SISTER CITY COOPERATION BETWEEN SURABAYA AND KITAKYUSHU IN CREATING SURABAYA AS A GREEN CITY (2012-2017)

Abstract

Sister city cooperation becomes one of the prominent international cooperation frameworks which provides extensive space for local government units, private sectors, and other non-state actors to take part in international affairs by cooperating with foreign parties. The phenomenon of such cooperation displays the rise of crucial role owned by local governments which makes central governments to be no longer perform as the sole actor in international relations. The purpose of sister city cooperation has gradually shifted from creating peace and reconciliation in the beginning of its implementation into cooperation in various fields in order to benefit the city partners. There are a lot of cities in Indonesia which have been actively involved in sister city cooperation with foreign parties, one of the examples is between Surabaya (Indonesia) and Kitakyushu (Japan). Both cities began their sister city cooperation officially in 2012. Their partnership focuses on environmental sector where Kitakyushu helps Surabaya to overcome its environmental issues by providing assistance during 2012 to 2016. This assistance is finally able to transform Surabaya into becoming a green city in 2017. Kitakyushu itself is known as the first and sole sister city partner of Surabaya in terms of environmental cooperation. Therefore, this study aims to discuss the ongoing development of sister city framework in international relations by examining the efforts taken by Surabaya and Kitakyushu in areas of environmental cooperation. Such cooperation is enhanced within the scope of achieving green city attributes and the status of green city by Surabaya. This study relies on qualitative method by gathering data from books, journals, official websites, and published news.