2026 Theses Master's

Publicness Of Public Parks In Management And Operations Aspects: A Case Study Of Jakarta

Karnadi, Gabriela

Jakarta is the most populous urban agglomeration in the world, yet green space accounts for only about 5% of its area. Even within its limited public parks, public use remains constrained. Small casual gatherings of fewer than 20 people may trigger monitoring, while larger events often involve informal costs and are usually only possible through collaboration with, or access to, government-affiliated institutions. Opaque permits, regulations, and limited operating hours further restrict use. Space that should support public life is thus narrowed twice: first by scarcity, then by restriction.

Discussions of Jakarta’s public parks often focus on facilities and accessibility, while paying less attention to how management and operations shape how parks serve, and fail to serve, the public. Through interviews with relevant agencies and officials, park-activating communities, and other relevant sources and literature, this study asks how the managerial and governance style of Jakarta’s public parks affects the parks’ publicness. It examines politics and governance structures, decision-making processes and stakeholders, on-the-ground operations and public use, community grievances, and the social groups affected by the current park governance.

This research finds tensions between the public and the government’s ideal vision of parks, the privatization of public parks through over-management, burden on park development by the hierarchical and bureaucratic structures, and the suppressed and unequal distribution of parks’ benefits. Together, these conditions make parks feel less like public spaces for the public. These governance and management styles strongly affect publicness, especially civility, control, and animation, ultimately suppressing the publicness of Jakarta’s public parks.

Keywords: Public parks, public space management and operations, publicness, public use, public parks governance.