Relocation of Capital City: The Search for Livable Cities

The capital city relocation is currently being the main issue in Indonesia, brings up pros and cons from many perspectives. On June 27th, 2019, at GoWork Pacific Place, Citieslab (a research and capacity building program under NUA) hosted “Citiestalk,” a talk show-formatted discussion to discuss contemporary urban issues, presenting leading Indonesian and international experts.

We invited speakers from different professional backgrounds to share and discuss their perspectives, especially on the quest for a livable new capital city. Bernardus Djonoputro (President of Indonesian Association Planners-IAP) moderated the discussion, featured Luigi Cipolla (Senior Urban Planner of Egis International), Sacha Schwarzkopf (Director, Master Planning & Urban Design of AECOM), Adriadi Dimastanto (Principal Urban Designer of Nusantara Urban Advisory), and Bagus Adikusumo (Senior Director of Colliers Indonesia).

The discussion produced several key-successes in designing a new, livable city, namely smart infrastructure, people-scale design, bottom-up planning, and mobility efficiency. In line with those points, Mr. Schwarzkopf also stated that a smart infrastructure is a key component in cities’ livability. Mr. Cipolla noted that to achieve livability is to create the city greener and more sustainable through urban planning. Mr. Dimastanto further stated that human-scale design is one of the key ingredients to a livable city, while Mr. Adikusumo also noted that an investment-friendly and marketable city leads to its vibrancy and liveliness.

This series of discussions are expected to enrich the discourse on how to achieve a livable new capital city development. You can also watch the discussion on our video page.