On October 5, a series of collaborative events between Jakarta, Berlin, and Bangkok to realize smart cities and digital transformation was held following the previous edition in 2020. This collaboration event began with an online conference attended by various stakeholders, such as Smart Change, Jakarta Smart City, and other collaborators and partners. Previously, the same conference was also held in 2020. In 2021, the Smart Change conference carries the theme of urban collaboration. 

At the opening, Thibaut Portevin, Head of Cooperation of EU Delegation To Indonesia gave a speech. He explains how this collaborative practice will involve the participation of multi stakeholders such as policymakers, governments, private sector, academia, society, and others to work together in building urban and environmental sustainability. The event then continued with the opening of keynote speakers in each of the cities: Jakarta, Berlin, and Bangkok. 

Three Cities With Shared Purpose

During the conference, each city such as Jakarta, Berlin, and Bangkok delivered their overview on digital transformation and a series of projects in building sustainable smart cities. The innovations built on this collaboration have the same goal, to acquire an urban development that are community-focused or people-centered.

The first opportunity was given to Jakarta that represented by Yudhistira Nugraha, Head of Jakarta Smart City, to present ideas about building smart cities and realizing digital transformation.  In building a smart city, Yudhistira mentioned the need for collaboration to innovate and realize people's happiness by having an integrated ecosystem. The ecosystem will be built through digital transformation and the participation of various stakeholders. This ecosystem is then implemented in the form of programs covering the fields of welfare, business, space, and government. These programs include digital transformation, building an agile data-driven government system, building an inclusive and personalized welfare system, and realizing an adaptive economy. Currently, this form of digital transformation can be seen in the JAKI application, which provides personalized services for people in Jakarta.

After Jakarta, Dr. Angela Jain, Co-Lead Smart City, The Governing Mayor of Berlin, presents the idea of developing a smart city in the German capital. Based on the presentation of Dr. Angela, the development of a smart city in her city began with the German Smart City Charta in 2017, which has several agendas and was implemented several years later. The program started with several pilot projects, such as providing smart city space, water management, administration and data management, crisis-proof communication, and involving public participation and public budgeting. The innovations carried out in Berlin aim to create a more sustainable, liveable, resilient, and cooperative city. This is based on innovation and people-centered decision-making, in addition by utilizing technological developments, so that city development can be more inclusive.

Finally, the presentation was delivered from the city of Bangkok represented by Jade Bunruangrod, Director of Pathai Social Enterprise. The idea of smart city development in Bangkok has the same goal as previous cities, namely realizing innovation and happiness. However, achieving this goal has problems. Steps taken to solve problems in the city are by building trust so that inclusivity and collaboration are created. The programs carried out related to the development are building agricultural areas, playgrounds, and providing community mobilization facilities. According to Jade, in the development of smart cities it takes collaboration and creativity to create innovation in Thailand. 

Deep Dive: Smart Mobility and Smart Environment

After the session with keynote speakers from Jakarta, Berlin, and Bangkok, the conference continued with a deep dive session. This session discussed two topics regarding the challenges in building urban collaboration, namely monitoring multimodal transportation and solutions regarding the environment, one of which is related to air cleanliness in urban areas. This session is divided into two. First, regarding the presentation of ideas, and second, regarding more in-depth discussions. Both sessions were attended by academics and stakeholders related to their respective fields, such as transportation and the environment.

The first topic in the deep dive session revolves around transportation integration. The speakers include Dr. Yossapong Laoonual from King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Jan Ramos Pandia from Chief Operating System of Hukumonline.com, Faela Sufa from Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) Southeast Asia, and Sebastian Wolf as Project Lead of Jelbi App. This session discusses transportation problems, such as transportation networks that are not yet integrated and inadequate facilities. Therefore, transportation development in urban areas will be carried out based on transit orientation and can use multimodal transportation. Multimodal transportation is a combination transportation system consisting of two or more transportations. One example is JakLingko in Jakarta, which serves train and bus transportation. Currently, the ride-hailing app is an example of how to integrate various modes of transportation in urban areas.

The discussion session on air cleanliness focused on the issue of air pollution. This session was paneled by Martin Lutz (Head of Air Quality Planning, Senate Department for Environment, Transport), Ririn Radiawati Kusuma (Indonesia Country Coordinator for Environmental Health at Vital Strategies), Dr. Supat Wangwongwatana (Thai air pollution expert), and moderated by Wicaksono Sarosa (Director of Ruang Waktu). The discussion in this session contains the problems of air pollution in each city, namely Jakarta, Berlin, and Bangkok. The cause of air pollution is caused by development and congestion in the city. Therefore, according to the speakers in this panel, urban governance needs to pay attention to air quality measurement and change people's behavior to switch to using low-emission transportation modes.

Collaboration and Investment in Smart City Issues 

The next panel session discussed collaboration and investment strategies to promote economic and business sustainability in smart cities. The panelists in this session include Dr. Angela Jain, Arakin Rakchittapoke (Head of Substructure AIS), Beate Albert (Head of Unit, Berlin Partner), and Juan Intan Kanggrawan (Head of Data Analytics, Jakarta Smart City). 

The problem of building smart cities in the cities of Jakarta, Berlin, and Bangkok, cannot be separated from business strategy and innovation for sustainability. Each speaker explained the ideas and strategies carried out in each city. Like in Thailand, there are programs to build startups and collaboration platforms. Whilethe city of Berlin has launched several programs that are more people-centered. Then in Jakarta, the government's strategy is to invite collaboration with related parties for administration and investment, to make it more scalable. However, to acquire collaboration in a smart city, public involvement is needed, in addition to collaboration between the government and private sectors.

Smart City Sustainability in the Smart Change Program 

The last session of the conference discussed the continuous Smart Change program through online learning and exchange platforms. Speakers in this session included Helen Franke (Program Manager for Smart Change Jakarta) and Fenton Martin (Tech Lead, Deggan Technowave). Next year, a range of programs will be held, such as establishing an online platform for learning and interacting between startups in various countries. In the future, Smart Change will also present other programs aimed at advancing urban areas, in collaboration with various parties.

That's the discussion about the series of events in the Smart Change online conference on urban collaboration. At this event, many ideas and innovations were shared to build a sustainable and inclusive smart city. Now is the time for us to support these sustainable programs and collaborate on Smart Change. You can also follow the latest information through Smart Change Jakarta.