City life has come suddenly to modern Indonesia. Less than a century ago, only five percent of Indonesians lived in urban centres. Today, more than half do. Indonesia’s cities are places of growth, innovation, and inspiration. The country has embraced them, its successive governments making little attempt to control their explosive growth, and its citizens migrating to them more often because of expanding urban opportunities than because of intensifying rural problems. Yet now as in the past, Indonesian cities are also arenas of confrontation and crisis. They are where the future of Indonesia will be made and decided.

The theme Urban Transformations: Heritage, Health and Sustainability in the Smart City is designed/considered to focus and support international collaborative research and teaching on the subject of urbanization, and to promote sustainable inter- and multi-disciplinary approaches to urban challenges. It will result in a multi-annual research programme, as part of which joint events will be organized on a regular basis. The first event – a master class/summer academy is jointly organized by Leiden University, the University of Indonesia (Jakarta), and Gadjah Mada University (Yogyakarta). It brings together scientists and scholars from the faculties of medicine, humanities, social sciences, and environmental sciences to formulate interdisciplinary approaches to tackling a complex Indonesian and global challenge.

If you are not affiliated to Leiden University or University of  Indonesia or Gadjah Mada University, but you are interested to join the academy, please contact us at info@universiteitleiden.id