A new city springs from the rainforest to become Indonesia's tech hub

If an entire major city was designed from scratch today, what technologies would be built into its fabric? We're discovering as we watch Indonesia erect a new capital with tech at its heart.

The nation's future capital, Nusantara, opened its doors last month to up to 300 members of the general public daily for daytime bus tours. Located on more than 250,000 hectares of rainforest land on the east coast of Borneo's Kalimantan, the city will gradually replace Jakarta as the administrative center over the next two decades.

Over-extraction of groundwater and the sheer weight of buildings — a consequence of Jakarta's role as Indonesia's commercial and administrative center--are at the root.

Nusantara, however, is a rare place in Indonesia where tap water is drinkable, the planned capital aims to be a model of livability and sustainability. The vision is that it will remain walkable with 75 percent of its area dedicated to green spaces.

The government has planned smart energy grids to power the city using predominantly renewable energy. It's aiming to be carbon neutral by 2045. Over 21,000 solar panels were already installed as of early 2024.

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