If you weren’t already aware, the world’s gaze will soon switch towards Indonesia for this year’s Independence Day celebrations — where it will bear witness to the opening ceremony of Nusantara, Indonesia’s new capital city on the island of Borneo.
Set to replace Jakarta as the nation’s capital, the estimated $33 billion project is positioned to officially open on August 17th, 2024.
That’s the date, but in reality, this year’s opening celebrations will be just the first of five construction stages, Nusantara isn’t likely to be completed until 2045 at the earliest.
However, if they can pull it off, Indonesia will be home to one of the planet’s most impressive purpose-built smart city initiatives.
The smart city is likely to add to Indonesia’s desire to be a carbon-neutral nation by 2060, but it comes with many technological pitfalls of trying to build a new high-tech metropolis in the heart of a tropical rainforest.
Join us as we explore what it is like to build a brand new city with the technology available in 2024. Key Takeaways
- Indonesia will celebrate the opening ceremony of its new capital city, Nusantara, on August 17th, 2024, coinciding with the nation’s Independence Day.
- The $33 billion project to replace Jakarta aims to complete five construction stages by 2045, aspiring to be a leading purpose-built smart city.
- Nusantara is designed with 65% green spaces and powered by renewable energy, aiming to support Indonesia’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2060.
- The new city is planned to address Jakarta’s overpopulation, pollution, and sinking issues, providing a more inclusive economy across Indonesia’s islands.
- Despite the many political, economic, and technological challenges, Nusantara’s innovative smart city vision could make it a global model for future urban development.
The Nusantara Smart Forest City Vision
Despite Nusantara symbolizing growth, unity, and a thriving nation on the international stage, the truth of the matter is Indonesia desperately needs a new capital city, as Jakarta is vastly overpopulated… and it’s sinking.
Already home to 10 million people, Jakarta is not only congested and prone to excessive pollution levels, but its over-dependence on extracting groundwater means that the city is sinking at nearly 15cm per year in places.
Already vulnerable to frequent flooding, and given the predicted sea levels rise because of global warming, Jakarta is at serious risk of disappearing.
Yet, Nusantara (meaning “outer islands”) could provide the perfect solution for Indonesia to start afresh. Intended to cultivate a more inclusive economy across the nation’s 17,500 islands, the brave initiative is set to strengthen other island economies and generate millions of jobs.
Located some 700 miles from Jakarta on the island of Borneo, Nusantara’s proposed dimensions are four times bigger than Jakarta and forty times bigger than Manhattan. Purposefully planned, 65% of Nusantara will be green spaces (tropical forests, gardens, and parks), and a further 10% will be dedicated to farming.
Powered by renewable energy and with some support from artificial intelligence and connected technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), the genius behind Nusantara lies in creating an urban smart city cleverly integrated into the green surroundings.
Smart City Living in the Heart of the Jungle
Like other smart cities worldwide, when complete, Nusantara should provide its over two million residents with an ultra-efficient smart city lifestyle.
Through convenient, well-thought-out planning, 80% of transport is expected to be eco-friendly via public transport, cycling, or walking. To encourage this, the Indonesian government is banking on Nusantara’s smart city transport network, meaning everywhere within Nusantara will be accessible within a 10-minute commute.
Imagine if London, New York, and Paris could offer the same.
In addition, sophisticated smart city initiatives such as IoT applications, advanced data management systems, and sustainable urban design, means Nusantara will have all the hallmarks of becoming a shining example of a city of the future.
The Challenges Nusantara Faces
However, already plagued with political, economic, and social obstacles, Nusantara is already demonstrating how pioneering the greenest smart city in the world is neither cheap nor unproblematic.
Aside from the controversial land grabs of the Indigenous people living in the region currently, debates about how the project will be fully funded, plus the ever-increasing delays in construction, could mean that corners might have to be cut.
Whether that results in eco-friendly infrastructure projects being cancelled or an unintended reliance on non-renewable energy sources could potentially negate Nusantara’s desire to be 100% carbon neutral.
From a technological standpoint, instead of retrofitting existing urban areas with smart city applications and infrastructure – similar to Singapore and Zurich – starting from scratch in a tropical rainforest is a whole different story.
Despite Nusantara’s buildings being built on stilts to improve airflow and stormwater dispersal, Borneo is susceptible to the region’s powerful tropical cyclones known as typhoons. As a result, any city that has an inherent dependence on technology needs to be prepared for the worst-case scenario.
After all, typhoons can cause widespread damage and power outages, which, for a technology-driven smart city, could be prone to catastrophic system failures and a city-wide shutdown.
Then, you need to consider the online threats.
As large swaths of the city’s infrastructure will be dependent on the connectivity of IoT and other technologies, they may become targets for cyber attacks. These threats can come from rivalling nations or more sinister criminal elements seeking to extort financial gains by attacking the smart city’s critical infrastructure.
The Bottom Line
As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and likewise, neither will Nusantara.
However, great credit must be shared with Indonesia for its forward-thinking plans, which have been decades in the making, to relocate its capital to Nusantara and for it to become a model for future smart cities worldwide.
Creatively designed and technologically advanced, the prospect of visiting a state-of-the-art smart city such as Nusantara will undoubtedly become a future bucket-list prospect. While countless challenges lay ahead, its legacy could help propel Indonesia further on the world’s economic stage, which should ultimately benefit Indonesians living both in and outside of Nusantara.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Stuart Hughes
Quelle/Source: Techopedia, 31.07.2024
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