Nusantara as Spectacular Fix: Urbanism, Power, and Exemplary Exception

Abstract

Nusantara, Indonesia's new capital, has entered its second phase of construction under a new president. Despite the promise of economic distribution across the archipelago, the project has gained criticism and resistance alike, thus some degree of popular and elite consent needs to be achieved. To this end, what kinds of moves does the state make? This article argues that Nusantara is deployed as a spectacular fix: a spectacular urbanist project which doubles as a socioecological fix. Through the production of (i) a new exemplary centre and (ii) new state spaces of exception, Nusantara gets exemplified, which takes other urban experiments to emulate but also from which other cities can take inspiration. Concomitantly, it becomes exceptionalised through new state spaces; a process in which the legal, state bureaucracy, and territorial elements surrounding Nusantara is made exceptional. This dyad of example and exception ultimately work to reproduce state power and legitimacy.