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e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 14, Nº. 1 (May-October 2023)

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JAKARTA’S CITY BRANDING AS PARA-DIPLOMACY:

BEYOND GREENING STADIUM AND RACE

LUERDI

luerdi2202@gmail.com

A doctoral student in International Relations at Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (Malaysia). Former

Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations, Universitas Abdurrab,

Indonesia. The main focus of the author’s research is on the issues surrounding foreign policy

and para-diplomacy.

Abstract

Mega-structures and sport mega-events have been attractions in many mega-cities

representing their identity to the rest of the world. Such phenomenon has also taken place in

Jakarta by the existence of the newly erected Jakarta International Stadium and the recently

held Formula E and both have gained attention and stimulated conversations in Indonesia. So

have both been known as a green stadium and a green race. Integrating sustainability to

urban development has been a global trend and Jakarta attempts to take advantage of such

trend to create branding. This research aimed to describe the rationale of greening the

stadium and race by the Jakarta regional government within its city branding policy. This

research employed the qualitative method and descriptive analysis in addition to the concept

of para-diplomacy and city branding. This research found that both green stadium and race

were utilized as symbols or promotional value to promote green development in the city. City

branding by the Jakarta regional government was a diplomatic practice bringing a message

about the city transformation to be a green and global city. This paper provides a perspective

that city branding is para-diplomacy itself or one form of para-diplomacy practices. This paper

argues that through city branding, cities should be able to not only widen their specific needs

locally but also pave their global role in addressing the global challenges like climate crisis.

This paper benefits those who are interested in or are studying today city para-diplomacy and

global urban politics.

Keywords

Jakarta regional government; Jakarta International Stadium; Formula E; sustainability; green

and global city.

Resumo

Mega-estruturas e mega-eventos desportivos têm sido atracções em muitas mega-cidades

representando a sua identidade para o resto do mundo. Tal fenómeno também teve lugar em

Jacarta devido à existência do recentemente erguido Estádio Internacional de Jacarta e da

Fórmula E realizada, tendo ambos ganhado atenção e estimulado discussões na Indonésia.

Ambos têm sido conhecidos como um estádio verde e uma corrida verde. A integração da

sustentabilidade no desenvolvimento urbano tem sido uma tendência global e Jacarta tenta

tirar partido desta tendência para criar uma marca. Esta investigação visa descrever a razão

de ser da ecologização do estádio e da corrida pelo governo regional de Jacarta no âmbito da

sua política de marca da cidade. Foi seguido o método qualitativo e a análise descritiva, para

além da análise do conceito de paradiplomacia e de marca da cidade. Como resultados,

percebeu-se que tanto o estádio verde como a Fórmula E foram utilizados como símbolos ou

valor promocional para promover o desenvolvimento verde na cidade. A marca da cidade

utilizada pelo governo regional de Jacarta resultou numa prática diplomática que trazia uma

mensagem sobre a transformação da cidade tornando-a verde e global. Este documento

fornece uma perspectiva de que a marca da cidade consiste na própria paradiplomacia ou

numa forma de práticas paradiplomáticas, defende que, através da marca, as cidades devem

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 14, Nº. 1 (May-October 2023), pp. 142-169

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ser capazes não só de alargar localmente as suas necessidades específicas, mas também de

reforçar o seu papel global na abordagem dos desafios globais como a crise climática. Este

documento beneficia aqueles que estão interessados ou que estudam hoje a paradiplomacia

das cidades e a política urbana global.

Palavras-chave

Governo regional de Jacarta; Estádio Internacional de Jacarta; Fórmula E; sustentabilidade;

cidade verde e global

How to cite this article

Luerdi, Luerdi (2023). Jakarta’s city branding as para-diplomacy: beyond greening stadium and

race, Janus.net, e-journal of international relations, Vol14 N1, May-October 2023. Consulted

[online] in date of last visit, https://doi.org/10.26619/1647-7251.14.1.9

Article received on November, 23 2022, accepted for publication on March, 11 2023

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

Vol. 14, Nº. 1 (May-October 2023), pp. 142-169

Jakarta’s city branding as para-diplomacy: beyond greening stadium and race

Luerdi Luerdi

144

JAKARTA’S CITY BRANDING AS PARA-DIPLOMACY:

BEYOND GREENING STADIUM AND RACE

LUERDI

Introduction

Global politics and international relations are no longer limited to the issues of hard

politics, such as state security and sovereignty. International communities are currently

challenged by more various global issues and the entities below national governments

like cities have been showing their interests and active engagement in addressing them.

Cities especially mega-cities seems impossible to restrict themselves from the issues as

they are the most directly exposed to the impacts and the excesses of their national

governments’ foreign policy and diplomacy. That cities attempt to respond to them in

both local and international level whose actions are known as para-diplomacy is the main

topic in this paper.

Considering themselves as the regions within a state which are the most exposed to

globalization and are loaded with better resources, cities are even attempting to take

advantage of current trends to promote their interests beyond national borders. Cities

have been important agents in international arena since diplomacy is no longer the state

monopoly strongly attached in globalization process (Zeraoui & Villar, 2016). One of the

current strategies among cities to pursue their interests is city branding, which is also

becoming attention within the study of city para-diplomacy (city diplomacy). City

branding is a self-sustained effort by creating good images through, such as offering

excellent facilities and services and hosting various events. City branding which is

believed to contribute to multiple positive impacts to the cities is not only as an economic

tool, but also as a central element of urban development (Zeraoui & Villar, 2016).

Jakarta is just like other world’s mega-cities attempts to create attractions through city

branding towards its audiences. Jakarta has just had another new mega-structure called

the Jakarta International Stadium (JIS) which began its construction in 2019 and was

completed in 2022. Located in the coastline area of the northern Jakarta, the stadium

has been widely known as a new icon of the city. In addition, Jakarta has been a global

attention as it has recently hosted a sport mega-event called the Formula E (Jakarta E-

Prix). The Formula E is a global motorsport event whose race cars count on electric

batteries in stead of fossil fuel, so that it is also known as a net zero-emission motorsport

event. Besides having triggered conversations among domestic as well as international

audiences, both the JIS and the Formula E have similar characteristic, that is applying

the principle of environmental sustainability.

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The Jakarta regional government has been promoting the JIS and the Jakarta E-Prix since

last few months when the COVID-19 pandemic began to decrease in the city. However,

the case of city branding and para-diplomacy regarding the new icons have not yet gained

wide attention among scholars. This paper sheds light on how the mega-structure and

mega-event alike matter in Jakarta’s city branding facilitating the message spreading

beyond merely as a landmark and an event.

Literature review

The studies of para-diplomacy have been becoming a rising interest among scholars

within the realm of international relations that there exists literature on para-diplomacy

worldwide with a variety of actors and objects as research foci. This section provides a

brief review of several previous works which can be categorized in four different groups,

such as sports diplomacy, city branding, branding sustainability, and other types of para-

diplomacy. Despite the groupings, they share some key concepts and meaningfully

complement each other. The literature that this study attempts to asses is the following:

Table 1. Studies of Para-Diplomacy from Sports Diplomacy to Other Types of Para-Diplomacy

Sports Diplomacy

City Branding

Branding Sustainability

Para-Diplomacy

(Others)

Acuto, 2013a (city

global role)

McDowell, 2022

(regional identity

insertion)

Auschner et al., 2020

(identity creation)

Jelinčić et al., 2017

(identity creation)

Ulldemolins, 2014

(global competition)

Zamorano & Morató,

2015 (global

competition)

Noori & De Jong, 2018

(local transformation)

Erlandsen, 2018

(digital diplomacy)

Ruiz‐Campillo, 2022

(city networks)

Suharyadi, 2016 (city

networks)

Lee, 2014 (city

translocal relations)

Source: compiled by author.

