Qualla: Building a Capital From Scratch in the Borneo Rainforest

Building a Capital From Scratch in the Borneo Rainforest: Introduction

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ministry of Housing and Residential Areas of the Republic of Indonesia, Public domain. Jakarta is sinking. Not metaphorically -- the city is physically descending into the Java Sea. Decades of uncontrolled groundwater extraction have caused parts of North Jakarta to drop more than 2.5 meters in the past decade, and at the current rate, a third of Indonesia's capital could be submerged by 2050. So the Indonesian government decided to do something that sounds almost absurd in its ambition: build an entirely new capital from scratch, 1,240 kilometers away, in the rainforests of Borneo. They named it Nusantara, an old Javanese word meaning "archipelago" -- a name that invokes not just geography but the idea of a nation spread across 17,000 islands, finally governed from its geographic center rather than its overcrowded western edge.

Image: Ministry of Housing and Residential Areas of the Republic of Indonesia | Public domain

Building a Capital From Scratch in the Borneo Rainforest: Why Abandon a City of 11 Million?

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit BPMI President's Secretariat/Muchlis Jr, Public domain. Jakarta's problems run deep, and they compound each other. The city sits on swampy, low-lying ground at the mouth of thirteen rivers. Massive population growth -- from 1.5 million in 1950 to over 11 million today, with a metro area of 34 million -- has overwhelmed its infrastruct...

Image: BPMI President's Secretariat/Muchlis Jr | Public domain

Building a Capital From Scratch in the Borneo Rainforest: A Forest City on Paper

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit consigliere ivan from Bontang, Indonesia, CC0. The winning design concept, "Nagara Rimba Nusa" -- roughly "Forest Archipelago" -- envisions a city where 65 percent of the 2,560-square-kilometer site remains green space. On paper, Nusantara will be walkable and transit-oriented, with 80 percent of trips made by public transpor...

Image: consigliere ivan from Bontang, Indonesia | CC0

Building a Capital From Scratch in the Borneo Rainforest: The Clearing in the Trees

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ezagren (bicara / talk), CC BY-SA 4.0. Construction began in earnest in 2022, and satellite images show the transformation. Where dense tropical forest once stood, roads now radiate outward from a central government precinct. The Presidential Palace was completed and inaugurated in August 2024, a swooping modern struc...

Image: Ezagren (bicara / talk) | CC BY-SA 4.0

Building a Capital From Scratch in the Borneo Rainforest: What Gets Lost in the Jungle

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Government of Indonesia, Public domain. Environmentalists have not been quiet. The site occupies land in the regencies of Kutai Kartanegara and Penajam North Paser, regions that are home to orangutans, sun bears, proboscis monkeys, and Borneo's spectacular biodiversity. Much of the terrain is peat bog and swampland, ec...

Image: Government of Indonesia | Public domain

Building a Capital From Scratch in the Borneo Rainforest: A Capital Between Two Futures

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Government of Indonesia, Public domain. Nusantara is governed not by an elected mayor but by an appointed Authority Head at cabinet level, currently Basuki Hadimuljono. Four thousand civil servants are scheduled to relocate in 2026, with legislative and judicial buildings breaking ground in late 2025 and targeting comp...

Image: Government of Indonesia | Public domain