Jakarta. Sociologist Paulus Wirutomo is hoping that Jakarta’s urbanization will continue to decline, as it is set to be a boon to other regions.

According to Paulus, the number of people moving from other regions to Jakarta has been going down each year. Factors to this decline include digitalization, infrastructure development, and the increasing number of people going to Jakarta’s surrounding cities. If this keeps up, this will mean that the population will be more equally distributed to other cities. However, cities across the archipelago should develop their industrial sectors so they can provide jobs to the newcomers.

“Even an industry that is not as sophisticated can help provide jobs for people from the villages. So rather than having all of them packed in Jakarta, the people can be equally distributed to other regions,” Paulus said shortly after a focus group discussion at B-Universe’s headquarters in PIK2 on Tuesday.

Jakarta’s surrounding cities such as Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi, and Cianjur have been able to absorb people from villages. However, there are still not enough opportunities for everyone. Paulus then called for the need to spur equitable cities. 

He added: “If the development spreads more to the smaller and medium-sized cities, we can reduce the agglomeration areas’ burdens. … If developed, smaller cities can help generate jobs for the villagers who struggle to find jobs because of their education level.”

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data shows that Jakarta is home to around 10.6 million people. “Ideally, we should be able to bring the population down to perhaps 8 million [as the declining urbanization continues],” Paulus said.