Urban Greening Through Participatory Governance: Managing Green Open Spaces in Bekasi, Indonesia

Rapid urbanisation poses a major challenge for cities in Indonesia in maintaining green open spaces as part of sustainable urban planning. The city of Bekasi is a case in point, where despite an increase of green open spaces, this achievement has not yet met the minimum requirement. Thus, this study aims to examine the optimisation of green open spaces in Bekasi City, particularly in Bekasi Barat and Rawalumbu sub-districts through community participation. This study is qualitative descriptive research using semi-structured interviews, field observations, and literature review as data collection methods. The findings indicate the decentralisation of the city government’s role to the sub-district level is functioning reasonably well. The community participation in green open space management in Bekasi encompasses the entire participatory governance forms of inform & consult, involve, partnership, and empower. However, the effectiveness of this participation varies across regions. Rawalumbu tends to be more active in monitoring and empowering the community, while Bekasi Barat places greater emphasis on formal structures and involvement of neighbourhood units. Thus, standardization of coordination mechanisms, evaluation, and institutional capacity is necessary to ensure sustainability. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on urban green infrastructure development both in Indonesia and globally.