In the spirit of “Collaborate to Elevate”, the Jakarta Future Festival 2025 was held on June 13–15, 2025, at Taman Ismail Marzuki, Central Jakarta. Designed as a space for ideas and action, this festival served as a strategic moment to unite visions, participation, and cross-sectoral collaboration in realizing Jakarta as an inclusive and competitive global city.
Karsa CityLab, a city lab focused on strategic planning through knowledge and collaboration, was entrusted with curating and developing the festival’s core content in collaboration with the Regional Development Planning Agency (BAPPEDA) of the Provincial Government of DKI Jakarta. With a curatorial and thematic approach, Karsa CityLab ensured that the discussions, activations, and entertainment aligned with the city’s long-term direction outlined in the Jakarta Provincial Long-Term Development Plan (RPJPD) 2025–2045, while also providing space for public aspirations to inform the final draft of the Jakarta Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMD) 2025–2029.
Over the three-day event, more than 300 collaborators contributed to 51 discussion panels, 40 community activations, over 20 art performances, and a wide range of installations and interactive exhibitions. In the Talks & Discussion sessions, more than 200 speakers — including government leaders, academics, professionals, activists, and creative industry figures — came together in open forums to collectively generate ideas for the future of the city. These forums not only offered consultative and informative space but also empowered citizens to take ownership of Jakarta’s development trajectory.
“As part of this creative process, Karsa CityLab introduced an approach that shifted the festival from ceremonial to substantive: residents were not merely audiences but dialogue partners. Each session was comprehensively documented in executive notes compiled by BAPPEDA DKI Jakarta as informal inputs for the formulation of the upcoming RPJMD,” said Dedi Wijaya, Managing Director of Karsa CityLab.
Meanwhile, Atika Nur Rahmania, Head of BAPPEDA DKI Jakarta, stated that Jakarta Future Festival 2025 is not merely a forum for disseminating the city’s five-year development plan but also a milestone toward Jakarta’s 500th anniversary celebration, and part of the effort to realize the vision of Jakarta as one of the Top 20 Global Cities.
“This festival is expected to be both a space of celebration and a collective reflection on the future direction of Jakarta. By elevating the standards of organization in line with global issues, the festival also amplifies Jakarta’s role at the international level as a visionary and future-oriented city,” said Atika.
The festival featured at least 11 international speakers, including Prof. Uwe Brandes from Georgetown University, Prof. Rema Hanna from the Harvard Kennedy School, and Safiah Moore from ARUP. National figures such as Deputy Minister for Higher Education, Science & Technology Stella Christie, Deputy Minister for Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Veronica Tan, Deputy Minister for Creative Economy Irene Umar, and Special Staff to the President for the Creative Economy Yovie Widianto also contributed their insights.
Former Jakarta governors — Sutiyoso, Fauzi Bowo, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, and Anies Baswedan — participated as speakers, sharing perspectives on Jakarta’s future based on their areas of expertise. Several mayors from across Indonesia also took part in intercity collaboration panels, including the Mayors of Bandung (Muhammad Farhan), Surakarta (Respati Ardi), Medan (Rico Tri), and Padang (Fadly Amran). Throughout the three-day event, the festival was enlivened by performances from JKT48, Candra Darusman, Efek Rumah Kaca, D’Masiv, Fajar Noor, Sore Ze Band, and 20 other performers.
Jakarta Future Festival 2025 aspires to exemplify how policy can emerge from open and empathetic dialogue. As a model of urban collaboration, the festival reinforces Jakarta’s role as a transforming capital — a city of ideas, a city of networks, and a city of the future. This festival invites residents not only to celebrate their city but also to reimagine its future in a reflective, participatory, and visionary way.