Uncovering missing environmental narratives in the planning of Nusantara, Indonesia

Abstract

Urban planning in postcolonial contexts is increasingly shaped by environmental rhetoric that promises sustainability, resilience, and progress. However, beneath these promises lie discursive practices that overlook ecological considerations and marginalise indigenous and rural knowledge. This study examines the environmental ideology and its construction and legitimation in the planning discourse on Indonesia’s new capital, Nusantara. While existing research has examined the design and planning of Nusantara, few studies have interrogated the discursive strategies used by the government to legitimise development. Using critical discourse analysis and ecolinguistics, the research examines government documents, media articles, and indigenous testimonies to trace how language operates as a tool of power, as well as narrative structures that erase ecological concerns, marginalise indigenous knowledge, and promote technocratic urban ideals to justify the capital relocation. The findings show that sustainability discourse in Nusantara’s planning is performative and contradictory, simultaneously invoking ecological concern, while enabling extractive practices and epistemic erasure. These findings suggest that the planning of Indonesia’s new capital (Nusantara) tends to sideline rural areas, rural ways of knowing land, forest, development, and local communities. Furthermore, the discourse also reveals epistemic and ecological exclusions embedded in state-led development. Conceptually, this research contributes to debates on urban-rural planning dynamics in the Global South, by bringing southern urbanism into dialogue with critical discourse analysis and showing how language is used to legitimise exclusion in development projects. It challenges planners and policymakers to recognise the political work of language and the need for epistemic justice in shaping urban futures. Beyond the discipline, the study speaks to broader debates on environmental governance, indigenous rights, and the ethics of development. It calls for planning practices that are not only ecologically sound, but also culturally and epistemologically inclusive, where sustainability begins with listening, not erasure.