The Jakabaring Sport City in Palembang, Indonesia

Abstract

A sports-themed zone—a concentrated site of sports facilities—embodies both an ambitious vision and a rather speculative and risky building project. This nature of combining visionary ideas, risk, competition and contestation makes these zones sites of worlding practices. This paper investigates the role of the sports-themed zone Jakabaring Sport City, situated in the South Sumatran capital Palembang, as a worlding site of sports, modernity, urban development and competitiveness. As a venue of prestigious sports events, Jakabaring Sport City has gained international attention and has entered the competition with other sports complexes and cities. The analysis reveals the ambitious visions and pitfalls to turn a formerly neglected and “haunted” place into a symbol of modernity and success for the city and its political leaders. It also identifies the new meanings of connectivity and competition attached to the sports complex as a site of experiments and aspirations as well as the alternation of rural, urban and global elements that characterise Jakabaring Sport City.