Indonesia - Most Livable Cities Index 2018

Chiron

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This past April, the Ikatan Ahli Perencanaan Indonesia (Indonesia Planning Expert Association), or simply "IAP" released their Most Livable Cities Index (MLCI) for Indonesia. They apparently do this about every 3 years, with the last one in 2014. The MLCI is a scorecard from an Indonesian's perspective, and rates a number of different things, like clean water, hospitals, transportation, public spaces, safety, community participation, social activities, and environment. In any case, the top five cities in this study were:

1. Solo
2. Palembang
3. Balikpapan
4. Denpasar
5. Semarang

At the bottom of the list (in case you're wondering) were: Bandar Lampung, Medan, and Makassar.

In any case, here is the link for the study (in Bahasa Indonesia). Actually listed as "MLCI 2017", but as noted released in April, 2018. Seems that they have a detailed process, but not sure how they qualify or determine their scoring methodology. Said another way, it's not clear if there's a bias. Notwithstanding, it's still an interesting presentation to look at.
 
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Thanks for this. Quite interesting.

I would not rate Denpasar as high livability, but I suppose compared to other Indonesian cities it could be. I wonder how this would compare to cities abroad.
 
Thanks for this. Quite interesting.

I would not rate Denpasar as high livability, but I suppose compared to other Indonesian cities it could be. I wonder how this would compare to cities abroad.

I've been to Denpasar a number of times, and would say that it seems to have lots of community participation and social activities. I've heard that it's got some relatively decent hospitals compared to other cities in Indonesia - although haven't tried them out myself. Compared to Solo, I've noticed there's much more in the way of nice housing choices (for both expats and locals). I say all this without having lived there, but overall I would say it seems to be a pretty decent city to live.

Then there's dozens of YouTube vloggers that flock there and show themselves having the time of their life. They surely can't be wrong.
 
Got some friends in Solo, and for me it's a boring place, wouldn't want to live there. Rather Yogya then. But yes, they love it. Obviously they studied there, work there and raised kids, so livable for them has a completely different meaning than for me looking for a retirement place.

Palembang is rather similar. Quite a big Chinese base there so she-who-is-in-control likes it. But there are many preman so I'm surprised if safety and corruption are important factors in the survey.

Denpasar is in fact huge. So it's not so easy to make a general statement with some many different desa's.
 
Got some friends in Solo, and for me it's a boring place, wouldn't want to live there. Rather Yogya then. But yes, they love it. Obviously they studied there, work there and raised kids, so livable for them has a completely different meaning than for me looking for a retirement place.

Palembang is rather similar. Quite a big Chinese base there so she-who-is-in-control likes it. But there are many preman so I'm surprised if safety and corruption are important factors in the survey.

Denpasar is in fact huge. So it's not so easy to make a general statement with some many different desa's.

Indeed huge , honestly Denpasar is jammed with traffic and high pollution , I have to go there on occasion but am always happy to leave and head back to the tranquility of nusa dua . I have yet to see one interesting city in Indonesia ,they all suffer from the same problems as denpasar plus more criminals and noise levels because of the ever increasing mosque density.
 
This is really helpful in expanding the list of places I need to visit.
 
Indeed huge , honestly Denpasar is jammed with traffic and high pollution , I have to go there on occasion but am always happy to leave and head back to the tranquility of nusa dua . I have yet to see one interesting city in Indonesia ,they all suffer from the same problems as denpasar plus more criminals and noise levels because of the ever increasing mosque density.

You forgot to mention Denpasar's Australian problem.
 
Indeed huge , honestly Denpasar is jammed with traffic and high pollution , I have to go there on occasion but am always happy to leave and head back to the tranquility of nusa dua . I have yet to see one interesting city in Indonesia ,they all suffer from the same problems as denpasar plus more criminals and noise levels because of the ever increasing mosque density.
I would have to agree that most, if not all, large Indonesian cities have some issues - traffic, noise, sanitation, etc. The thing that's noteworthy about the MLCI presentation is the rate of urbanization Indonesia has been undergoing in recent times. There are new "large" cities being declared every few years. When the IAP did their first study back in 2009 there was only 12 cities included. In 2011 - 15, 2014 - 18, and in this current study there were 26 cities ranked. Many desa areas are slowly disappearing, and turning into a new kota countrywide. People who were once in a desa, are now finding themselves in an urban area.

So I'm guessing with the above context, they said something like: "if you have to live in a city, which ones are the best, and how do we rank them?" It's also worth noting that the highest composite score was 66.9 for Solo in first place, and 55.7 for Makassar at the bottom. It probably stands to reason that the best score possible was 100, and if so, that implies room for improvement to all of them. The other thing to note, is that it's mostly a study by Indonesians for Indonesians - not necessarily expats or tourists. There are however, things everyone is interested in - like a clean, abundant water supplies, good hospitals, etc. On the other hand, the evaluation team may go into a city and want to know how many mosques are available. For a number of Indonesians the more the merrier, but for an expat this may not be a benefit at all - especially at 4:30am each day.

I can only speak for myself, but I'm probably going to live near to one of these larger cities, however not directly in the center. In Solo for example there's Solo Baru, or for a bit of a drive, there's Tawanmangu on the slopes of Gunung Lawu. Lawu is a beautiful area with cooler temps, lots of clean water, fresh vegetables and fruits, and mostly a quiet local desa vibe. It can be a bit pricey to live there, which may not appeal to many Indonesians looking for a place to raise their family, and get a good income. Same thing goes for Denpasar, as would be the case of Nusa Dua, Pererenan, or Ubud. An expat might pick one of the better large city centers, and locate to a nice suburb or rural area that has decent housing and amenities.
 
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Sorry for the rude attempt at humor, (I cannot resist the low hanging fruit.) and yes it is unfair to vilify an entire population based on the antics of a few rowdies.

Oh, I could use a few jars of Vegemite to poison the termites invading my house.
 
I live in Semarang and fine it very livable. The expat community is small here but Jakarta is just a plane trip away if I want some.craziness. I love the fact that the outdoors and nice places to visit are within easy reach.
 
I mentioned this to a guy who has a house in Palembang. His response? Well that's news to me!
 
I live in Semarang and fine it very livable. The expat community is small here but Jakarta is just a plane trip away if I want some.craziness. I love the fact that the outdoors and nice places to visit are within easy reach.

I just read that Jakarta (Gambir) and Semarang are now connected twice weekly with a VVIP train service. Don't know much about it so would welcome any more info.
 

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