Governing Urban Indonesia

Indonesia has become a majority urban society. Despite the classic images of rice fields, volcanoes and rural life we often associate with the country, now almost 60 per cent of Indonesia’s people live in cities, towns, suburbs, gated communities and other urban areas. Urbanisation has brought with it a familiar range of problems, including some of the worst traffic jams and air pollution in the world, housing scarcity, periodic flooding and dramatic land subsidence. These problems pose massive challenges to Indonesian governments as they try to provide clean water, public transport, housing, garbage disposal and other services to urban dwellers. Governing Urban Indonesia brings together scholars and practitioners with diverse backgrounds to examine how urbanisation is remaking Indonesia, and how governments are responding. It focuses on how varied political patterns are shaping urban governance, enabling some cities to pioneer improved service delivery and better public amenities for their citizens, while others stagnate. And it brings to bear multiple perspectives on how historical legacies, changing residential patterns, social inequality and myriad other factors are combining to produce a new social and political landscape across urban Indonesia.

The objective of this book is to better understand the nature of urban governance regarding the provision of basic urban services in rapidly growing mid-sized towns and cities in developing countries. Set within the context of understanding urban planning and management within the wider city setting, the study focuses on the provision of the basic urban services of housing, water and sanitation especially within informal settlements. Using the case study of the mid-sized city of Jayapura, Papua, Indonesia, the publication explores: (i) the types, processes, and stakeholders that constitute formal urban governance in the provision of basic urban services; (ii) understanding how stakeholders gain and benefit from ‘on the ground’ formal service arrangements, and why; and (iii) for those who do not directly benefit from the formal arrangements, how individuals, groups and communities organize and access governance to meet their basic urban needs. The methods employed to better understand the nature of urban governance and its relationship to the provision of basic urban services comprised primary (face-to-face household surveys interviewing 448 respondents, ground mapping at a plot size level in four informal settlements, and semi-structured interviews with 12 stakeholders) and secondary data regarding urban governance, planning and management. The study reveals that urban governance arrangements in fast growing mid-sized cities have emerged both formally and informally to cope with basic urban service needs across a range of settlement types and socio-cultural groups. The major modes of governance arrangements in the informal settlements consist of traditional, formal and informal, and hybrid governance which co-evolve as their boundaries overlap and intersect through time at varying levels of ‘equilibrium’. The ‘governance equilibrium’ represents a ‘balance’ at a specific point and place in time in how stakeholders utilize and share resources, and access various contributions.

This book presents the latest research on three issues of crucial importance to Asian cities: governance, livability, and sustainability. Together, these issues canvass the salient trends defining Asian urbanization and are explored through an eclectic compendium of studies that represent the many voices of this diverse region. Examining the processes and implications of Asian urbanization, the book interweaves practical cases with theories and empirical rigor while lending insight and complexity into the towering challenges of urban governance. The book targets a broad audience including thinkers, practitioners, and students.

This book explores significant aspects of the New Urban Agenda in the Asia-Pacific region, and presents, from different contexts and perspectives, innovative interventions afoot for transforming the governance of 21st-century cities in two key areas: (i) urban planning and policy; and (ii) service delivery and social inclusion. Representing institutions across a wide geography, academic researchers and development practitioners from Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America have authored the chapters that lend the volume its distinctly diverse topical foci. Based on a wide range of cases and intriguing experiences, this collection is a uniquely valuable resource for everyone interested in the present and future of cities and urban regions in Asia-Pacific.

This edited collection brings together enterprising pieces of new research on the many forms of organization in East and Southeast Asia that are sponsored or mandated by government, but engage widespread participation at the grassroots level. Straddling the state-society divide, these organizations play important roles in society and politics, yet remain only dimly understood. This book shines a spotlight on this phenomenon, which speaks to fundamental questions about how such societies choose to organize themselves, how institutions of local governance change over time, and how individuals respond to and make use of the power of the state. The contributors investigate organizations ranging from volunteer-based organizations that partner with government in providing services for homeless children, to state-managed networks of neighborhood- or village-level associations that perform representative as well as administrative functions and seeks to answer a number of questions: When do the "vertical," top-down imperatives of the state stifle "horizontal" solidarities, and when might the two work in harmony? Are useful social and administrative purposes served by this type of fusion? Does it amplify or merely muffle citizens’ voices? What does it tell us about existing accounts of community, social capital, "synergy," "complementarity," "subsidiarity," and related concepts? Representing seven countries: China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Singapore this volume will be of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates and academics in Asian studies, political science, sociology, anthropology, development, history, nonprofit studies.

