The metropolitan area of greater Jakarta with its six+ satellite cities has an estimated population of more than 34 million people and is one of largest urban conglomerations of the world. The megacity faces enormous challenges in the urban transformation: traffic gridlock, air pollution, maintenance of electricity, gas and water supply, no existing structural waste and wastewater management etc. Most of all, Jakarta is faced with a huge social divide, disparities in all aspects of socio-economic life, as well as manmade climate change related problems, such as flooding/floods, irregular events of heavy rain (irrespective of rainy or dry season), urban heat congestion, and slow sea level rise of the Java Sea. Some parts and neighborhoods of Jakarta are sinking up to 30cm per year, because of subsistence of the sediment caused by unregulated drilling for fresh water sources.

A presidential decree of early 2023 determined that Indonesia’s capital city is going to be moved to “Nusantara” on Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo island. In August 2024, not long after the EuroSEAS Conference, the first ministries are supposed to move to Nusantara. Has Jakarta as a capital city failed? How will the city struggle for a climate just urban transformation and confront the ongoing problems? What will become of the millions who are not going to move to the new capital city? Who serves Nusantara as new seat of national government? How about “leaving no one behind” in Indonesia’s 2045 vision?

This open panel invites scholars of urban studies of Indonesia to make contributions in form of a presentation (no paper needed for the conference/low-threshold participation). Further collaboration and joint publication may be discussed.