Strategic goals to achieving sustainable development in Indonesia

Associate Professor Paul Jones’ research is focussed on understanding patterns of informal urbanism and their contribution to sustainable urbanisation in the Asia-Pacific region. Associate Professor Jones has participated in many United Nations (UN) forums over recent years, contributing to the development of international urbanisation strategies in Asia and Pacific small island states. He has worked particularly closely with ‘kampungs’, or villages, in Indonesia and was recently invited to present his research at the UN’s World Urban Forum 9, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is now preparing for a studio field trip to Bandung, Indonesia 28 March - 6 April, where he will take 19 students studying the Master of Urban and Regional Planning, Master of Urbanism, Master of Urban Design and Master of Architecture degrees. The field trip will culminate in the PlanoCosmo Conference at the Institut Teknologi Bandung, at which both Jones and his students will present their research.

In his keynote presentation at World Urban Forum 9, Associate Professor Jones outlined the progress being made in Pacific small island developing states in relation to goals set by the United Nations Member States in 2015. These goals are a part of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, a set of strategies including urbanisation goals and targets to address rapidly increasing population and development. In particular Jones focussed on waste and sanitation, community consultation, building resilience, and the role of cities including informal settlements in the urbanisation process. He also chaired a session on the challenges in the urban development of kampungs in Bandung, Indonesia, which are settlements traditionally accommodating the ‘urban poor’ and disadvantaged.  

Students participating in the studio field trip in Bandung at the end of the month will have the opportunity to study the urbanisation process first hand. Working with local students from the Institut Teknologi Bandung, University of Sydney students will analyse the urban fabric and how physical and social processes of transformation impact on form, structure and quality of space. Students will have opportunities to learn from representatives of a range of institutions including Bandung City Government, University of Aveiro from Portugal, Law Faculty of the University of Parahyangan, Ministry of Finance in the Indonesian National Government Jakarta, and the private sector AJM Planning and Design Group, Selangor, Malaysia. Towards the end of their trip, students will present their research and findings as part of the PlanoCosmo Conference, titled ‘Transforming Beyond Borders, Starting the New Urban Agenda’. This work will then be further developed for a public exhibition after they return to Sydney.

The students’ two-week exhibition will take place in The Hearth, and will open to the public Monday 14 May, 5pm. Themed around ‘Understanding Your City’, special guests from Institut Teknologi Bandung will be in attendance at the opening event.