Indonesia: A new smart cities frontier

10 / 4 / 2018

Indonesia’s progressing shift from being a rural economy to an urban one has not only paved a way for its prospective growth in the near future, but has also put up many challenges in its way to face up to. The transition is going to be rapid, so much so that by the year 2025, about 70% of Indonesia’s population is estimated to reside in the cities. It is high time that the government starts investing in innovative urban planning to sustain a better life for the country’s citizens in the near future.

Globally, as far as the development of smart cities is concerned today - digital technology is the watchword! Indonesia’s smart cities too need to follow innovative designs in its architecture and engineering to contribute to a much more sustainable living for its citizens. Also with the anticipated growth in population, an innovative urban planning is the only solution for the country’s upcoming smart cities. Today, the country is in a need to come up with programs that can effectively merge innovative urban planning with IoT (Internet of Things) for a well managed and organized community living. A merger like this can be quite effective in the future as far as the overall functioning of the smart cities is concerned.

SMART CITIES & TECHNOLOGY

The main motive of smart cities is directed towards ensuring an improved standard of living and a sustainable management of public resources. In this attempt, innovative technologies play a really important role as a platform for the citizens to voice their opinions to the concerned authorities. Integrating smart technologies within urban planning also helps the authorities to implement better monitoring systems for the citizens. The benefits of integrating a smart system in the cities is not only limit to just one or two benefits. It is something that can change the entire functioning of the city for better at an unimaginable scale. The reach of this benefit can be seen and felt from transportation to the management of various public resources in the city. On the whole, it is something that can bring about a far reaching social, economic, and environmental change in the country for better reasons.

The role of smartphones is integral in contributing to Indonesia’s implementation of smart city technologies for its citizens. The promising number of smartphone users in the country indicates a flow of fruitful feedback to the city officials to take care of the concerns of the citizens for a sustainable living. Use of digital tools for citizen participation is one of the most important factors in engaging the public with their city.

SMART CITIES: THE NEED OF THE HOUR!

Today, smart cities are the ultimate solution for governments to save on enormous energy costs and need for manual labor. Smart cities also help the citizens to live with improved living standards with sustainable resources, in which technology has the most crucial role to play. Jakarta is one of the major cities in Indonesia to be going through a transition into a smart city in the recent times. Started in the year 2014, Jakarta’s smart city program is progressing towards benefitting its citizens with each step in real time.

At present, Indonesia is in need of more such programs and operating models that can turn the dream of a smart city into a reality. There is a need for plans that use technology as an aid to build a sustainable life system for the citizens of Indonesia who have long been subjected to adverse and unsafe living conditions in the past.

This article is part of the Global UrbanTIC® and Smart Cities Certification Program is designed to fill the current gap between the two most influential groups in Smart City systems implementation; it puts both city management professionals and technological entrepreneurs in contact, developing a common language in order to promote innovation in the current development of cities.

BECOME A SMART CITY MANAGER AND GET THE SKILLS AND COMPETENCES TO TAKE DECISIONS IN A TERRITORIAL LEVEL.