IKN Wins Prestigious Award from Malaysia, Here's What Basuki Said
The Nusantara Capital City (IKN) Plaza Seremoni has won the international Honour Award at the Malaysia Landscape Architecture Awards (MLAA) 2026 in the Landscape Design Award (Professional Category). This award recognises the landscape design quality of Plaza Seremoni, which combines aesthetics, spatial function, and sustainable development principles.
This achievement further strengthens Nusantara’s position as a city that prioritises quality, aesthetics, and sustainability, while supporting the development of IKN as a liveable and loveable city. This is in line with President Prabowo Subianto’s directive through Presidential Regulation Number 79 of 2025 to prepare IKN as the Political Capital by 2028.
Located in front of the State Palace and Garuda Palace, Plaza Seremoni is part of the Sumbu Kebangsaan area, which serves as the centre of state activities as well as a public interaction space in Nusantara. This area was developed as a modern reinterpretation of the traditional Indonesian alun-alun concept, which has long been a space for gathering, interacting, and building social connectivity.
Head of the IKN Authority, Basuki Hadimuljono, stated that Nusantara’s development was designed from the outset with a balance between construction quality, aesthetics, and sustainability. “We have three pillars in the development of Nusantara: quality, aesthetics, and sustainability,” Basuki said in a written statement.
More than just an area for state events, Plaza Seremoni is designed as an inclusive public space that can be used by the community for various social, cultural, and recreational activities. Various facilities such as an open amphitheatre, pedestrian paths, cycling lanes, green areas, an MSME gallery, and communal spaces are part of the effort to create a comfortable and vibrant urban space.
The excellence of Plaza Seremoni is also evident in the application of ecological principles in the area’s design. The utilisation of the land’s natural contours and the existing water management system is part of a strategy to maintain environmental balance while strengthening Nusantara’s identity as a city that grows in harmony with nature.
This MLAA 2026 award confirms that the development of IKN is receiving international attention and appreciation. This recognition demonstrates that Indonesia’s development works can present new standards in modern city development that integrate environmental, technological, and community quality-of-life aspects. Plaza Seremoni and the Sumbu Kebangsaan area were previously inaugurated by the 7th President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, on 14 August 2024. This area is one of the important symbols of Nusantara’s transformation as Indonesia’s new centre of government, as well as a representation of an inclusive and sustainable city of the future.