Robert Templer
Nusantara
Indonesia builds a new capital
Indonesia has a new capital city deep in the lush forests of Borneo. Nusantara is planned as a forest city with 75 per cent of the land set aside to provide access for wildlife; buildings will be connected by walkways to encourage pedestrians; and there is a commitment to green energy and transport from the start.
Nusantara’s architects and planners, all of them Indonesian, have set out a dream of a global city to be built over the next two decades, growing to house a population of four million. The ambition is a city that represents the diversity of Indonesia and balances economic development across the archipelago, which for decades has been concentrated on Java.
Indonesia is taking a $40-billion gamble on whether moving the capital will help alleviate the problems of Jakarta and provide other benefits such as balancing economic development. Purpose-built capitals have a poor record of achieving their ambitions; they often end up as soulless monuments to oppressive regimes. They are also both a symptom and a driver of bad government by leaders who become isolated from their people. Will the remoteness of Nusantara cut Indonesians off from the leaders at a time when their quality of democracy is in decline? As the world’s largest Muslim country and the third largest democracy, it is a question that matters beyond its shores.
Publication date 14 November 2024
£9.99 | 112 pages
978-1-7394243-5-0 | Paperback
“Robert Templer’s Nusantara skilfully weaves a timely narrative on Indonesia’s controversial new capital blending political issues with the financial and environmental challenges. He very nicely sets all of this in the historical and global context of inventing new cities.”
- Michael Vatikiotis Author of Blood and Silk: Power and Conflict in Modern Southeast Asia
“A short, snappy guide that puts Indonesia’s grand plans for a new capital city in global context.”
- Ben Bland Author and Director of the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House
“Writing about a city while it’s being built allows us to express our complex feelings toward it. Nusantara captures all of this, offering a reflective document we can return to if and when the city materialises.”
- Badrul Hisham Ismail Writer and filmmaker
The author
ROBERT TEMPLER is a writer, lecturer and policy consultant. His latest book, A Basilisk Glance: Poisoners from Plato to Putin, was published by Bui Jones. His previous book, Shadows and Wind: A View of Modern Vietnam, was published by Penguin.
