Governing Urban Indonesia

Governing Urban Indonesia
Edward Aspinall, Amalinda Savirani, editors
Date of publication:  2024
Publisher:  ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute
Number of pages:  339
Code:  BM634
Hard Cover
ISBN: 9789815203721
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Soft Cover
ISBN: 9789815203714
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Reviews

“Against the usual national methodological stance in political science literature, this book invites the readers to think of how urban politics can be rescaled and substantiated from the bottom up. The book is in itself a political project, arguing for a democratic governance to address unequal urbanisation.”
-- Dr Wahyu Kusuma Astuti, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 5 August 2025
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“Governing Urban Indonesia offers diverse analyses of Indonesia’s social transition, tackling the pressing question of how urbanization is remaking the nation’s politics and governance. By bringing together fourteen chapters from nineteen scholars and practitioners, this book is a significant contribution for academics and observers of urbanization in the largest country of South East Asia.”
-- Prof Deden Rukmana, South East Asia Research, 14 July 2025
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“This collection is both scholarly and practical, shows that urban studies is now a thriving field of study in Indonesia and provides a good up-to-date read on urban Indonesia, or at least urban Java. The engagement of such lively minds in ongoing intelligent and practical conversations with each other and with civil society is a source of hope.”
-- Dr Howard Dick, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, December 2024
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About the publication

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.

Contents

Indonesia Update Series

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