Para-diplomacy through global sporting events have been studied by a few scholars

(Acuto, 2013a; McDowell, 2022). The city initiated to host a global sporting event as a

reaffirmation of primacy on its environmental policy making (Acuto, 2013a). The city has

attempted to demonstrate its capability and play its global role by associating its para-

diplomacy to environmental sustainability which is one of the global concerns (Acuto,

2013a). Similarly, a study by Lee (2014) suggests that cities’ local efforts go beyond

national boundaries to enhance their role to combat climate crisis. On the other hand,

McDowell (2022) argued that an overseas territory inserted its identity to forward its

polity by participating in a global sporting event.

It is widely known that branding cities has been a para-diplomacy strategy for sub-

national governments to attract investments, tourists, and capitals. A number of scholars

have studied city branding through various case studies (Auschner et al., 2020; Jelinčić

et al., 2017; Ulldemolins, 2014; Zamorano & Morató, 2015). Those studies attempt to

suggest city branding as the creation of a new identity (Auschner et al., 2020; Jelinčić et

al., 2017) and a strategy for global competition (Ulldemolins, 2014; Zamorano & Morató,

2015). City branding has been created through transformation in diplomacy (Zamorano

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& Morató, 2015) and internationalization of local development (Auschner et al., 2020).

Despite their different case studies, they suggest culture as the main driver of city

branding (Jelinčić et al., 2017; Ulldemolins, 2014; Zamorano & Morató, 2015). Slightly

different from the others, in addition to cultural factor Jelinčić et al., (2017) suggests the

role of community participation in building city branding which differentiates city branding

from destination branding.

City branding as strategy for a global competition is not only a concern among cities in

the more open countries but also those in a close country as studied by Noori and De

Jong (2018). That the cities in the close country are open to global competition has been

driven by industrial transformation and ecological modernization in the post-oil era (Noori

& De Jong, 2018). Unlike the studies emphasizing on city para-diplomacy and city

branding, Erlandsen (2018) has studied para-diplomacy for nation branding through

digital diplomacy. However, social media as tools of para-diplomacy tended to facilitate

the conversation about independence from a mother country instead of nation branding

or identity of the region (Erlandsen, 2018).

Cities also take advantage of the existence of global fora and networks as platforms in

which they can practice their para-diplomacy more actively and more effectively. The

studies on the roles of such platforms towards city para-diplomacy development have

been conducted by a few scholars (Ruiz‐Campillo, 2022; Suharyadi, 2016). The platform

can facilitate a city to increase its branding and cooperations (Suharyadi, 2016). In

addition, the platform can pave the local initiatives adopting sustainability to gain

international visibility and recognition (Ruiz‐Campillo, 2022).

From the abovementioned review, para-diplomacy by sub-national governments and

branding by cities have been common practices within international relations in which

states are no longer the only actors and national interests are no longer the only

motivation of interactions nor actions beyond borders. Sub-national governments have

put attention to their specific needs which they run after through para-diplomacy. As the

world is facing enormous challenges and problems, not only national but also sub-

national governments have to address them.

One of the global issues which has been a world’s common problem is climate crisis.

Cities especially those in the developed world have raised their concern about

sustainability as many ecological problems grow in the cities. The studies conducted by

Acuto (2013a), Lee (2014), and Ruiz‐Campillo (2022) have revealed that how cities

thanks to their local green development attempt to play a more ambitious role in the

global stage as the actors promoting and championing environmental sustainability. Even

the cities with less sophisticated methods have also attempted to transform towards

ecological development (Noori & De Jong, 2018).

Despite growing interest in and commitment to green development or sustainability

among city governments, the studies on city para-diplomacy regarding the issue is still

limited and the existing literature is dominantly observing the cities in developed

countries as good examples instead of those in developing world. Furthermore, the study

on city branding regarding sustainability-linked global trend, especially by Jakarta is still

rare. Not only does this study have strong relevance to the previous works, it also

benefits from the key concepts they have offered.

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Conceptual framework

Para-Diplomacy

Para-diplomacy is an interdisciplinary study with a variety of dimensions. In the realm of

international relations, among scholars para-diplomacy is the “part of broadening of the

universe of international affairs” (Keating, 2013). Simply, para-diplomacy is foreign or

external relations of sub-national governments as a “form of political communication for

reaching economic, cultural, political, or any other types of benefits” (Kuznetsov, 2015).

Para-diplomatic activities by sub-national governments are self-sustained actions

towards foreign governmental and non-governmental actors (Kuznetsov, 2015).

According to Kuznetsov (2015), regional governments

are the actors of para-diplomacy

representing the regions below national governments’ authority such as cities, provinces,

states, and other kinds of autonomous regions with lower authorities. However, some

studies have shown that para-diplomacy is not the only privilege of regional governments

but also the participating area of non-governmental actors within a sovereign country

(Añorve et al., 2022; Meissner & Warner, 2021). Another view also suggests that para-

diplomacy refer to the actors themselves – while para-diplomacy is the actors, diplomacy

is the activities – as para-diplomacy is the plural form of diplomacy (Melisen, cited in

Fathun, 2022).

Both internal and external institutions called opportunity structure are the common

determinants for a sub-national government to pursue its interest through para-

diplomacy (Keating, 2013; Lecours, 2002). Opportunity structure is any internal and

external institution which the regions are exposed to, either allowing or encouraging

them to conduct para-diplomatic activities. Regarding the opportunity structure, for

instance, globalization and the rise of international regimes have obscured a distinctive

line between domestic and foreign affairs which bring a consequence that the

responsibility divisions between state and sub-national governments are inevitable

(Keating, 2013). A national government will find it difficult to manage an expanding range

of international linkages, economic interdependence, and the demands of policy issues

alone without involving its sub-national governments. Moreover, a national government

can only provide general needs within the country and it is the responsibility of sub-

national governments to fulfil the regional specific needs (Hocking, 1993). Meanwhile the

para-diplomacy strategy is the result of the existing opportunity structure and

motivations generated by the sub-national government (Keating, 2013).

Para-diplomacy can be carried out by sub-national governments in a various form of

actions, starting from attending ceremonial events involving foreign entities to signing

international treaties or campaigning for secession. Little does literature study

disharmonious relationship between national and sub-national governments shown by

their para-diplomatic practices. Instead, para-diplomacy is often seen as an intersection

of public diplomacy and state foreign policy which suggests para-diplomacy by sub-

national governments to be the extension of state foreign policy. It means that sub-

national governments’ external relations are purposively conducted to assist the

Alexander Kuznetsov (2015) would rather use the phrase ‘regional government’ in para-diplomacy study to

refer to the local governments ruling all kinds of regions sub-ordinate to their national governments.

However, this paper also uses a similar phrase ‘sub-national government’ which can be interchangeably

used.

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pursuance of national interests. However, Keating (2013) suggests a distinctive line

between para-diplomacy and conventional diplomacy or state diplomacy since the former

is more “functionally specific and targeted” and often “opportunistic and experimental.”

Thus, sub-national governments can project para-diplomacy driven by their distinctive

motives as well as opportunity structure to pursue regional interests either without

harming national interests or in addition to supporting state diplomacy.

