Emerging Cities

Indonesia is characterised by substantial cultural diversity, comprising more than 17,000 islands and 267m people. Until the turn of the new millennium, economic development policies were strongly skewed towards Indonesia’s main island of Java and the capital Jakarta; a series of decentralisation policies have since aimed to spread out authority and investment across the country’s diverse regions. August 2019 saw the government announce that a new capital city would be built in the province of East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. The new location will provide a more accessible economic and commercial centre for Indonesia’s eastern inhabitants, and is expected to attract major investment – transforming a region known for its agricultural and mining activities into the country’s administrative centre. This, alongside the emergence of a number of cities as increasingly key economic players, is opening up a wealth of business opportunities beyond Java. This chapter contains an interview with Isran Noor, Governor of East Kalimantan.