Dr Amanda Achmadi: Covid-19 and the city

As the pandemic enters its sixth month and Indonesia’s daily case numbers continue to rise, in order to avoid further deterioration of the economy the central and local governments have begun to loosen restrictions. For the tens of millions of Indonesians living in its densely populated cities this will prove to be a particularly difficult test. The pandemic has highlighted tensions between the informality that characterises these large cities, and the bureaucracies struggling to deal with this major public health crisis.

What did the ‘lockdown’ in Indonesia’s cities look like? What were the restrictions on public gatherings and use of public spaces? How is public space being organised under PSBB to accommodate the large informal sector? And as markets, malls, mosques and cinemas open up again how will Indonesia’s urbanites respond?

To answer these questions and more is Dr Amanda Achmadi a senior lecturer in Architectural Design, Asian Architecture and Urbanism at the Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne.

In 2020, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Jemma Purdey from the Australia-Indonesia Centre, Dr Dave McRae from the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, Dr Charlotte Setijadi from the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore and Dr Dirk Tomsa from La Trobe University.

Look out for a new Talking Indonesia podcast every fortnight. Catch up on previous episodes here, subscribe via iTunes or listen via your favourite podcasting app.

Photo: Nova Wahyudi for Antara