Referring to para-diplomacy concept elaborated above – despite the absence of

consensus on para-diplomacy – this paper introduces the Jakarta regional government

as the actor. Jakarta’s para-diplomacy is a political communication driven by both

motives and opportunity structure to be a green and global city. Integrating the values

of environmental sustainability to infrastructure and events has been a global trend

especially in developed countries. Thanks to the cities’ increased role and sustaining

activism, green development has been a global norm penetrating national boundaries so

that cities begin to consider that human activities must be friendly to environment

including infrastructure provision and recreational activities.

Green development or sustainability is the opportunity structure that the Jakarta regional

government has been attempting to catch. Localizing sustainability such as building a

green stadium like the JIS and hosting a green race like the Formula E compliant with

the global norm is a regional attempt to promote the city’s green transformation to its

audiences. Such transformation is also expected to create an image that Jakarta is

transforming to be a sustainable and livable global city with more active global

engagement.

City Branding

Just like para-diplomacy, city branding attracts attention of scholars from various

disciplines including international relations. While brand is widely known as a “name,

term, sign, symbol, or a combination of them” (Kasapi & Cela, 2017), branding is the

“activity of giving a particular name and image to goods and services so that people will

be attracted to them” (Oxford University Press, 2022). Rooted in management and

marketing world, branding cities is increasingly necessary for regional governments

especially those exposed to globalization to benefit from the interconnected world

through either competition or cooperation. As para-diplomacy studies grow, its purposes

and functions also expand, including to strengthen region or city branding (Auschner et

al., 2020). City branding is often associated to creating identity of the city. Meanwhile,

para-diplomacy is seen as a ”multifunctional vehicle for promotion of interests and

identity” (Lecours, 2008). Sub-national entity may project certain regional characteristic

transforming to be a brand which has promotional purposes as well as symbolic value

(Zeraoui, 2016, cited in Auschner et al., 2020).

In contrast, instead of seeing city branding as a purpose or function of para-diplomacy,

dos Santos (2021) argues that para-diplomacy by cities (city diplomacy) and city

branding overlap as both share commonalities. Considering dos Santos’ findings (dos

Santos, 2021), this paper offers another view that city branding can be seen as para-

diplomacy itself or one form of para-diplomatic activities by city actors projected to their

local and international audiences (governments and non-governments). Despite different

views on para-diplomacy and city branding relationship, this paper argues they do have

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the same end, that is gaining material and non-material advantages by promoting or

internationalizing local development. This is in line with what Kavaratzis (2019, cited in

dos Santos, 2021) argues that city branding is the “application of branding to the

development of cities”.

As city branding shares a few principles of corporate banding (Kavaratzis, 2009), regional

governments act like corporate organizations. However, city branding is not restricted to

promotional activities, rather it is a complete and continuous process interlinked with all

marketing efforts, and it is also a common language which would facilitate interactions

(Kavaratzis, 2009). Adopting the corporate branding concept, cities’ increased interests

in branding can be explained by three reasons; differentiation, transparency, and cost

reduction (Hulberg, 2006). Cities attempt to show that they are different or unique from

their environment (differentiation) and external audiences can demand to access those

behind the brand and their policies (transparency). In addition, instead of promoting

several brands separately, cities can introduce certain well-resonated brands, join them,

and create synergies between them (cost reduction).

Branding can demonstrate local development thanks to the regional governments’

capability of mobilizing all resources, such as ideas, capital, and local knowledge which

lead to collaboration (Helbrecht, 1994, cited in Kavaratzis, 2004). In addition to attracting

investments, tourists, and capitals, branding can enhance cities’ engagement in global

politics. For example, a study by Acuto (2013a) reveals that a global city like London has

ambition to be a more active player in global stage by forwarding its role as a green

leader thanks to the local development it has achieved. Furthermore, regional

governments are currently the main actors calling for networking and search for more

intense international connectedness (Auschner et al., 2020; Zamorano & Morató, 2015).

Hankinson (2004) offers four brand perspectives; brand as perceptual entities, as

communicators, as relationships, and as value enhancers. Using these perspectives, city

branding aims to create positive image towards cities, spread certain messages, maintain

good relationship, and promote certain culture or belief. Branding is the process of

shifting the function of tangible elements to the emotion of people (Auladell, 2014).

Within this process, in the case of cities, at the beginning city governments may focus

on improving architecture, industry, leisure areas, and other tangible elements which will

evolve to the promotion of the whole city. That when places finally serve as a source for

imagination of a brand creates the basis of experience among audiences.

Regarding image communication, Kavaratzis (2004) develops city-brand communication

framework consisting of primary, secondary, and tertiary communication. Primary

communication refers to communicative effects of city actions, but such communication

is not the main goals of the actions covering four areas of intervention; (a) landscape

strategies; referring both actions and decisions relevant to urban design, architecture,

green spaces, and generally public spaces in the city; (b) infrastructure projects;

referring to regional government’s projects developed to create, improve, or give a

distinctive character to the various types of infrastructure needed in the city; (c)

organizational and administrative structure; referring the effectiveness and improvement

of the city governing structure; (d) behavior; referring to the city leaders’ vision, the

strategy adopted, the financial incentives provided to various stakeholders, and events

organized (Kavaratzis, 2004, 2009).

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Though such primary communication is unintentional or indirect, the role is vital for a

city to gain trust from its audiences. On the other hand, secondary communication refers

to the formal, intentional communication which most commonly takes place through

marketing practices, such as indoor and outdoor advertising and tertiary communication

refers to communication ways other than the previous types, such as words of mouth,

reinforced by media and competitors’ communication (Kavaratzis, 2004). While

secondary communication can be controlled by city governments’ marketers, tertiary

communication is uncontrollable. Thanks to today digital development, the author

suggests that conversations in social media meet the latter’s category.

This paper embraces the view that city branding is para-diplomacy, meanwhile branding

as a decision obviously needs strategies. In this study, the Jakarta regional government’s

initiatives, such as building a green mega-structure following current global trend and

hosting a green sport mega-event which are considered as strategies have been intended

for city branding. Jakarta attempts to build an identity or characteristic of sustainability

by integrating green principle to its stadium and sporting event. As the iconic landscape

and event are signs and symbols as well as the primary way of communication to spread

messages especially to its international community, they are expected to mold a good

image of the whole city regarding its ambition to be green and global.

Promoting Jakarta’s local development as the purpose of city branding will in turn

facilitate the regional government to gain economic and cultural advantages. While an

amount of literature suggests city branding to be a strategy for global competition

(Anttiroiko, 2015; Ulldemolins, 2014; Zamorano & Morató, 2015), this paper argues city

branding by the Jakarta regional government leads to collaboration with foreign entities

to widen local green development. In addition to collaboration, city branding by the

Jakarta regional government also aims to enhance the values of sustainability since city

branding can be seen as value enhancer and through which as experienced by advanced

global cities, Jakarta is expected to play more active global role in campaigning

sustainability and inclusiveness among the world’s cities when its local development

becomes more significant in the future.

Methods

This research applied the qualitative method and the descriptive analysis method. As a

qualitative research, it was intended to comprehend “phenomena, activities, and social

processes” focusing on “meanings and understanding in stead of quantification” (Bakry,

2017). The data were retrieved from the official files published by the Jakarta regional

government and its affiliations as primary sources, such as report documents, pers

releases, and relevant videos in addition to secondary sources like scholarly journals,

books, and reliable online sources. The data were analyzed through Mile and

Hubberman’s interactive model or technique comprising a few steps; data collection, data

reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing or verification (Miles & Huberman, 1994).

