Launch of The State of Indonesian Cities (SoIC) 2017

As the largest archipelago in Asia, Indonesia’s geo-strategic position creates many issues to solve such as disaster risks, biodiversity and cultural diversity among its many islands. Indonesia is also one of the countries with the fastest urbanization rate in Asia, which is followed by problems such as economic disparity, uncontrolled settlement and growth in its cities. Indonesia’s urbanization process should be able to optimize its position in global connectivity and its uniqueness as a tropical archipelago country. Therefore the current condition of our urban areas needs to be portrayed in an official report. Such information is also needed by the urban policy makers such as local government in order to create effective public policies.

The State of Indonesian Cities (SoIC) 2017 portrays current condition of urban areas in Indonesia, representing its diversity and distinctiveness, describing current issues, best practices and expectations to urban development in the future. Furthermore, SoIC 2017 also includes actions and approaches as a way forward to implement the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and achieve the targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The official report which is themed “Redefining the Identity of Indonesian Cities” consists of sub-themes i.e. “Utilizing the Rapid Rate of Urbanization”, “Building An Inclusive Urban Culture”, “Strengthening Urban Economic Resilience”, “Managing Urban Environmental Change”, “Integrating Urban Infrastructure Development ”, “Building Effective and Transparent Urban Governance”.