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.