TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Vice President Jusuf Kalla said that the biggest challenge posed by urbanization was having not enough space to accommodate the increasing population.
"Housing problem is a common problem both in developed and developing countries," Kalla said in a conference held by Preparatory Committee (Prepcom) III of the United Nation (UN) Habitat at Grand City Surabaya on Monday, July 25, 2016.
According to Kalla, a smart city program is necessary in order to gain benefits from urbanization.
A balanced city planning that involves urban planning exports, JK added, would be able to correlate residents with their areas. Therefore, JK said that he fully supported the discussion on urban planning issues in the conference. JK hopes that UN Habitat III that will be held in Quito, Equador, would promote cooperation among countries to realize a balanced urban planning.
Kalla, along with Secretary-General of Habitat III Joan Clos, attended a culture expo where representatives from various countries introduced their universities and potentials. In addition, the expo featured Indonesian paintings and artworks from across the country.
Kalla and Joan stopped at a stand that showed a graph of population growth rate per 20 years. The graph shows that with a three percent rate of annual urbanization, there will be 4.3 billion urbanized people in Indonesia by 2020. The figure is expected to increase by 3.8 percent to 5 billion in 2030 and to 5.7 billion by 2040.
The previous UN Habitat conferences were held in 1976 and 1996. PrepCom III UN Habitat was attended by officials from 193 UN member countries. During the event, delegations will deliberate strategic issues to be brought to UN Habitat III conference in mid-October 2016.
SITI JIHAN SYAHFAUZIAH