Employing the technique, all of the stages will cease only if the research report is really

completed (Miles & Huberman, 1994).

The steps carried out based on the interactive technique during this research were as the

following; firstly, an amount of early information was retrieved as a start. Secondly, data

were sorted out in order to formulate a few critical questions regarding the phenomenon

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to result in a specific issue. Thirdly, early conclusion or finding could be drawn, but it

needed supporting by more data and during this stage, data acted to confirm such

finding. As the interactive model is a cyclic technique, collecting data was supposed to

still proceed along with the other steps until the research report was completed. Fourthly,

the conclusion was becoming clear and strong since meanings, regularities, explanatory

patterns, configurations, causalities, and propositions were convincingly recorded.

Results and discussion

Both the iconic mega-structure and sport mega-event have demonstrated innovations

integrating environmental sustainability which is a global norm as well as a global trend.

Jakarta’s city branding is intended to create characteristic or identity which can represent

Jakarta’s green transformation. In other words, the existence of the JIS and the Jakarta

E-Prix is projected to promote a series of local development and tell its audiences that

transformation towards a green and global city has been taking place in the city.

Simultaneously, Jakarta will be able to gain material and non-material advantages,

including to forward its international roles through the branding of such local

development.

Sustainability As a Global Norm

The attention on human activities and its impacts to environment has been a widely rising

awareness among international communities. One of the global issues that has been

affecting people lives due to ecological deterioration is climate crisis. The view that

human behaviors must contribute to ecological perseverance is becoming necessary as

it is a global public good. The ecological perseverance together with other global concerns

has been championed through the idea of sustainability and it has been transforming to

be a global norm (Mol & Zhang, 2012). The United Nations (UN) is widely known as the

norm entrepreneur upholding sustainability and ensure international communities to

comply with it voluntarily. In addition to the UN, sustainability is also championed by

countries and international organizations worldwide. The UN has formulated 17

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and some of which are addressed as a set of

guidelines to tackle ecological threats by countries in the world (United Nations, n.d.).

Sustainability attached in the SDGs is a global governance by goal-setting (Biermann et

al., 2017). One of the SDGs specifies the issue of industry, innovation, and infrastructure.

The goal aims to encourage countries and other international communities to build

resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster

innovation (United Nations, n.d.). Regarding this, it is inevitable that sustainability has

been infused in sport, too. Sport industry engaging the behaviors of governments,

federations, players and staffs, and fans is expected to get involve in addressing the

challenges caused by the climate crisis. Green technology is supposed to be adopted in

sport especially sport mega-events including their infrastructure. The Formula E which is

the only net zero-emission race is one of the examples in sport industry demonstrating

a green technology innovation. Furthermore, sport mega-event organizations, such as

the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the International

Olympic Committee (IOC) have encouraged bidding countries to provide sustainable

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stadiums and other eco-friendly supporting infrastructure to host the FIFA World Cup and

the Olympic Games (Fermeglia, 2017).

As the actors in international relations are diverse in line with the increased global issues

in number, the roles of cities are becoming more important to address them especially

those related to climate crisis. Though cities only occupy 2% of the earth surface, they

consume 60-80% of global energy (Sodiq et al., 2019). It is also projected that the

population of cities will increase up to 6.9 billion by 2050, making up 70% of the world’s

population (Sodiq et al., 2019). The world’s cities are the main contributors of emissions

produced by urban mobility and industry. At the same time, they are at the forefront

exposed to the impacts of ecological deterioration-caused threats, such as coastline area

sinking, floods, diseases, and ecology-related social problems.

Such situation has encouraged cities to begin to adapt to climate crisis by transforming

themselves to be climate resilient cities. Hence, the development – not limited to sport

and leisure – driven by the sustainability norm has been inevitably adopted by city

governments. Thanks to the networks of cities, sustainable agenda can be better

championed by cities and cities – other than states and international organizations – are

now becoming norm entrepreneurs of environmental sustainability. In addition to the

role of such platforms – for example, the C40 Cities – the local initiatives related to

sustainability can diffuse to other cities (Ruiz‐Campillo, 2022).

Green Stadium and Race: Growing Global Trend

Inspired by the European modern stadiums like the Old Trafford in Manchester and the

Allianz Arena in München and followed by doubts as well as challenges caused by the

pandemic of COVID-19, the Jakarta International Stadium (JIS) was one of the ambitious

local projects by the Jakarta regional government which has been propagating

conversations among city dwellers and citizens across Indonesia. It is the first non-

athletic and multi-functional stadium applying retractable-roof technology in the country

and the second featuring such technology in Southeast Asia after the Singapore’s

National Stadium (Jakarta Post, 2021). Its capacity of 82,000 seats currently makes it

the largest retractable-roof stadium in Asia and the second-largest retractable-roof

stadium in the world, only after the T&T Stadium in the United States (Jakarta Post,

2021). The stadium’s construction was supervised by Buro Happold – a company

experienced with the construction of modern stadiums used for the European and the

World Cup tournaments – from the planning to the finishing stage which make it

compliant with the standards recommended by the FIFA (Jakarta Propertindo, 2022).

In addition to unique design and modern facilities, the JIS features environmental

sustainability, such as the minimizing of energy consumption through façade design,

restoring solar energy, recycling water sewage, and applying zero run-off system. In

domestic level, the JIS is currently the only stadium which has gained the “platinum

greenship” which is the highest green predicate for green buildings from the Green

Building Council Indonesia (Jakarta Regional Government, 2021a). The stadium was

purposively constructed in the area which would be gradually integrated with mass

transport system. It has been a common practice that modern stadiums which have

earlier adopted sustainability provide such limited parking areas that fans are encouraged

to use public transport means instead of private vehicles. Thus, sports and leisure

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activities do not contribute to producing emission and causing traffic congestion in the

cities.

Even though green stadiums are still not immensely popular in Indonesia today, as

argued by Jakarta Governor Anies Rasyid Baswedan at the interview session with the

CNN Indonesia, the JIS was intentionally built not only for today purpose but also for

future relevance (CNN Indonesia, 2021). Since cities are becoming norm entrepreneurs,

it is believed that green innovation will be the future characteristic of modern stadiums

in sustainable cities. Furthermore, the pressures or demands for adoption and diffusion

of pro-environmental features to sport infrastructure have been rising in some areas

across continents (Kellison & Hong, 2015). In this case, the Jakarta regional government

attempts to catch the momentum of such feature infrastructure as a global trend within

its initiative providing a green stadium as a new icon for the city.

In addition to the stadium, the Formula E has been a new attraction in Jakarta. The

Jakarta E-Prix is one of the Formula E series held in the city after officially securing the

ticket to host the race for five consecutive years, from 2020 to 2024. Diplomacy for

hosting the global motorsport event was conducted in 2019 through a series of

negotiations and finalized in New York City after Governor Anies attended and became a

speaker at the World Cities Summit Mayors Forum in Medellin, Columbia (Ramadhan et

al., 2022). However, the pandemic of COVID-19 forced the Jakarta regional government

to renegotiate the schedule and it can eventually be conducted for three consecutive

years, from 2022 to 2024.

