From 25 to 26 January 2024, 53 participants of the International Student Conference (ISC) 2024 went on a journey across various destinations in Bandung to enrich their knowledge surrounding the theme, “Empowering Youth and Local Voices for Human-Centric, Sustainable and Inclusive Smart Cities.” On the first day of these excursions, they were introduced to the sustainable city efforts around Bandung through their visit to the Bandung City Hall. Participants learned directly from representatives from the Bandung City Development Planning, Research and Development Agency (Bappelitbang) about local government initiatives and witnessed first-hand the water filtration system being implemented by the government, while also getting to stroll around the serene Dewi Sartika Garden.
Afterwards, participants continued to explore nearby Cibunut Village. There, they got to directly interact with local residents who introduced their own initiatives in creating a sustainable village through the use of waste banks, organic composting, and Buruan SAE (Sehat, Alami, Ekonomis). Their learning experience was enriched by their visit to another Buruan SAE by Bandung Urban Agriculture Heritage (BUAH), furthering their awareness of local-led efforts to mainstream urban agriculture as part of the smart city development of Bandung. Participants directly contributed to planting trees and the process of turning freshly harvested bok choy into ice cream, enjoying the refreshing delicacy after a long day of observing locations.
The next day, participants embarked to expose themselves to Indonesian culture. In Batik Komar, they learned the history of Batik and observed the Batik-making process, even getting the opportunity to create their own personalised Batik by utilising the Batik Cap and Batik Tulis techniques they were taught earlier. Once they finished making Batik, they resumed their cultural immersion in Saung Udjo, a Sundanese performance theatre. At Saung Udjo, they witnessed traditional Sundanese art performances, such as Wayang Golek and Gamelan. Not only did they watch these performances, they were also invited to take part in them by playing angklung and dancing to dangdut.
As the events of the day neared to an end, participants took a last stop to visit Gedung Sate, a historical landmark of Bandung. After taking a group photo to commemorate this year’s International Student Conference, participants were given the chance to explore Bandung on their own. Thus, this final destination marked the end of a series of activities arranged by the ISC committee to prepare the participants for their final group project by taking them around Bandung, in hopes to inspire their creativity to bring forward innovative ideas to build a sustainable and smart city.
To close off this year’s ISC, on 27 January 2024, participants gathered once more at Parahyangan Catholic University to present their group final project through an interactive video presentation. Out of the 10 groups, Group 10 was selected as the final project winner, presenting their creative idea, “Gerak: Job Exchange Hub in Bandung,” an initiative that aims to solve unemployment issues in Bandung by connecting job seekers with employers offering micro-task jobs. Participants also celebrated the end of ISC with a cultural exchange, where they shared popular snacks from their respective countries such as Timtams from Australia and Avellanes from Riudoms, Spain.
