Indonesia’s smart-city vision is advancing, yet structural challenges — from uneven local capacities to fragmented cyber governance — continue to slow nationwide progress. The article contrasts these gaps with the integrated model of Nusantara and highlights the need for broader reforms and capacity building to achieve a resilient, digitally connected urban system.

Smart cities, built on deeply interconnected digital systems, are increasingly vulnerable to hybrid threats in which cyberattacks and influence operations converge, making trust in technical and communicative infrastructures a central stability factor. Using Indonesia’s ambitious smart-city projects as an illustrative case, the article highlights how technological, societal and informational dynamics intersect, and how Cyfluence operations are becoming a pivotal risk within t