How not to build a new city – Marina Bay City Lombok

I was recently wondering why there are no great coastal cities in Indonesia, so I was curious to see a new coastal city being planned in Lombok. My curiosity switched to concern when I saw that the project has been dubbed as the “Miami of Asia”, or worse, “Next Dubai meets Bali”.

After seeing the masterplan of Marina Bay City, the city could be better described as a resort complex with some town elements attached.

Here are the details of Marina Bay City, why it is badly designed, and what I would do differently to make it a great coastal city town of Indonesia.

Marina Bay City Masterplan

The Marina Bay City Masterplan includes beachfront high-rises and villas, resorts, gated communities, and a residential canal area. There is a town area with a landmark tower, and the infrastructure includes a petrol station and an international school.

According to the advertising copy:

“…this multi-billion-dollar masterplanned destination brings together luxury living, international infrastructure, and coastal vibrancy. Designed to rival the world’s most iconic waterfront cities”.

Among my many concerns is that it’s not built for Indonesians and that it looks nothing like a world-class iconic waterfront city.

Build a city for Indonesians first

Looking at the masterplan and reading the sales blurb, the first thing I wondered was where the locals live. This is not a town that is planned for the average Lombokian:

“Welcome to Indonesia’s next premier lifestyle and tourism destination. Marina Bay is a master-planned coastal city designed for high-net-worth individuals, discerning travelers, and forward-thinking investors. From ultra-luxury resorts and canal-front villas to world-class wellness, dining, and entertainment — this is your chance to get in early on Southeast Asia’s rising star.”

The plan mentions nothing about where local workers live. The maids and pool cleaners that maintain the villas, street sweepers, baristas, and the army of people that it takes to keep a town going. Are they bussed in from another town?

This just looks like a segregated community, and the fact that there are three gated communities on the masterplan suggests this. Gated communities are most popular in the US, and they are not a feature that should be part of a thriving city.

Discover the real Miami of Asia

Marina Bay City is using the tagline “Discover the Miami of Asia“. I’m not a fan of the “x is the y of z” format (Hanoi is the Paris of the East, etc), but this form of comparison persists long after Paris of the East was a common phrase.

More recently, Da Nang has been bestowed by netizens as the Miami of the East. Search on TikTok and you will see that #danangthemiamiofasia has stuck.

Da Nang reminds me of the Gold Coast in Australia (a long sandy beach lined with hotels and apartment towers), though the Miami comparison is reasonable.

The Miami that Da Nang is being compared to is the South Beach area. I have been to Miami and I didn’t think I would like it. I was shocked to find that South Beach is a walkable neighbourhood with gridded streets.

As a bonus, South Beach is filled with historic Art Deco buildings that are mixed-use. Most importantly, the beach has a public park and is not blocked to the public.

Da Nang has inadvertently built a vibrant beach neighbourhood by gridding out an area next to the beach. I say inadvertently because the current modus operandi for new urban areas in Vietnam is to give entire neighbourhoods to a single developer. When a single developer gets to build an entire neighbourhood, they usually build rows of villas in the same design to maximise profit. 

I was hoping that Marina Bay City was going to follow the Miami template of building a gridded area with a public beachfront. Instead, they are following the worst model of American urbanism by building cookie-cutter homes with terrible road layouts.

The beachfront walks of Da Nang and Nha Trang

In my lament about how there are no great coastal cities in Indonesia, I used Da Nang and Nha Trang as examples of cities that have public beachfronts in the city. There are no resorts or villa projects that block the beach from the public (though there are such properties outside the city centre).

Da Nang has an uninterrupted beachfront walk of about 7 km, while the beachfront in Nha Trang is about 5 km. Nha Trang even went as far as to demolish a resort that was on the beachfront to return it to public space.

This is not to say that Vietnam doesn’t have its own inappropriate seaside developments to deal with. Abandoned coastal projects litter the coastline of Vietnam, as well as projects that have overbuilt in areas that should never have been built in the first place. 

Despite these other planning disasters, Da Nang and Nha Trang are thriving cities that anyone can live in. Rich Vietnamese and foreigners can live on the same street as low-income workers. It is not segregated, so as a foreigner, I have the opportunity to mix with locals at any class level.

Da Nang and Nha Trang are currently experiencing an international tourism boom. People want to go and hang out there, and not be confined to a gated community full of foreigners. Da Nang and Nha Trang are what vibrant coastal cities look like.

21st-century colonialism

The Beachfront Villas that are on sale are described as being “on the most privileged stretch of shoreline”.

17 villas have the privilege of the beach to themselves, blocking the beach view for everyone else.

Furthermore, the villas are being marketed for short-term stays with rental potential of $20,000–$30,000/month. This income will most likely be offshored to its international investors, with only a small percentage being returned to the economy of Lombok.

The about page says it’s government-backed, which is a meaningless statement in the current climate, where protesters revolted against the political elite.

The press release that announced the project gives more insight into this project as an expat enclave:

“Unlike traditional developments focused only on tourism, Marina Bay City has a deeper mission: to serve as a haven for freedom-seeking Westerners, particularly from Australia, where many feel increasingly disillusioned by the direction of political and economic policy post-pandemic.”

How to build a better coastal town/city

Rather than ending on a rant about this project, I propose solutions that could make this a cool surf town that everyone can enjoy, instead of a retreat for rich foreigners.

If Marina Bay City really wants to be the Miami of Asia, then there should be a gridded-out area next to the beach like South Beach in Miami. Preferably not Miami-sized (or Dubai-sized), but a nice beachtown-size would be a great start.

There should be a public park between the beach road and the beach, with no buildings blocking the view or hindering access to the beach.

The gridded blocks should be sold separately and be mixed-use. Let people build whatever they want (within reason), rather than having entire blocks of the same type of buildings.

The project should also be majority locally owned. I want to go to locally-owned cafes and restaurants, and have the chance to mingle with Indonesians.

This last point is more of a failure on the government’s behalf for letting this happen in the first place. This doesn’t mean that the developer can’t do better.

The sales website says the project is “Grounded in Design and Community” and a “Coastal City Shaping Responsible Growth”. This sounds like AI-generated real estate buzzwords.

Maybe there is time to redraw some stages of this project and make it accessible for everyone. And if you are a developer who is planning a similar project in Indonesia, build a new town that can become a model for future towns.

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