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arumanagara University'€™s Urban Planning and Engineering graduate program has launched three books containing collections of theses written by students of the program, in the hope it may contribute to the city'€™s urban development.

The titles, Real Estate Development in Metropolis Jakarta: Concept, Strategy and Dynamics; Urban Transformation of Metropolis Jakarta: Adaptation and Development; and Green City Concept in Metropolis Jakarta: Applications and Challenges were launched to mark the 10th anniversary of the graduate program that started in February 2005.

'€œThese three books are collections of the best theses from the length of the program'€™s existence,'€ program head Jo Santoso told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the book launch on Saturday.

Jo said he hoped that the books could also help readers realize that there was still hope and many possible ways to improve Jakarta'€™s urban planning system.

The idea to launch the books arose last year as he believed that people and the government were starting to believe that a modern city, developed by the government without considering residents'€™ aspirations, was a successful method, fit to be taken as an example.

'€œWhile in fact, it'€™s caused a lot of negative impacts including social inequality, a damaged environment and ethnic conflict,'€ he explained.

I don'€™t want Jakarta to head in that direction as I believe that city residents should be able to take part in deciding where the city is heading,'€ Jo said.

During the event, Jo also took the opportunity to criticize the recent series of evictions held by city administration'€™s, forcing evictees to live in low-cost rental apartments (Rusunawa).

'€œPeople who live in urban kampung [villages] for years face a lot of difficulty adjusting when forced to move to a towering apartment building,'€ he said.

Oswar Muadzin Mungkasa, the Jakarta administration'€™s deputy governor of spatial planning and environment, said he appreciated the publication of the theses because in current conditions, the city administration needed academics'€™ and experts'€™ help on urban planning.

Having been installed less than a month ago in his position, Oswar believed that there were still a number of problems with the city'€™s development and that the research could provide him with knowledge about Jakarta and its problems.

'€œI have started reading them and I think they will be a great help,'€ he said.