Indonesian cities are challenging environments for those who call them home and complex readings for their observers. The nation’s unfinished shaping is ingrained in the cities’ fragmented urban forms, multifaceted cultures, and unfolding transformations. Imagined identity and power relations have been constructed, enforced, and challenged, sometimes silently other times violently, through the pragmatic realities of the cities’ built fabrics and polarised social landscapes. This makes Indonesian cities a rich field to reflect on the stage of the nation today.

Panellists:

• Prof. Abidin Kusno (York University)
• Prof. Vedi Hadiz (Asia Institute, The University of Melbourne)
• Prof. Kim Dovey (Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, the University of Melbourne)
• Prof. Widjaja Martokusumo (Institut Teknologi Bandung/ITB)