Report: 3rd Urban Social Forum 2015

This Event Report records key moments of the 3rd Urban Social Forum in Surabaya, Indonesia, on December 19, 2015, and introduces the overarching vision of the annual Forum. In its third year — its first outside the city of Solo — the Urban Social Forum is an annual event organized by groups and members of civil society. It aims to create an inclusive, public and
democratic space for people from across Indonesia to discuss and re-imagine what kind of cities we want to live in, and to create a vision for change.

This report summarizes the 20 different panel session and offers a glimpse of the diverse and rich discussions that took place during the one-day event. It provides participants’ reactions and thoughts, and shares the names and institutions of the different panellists, moderators and institutions in attendance.

Over 1,000 participants from more than 20 cities in Indonesia attended the 3rd Urban Social Forum, representing communities, civil society organizations and universities. Participants were able to meet with and learn from speakers from 86 institutions.

The 3rd Urban Social Forum also featured a side-event called the Asia Regional Meeting of The Global Platform for the Right to the City (GPR2C) with delegates from Brazil, the United States, Europe, Vietnam, Cambodia, India and Singapore. These urban activists share the same concerns about making our cities better, more socially just and sustainable places to live.

Yayasan Kota Kita initiated the Urban Social Forum in 2013 and has been supported tremendously by voluntary contributions from individuals and partners from all over Indonesia ever since.

The Urban Social Forum is growing each year as complex urban problems in Indonesia grow in numbers and intensify. The awareness of civil society’s role in developing and promoting solutions to these problems has also increased.

The Forum’s growth had been rapid — the 1st Urban Social Forum was held in the Javanese city of Solo and brought together 120 participants. This number more than doubled for the 2nd Forum in 2014, also held in Solo, gathering some 300 participants from across the country.

So we are extremely encouraged to have had more than 1,000 participants in 2015, and by the growing interest
in the Forum, which is evolving each year.

* Download the full report.