The Fédération International de l’Automobile (FIA) – the global governing body of

motorsport – has put more efforts to emphasize environmental, socio-economic, and

safety aspect of motorsport (Robeers & Van Den Bulck, 2018). In term of environmental

aspect, the creation of the Formula E by the FIA is a breakthrough for future motorsport

events. Officially known as the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, the idea of the

world’s all-electric single-seater race was initiated in 2011 and came to reality in 2014 in

which Beijing first hosted the race (FIA Formula E, 2022). The founding mission of the

championship is to promote sustainable mobility through the races in the world’s most

iconic cities (FIA Formula E, 2022). As cities are the main producers of emissions caused

by fossil fuel vehicles, the Formula E is designed to encourage better and cleaner world’s

cities through the transformation towards electric vehicles. Through the emergence of

the Formula E, motorsport has worked on a significant initiative to be more

environmentally and socially sustainable (Robeers & Van Den Bulck, 2018).

Not only is the Formula E still the world’s race which is integrating green innovation, but

it is also claimed the world’s fastest growing motorsport series (FIA Formula E, 2022).

The trend is demonstrated by the rising interests of on-site spectators and online viewers

as well as the more races and cities across continents which participate to host the

motorsport championship since its inception. While the Season 8 has recorded a 20%

rise in accumulative audience compared to previous year (Sport Business, 2022), the

incoming Season 9 of the Formula E is projected to have a calendar of 18 races in more

than ten world’s cities (FIA Formula E, 2022). Despite that the Formula E is still behind

the fossil fuel Formula 1 in term of fame, it is believed that the electric motorsport is the

characteristic of future generation in which environmental sustainability will be becoming

more and more inevitable.

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When the Jakarta regional government announced that the FIA finally approved its

bidding as a host of the formula E in 2019, the criticisms and doubts have arisen around

the project since then, from whether the race was able to bring attractiveness nationally

and internationally as it was not as popular as the Formula 1 nor the Moto GP, to whether

Jakarta was able to carry out such global event as it was the first time a city in Indonesia

self-initiated the world’s net zero-emission race. However, as the norm of sustainability

has been embraced and integrated to Jakarta’s development planning, the Formula E

becomes important to symbolize the green transformation in the city. In addition, the

Formula E provides the host cities opportunities to create branding by “having

technologically green cars racing around iconic cityscapes” (Sturm, 2018).

While the Formula E presents a future characteristic of green sports, the JIS is a future

characteristic of green buildings. The JIS is expected to promote resilient infrastructure

in the city. On the other hand, the Jakarta E-Prix is expected to promote renewable

energy. Both refer to the innovations which comply with the norm of sustainability and

have been a rising global trend. Such green stadium and race are tangible elements

which act as the media to self-brand Jakarta. From the tangible elements, as argued by

Auladell (2014) they are shifted to people’s emotion that Jakarta is transforming to be a

green and global city in which experiences of sustainability and global characteristic can

be found. Such process has involved both formal and informal image communication as

suggested by Kavaratzis (2004). Not only has the Jakarta regional government promoted

them actively, but the pros and cons conversations on conventional and social media

have also helped spread the ongoing transformation message.

More than Just Green Stadium and Race: Promoting Local Development

Jakarta which is one of the world’s mega-cities and the only Indonesia’s city with the

provincial status has been conducting its para-diplomacy actively, including in the form

of city branding. As city branding means creating differentiation (Hulberg, 2006), the

Jakarta regional government has been attempting to show the city to be different from

its surroundings. In term of development not only as a center of business and culture,

but the city has also been projecting to ambitiously adopt sustainability to its urban

planning. The results on implementation of environmental sustainability to public policies

are becoming tools which position the city to be distinguished from others. As one of the

largest mega-cities either by size or by population in the southern hemisphere as well as

the capital of one of the world’s largest democracies, Jakarta is the center of national and

global attention. This status eases the Jakarta regional government to function city

branding as the creation of good image on as well as the spread of message about the

progress the city has made as argued by Hankinson (2004) that brands can be seen as

perceptual entities and communications.

As the purpose of city branding is to promote local development, the Jakarta regional

government needs relevant signs or symbols which represent such development. Building

the green stadium and hosting the green race are the efforts to demonstrate the green

development in the city. That the JIS is still the only stadium offering sustainable

technology with the highest grade of green building predicate in the domestic level and

the Jakarta E-Prix is still the only global net zero-emission motorsport hosted in Indonesia

can bring about perception from its audiences that Jakarta is the most progressive region

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in the country in term of commitment to sustainability and is seen from outside to be

capable of providing the prestigious mega-structure and sport mega-event rising as a

global trend at home.

Both have been the new icons which represent the sustainable sides of the city and this

is in line with the cost reduction dimension of brands as argued by Hulberg (2006).

Instead of introducing all sides of development, the Jakarta regional government has

decided to pick a couple of icons which can represent the whole city. Among the

landscapes and events existing in the city, the ones which are related to sport like

stadium and race are still the most familiar and the most easily recognized by its

audiences. In addition, landscapes strategies, infrastructure projects, and events posses

a vital role as the primary city-brand communication as suggested by Kavaratzis (2004,

2009).

Green transformation is the local development that the Jakarta regional government

would rather promote within its city branding. In other words, it is the main message

behind the greening stadium and race. That both have been attracting attention among

domestic and international audiences is just a shared part of the whole transformation

Jakarta wishes to introduce. Having several challenges due to climate crisis like rising

sea level, flooding, and glasshouse effect as well as long-lasting problems rooted in the

city like air pollution and congestion, the Jakarta regional government has begun to

embrace sustainability as the solutions to tackle them. The environmentally sustainable

policies have been taken to transform Jakarta to be a climate resilient city. Based on the

“Jakarta Climate Resilient City: Best Practices Compilation 2021” published by the Jakarta

regional government, the actions to face the climate crisis challenges can be grouped to

several categories as the following (Jakarta Regional Government, 2021a):

Table 2. Jakarta’s Action Plan to Face Climate Crisis

Categories

Actions

Sustainable transport and

mobility

- MRT and LRT development

- Cycling infrastructure

- BRT service expansion and e-bus

- Pedestrian facilities improvement

- Public transport integration

- Private vehicles emission test

- Low emission zone (LEZ)

- Paratransit transformation

Waste management

- “Jakarta is aware of waste” campaign

- E-waste management

- Jakarta Recycling Centre

Renewable energy usage

- Rooftop solar panel installation

- Green building implementation

- Energy efficiency campaign

Climate adaptation

- Climate kampong

- Coastal protection

Green open spaces

extensification

- City parks development (transforming gardens to parks)

Source: Jakarta Regional Government (2021a)

To mitigate the climate crisis at the local level, Jakarta has formulated several policies,

such as sustainable transport and mobility, waste management, renewable energy

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usage, climate adaptation, and green open spaces extensification. These policies have

been being implemented through several action plans, starting from transport

infrastructure to city parks development which are aimed for social purpose as the third

urban public spaces in addition to climate crisis mitigation in the city.

Among those efforts, the most significant and the most apparent transformation in

Jakarta is the urban transport and mobility. The Jakarta regional government has been

restructuring the transport and mobility in the city by embracing a new paradigm of

development called transit-oriented development (Jakarta Regional Government,

2021a). The narrative of the new development is to prioritize pedestrians which are then

followed by cyclists, public transport riders, and private vehicle users. Stepping up such

narrative, the provision and construction of facilities must follow the needs of

pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport riders ahead of private vehicle users.

Considering this paradigm, the revitalization and construction of pavements, bike lanes,

transit areas along with their supporting facilities must be the priorities of city decision

makers. It is the opposition of car-oriented development which has been contributing to

the city air pollution and stressful traffic congestion for many years since city dwellers

rely on private vehicles to support their mobility.

