will hold a scenario development workshop with the Nusantara Capital City Authority to stress-test policies against different scenarios, ensuring future-proof inclusive development of the city. Afterwards, the findings from these activities will be synthesized and the project will culminate with the publishing of a final report towards the end of 2023.
Read more about the project in a recent blog (December 2022) here.
[1] https://bappeda.kaltimprov.go.id/storage/data-centers/September2021/zNPFAwFfhrKe6NOUadXI.pdf
For more information, contact Aisha Marzuki, Head of Exploration - UNDP Indonesia Accelerator Labs.