As a part of the project “Joint Scoping Activity on Regional Circulating and Ecological Sphere (Regional-CES)”, the third and last National Workshop titled “Strengthening Urban-Rural Linkage for Localisation of SDGs through Integrated Regional Planning and Collective Actions” was held in Depok, Indonesia, on 10-11 May 2023. The event was organised by APN, in collaboration with IGES Kansai Research Centre (IGES-KRC), the Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia and Indonesian Association of Urban and Regional Planners (IAP).
The main objective of the workshop was to scrutinise the new role of the urban-rural interplay in improving the flow of people, energy, capital, goods and information. The diverse and pressing issues of Depok City, squeezed between Jakarta, the capital and largest city of Indonesia and smaller urban centres and rural villages further south, were examined as first-hand examples.
Ministerial officials, representatives of national agencies and officials of local municipalities shared Indonesia’s general policy and strategy in tackling the problems of urban-rural development: migration of rural populations to urban centres, infrastructure, waste and sewage treatment, securing clean water, air pollution, etc.
It was felt that legislation related to urban and rural planning must be elaborated further, as the sound implementation of measures that could help Depok City to ease the issues are jeopardised by the absence of more clear legal instruments.
The Regional Circulating and Ecological Sphere (Regional-CES) that is targeted to provide a concrete vision of integrated development approaches covering economic, social and environmental dimensions, very much aims to encourage local semi-urban and rural communities to become more independent from urban centres by utilising their locally available resources more efficiently. While the Regional-CES concept was introduced on its possible applicability in Indonesian context, it must be noted that it is not known in Indonesia at all.
One of the highlights of the workshop was the enthusiasm and dedication of the master students: some of them were selected to present their current research on topics related to urban planning. Also, they were eager to meet international participants and exchange with them.
An excursion to the last remaining rice paddies in Depok was another highlight of the workshop. These rice paddies, cultivated by a group of farmers but owned by a private company, are endangered to be converted to an industrial park.
On the day before the workshop, Mr Yukihiro Imanari, APN Secretariat, paid a courtesy call to the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and was welcomed by Dr Laksana Tri Handoko, Chairman of BRIN. Prof Dr Erna Sri Adiningsih, SPG Member for Indonesia, joined the meeting. Dr Handoko suggested exploring possible ways of collaboration between BRIN and APN.