The transit-oriented development is strongly supported by the policy to incorporate all

transport modes in Jakarta to a common system called the “Jak Lingko.” The transport

integration system not only incorporates the network and facilities, but it also integrates

the payment system (Jak Lingko Indonesia, 2022). Thanks to the transport integration

complemented with supporting facilities, there has been an increase in mass public

transport riders in the city, for instance, the Bus Rapid Transits (BRTs) reached a million

daily riders in 2019 (Magnusson & Rachmita, 2021). The number of public transport riders

is expected to keep increasing, becoming an indicator that the city transformation is on

the right track. That the more people would prefer public transport means the less air

pollution and traffic congestion take place in the city. With the current transport system,

the Jakarta regional government targets to increase the share of public transport riders

up to 60% by 2029 (Jak Lingko Indonesia, 2022). Moreover, Jakarta has decided to drop

its emission to 30 % by 2030 and targeted the city to be free of emission by 2050 (Jakarta

Regional Government, 2021a).

The city development needs communicating well so that it will be able to create a good

image to the Jakarta regional government and the city, not only among domestic but

also among international audiences. Framing the progress in the city related to

sustainable development – not limited to the stadium and event – has been an important

part in governing the city. Thus, Jakarta has played an important role in providing good

example of green transformation in the country particularly and among the world’s

developing cities generally. What the Jakarta regional government has been working on

is in line with Kavaratzis’ city branding concept referring to the “application of branding

to the city development” (dos Santos, 2021).

International recognitions that have been gained by Jakarta is believed to strengthen the

city branding effort. Jakarta used to be among the world’s ten most congested city before

2020. TomTom International released a report “TomTom Traffic Index 2020” telling that

Jakarta could escape the notorious grouping of the 10 worst congested cities in 2020

(TomTom International, 2020). Since then, Jakarta has been showing its good

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performance in decreasing the traffic jam level among the world’s mega-cities. Thanks

to the innovation in urban mobility including its commitment to providing decent bike

lanes for cyclists, Jakarta was awarded the first position in the Sustainable Transport

Award (STA) by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) in 2021

(ITDP, 2021). Jakarta is the first city in the Southeast Asia to have received the

prestigious award. In addition, the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI), which

is based in Germany and has initiated the policy implementation of sustainable urban

mobility in many cities, included Jakarta Governor among the “21 Heroes” in 2021 for

the effort to create fair, affordable, and inclusive transportation in the time of global

challenge of COVID-19 (TUMI, 2021).

Local development-driven city branding contributes to facilitating more interaction and

maintaining relationship, especially between the Jakarta regional government and foreign

entities like the world’s city leaders and international organizations as suggested by

Kavaratzis (2009) and Hankinson (2004). At the same time, both interaction and

relationship strengthen prevailing city branding. Governor Anies has actively carried out

on-spot diplomacy towards those entities to introduce several pilot projects integrating

sustainability in the city. For instance, in the separate moments Governor Anies invited

the British Secretary of State for International Trade, Rt. Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan and

Vice President of the European Investment Bank, Mr. Kris Peeters and the Europe Union

Ambassador, HE Vincent Piket to have a short tour of the MRT riding and street walking

around the area of Sudirman-Thamrin to promote the sustainable transport and mobility

in the city (Baswedan, 2022; Luerdi, 2022b). Also, Governor Anies has recently invited

and guided a tour of the U20 leaders and the C40 Cities delegates at the side event of

the U20 Mayors Summit at Kota Tua (Jakarta’s Old Town) which has been designated as

a low emission zone (Antara, 2022b). The places introduced are the examples of current

green transformation as well as the expected representation of all Jakarta in the future.

Such green development can be realized through global-local collaboration between the

Jakarta regional government and various stakeholders, such as governmental and non-

governmental organizations, business entities, think-tanks, and local communities as

frequently well-sounded in the tagline “city of collaboration.” Jakarta has emphasized

collaboration as an approach in its sustainable development and currently the city has

several collaboration partners, such as the C40 Cities, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Japan

International Cooperation Agency (JICA), ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability,

Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Coalition of Pedestrians, and others

(Jakarta Regional Government, 2021b). Furthermore, as often claimed by the city policy

makers, there have been increasing roles of local communities in the city development

as city branding is supposed to be a bottom-up policy. The participations of communities

are necessary in the act of branding the city, making it different from that of branding

the destinations (Jelinčić et al., 2017).

As transformation to be a sustainable city is a long-term goal which requires continuity,

the Jakarta regional government needs to widen its local development by enhancing more

global-local collaborations. For example, following Rt. Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan’s visit

in the city, Governor Anies and a few officials of the Jakarta’s transportation enterprises

visited a few European countries for stepping up potential sustainable transport

collaborations. During their visit to London, in addition to sharing the current

development in Jakarta with the British business entities, PT. MRT Jakarta and the

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Crossrail International signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the MRT

investment and development (Luerdi, 2022b). On the other hand, PT. Transjakarta and

the Switch Mobility Limited signed an MoU on busses electrification (Luerdi, 2022b). PT.

MRT Jakarta and the European Investment Bank also signed another MoU on the MRT

investment in Luxembourg (Baswedan, 2022).

The Mass Rapid Transits (MRTs) are still the backbone of transit-oriented development

and transport integration policy. Jakarta has had a long-term plan for several the MRTs

construction projects which will relate to all kinds of transport modes in the city. On the

other hand, the provision of massive electric busses is needed to help reach the middle-

term emission cut-off and the long-term net zero-emission target in the city. Jakarta has

a plan to electrify all transport modes within the Jak Lingko system, not only the MRTs

and the BRTs but also the microbuses by 2030 (Jakarta Regional Government, 2020).

Both projects are expected to accelerate sustainable urban transport and mobility

ambition by implementing sustainability principle. Local development can drive new

collaborations in addition to deepening current collaborations thanks to a series of good

examples the city has demonstrated. Looking at what the Jakarta regional government

has done through its collaboration practices, as argued by Helbrecht (cited in Kavaratzis,

2004) that city branding leads to collaboration can be represented by the case of Jakarta.

From the above discussion, greening stadium and race has been a promotional effort by

the Jakarta regional government to uphold the commitment to the norm of sustainability.

Both stadium and race are the current global trend as well as examples of green

development which have been attracting attention among domestic and international

audiences. While the JIS aims to introduce green building implementation, the Jakarta

E-Prix is an energy efficiency campaign in the city. They have a role to provide a good

image to the whole city attached in city branding activity. In other words, city branding

as a para-diplomacy by the Jakarta regional government in this paper is to forward a

message that Jakarta is transforming to be a green and global city. As para-diplomacy is

a “form of political communication” as suggested by Kuznetsov (2015), through which

city branding of Jakarta aims to pursue various benefits. The city development is

projected to double tourists, investments, and capitals, going parallel with the progress

the city can provide to its audiences. This is line with s few studies suggesting

sustainability is the determinant of territorial or urban attractiveness (Boivin & Tanguay,

2019; Servillo et al., 2012).