This book analyses the housing and governance policies of the city of Surakarta, in Indonesia. It addresses the question of whether Surakarta’s strategy for handling the city’s informal sector and marginal settlements shows evidence of sustainability and good governance. The book illustrates current trends in urban development and discussions on effective strategies for improving living conditions in slums on both a global and national scale. Using four main programs as examples, it presents a detailed overview of Surakarta’s housing policies regarding the poor. It critically evaluates the city’s relocation measures and shows that Surakarta’s city government has put into place an effective policy, reaching the poor by inclusive approaches. Influenced by global discussions and best practices, the programs examined are characterized by elements of good governance and Solo’s strategies have already been disseminated to other Indonesian cities. However, the book argues that deficits remain regarding participation and transparency. The work is based on Christian Obermayr's outstanding Master’s thesis, defended in 2013 at the University of Innsbruck, Austria.

Indonesia over the past two decades has embarked on a process of decentralization as part of a broader process of democratization, which followed earlier periods of centralized governance and authoritarian rule across the archipelago. The purpose of this book is to begin to explore the connections between governance and sustainable society in a wide variety of policy fields in Indonesia, and how reforming governance structures may contribute to societal benefits and the creation of a long-term sustainable society. This book bridges important theoretical debates related to governance and sustainable society and provides empirical research from Indonesia in important policy areas related to this debate. By placing research in different policy areas in a single volume, the link to the broader concepts of governance, decentralization, and societal outcomes is strengthened. The book builds on the recent interest that has focused on Indonesia and the continued development of democracy in the country. The chapters in the book show a rich variety of decentralized governance arrangements and capacity building at the local level in particular. Central standards (for example for social sustainability, anti-corruption arrangements, or for dealing with direct foreign investment), combined with local innovation (for example for municipal coordination of primary health care or metropolitan transport), are key to Indonesia as a country in a continuing process of transformation. We identify three key trends in the on-going process of decentralization and governance in Indonesia. First, we find that formal governance, the relation between the national and local government, is characterized by a system of ‘variable geometry multi-level governance’ depending on the policy area. The challenge ahead is strengthening accountability mechanisms to assure national standards while preserving and encouraging local innovation. Secondly, informal governance mechanisms are evolving to move from ‘hierarchical to network’ forms of governance. Here the challenge is to insure democratic input by citizens and civil society organizations. Finally, we identify a trend toward ‘shared value creation and sustainable cooperation.’ Indonesia is beginning to move from a rather singular policy focus on economic growth to a more complex and developing notion of policymaking for inclusive growth and the creation of a sustainable society for present and future generations. Here the challenge is sound implementation and to increase the effectiveness of governance mechanisms. There is also a noted diffusion of goals, to focus beyond the Jakarta metropolitan area to smaller regional cities, as urbanization continues and rural areas are changing. This book will be of interest for use in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses related to Southeast Asia in the fields of international relations, political science, public administration, economics, law, sociology, educa tion, public health, and the spatial sciences. It will also be of interest to policymakers and government officials at the national and local level in Southeast Asia and middle-income developing countries, officials and policymakers in institutions of regional governance such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and of global governance such as the United Nations and World Bank. It will also be of interest to civil society organizations and other actors focused on policy development and economic development, health, education, the environment, sustainable transport, etc. The book will also be of interest to business people interested in economic and governance issues, such as the management and governance of in-bound foreign investment, inclusive growth, and corporate governance. Finally, the book should be of interest to citizens in advanced, middle-income, and developing countries motivated to learn more about the links between governance and the creation of a sustainable society for current and future generations.

This open access book presents the state-of-the-art environmental governance research and practices in Indonesia. It offers a wide scope, covering different sectors (e.g., forestry, mining) and geographical landscapes (e.g., inland and coastal areas). This book engages with existing theories and frameworks, including Earth System Governance, Adaptive and Interactive Governance, among others to trigger a debate regarding the operationalization of such concepts, which are mostly developed for the Global North context. It is also our ambition to incorporate more empirical knowledge from local contexts to indicate research gaps and future directions for environmental governance research agenda to be more diverse, inclusive, and facilitate the incorporation of inter-and transdisciplinary knowledge. This book will be useful for researchers, students, practitioners, and policymakers who are interested in the field of environmental governance, especially in Indonesia. Indonesia is one of the countries with the fastest-growing economies in Asia. Indonesia is rich in natural resources but also suffers from overexploitation and environmental threats exacerbated by climate and human pressures. Along with the growing global ambitions for achieving sustainable development and capacity to adapt to current and future threats, including climate change impacts and disaster risk, Indonesia's commitments to balance development while safeguarding a good environmental status are also increasing. The challenge is on how to govern complex and systemic natural, social and governance systems while adhering to the principle of equity and justice? As it will require more than traditional hierarchical modes of governance and current regulatory instruments (i.e., law and regulations). This is an open access book.