Concept of Water Sensitive City and its Application in the Capital of the Archipelago (IKN)

One important factor in IKN's success is water management. Therefore, IKN is developed as a sustainable urban city to prevent floods, droughts and congestion.

Ilustration of IKN Ibukota Negara Nusantara Credit: KOMENKO PMK

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Concept of Water Sensitive City and its Application in the Capital of the Archipelago (IKN)

SBS Indonesian

18:00Indonesian

When the Indonesian government designed the Capital City of the Archipelago (IKN), they were inspired to make it a sponge city.

After conducting research, they found that much of the knowledge and evidence related to this concept came from Australia.

Therefore, an Indonesian government delegation visited Monash University to discuss with the professor.

Malaysian Professor Tony Wong, who teaches at Monash University in Australia, explains his background in developing the concept of water-sensitive city.

Monash team and the training participants are doing the field mentoring at Embung C, one of the case study sites for the Water Sensitive Cities training Credit: Dok. Humas Otorita IKN

The concept focuses on the integration of urban infrastructure with nature to manage water, especially rainwater, as a resource, rather than as a problem. He cited examples of successful implementations in Australian cities such as Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, which successfully cleaned and improved water quality in their bays and rivers.

The concept attracted global attention, including Singapore which has successfully adopted it, as well as China which implemented a similar concept under the name Sponge City.

The training participants, ADB team and Monash team take pictures together after mentoring at Joint Office Ministry of Public Works and NCA, Nusantara, Credit: Dok. Humas Otorita IKN

Professor Tony Wong and his team are now involved in the IKN project by providing training programs to 30 future leaders. The programme consists of 12 modules covering various aspects, from urban planning, environmental management, to infrastructure design.

The aim is to equip the future leaders of IKN with the knowledge and skills necessary for them to build and manage a sustainable sponge city, in line with the Indonesian government's ambitions.

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