Ambition To Be a Green and Global City

That Jakarta has an ambition to be a global city can be seen through the rhetoric well

sounded by the Jakarta regional government officials, including and more often by

Governor Anies. On many occasions like discussion fora and inauguration events, the

tagline “Jakarta Global City” and “Jakarta Kota Global” have been delivered to Jakarta’s

public. For instance, at the recent city anniversary celebration, Governor Anies vowed

that Jakarta has been entering the era of global city as the city consistently provides

international standard infrastructure, implements massive digital technology in

governance, hosts global events, and gains international recognitions for its significant

development (Jakarta Regional Government, 2022a). The taglines are also popular in

social media with the hashtag #JakartaKotaGlobal and #JakartaGlobalCity. Furthermore,

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looking at sustainability-driven global trend applied in the city development, Governor

Anies once declared the ambition that Jakarta leads in sustainable transportation (Antara,

2022a) in addition to becoming one of the world’s greenest mega-cities (Modern

Diplomacy, 2019).

Strongly linked to economic geography, global cities are often associated with the product

of globalization as the main driver of global economy and the push of economic

interdependence among countries. Global cities are believed to function as “critical

governance nodes in global production networks” (Parnreiter, 2019). However, global

cities no longer act solely as the hubs of economy and investment referring to “elite

cities” as there have been various global challenges as well as changes and demands.

Global cities today also act as hubs of sport and tourism, education and culture,

innovation and technology, and politics. Since global cities are the hubs of human

interactions, they are melting pots of diverse nations and cultures. In addition to hosting

global events, global cities are home to international organizations, business entities, and

think-tanks. It is widely known that global cities have soft power referring to the

capability of attracting and influencing audiences both foreign governments and non-

governments. Furthermore, Lee (2016) notes that environmental attractiveness is one

of dimensions forming soft power which affects international business, tourism, and

migration.

However, there has been rising awareness that cities – including those widely known as

global cities – not only act as the world’s development engine (Balbim, 2016), but they

also contribute to causing global problems like climate crisis and resources scarcity due

to their intolerable glasshouse gas and huge energy consumption. They are deemed

responsible to take part of addressing the problems parallel with the rising city roles.

Even current climate change governance is the evolution of city interventions through

policy experiments by city governments to have begun since late 1980s and early 1990s

(Bulkeley & Broto, 2013).

Sustainability has become a key issue as a new urban agenda among cities as well as a

grand strategy to be resilient to face global challenges. Environmental sustainability

particularly has been a common principle demanded by people in the cities to be

articulated in city development policies (Kellison & Hong, 2015). Even those which have

been recognized as today high-ranking global cities like London, New York City, and

Tokyo, the city governments are attempting to implement sustainability to their local

development. Considering this phenomenon, being global and green are two things which

will be well-attached in the future. In other words, environmental sustainability can be

one of the future indicators – not only economic power – to label a city to be a global city

which has important role in tacking climate crisis through local green development.

Jakarta’s intention to become a new green and global city has been followed by the

constructions and revitalizations of public facilities and the hosting of international events

which pave the city transformation. While modern and internationally recognized facilities

are needed to facilitate human interactions in the city, environmental sustainability is

necessarily applied as a current global trend. Through facilities and events as city-brand

communication (Kavaratzis, 2004, 2009), Jakarta has been attempting to communicate

its transformation to not only its local but also international audiences. Among such

infrastructure and events, the JIS and the Jakarta E-Prix are the most attractive and well-

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resonated with which the Jakarta regional government expects to help spreading the

message on the city transformation to be a green and global city.

While the most conversations on stadiums in Indonesia are still restricted to whether the

main fields complying with the FIFA’s guideline to host official matches, the JIS provides

more features such as retractable roof, non-athletic track, and green technology like

stadiums in developed cities in which sport has become a promising industry. According

to Daily Mail report, the JIS is one of the ten most luxurious modern stadiums in the

world along with other prominent stadiums, such as the World Cup’s Lusail Stadium in

Qatar, the upgraded Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, the Stadio Della Roma in

Rome, and others (Daily Mail, 2020). All the stadiums in the list have similarity, that is

applying green technology in their designs to anticipate future relevance.

The JIS is projected to host international football matches which will be able to seat many

fans in the future. In addition, the stadium is designated to be a stadium tourism

destination since stadium tourism is a growing area within sports tourism (Edensor et

al., 2021). The practice of promoting stadiums as the tourist attraction has been a

common practice by the regional governments especially in the cities whose sport

industry has developed well. The stadium is also expected to generate the surrounding

economy as infrastructure – as practiced in many global cities – should not be erected

for only one specific purpose but multi purposes. As argued by Governor Anies, the JIS

is built not only for facilitating football games but also for generating and distributing

economic development in the city as well as changing the culture of urban mobility from

relying on private vehicles to using public transport modes (CNN Indonesia, 2021).

Jakarta hosted one of the Formula E’s Season 8 races in June 2022. Though it was the

first time the city hosted such race, the Formula E Operation (FEO) claimed that it has

made the record-breaking as the most successful race in the Formula E history as it

attracted the most online live viewers in addition on-spot spectators compared to other

Formula E races (FIA Formula E, 2022). Thanks to the achievement, Jakarta is allowed

to host doubleheader races in the next Formula E’s Season 9. As one of the motorsport

events most covered by media in the world, Jakarta like other host cities definitely takes

advantage of media exposure to promote itself and get wide attentions globally (Sturm,

2018). The Jakarta E-Prix has impacted both tourism and economic sector in the city. In

addition to having more tourists to visit Jakarta, as studied by the Institute for

Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) the race contributed to the economic

impact worth IDR 2.63 trillion to the city on the race day (Tempo, 2022).

As easily recognized by audiences, the existence of the mega-structure like the JIS and

the sport mega-event like the Formula E are expected to position Jakarta equal to other

global cities. They can be evidence that Jakarta is able to provide the global standard

infrastructure as well as global events at home. As a global city acts as a hub of human

interaction, the JIS and the Jakarta E-Prix are in line with the city’s ambition to be a

global hub of sports tourism (Luerdi, 2022a). Thus, more tourists are expected to make

their visits to Jakarta and more economic impacts are expected to gain in which city para-

diplomacy or city branding has a role in internationalizing the city as suggested by

Auschner et al., (2020).

Not only the stadium and the racetrack, but other forms of infrastructure also get

attention like cultural centers, public transportation, transit areas, parks, and others to

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support the city’s transformation. Most of them are designed as multi-functional third

public spaces – the spaces referring to other than homes and offices – which emphasize

environmental sustainability and inclusiveness as argued by Governor Anies during the

public lecture on the “Transformation of Jakarta 2017-2022: Ideas, Narratives, and

Works” aired by the CNN Indonesia (CNN Indonesia, 2022). The hard infrastructure

provision is believed to gradually change people’s behavior in the city as global citizens

since global cities are not only about hard infrastructure, but also about soft infrastructure

as suggested by Governor Anies (CNN Indonesia, 2022).

As a global city has the power of attraction, for example, in term of attracting investment

other than by direct diplomacy, the Jakarta regional government has been attempting to

offer several regional projects to investors through the Jakarta Investment Forum (JIF)

(Jakarta Investment Center, 2022). The JIF has been a platform to connect the city policy

makers and potential investors to sustain its transformation to be a global city through

green investments. The JIF is annual forum conducted by the Jakarta regional

government to ensure that Jakarta is a friendly investment destination and to persuade

both domestic and foreign investors to participate in the city’s green projects by providing

insight on the development the city has made. The progressive changes in the city in

term of green development and the role of city branding as a promotional effort are

expected to make Jakarta as one of the most popular investment destinations in

Indonesia.

