E- musrenbang : a digital framework for local participatory planning at the community level

Abstract

It has been a longstanding mission of policymakers, good governance activists and scholars to encourage greater public participation in formulating legal drafts for better city planning. In recent years, emphasis has been placed upon digital engagement as a process which arguably allows more citizens to voice their needs and desires. In Indonesia, an example of such practices can be seen in the e-musrenbang platform, a digital version of a local public participation mechanism in city planning. This study highlights the case of Bandung City of Indonesia by shedding light on the implemented mechanism of e-musrenbang and the stakeholders involved as well as perceptions from its participants. The findings suggest that e-musrenbang has enhanced the transparency and accountability of the overall planning process, however, it has failed to deliver on promises to channel the voices of citizens and solve existing issues of participation.

The impact of e-Musrenbang implementation on development planning process in Banda Aceh City, Indonesia

“…Meskipun penerapannya masih menghadapi kendala, berbagai keunggulan membuat masyarakat tetap mengandalkan E-Musrenbang dalam proses perencanaan pembangunan karena meningkatkan efektifitas dari segi waktu, hasil, kualitas kerja dan partisipasi masyarakat. Secara umum, E-Musrenbang juga meningkatkan transparansi dan akuntabilitas proses perencanaan secara keseluruhan, sebagaimana ditemukan di berbagai kota lainnya seperti Kota Bandung (Anindito et al, 2022), Dumai (Hayati, 2022), dan Lhokseumawe (Nazaruddin et al, 2021). Oleh karena itu, banyak pemangku kepentingan di Kota Banda Aceh mengapresiasi penggunaan E-Musrenbang.…”

Revisiting the Green City Concept in the Tropical and Global South Cities Context: The Case of Indonesia

“…The spatial planning system (Law 26/2007) promotes active participation by citizens in all stages of spatial planning process (i.e., planning, implementation, and control). However, while democracy has been given more space in Indonesia, participating citizens have been oftentimes brought on board to legitimate governmentinitiated purposes (Widianingsih and Morrell, 2007;Anindito et al, 2021). In the case of the green city initiative, the local government invited community leaders and environmental activists as representatives of citizens in the hope that they can maintain and use the pilot park developed by the central government.…”