Urban Forest Cipete reclaims five hectares in South Jakarta as an immersive public forest. Shaped by water systems, native planting, and civic programs, it balances ecology with community. Shaded paths, bamboo groves, and courtyards create cooling comfort, while plazas and gateways connect the park seamlessly into the city’s rhythms.
Designing for nature in the city means balancing ecological goals with urban constraints
In South Jakarta’s dense urban fabric, a five-hectare site offered a rare chance to restore ecology while serving community life. Positioned along a busy commercial corridor, the project reclaims overlooked land as a breathable green sanctuary that bridges nature, transit, and everyday urban rhythms.
Building resilience and restoring biodiversity in dense Jakarta
The site faced severe urban pressures: shallow soils, intense heat, seasonal downpours, and stormwater runoff. Pollution and noise from surrounding roads threatened comfort, while limited canopy restricted microclimate performance. The challenge was to establish a resilient ecosystem that softened harsh conditions, restored biodiversity, and created an accessible, immersive public green space within Jakarta’s highly constrained environment.
The vision was to create a microcosm of Indonesia’s ecologies within the city
A phased masterplan interweaves three core zones: the dense Urban Forest Core, the social Valley Courtyard, and the serene Creek Promenade. Each zone expresses layered ecologies, tropical woodlands, bamboo groves, and wildflower clearings, designed for immersion and resilience. Water features, shaded pathways, and passive cooling systems shape movement and pause, while native planting restores ecological function. The park is conceived not as one landscape, but as a sequence of interconnected experiences.
Implementation began with earth shaping, planting, and water infrastructure, allowing landscape systems to lead development. Swales, creek edges, and ponds were designed as dynamic cooling and stormwater networks. Early bamboo groves and wildflower clearings set the ecological framework, while civic elements, an amphitheater, shaded courtyard, and new pedestrian gateway linked to the Cipete Raya MRT, strengthened accessibility. Each phase layered depth and resilience into the forest concept, gradually transforming the site into a textured, breathable public realm.
The landscape unfolded gradually on site, with each phase bringing depth to the forest concept
Urban Forest Cipete is a living, breathing extension of the community. The landscape softens Jakarta’s intensity, offering shaded respite, cooling water, and textured plantings that invite people to linger. As a collective backyard, it blends ecology with social life. supporting gatherings, play, and everyday reconnection with nature. The project demonstrates how thoughtful design can reintroduce ecological memory into the city, setting a precedent for resilient public space. By weaving forest systems into daily experience, Urban Forest Cipete proves that green infrastructure can restore comfort, biodiversity, and civic belonging at the heart of Jakarta.
