Nusantara - a network in the making
connecting landscape structures, habitats and urban environments through an ecological landscape network
K.L.F. de Jonge (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
S. Nijhuis – Mentor (TU Delft - Landscape Architecture)
Rients Dijkstra – Mentor (TU Delft - Urban Design)
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Abstract
This thesis investigates how urban development in Nusantara, Indonesia’s planned new capital on the island of Borneo, can be used as a regenerative tool to restore ecological patterns and gradients within one of the world’s most biodiverse yet vulnerable rainforest ecosystems. Situated in East Kalimantan, Nusantara faces significant ecological threats from rapid urbanization, deforestation, monoculture agriculture, and mining. The project explores an alternative development model that integrates urban growth with landscape systems to enhance ecological resilience and biodiversity.
Which is to motivation behind this main research question:
"How can we design for a landscape ecological framework that utilizes urban development as a tool to regenerate natural gradients and patterns for the new urban landscape of Nusantara, Indonesia?"
To answer this, the thesis employs a Research through Design methodology, underpinned by Landscape-Based Urbanism, Resilience Theory, Casco Theory, and Landscape Ecology Principles. A multi-scalar design framework is developed by first understanding the landscape morphology, forest typologies, and anthropogenic influences in the region. Key spatial elements, such as ecological corridors, soft urban edges, and riverine buffers, are identified and designed to support species movement, ecological succession, and human-nature interaction.
Three key species, the Sunda Clouded Leopard, Greater Mouse Deer, and Bornean Orangutan, are analysed to define spatial and ecological requirements, guiding the design of a robust ecological network. Comparative studies of global urban densities and their integration of green space inform best practices for combining high-density housing with ecological continuity.
The result is a regional vision and spatial strategy where large ecological corridors, transitional zones, and river buffers interlace urban development with ecological infrastructure. The thesis concludes that a layered, landscape-first approach can reconcile urban needs with ecological integrity, offering a replicable framework for sustainable capital development in ecologically sensitive areas.