Inhabitants at Urban Social Forum (Surabaya)
3rd Urban Social Forum Highlights Success and Contributions of Young Leaders
Tomorrow’s Leaders, Today
On the 19th December 2015 Kota Kita and partner organizations hosted the 3rd Urban Social Forum in Surabaya. The event was attended by record numbers of participants, over 1,000, representing organizations, universities and communities from throughout Indonesia. We welcomed participants and panelists from over 20 different cities, mostly in Java, but also from the cities of Medan, Padang, Kupang, Denpasar, Palu, and Makassar who came to meet and learn from nearly 100 panelists spread out across 20 different panels. The day was an amazing opportunity to exchange experiences, learn from others and network for a better urban future.
Indonesian civil society discusses its urban future
Representatives of Indonesia communities discussed ways to improve urban conditions at the third Urban Social Forum (Photo: Bima Pratama Putra)
When people usually think of meetings about cities they're likely thinking of a convention of civil engineers, or urban planners, or mayors; but in December 2015 a very different kind of meeting occurred in Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city.
More than 1,000 community leaders, civil society activists, academics, students, and volunteer groups came together for the third Urban Social Forum.
Urban Social Forum Hosts Asia Regional Meeting on the Right to the City
The day after the 3rd Urban Social Forum Kota Kita and the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID) hosted the Asia Regional meeting of the Global Right to the City Platform (GPR2C) in Surabaya. The objective of the meeting was to discuss how civil society organizations from throughout Indonesia and Asia could collaborate to promote a new agenda for urban reform in the region. The meeting was well attended by over 50 participants: social leaders, academics, NGO activists, and even government officials, from Indonesia, Brazil, USA, Cambodia, Singapore, India, Thailand, and Vietnam.