Indonesia City Academy

From August 27-29, 2024, UrbanShift hosted a city academy in Indonesia for GEF-7 cities in Indonesia, India and China. Co-hosted by Bappenas, the Ministry of National Development Planning in Indonesia, this three-day event focused on training global and regional experts on sustainable and integrated urban planning.

The Indonesian City Academy delivered the following three courses:

Circular Economy: Led by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, this training provided an overview of key circular economy concepts, and outlined how and where circular measures can be implemented in cities and urban planning. The circular economy offers cities a way to relinquish outdated economic systems – incompatible with current ecological and social contexts – and augment their economic outputs in a sustainable and equitable manner. The transition towards a circular economy promises greater energy & resource efficiency, sustainable economic growth, reduced emissions, and numerous benefits to biodiversity and human health, helping cities gain ground on their Sustainable Development Goals.

Nature-Based Solutions: Led by World Resources Institute, the Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) training explored how the power of NbS can be utilized in global South cities in Asia through an integrated urban development approach, to deliver benefits to city residents and the climate. NbS are known to provide benefits to people in terms of human health and well-being, for biodiversity and climate change mitigation, and for economic development, yet they are not being scaled at the pace needed for them to deliver transformative benefits in the timeframe needed to address the global climate and biodiversity crises. This training explored the major challenges that Asian cities are facing to implement NbS and opportunities that exist to start implementing NbS. 

Integrated Climate Action Planning: Led by C40 Cities, this training provided a roadmap for cities to develop climate action plans and tackle climate change. The course started with evidence on [1] WHY there is an urgent need for cities to act now, in line with global commitments such as the Paris Agreement. It explored the different elements of [2] WHAT constitutes a science-based climate action plan.  Based on the experience of several cities around the world, the course dove in on [3] HOW exactly a climate action plan is built, providing practical examples and recommendations. And it concluded with an overview of [4] WHO are the different stakeholders that an integrated climate action planning must convene to make sure that climate action is inclusive, equitable and impactful.