Singapore — Testriono, Ph.D, lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences (FOSS), Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII), presented his latest research at the international workshop “Cities as Sites and Techniques of Futuring” held on 19–20 August 2025 at the Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore (NUS).

The workshop, funded by the Singapore Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund Tier 2 grant (Capitals of the Future: Place, Power and Possibility in Southeast Asia), brought together scholars from across the region to theorize cities as critical sites where urban futures are imagined, designed, and materialized.

Dr. Testriono shared his presentation during Panel 4: Eco-Futuring on 20 August 2025. His paper, titled “Infrastructure Regime and Agenda Setting: The Case of Indonesia’s Nusantara City,” was co-authored with Khaidir Hasram, FOSS PhD candidate and Priza Marendraputra of National University of Singapore.

The research examined how the Nusantara capital relocation project is not simply a technocratic solution to Jakarta’s urban pressures but also a politically contested process shaped by infrastructure regimes, institutional priorities, and leadership roles.

“This study provides two significant insights. First, it deals with the infrastructure regime, highlighting how infrastructure programs are prone to politicization and how their implementation is politically influenced. Secondly, it engages with capital relocation, exploring the complexity of such new capital policy implementation in a democratic-developing state,” Dr. Testriono said.

By situating Nusantara within these debates, the paper contributed to the workshop’s broader agenda on ‘futuring’, highlighting how Southeast Asian cities are not just built environments, but evolving laboratories where political visions and societal aspirations are negotiated into urban form.

Dr. Testriono’s participation in this international forum reflects UIII’s commitment to advancing critical scholarship on governance, infrastructure, and urban transformation, while also strengthening the university’s presence in global academic conversations on the future of cities.