Bandung

Bandung (/ˈbɑːndʊŋ/) (Sundanese: ᮘᮔ᮪ᮓᮥᮀ, Indonesian: Bandung, Chinese: 萬隆, formerly Dutch: Bandoeng), is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia and Greater Bandung made up of 2 municipalities and 38 districts, making it Indonesia's 2nd largest metropolitan area with over 8.5 millions inhabitants listed in the 2015 Badan Pusat Statistik data.^[2] It is the nation's third most populous city, with over 2.5 million (2015). Located 768 metres (2,520 feet) above sea level, approximately 140 kilometres (87 miles) south east of Jakarta, Bandung has cooler year-round temperatures than most other Indonesian cities. The city lies on a river basin surrounded by volcanic mountains. This topography provides a natural defense system, which was the primary reason for the Dutch East Indies government's plan to move the colony capital from Batavia (modern-day Jakarta) to Bandung.

The Dutch colonials first established tea plantations around the mountains in the eighteenth century, and a road was constructed to connect the plantation area to the colonial capital Batavia (180 kilometres (112 miles) to the northwest). The Dutch inhabitants of Bandung demanded the establishment of a municipality (gemeente), which was granted in 1906, and Bandung gradually developed into a resort city for plantation owners. Luxurious hotels, restaurants, cafés and European boutiques were opened, hence the city was nicknamed Parijs van Java (Dutch: "The Paris of Java").

After Indonesia declared independence in 1945, the city experienced rapid development and urbanization, transforming Bandung from an idyllic town into a dense 16,500 people/km² (per square kilometer) metropolitan area, a living space for over 8.5 million people. New sky-scrapers, high-rise buildings, bridges, gardens have been constructed. Natural resources have been heavily exploited, particularly by conversion of protected upland area into highland villas and real estate and, although the city has encountered many problems (ranging from waste disposal and floods to a complicated traffic system and lack of road infrastructure), Bandung still attracts large numbers of tourists, weekend sightseers and migrants from other parts of Indonesia. The city has won a regional environmental sustainability award for having the cleanest air among other major cities in ASEAN countries in 2017.^[3] The city has also become known as a Smart City, leveraging technology to improve government services, including social media, that alert the authorities to issues such as floods or traffic jams ^[4] [5]

The first Asian-African Conference, also known as the Bandung Conference was hosted in Bandung by President Sukarno in 1955. Bandung will be supporting as one of the host cities of the 2018 Asian Games.^[6] The international airport redevelopment was completed in 2016. To improve infrastructure, the construction of a Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Rail and Bandung Metro Kapsul, a type of indigenous Automated People Mover (APM) will begin in 2018.^[7] The new Bandung Kertajati International Airport will also be completed as early as 2018, just in time for the games.



Sumber: Wikipedia