Widely known as a country transformed by urbanization, more than 150 million Indonesians live in urban areas, and about 70% of the country’s total population will be urban even before 2045 (World Bank, 2019). Like other developing countries globally, big cities in Indonesia experience multiple challenges ahead of them, where demographic appears as one of the foremost and tangible challenges. The common problem that emerges is the infrastructure provision fails to accommodate the population growth rate. In contrast, in an ideal scenario, the efficiency of urban infrastructure should be increased to grow robust.

However, even the efficiency in urban infrastructure balances the rapid population growth, we may still have another problem: the development of slums. Thus, the provision of essential social services is required for the city to accommodate the growth and to alleviate the extension of slums. As WRI Indonesia (2019) suggests, upgrading slums that involve residents’ collective efforts must be considered to fix the city slums itself; because by improving quality of life of urban’s poor and their access to essential services, other aspects such as public health, economy, and the environment—to name a few—will also be improved at the same time.

Moreover, according to the New Urban Agenda, a global framework for sustainable urban development, a city’s development should be socially inclusive. Considering social and economic dimensions as parts of the sustainable development concept, the policies applied to achieve sustainable urban development must address socioeconomic challenges. Policies for settlement and urban services should take into account the poor people’s voices. Thus public consultation to encourage their sense of home must be regularly held. It is also fundamental for the housing markets to work for everyone. The essential services should reflect the needs of everybody, especially vulnerable groups such as women, female-headed households, people with disabilities, informal residents, and the likes. Kampung Improvement Program (KIP) in Surabaya is an instance of an incremental development approach that accentuates the local condition; hence the program prioritizes the critical needs of the dwellers. Although some socioeconomic issues were left untouched by the program, KIP is acknowledged globally as the successful slums-improving program intended for its infrastructure and residents’ quality of life (Septanti, 2016).

Even when the system is already in place, this does not necessarily mean demographic and socioeconomic challenges are the only issues we need to tackle since technological issues will likely become apparent, especially when the system ages. For instance, in mid-2019, the eagerness and optimism to transform Jakarta into a “city 4.0” suddenly crumbled due to the city’s massive August 4 power outage that certainly raised a question of whether Jakarta is ready to become a smart city (Yusgiantoro, 2019). In contrast, the use of technology is deemed essential for a city to cover fundamental components of smart cities, namely smart governance, smart people, smart living, smart mobility, smart economy, and smart environment. Furthermore, the citywide power outage reflects Indonesia’s aging infrastructure grid and the need to improve the electricity system through a smart grid application for the long-term solution.

Harnessing the full potential of smart grid technologies, especially with a high share of renewables, will positively impact the environment since it addresses climate change. It is very pivotal for a city to show concern for climate change issues and the reduction of carbon emission because cities are a vital contributor to environmental issues, including climate change (UNEP). Actions, conferences, pledges, and other commitments are made at global, national, regional, and local levels to solve climate change. According to UNEP, cities and climate change issues are closely related to Sustainable Development Goals 4, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 17.

The rule of “finance follows function” encourages us to look at the financial issue as the last challenge in the discourse of urban infrastructure systems. While we need revenue to build and maintain the system, the possibility of utilizing creative financing must also be considered.

How the city utilizes the revenue will also determine the quality of services—this includes how the revenue stream can be maintained to finance the management, operation, and maintenance of urban infrastructure.

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REFERENCES

Hart, M, King, R 2019, To fix city slums, don't just knock them down: Involve residents in upgrading efforts, WRI Indonesia, Jakarta, viewed 12 July 2020, <https://wri-indonesia.org/en/blog/fix-city-slums-dont-just-knock-them-down-involve-residents-upgrading-efforts>

Septanti, D 2016, ‘The empowerment of community by C-KIP to improve the slums’, Architecture & Environment, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 53-62.

UN Environment Programme, 2020, Cities and climate change, viewed 13 July 2020, <https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/resource-efficiency/what-we-do/cities/cities-and-climate-change>

World Bank, 2019, Augment, connect, target: realizing Indonesia’s urban potential, viewed 13 July 2020, <https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/indonesia/publication/augment-connect-target-realizing-indonesias-urban-potential>

Yusgiantoro, A 2019, ‘No more blackouts: Jakarta smart city needs smart grid’, The Jakarta Post, 18 September 2019.

George Adam Sukoco S. (2020). Urban Infrastructure System and Its Challenges: General Introduction. SMI Institute, PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (Persero). Diakses , dari