Weaving Prosperity from City Hall

Not all cities fight poverty in the same way. Some choose to increase social assistance budgets, others focus on attracting investment, while many build infrastructure hoping economic growth will trickle down to all levels of society. However, the greatest challenge arises when these various programmes operate in isolation without interconnection. Amid this complexity, the city of Surabaya in East Java is offering a different approach. The city no longer views poverty alleviation as the task of a single agency or merely a social sector issue. Instead, all government units are directed towards a single goal: reducing the number of poor residents through integrated policies. This idea was presented by Surabaya Mayor Eri Cahyadi before the 2026 Regional Development Award assessment team from the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) at Surabaya City Hall on Monday. The presentation did not merely display a list of development achievements, but demonstrated how a city is attempting to change the bureaucratic mindset. This shift in perspective is crucial because poverty is not a single issue. Low income, unemployment, limited education, poor health quality, and economic inequality are interconnected and form a cycle that is difficult to break if each problem is handled separately. It is within this context that the integrated development strategy becomes compelling. Surabaya’s approach begins with a simple yet impactful change: ensuring every rupiah of government spending contributes to poverty reduction. For years, infrastructure development in many regions was often measured by the length of roads built, the number of drainage channels completed, or the volume of physical projects executed. These indicators are important, but they do not necessarily correlate directly with improved public welfare. Surabaya is trying to connect these two objectives. Road construction, paving, and environmental infrastructure projects not only produce public facilities but also become instruments for job creation through labour-intensive programmes. This policy has even been extended to the material supply chain. The city government encourages the procurement of paving blocks from labour-intensive factories managed by low-income communities, ensuring that the economic benefits do not stop with the project workers but also flow to small business owners. This model aligns with the concept of inclusive development increasingly adopted by various countries, where infrastructure is not merely a physical asset but also a tool for income distribution.