To keep the future continuity of policies for sustainable development and maintain a

series of achievements that have been made in the city, the Jakarta regional government

has institutionalized the commitment in a form of the 2022 Gubernatorial Regulation

Number 31 on the Jakarta’s Spatial Detail Planning (Jakarta Regional Government,

2022b). The regulation is literally aims to accelerate the transformation of Jakarta as a

center of business and a global city which is transit- and digital-oriented, emphasizing

the importance of integrating sustainability to the city development (Jakarta Regional

Government, 2022b). The aspect of sustainability specified in the regulation includes not

only environmental sustainability but also another value like social justice that city

development is supposed to inclusively benefit for all city dwellers. The regulation should

be a guidance for the city decision makers and stakeholders in consistently transforming

Jakarta to be a green and global city.

Not only do global cities have soft power to attract tourists, investments, and capitals for

local development, but they also have interest in extending their role in the international

level in addressing global issues (Acuto, 2013b). One of global issues the cities are trying

to address is sustainable urban development to face climate crisis. In this case, cities

attempt to emphasize the importance of sustainability as a norm and sustainable

development as a common goal not only among cities but also towards national

governments. For instance, by the G20 Summit held in November 2022 in Bali, Indonesia,

the U20 – one of the G20 pillars consisting of a few cities of the G20 member countries

co-chaired by Jakarta – deliberated and formulated some recommendations on urban

development particularly and clean energy transition and climate change adaptation

generally to national governments of the G20 (Fathun, 2022; Luerdi, 2022b).

The international networks of cities, such as the U20, C40 Cities, UCLG, and others have

become opportunity structures in addition to the sustainability norm for Jakarta to project

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its para-diplomacy. Furthermore, strong local leadership in implementing sustainability

at home contributes to gaining international visibility and recognition (Ruiz‐Campillo,

2022). Jakarta as one of the mega-cities within the platforms – under the leadership of

Governor Anies – has shown its rising commitment to environmental sustainability at the

local level as well as its active engagement in the global level. The active membership

strengthened by local initiatives has paved Jakarta to play its international role in

addressing sustainability-related issues. Following the announcement of Jakarta’s

achievement as the most innovative city in the 2021 Sustainable Transport Award in

October 2020, Governor Anies together with Governor Yuriko Koike of Tokyo was elected

to become the C40 Cities steering committee in December 2020, leading the city

organization and assisting to give directions to member cities in addressing climate crisis

(C40 Cities, 2020).

The Jakarta regional government as often represented by Governor Anies has been

plotted to be one of the main speakers in many international fora of cities, delivering the

ideas and narratives of urban sustainability as well as sharing the best practices of

sustainable development conducted by Jakarta. For instance, Governor Anies talked

about carbon neutrality advancement, city resilience, and initiatives to anticipate climate

crisis at the forum of C40 Cities Mayor and the UN Secretary General, which were then

approved to be taken for further policies (Fathun, 2022; Luerdi, 2022b). Through the

forum, Jakarta attempted to raise awareness of the important role of cities in tackling

the global issues and put cities as the important partner of the UN. Speaking before the

world’s cities and leaders has helped raised the influence and extended the role of Jakarta

in international politics. Such increasing role cannot be separated from the city branding

effort and vice versa. Based on the city branding concept used in this paper, creating

brands by Jakarta also functions as value enhancers – enhancing sustainability – towards

not only local but also international audiences as suggested by Hankinson (2004).

Meanwhile, the leader’s behavior like vision on green development does matter in city-

branding communication as proposed by Kavaratzis (2004, 2009).

While the world’s cities are attempting to make progress gradually by adopting

sustainability to their urban development as well as restructuring themselves to be

global, London and Singapore could currently be the world’s most recognized green and

global cities at the same time. Jakarta is still believed to be not yet as advanced as both

cities in term of green development and global attraction. However, the Jakarta regional

government has demonstrated the efforts to transform the city to achieve the status as

one of the greenest cities and one of the most recognized global cities in the future. Not

only has the city made significant progress in urban transport and mobility as previously

discussed in this paper, but Jakarta has also become one in the “2018/2019 Top 50 Smart

Cities Governments” among the world’s 140 cities as studied by Eden Strategy Institute

(Eden Strategy Institute, 2018). The governments in global cities are widely known to

have applied digital technology massively to manage urban problems and resources.

Considering its current local development, international recognitions, and increasing

global engagements, this paper suggests Jakarta is one of the world’s emerging green

and global cities.

Sustainability has been a global agenda among global communities, but thanks to

globalization cities like Jakarta can hardly restrict themselves from such issue. From the

discussion in this section, it is known that Jakarta attempts to promote its local

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development to bring a message that the city is transforming to be a green and global

city. The act of promoting such development referring to city branding is the form of

para-diplomacy considering dos Santos’ study (dos Santos, 2021). Integrating

environmental sustainability to the local development through local polices as well as

pursuing the status of being a green and global city by the Jakarta regional government

can be the efforts to fulfill local specific needs as suggested by Hocking (1993). Even

though Jakarta’s diplomacy in this paper is more “functionally specific and targeted” and

often “opportunistic and experimental” which differentiates it from state diplomacy as

suggested by Keating (2013), it has not demonstrated a contradiction against the

national government’s foreign policy. Instead, what Jakarta has done and achieved can

be another promotional tool for nation branding and acceleration of national program of

clean energy transition in the country.

Conclusion

City branding seen as para-diplomacy by the Jakarta regional government is an effort to

create new identity or regional characteristic of the city. Building a mega-structure like

the JIS and hosting a sport mega-event like the Formula E symbolize the urban green

transformation as a local development. As the main communication tools complying with

the global norm and trend, both are expected to present a bigger picture of current

development that Jakarta is transforming to be a green and global city which is in turn,

offering either material or non-material advantages. That “green” and “global” are two

characteristics which will be like a two-sided coin in the future is a belief as well as

ambition the Jakarta regional government embraces and pursues. Learning from the case

of Jakarta with its progressive adoption of sustainability especially under the leadership

of Governor Anies, cities have capabilities of implementing global norms at home as well

as to project their role beyond national borders. In fact, local initiatives in addition to

leadership in the cities encourage more city global engagement and contribution to tackle

the climate crisis.

There is an intersection between global, national, and urban challenges, which is that

almost all global and national problems can be found in the cities. However, cities can be

sources of solution to the problems as they are home to national economic development,

technology and innovation, and resources. Current trend shows that cities especially

mega-cities in both developed and developing world hardly prevent themselves from

current global issues like climate crisis. This paper suggests that the role of cities through

either city branding to advance local development as a local need particularly or para-

diplomacy which contributes to addressing climate crisis generally become more relevant

in the future. Many cases of cities worldwide have shown that city leadership seems to

be more aggressive than national leadership in sustainability transformation since

national governments have more restrictions than do city governments. Therefore, city

development should be capitalized to nation branding and national policies are supposed

to encourage cities – in the case of Indonesia, not limited to Jakarta and other big cities

– to significantly integrate sustainability to their urban planning. Thus, cities can be pilot

projects of national green transformation.

The findings in this study confirm the previous literature that sustainability is now the

shared concern and global agenda of cities, especially those well exposed to global city

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networks. The cities which enjoy progress in term of sustainability at home tend to

expand its role in the global stage through para-diplomacy and at the same time attempt

to advance current local development by enhancing global-local collaboration. City

branding becomes necessity strengthened by the progressive implementation of

sustainability and through which cities are able to internationalize such local

development. However, this study contributes to revealing that the city in the global

south also attempts to catch up with the global norm and modernity by, for example,

introducing an environmentally friendly mega-structure and a net zero-emission sport

mega-event which has missed in the literature.

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